As @Aragorn2002 puts it, if we succumb towards nuclear blackmail once, there is no stopping there. Where is the line drawn of wether a country is worth saving and which country is not? Is worth to risk war for Poland or Rumania as well?
The disconnect of SWIFT is not plainly punitive, is done in order to protect the countries in the eastern flank of NATO, to counterbalance the shift in the balance of power that the conquest of Ukraine by Russia would entail. So if Ukraine falls, its either start doing that, or see how the eastern NATO flank desintagrates with the passing of time, either by economic or military pressure, or direct kinetic action.
So in fact yes, we should risk war for Ukraine, as its fall without repercusion would be disastrous to the EU and the eastern NATO countries, and as such, NATO and US defense strategy as a whole.
Any territorial concessions from our side are impossible. Our army and society got courage and will not allow such deals. I assume possibility of neutral status only. Ukranian society pleased to NATO for a weapon, but dissappointed because of "deep concerning" policy and fear in front of Russia. Year ago Putin also either prepared invasion or just trained it, but B-52s in our sky, British paratroopers in Kherson some colled him. If NATO would send some troops for demonstrative purpose, maybe Putin will not dare to invade and thousands of lifes would be saved...
No, he says "My task was to drive along UKR border. Why for you came to Ukraine? I don't know... Why for you shelled all around? I don't know...."
He is from 35th motor-rifle brigade, captain, Aleysk town, Altay, Central military district
Perhaps the Ukrainians know what's coming for them? Perhaps they remember Russian terror and torture? Perhaps not everyone has forgotten the Holodomor? Perhaps some people really chose death above oppression, instead of just uttering empty words and good advice as if watching a soccer game? Has anyone given it any thought how many Ukrainians will be arrested and tortured in the coming years?
Personally I hope to have the courage to pick up an AK 47, in such a desperate situation, instead of hiding myself in the cellar. Not sure I would have, but really hope so.
Not even close. Iraqi Freedom in 2003, had about 310k and couldn't control a country with roughly the same population but 200k sq kms smaller. And Iraq wasn't getting MANPADs and Javelins from outside allies. So the insurgency gets ugly, Russian security forces get bled, and then the inevitable retribution gets broadcast on the internet. Russia cannot bail because its propped up regime likely will not stand without support, it is personal now (sound familiar - Afghanistan).
All the while the economic sanctions squeeze.
So back to, "how exactly does Putin think this will end?"
CMSF2 Quick Battle Map Conversions
For the Sim/Game "Combat Mission: Shock Force 2".
Quick-Battle maps converted from CM Normandy - Commonwealth module to CMSF2.
(Newer CMBN maps won't allow for that trick, and older CMBN maps aren't the most desirable,
but the Commonwealth module had a few nice ones.
Had to remove all buildings for this process within the old version of CMBN,
and then in CMSF2 put them back again, by hand.)
Several of these maps have bocage in them, which is not normally available in CMSF2.
To make the bocage blend in a bit better with the Syria environment I added recolored bocage textures.
Also Included is a CMFB map which was remade from scratch. That one only includes the first
AI plan for each side, with multiple AI groups.
Included maps(11):
_CMBN Asslt Large Rough (water) QB-131.btt
_CMBN Asslt Med Village QB-006.btt
_CMBN Asslt Small Rough QB-081.btt
_CMBN Meet Large Open (water) QB-258.btt
_CMBN Meet Large Village QB-058.btt
_CMBN Meet Large Village QB-086.btt
_CMBN Meet Med Hills QB-245.btt
_CMBN Meet Med Open QB-255.btt
_CMBN Meet Med Village QB-203.btt
_CMBN Meet Small Open QB-084.btt
_CMFB Tiny Open-Rural (528 X 384) 100m.btt
All credits to the Battlefront company for supplying the original maps,
from which these modded ones were derived.
Only for use in the Combat Mission games, other then that, this mod is free and non-profit.
This mod cannot be held responsible for harm done to pixeltruppen.
Copy the extracted .btt files into your "Game Files\Quick Battle Maps" folder
Copy the extracted z-bocage-adjust folder to your install folder in the "data\" subfolder.
----------------
Download from this place: http://www.gb-homepage.nl/index.htm (Select "Combat Mission" in left navigation window)
I have like 10 Quick-Battle maps converted from CM Normandy - Commonwealth module to CMSF2. Newer CMBN maps won't allow for that trick, and older CMBN maps aren't the most desirable, but the Commonwealth module had a few nice ones. I had to remove all buildings for this process within the old version of CMBN, and then in CMSF2 put them back again, by hand. I can upload them to my website, if you like.
@DesertFox
It is probably impossible.The terrain design in CMSF2 is completely different from the other games. It is only similar in CMA. That's why I converted all the maps from CMA to CMSF2 without any problem. With the maps from the other games I have not been able to do this despite repeated attempts. It's a pity, because they would be useful for the Euroscape mod.
Thanks for the kudos for the Carius CMRT scenario. That is based on the facts and focussed on the main event and used both German and Russian sources to create the narrative (Note: carius in his account creates a totally fictional and non-corroborated meeting engagement after the encounter at Malinava). The mysterious heavy tank brigade (‘Josef Stalin’) as described by Carius and engaged by the Tigers never existed. In fact the company commanded by Carius was in action against the 41st Tank brigade (T-34 and M3 medium tanks) and the 48th Guards Heavy Tank Regiment, both from the 5th Tank Corps. The first lost some 10 T-34 destroyed at Malinovo/Malinava on 22.07, the latter - 5 IS-2 (sources http://zhurnal.lib.ru/m/marchenko_r_a/poteri5tk.shtml).
So 'fraid video gets a huge thumbs down from. A mish-mash of incorrect factoids. Even simple corborotion with Carius' own account would get this half way correct. Such poorly researched slick video productions really boil my piss though - its al clicks and likes and nothing of any substance. The men involved all deserve better, especially the Soviet tankers who were killed in this engagement. For the full Soviet KIA names list scroll down. A key factor in the success of Carius’ unit attack can be attributed to fact that these tank crews of the Soviet 3/41st Tank Brigade were mainly inexperienced reinforcements. The battalion has come up to brigade on the evening of the 21st June 1944. It appears the tank drivers had experience of only 3 hours driving their tanks, whilst many of the officers were inexperienced and not ready for a fast and dynamic close range armoured fight. Anyways the full account and sources is below. The vdieo - meh...
Historical Background
On 22 July 1944, 1st Lieutenant Otto Carius with his company of eight Tigers from sPzAbt (Heavy Tank Battalion)502 advanced towards the village of Malinava.
They had been tasked with halting the spearhead of the Soviet 5th Tank Corps, the tip of 4th Shock Army’s spear, which had cleanly broken through Army Group North’s defences.
The Soviet 5th Tank Corps during their drive towards Dunaburg/Daugavpils were intercepted by a German assault gun battery (on probability most likely elements from Assault Gun Brigade 912 – although it’s difficult to pin this down with any certainty) around 1200Hrs.
After a short sharp firefight the Soviet armour brushed aside an attack by the assault guns destroying 7 of the assault guns in the process.
The Soviet tanks went on to cut the main highway, from Daugavpils to Rossiten in Latvia, at Malinava. Their next objective was the city of Daugavpils to the south.
As panic stricken German troops fled the area, 2nd Company from the sPzAbt 502 under the command of 1st Lieutenant Otto Carius were tasked with intercepting this Soviet armoured spearhead. After refuelling and re-arming they headed out. On their approach to Malinava they heard the sounds of an armoured battle – the firefight between the Soviet armour and the hapless Stug unit. The Tiger unit stopped behind a slight rise to investigate. 1st Lieutenant Carius, along with Sergeant Albert Kerscher (one of the most decorated commanders of sPzAbt 502) took a Kubelwagen and went on ahead to identify the source of the gunfire.
Somewhere south of Malinava they bumped into a fleeing army Sergeant who warned them of the presence of Soviet tanks up ahead in the village. He was invited into their kubelwagon and the little group carried on. Just before the village, on a reverse slope they parked and proceeded on foot till about a kilometre from the village. Here Carius observed the Soviets moving into position in Malinava and noticed that several T34s were standing sentry on the southern approach into the village. As Carius watched the Soviet tanks begin to ‘circle the wagons’ a motorcycle approached the south. In it was the adjutant from the ill-fated German assault gun battalion. He confirmed that the firefight Carius had heard was the contact between the assault gun unit and the Soviet tanks now taking up position in Malinava.
Carius recognized that the Russian tanks in the village were only advance troops waiting for the main force to arrive. He decided to recapture the village with a daring 'coup de main' before reinforcements arrived. He decided to attack the village using only two tanks.
His reasoning for this approach (as he describes in his book “Tigers in the Mud”) was because the situation was so unclear and, in his judgement, would be too risky for the unit to attack on line. Therefore to avoid risking his other vehicles and crews - six Tigers (under the command of 1st Lieutenant Nienstedt who was new to the unit) remained in reserve while Carius and Kerscher's Tigers moved towards the village of Malinava. Speed was the essence of Carius' strategy, as was his desire to avoid unnecessary casualties.
Entering the village, two T-34/85 tanks were observed rotating their turrets. At that moment, Kerscher's Tiger No.213, trailing Carius, opened fire and knocked them out. Both Carius and Kerscher’s Tigers penetrated into the village where they engaged the other Soviet tanks at close range. Carius recalled that the entire battle lasted no more than 20 minutes - Carius and Kerscher's Tigers knocked out 17 Russian tanks (as claimed by Carius in his account in ‘Tigers in the Mud’) during this brief but violent action. His quick and accurate recognition of the situation and the excellent tactics used were the main factors in the decisive outcome.
Controversy and Discussion
These are the key facts. However this action (and the following one Carius describes in his book – Tigers in the Mud’) have gathered some critical views – did this really happen? This link provides some background detail regarding the discussion including some very interesting Russian research by S.Morozov about the action simulated in this scenario and the second event described by Carius in his book:
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=163515
The discussion and links provided in this forum were crucial for working out what happened where – especially the detail provided by S.Morozov.
There are a few points regarding Carius’ account (bearing in mind it was written from memory a long time after the actual events) that the evidence available now to researchers doesn’t corroborate. They are:
The mysterious heavy tank brigade (‘Josef Stalin’) as described by Carius and engaged by the Tigers never existed. In fact the company commanded by Carius was in action against the 41st Tank brigade (T-34 and M3 medium tanks) and the 48th Guards Heavy Tank Regiment, both from the 5th Tank Corps. The first lost some 10 T-34 destroyed at Malinovo/Malinava on 22.07, the latter - 5 IS-2 (sources http://zhurnal.lib.ru/m/marchenko_r_a/poteri5tk.shtml).
The Soviet brigade commander killed by Carius is a pure fantasy. The most high-ranking Soviet tank officer killed at Malinava on this day was Captain Orlovskiy, CO of the 1st battalion, 41st Tank Brigade (Same source as above).
The subsequent ambush east of Malinava, in which Carius allegedly destroyed 28 Soviet tanks seems to be a fantasy as well. There are no recorded Soviet tank losses for that day that corroborate the story (or subsequently in the area). However the evidence tallies for the action at Malinava and for it happening reasonably close to Carius’ account of events.
In Carius’ account there is no mention of the German assault guns being involved in supporting his attack. However there is evidence that indicates that the surviving assault guns from the unit previously engaged by the Soviet tanks, joined in attacking by fire from the north west when the Carius attack went in. It’s also likely they KO’d some of the Soviet tanks claimed by Carius in his book. The evidence of this comes from the German AAR and ironically a German newspaper article about this very action (It can be found as document 18 in "Tigers in the Mud"). Dated 28 July '44, "Review of the War Correspondent Reports - The Bronze Shield". It was written by Herbert Steinert, and it provides some interesting snippets of information. It writes that most Russian tanks were destroyed outside the village (which corroborates well with Morozov's account above and his locations of KO’d Soviet armour in and around Malinava), and here is the interesting part - "Leutnant Carius can chalk up 10 kills for himself, the second "Tiger" had four. Three of the fleeing bolshevist tanks were destroyed by assault guns which had followed the penetration of the tanks."
A key factor in the success of Carius’ unit attack can be attributed to fact that the tank crews of the Soviet 3/41st Tank Brigade were mainly inexperienced reinforcements. The battalion has come up to brigade on the evening of the 21st June 1944. It appears the tank drivers had experience of only 3 hours driving their tanks, whilst many of the officers were inexperienced and not ready for a fast and dynamic close range armoured fight.
It can also be speculated that after their victory over the German assault guns that they’d relaxed, or had become overconfident or had perhaps most likely (either because they simply forgot or due to their inexperience) that a vital part of mechanised combat is attentive and alert observation of all arcs that a possible enemy could approach from. Whatever the reasons the young inexperienced Soviet tank crews paid a heavy price – 20 officers and other ranks were killed in the fight. Many were buried by the wrecks of their destroyed tanks on the battlefield. Note: A full list of the Soviet tankers killed at Malinava can be found at
http://zhurnal.lib.ru/m/marchenko_r_a/karius1.shtml
These discrepancies aside the bold and decisive attack made by Carius and Kerscher was successful and inflicted heavy casualties on the advancing Soviet armour. When playing this scenario I hope you’ll appreciate how much luck played a part in the success of this attack and in both Carius and Kerscher’s survival. It’s an indication of the odds they gave at surviving this fight that after the fighting was over they’d jumped down of their tanks and hugged each other – relief and thanks?
As Napoleon once said “I know he's a good general, but is he lucky?” On a tactical scale it was a superb display of AFV technology, skill, training and luck by the German Tiger commanders and their crews – notably Carius and Kerscher. Several days later – on the 24th July 1944 Nienstedt went on to display his own prowess in armoured combat commanding Tiger tanks when outside Dunaburg his command of six Tigers knocked 17 out of 20 attacking Soviet tanks, including 2 assault guns. His Tiger alone accounted for 10 enemy tanks.
Soviet Casualty List for Malinava
This is the casualty list for the Soviet armoured units engaged at Malinava. Unfortunately the information concerning the detail of the Soviet units is very scarce. However these young men died fighting against Nazi Germany so it’s only fitting their sacrifice is remembered.
Source: http://zhurnal.lib.ru/m/marchenko_r_a/karius1.shtml
Casualty list for 41 Armoured Brigade July 22 1944
KIA
Officers
Captain I.Moroz;
Captain K.Orlovsky;
Lieutenant P.Prokopev;
Lieutenant N.Ravvinsky;
ml. Lieutenant A. Knorpel;
ml. Lieutenant S. Polozov;
ml. Lieutenant F. Bozhenov. He died in hospital from wounds
ml. Lieutenant A.Egorov.
Sergeants.
St.serzhant M. Cherepanov;
Sergeant M. Averyanov;
Sergeant A. Maslov;
Sergeant S. Melnikov;
Sergeant Efimov;
Sergeant E. Krylov;
Sergeant S.Nemirov,
Loskutnikov ;
mL. Sergeant A. Vinyukov;
ml. Sergeant F. Sokolov .
Casualty list for the 48 Guards Tank Regiment July 22 1944
KIA
Officers
Guard Lieutenant G. Romazanov.
Sergeants
St.serzhant A.Mikhailov
Schwere Panzer-Abteilung 502
During the 502nd battalions’ deployment (22-26th July 1944) on the north side of the Duna River they destroyed 73 Soviet tanks and 24 anti-tank guns for the loss of only four Tigers.
The mobile operations the unit undertook severely stressed the Tigers mechanical reliability resulting in a 44.5% operational readiness rate for it’s Tigers. Despite this the penetrative qualities of the Tiger’s 88 allowed small numbers of Tigers to destroy large numbers of Soviet tanks, thereby helping delay the Soviet capture of Dunaburg.
Notable ‘aces’ that served with 502 Johannes Bolter (usually credited with 139 destroyed tanks but the exact number is unknown)
Otto Carius (usually credited with 150+ destroyed tanks but the exact number is unknown)
Alfredo Carpaneto (usually credited with 50+ destroyed tanks but the exact number is unknown)
Albert Kerscher (usually credited with 100+ destroyed tanks but the exact number is unknown)
Heinz Kramer (usually credited with 50+ destroyed tanks but the exact number is unknown)
Johann Muller (usually credited with 50 destroyed tanks but the exact number is unknown)
Designers and Research:
Charlie Meconis and ‘George MC’ McEwan.
References and Sources
“Tigers in the Mud: The Combat Career of German Panzer Commander Otto Carius”
Personal account of his combat career – it includes a detailed personal account of this action plus an appendix that has original German sources.
“Otto Carius Meine Dienstzeit”
Photos and stories chronicle Otto Carius entrance into the Wehrmacht as a volunteer, his life as a soldier, and his victories as a Panzer commander for three and a half years on the Eastern Front. Detailed photos and illustrations of his numerous medals, decorations and documents as well as an interview with Otto Carius about his time in the military.
“Sledgehammers: Strengths and Flaws of Tiger Tank Battalions in World War II”
Useful overview of Tigers in action operationally and tactically. Has a detailed overview of the ‘big picture’ in which Carius’ 502nd Heavy Panzer Battalion were deployed post Operation Bagration.
Overview of 502nd’s Combat history covering vehicle losses in combat
http://www.alanhamby.com/unithist.shtml#502
Interesting discussion, with numerous views and conjecture plus some new evidence regarding the actions described by Carius in ‘The Ambush’ chapter of his book ‘Tigers in the Mud’:
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=163515
Detailed stats and accounts from the Soviet side of the hill. However it’s in Russian and google translate struggles with an easily understandable translation plus brevity is not one of it’s merits
http://zhurnal.lib.ru/m/marchenko_r_a/poteri5tk.shtml
Yes! That would be my next BFC purchase as well. 😎 Veritable and Blockbuster are my long time favorites and I´ve plenty of stuff to put into scenario shape.
Excellent News! Especially looking forward to the FB-Module and some 02/45 Battle of the Rheinland stuff (OP Blockbuster et al.)
Map 11: The Rhineland, Operation “BLOCKBUSTER, 22 February–10 March 1945
Canada Army 3 NW Europe: Chapter 19: The Battle of the Rhineland, Part II: Operation BLOCKBUSTER, 22 February–10 March 1945 (tothosewhoserved.org)
Hi Desert Fox: My scenario "Bloody Buron Overhaul" is posted at The Scenario Depot a branch of A Few Good Men. Can can find it by searching either on the title or on my handle "Kandu".
Yes, certainly well deserved. Output for this year is stellar, to say the least. Update 5 and Commonwealth module to get CM:FB to VE-Day would be very nice topics for 2022. I guess they also have an idea or two about what comes next in their pipeline.
Yep. Several times I've seen them say that they don't view the early war as a profitable enough subject matter.
It would almost be more accurate to say that BFC has promised not to make an early war module!
Hello everyone,
since the Marder IFV had it's 50th anniversary last week I wanted to point out some minor visual details regarding the differences between the 1a3 and 1a5 model. Currently both models look similar in game. Code-wise the 1a5 has its improved mine protection working though.
So if you take a closer look at the attached images the 1a5 model should have:
new armored skirts
three metal boxes, one on the front and two on the backside
new MLC, 42 instead of 37
kind regards
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