Wartgamer

A Battalion Command fights its way forward by moving its Command Post to the next site. Its a leapfrog affair and the reserve Company of the battalion is typically where they want to move to. Modern day warriors (and weak-end warriors) are somewhat spoiled by all the wireless they have now. Laying wire for telephones and maintaining tube radios (which were bigger/bulkier and energy hogs) is a forgotten chore.

An example of scrounged people.. DAYLIGHT DEFENSE OF A BN CP IN AN ATTACK All personnel not engaged and not included in sketch below report to S-1 at the Rallying point and constitute the mobile reserve. Proper distribution of the Commanders, rock at M1 must be effected. 1. S Sgt Com Chief - C 2. Clk, Ng - R 3. S Sgt, Sgt. Maj. - C 4. Cpl. Gas. - R. 5. S Sgt, Opns - C 6. Odly - C 7. Sgt. Rad & Vis chief - R 7,9,10,Tec.4 (l),2 Pvts,Oprs Rad. –R. 11,12,13.-1Tec 5,2 Pvts drivers R.M.1903. 14. Mrch, Mts. R.M1903. 15. Sgt, Mtr - R. 16. Opr, Sr. - R 17., 18. Pvts, Msgrs. - C 19. Sgt. Maj .com chief - R 20. Tec .5, Opr Rad. -R

I would love to see how long a Canadian Company HQ would last squatting in a shellhole. CW must act like big platoons instead of companies.

M2HB .50 Caliber Air Cooled Machine Gun Operation Selective Fire; Semiautomatic or Fully Automatic, recoil operated, air cooled Caliber .50 (12.7 mm) Ammunition bullet 710 gr, charge 235 gr Muzzle velocity 853.4 mps (2930 fps) Capacity 110-round metallic link belt Weight 57.8 kg (128 lbs); barrel 81 lbs, tripod 44 lbs In any leg unit, you could not hump this thing. It would need a weapons carrier. Also its ammo is heavy and I think its about half the rounds for the same weight as 30 cal. So thats twice the trips for the same number of rounds.

I think the value of the TOE is in showing how to implement the 1:1 nature better than the current 'unit' abstraction. The new C&C model should also see how things are laid out and who is where. Communications, Ranks, etc. Take the case of the US Heavy Weapons Company mortars. Each 2xmortar section is almost a small platoon. It has a 2ndLT, 3 NCOs, and actually 18 people total. Since the designer has said that ammo resupply can be modeled, and many men in the org are ammo carriers, its the obvious thing to look at the TOE and use that for the game. Going to 1:1 but then leaving out certain soldiers makes one wonder if its worth it at all. In a line company that was under a heavy assault attack, no one is cooking a hot lunch. If need be, they can help the command post to defend itself or cover the evacuation. Getting down to the detail of 1:1 and not modeling something like a command post makes me wonder what anyone thinks a US front line command was like. Its even more crucial for a Battalion Commander to have a Command Post to fight his battalion.

Reposting this as it was editted The Company HQ may actually be broken up into three groups. 1. One is the actual CO, Senior NCO and runners/commo(mobile wireless). It may be 4-6 people actually. 2. The other main group is the XO led group who represent the actual static HQ position. The nerve center setup. 3. The remaining group is the Cook NCO and Cooks plus Armorer/Ammo people and all assorted pots/pans/ammo-dump/spare parts plus vehicle park. This is typically further back but not always off map given the size of the maps. CMX1 ignores actual 'Headquarters' (the place) in that the physical location of this actual frontline unit's location is NOT the same as the Company/Battalion HQ units that are dipicted. The CO could be in the Headquarters 'billet' (bunker typically) or he could be out and about. In his absense, the XO (top LT.) is running the show. The static HQ position is the placement of much of the commo in that landline wire communications from Battalion and above connect to this spot. Large wireless radios are 'benched' here. Much of the tactical maps, photos are 'tabled' here. Its a battlefield reality.

The Heavy Weapons Company is very similar to the German unit. Possibly used in the same manner. It, like the infantry companies, has a number of men in its HQ. Overall, there are more officers than an infantry company.

Why not have a Divisional Royal Grenade Launcher Battalion?

Back to the US Infantry Company: The Weapons Platoon also had a 1st LT and was probably another candidate for taking over a lost butterbar position in one of the platoons. Evidently, this may have been a stepping stone to becoming an XO. The designer should address the Command Post issue brought up earlier. Some units had forward command posts and rearward command posts also.

Its not only the vibration but round to round velocity deltas, weights and many other things. The bullets will land in a beaten zone just as any arty piece shows dispersion. Being lighter, they probably have a greater chance of being blow off course by the wind. About the best target to attack is a tall wide building. It will catch many rounds. But this is not area denial but target denial. Its 8.33 bullets a sec average for 125 rpm sustained each gun 4 times. Its not 10. Its a 4 gun battery and that is the average output. The Vickers bullet is somewhat slower than others isnt it?

The 50 cal policy was sort of like the TD policy. The TD policy imagined fleets of Panzers roaming everywhere. The 50 cal policy imagine Luftwaffe twin engined ground attack every 20 minutes or so. The US made many 50 cals and bullets. But the Luftwaffe, like the Panzer Fleets, never seemed to make the show. In the bocage, they were just too immobile and targeted too easily. They really need a weapons carrier to be mobile.

So 4 guns are needed to drop 8 bullets a sec and what area do you think you could really suppress by that? If only your sarcasm could be backed up by math or facts. Wouldn't you then be fully wonderful? I find it hard to believe that CW people need to hold onto such archaic ideas so vehemently. I also find it hard to believe that you could converge the firepower of MGs that well. The natural vibration of the weapons negating its own convergence of course. Getting multiple guns to hit the same football field with half of thier bullets being a major achievement. Why not shoot 188 MGs indirect everday? Its only 60 000 000 bullets a month. Then the Germans would have went nowhere. Marching Fire is firing from the hip at something other than the air. More like parallel to the ground. [ March 14, 2005, 02:52 PM: Message edited by: Wartgamer ]

I suspect you've never had to carry a .50 cal tripod. Google the weight of the .50 - and its ammo. Should be self-evident, even for you. </font>

US 35th Division 26 December The division, part of III Corps of Gen. George Patton's 3rd US Army, is assigned to attack across the Sure River on 27 December. The division assembled near the town of Holtz, then moved north to the III Corps area, to take up positions in the tenuously-held gap between the 4th Arm Div at Bastogne and the 26th Inf Div to the southeast. It was hoped that the division's attack would break out to the Lutrebois-Harlange road, which fed into the Arlon-Bastogne highway, and proceed thence abreast of the 4th Arm Div. The ultimate objective of the division's attack was to secure the Longvilly-Bastogne road. Daily Strength and Casualties: Beginning Strength: 16,092 Replacements: 1 Returns-to-Duty: 0 Total Casualties: 7 Total Killed: 0 Total Wounded: 0 Total Captured/Missing: 0 Total Sick/Non-Battle Injuries: 7 Daily Major Inventory Levels (excluding MG/personal weapons): Infantry Weapons Bazookas: 336 57mm AT Guns: 54 60mm Mortars: 81 81mm Mortars: 54 Artillery 105mm Howitzers: 36 155mm Howitzers: 18 Vehicles M-8 Armored Cars: 13 M-20 Armored Cars: 30 M-10 Tank Destroyers: 31 M4 75mm Sherman Tanks: 0 M4 76mm Sherman Tanks: 0

The more I think of it, the more problems that seem to come up. Take, for example, a German squad that has its troops spread along a hedge in weapons pits/foxholes. Reaistically, there is a dug out with overhead cover in the center of all the positions. They take arty fire. IRL, they would all duck inside the dugout, or low crawl to it as fast as they could. Can the 1:1 modeling do this? Will the game model the behaviour of each soldier so it makes smart decisions?

If thats the way its fired then fine. Now just try and divide that into the area and the time of the barrage. The fact is that you would not be able to sustain a 'rain' of bullets into very many areas like some of you imagine. One gun firing indirect spreads its bullets out so its 2 bullets a second (average)? Dropping into a beaten zone of 50 feet by 15 feet (or is it more)? It would take quite a few guns to just deny one crossroads. And having men run through it one at a time would still allow some movement. The truth was probably that no one was moving anywhere. Pepperpots. Please. Why not get every rifleman a small wooden fixture for his rifle and have him shoot into the air?

In Korea, Vickers Guns were assigned directly to the infantry battalions, in a specialist Vickers platoon. http://www.canuck.freehosting.net/vickers.htm Thats so funny. Its a specialist Vickers platoon. Like having belt fed weapons at a battalion level is special?

I don't really care what you are aware of, I am just pointing out that this is discussing the US Infantry Company and someone might get confused if you mention a Company Sgt. Major. I am sure under combat all units lose leaders and they get replaced in similar ways. If you read the post that I first posted, and then you quoted, then you might just realize you repeated what I said. [ March 14, 2005, 01:51 PM: Message edited by: Wartgamer ]

So its 450 RPM? You get an extra 5 minutes? Spread it out to the total area being attacked and the time.

Perhaps cover might also be abstracted when on a tank. If you have ever seen photos of tanks with maxxed out numbers of infantry getting a ride, its apparent they are pretty vulnerable. In contrast to that, when just a few are on the back, laying down and taking cover, they would be much better protected. They are smaller targets and the bulk of the turret acts as a wall.

The Company First Sgt ('Top') is the senior Company NCO. Sgt Major is a much higher US NCO. [ March 14, 2005, 12:35 PM: Message edited by: Wartgamer ]

If a platoon LT got taken out, the Company CO could send the XO to take over. The Company Commander would then be more or less restricted to commanding from the actual Headquarters location. In many cases, the senior NCO of the platoon would take over. The Company CO might also send the Senior Company NCO down to that platoon if he thought that situation was critical or the platoon NCO was not up to platoon command.

Another US division website mentions 330+ zooks in a division. many accounts tell of everyone getting imprompto training on them. Including the cooks. Yes heres the 100th website just click on a military symbol (Note: Even the field artillery battalions had zooks) http://www.100thww2.org/100org/100org.html [ March 14, 2005, 11:03 AM: Message edited by: Wartgamer ]

The Company HQ may actually be broken up into three groups. 1. One is the actual CO, Senior NCO and runners/commo(mobile wireless). It may be 4-6 people actually. 2. The other main group is the XO led group who represent the actual static HQ position. The nerve center setup. 3. The remaining group is the Cook NCO and Cooks plus Armorer/Ammo people and all assorted pots/pans/ammo-dump/spare parts plus vehicle park. This is typically further back but not always off map given the size of the maps. CMX1 ignores actual 'Headquarters' (the place) in that the physical location of this actual frontline unit's location is NOT the same as the Company/Battalion HQ units that are dipicted. The CO could be in the Headquarters 'billet' (bunker typically) or he could be out and about. In his absense, the XO (top LT.) is running the show. The static HQ position is the placement of much of the commo in that landline wire communications from Battalion and above connect to this spot. Large wireless radios are 'benched' here. Much of the tactical maps, photos are 'tabled' here. Its a battlefield reality. [ March 14, 2005, 11:56 AM: Message edited by: Wartgamer ]

Yes and that is why I mentioned that he is analogous to the new 'attached' feature, like a bazooka team can be part of a squad, that is being slated. So the sniper should be a detachable 'semi-independant' unit is what you are saying (short leash)? He may not have full independant status. Others may not join him, etc. What benefits being attached has not been discussed I believe. One of the things missing are the bazookas. There should be 9 of them. Are these doled out as a weapon? That is, no dedicated crews?