akd

On the one hand, yes. On the other hand, a typical fighting bunker would not have a such gaping hole up front, so this is kind of a wash.

No fun without boiling oil.

Morale breaking can also cause cover arcs (and other active orders) to cancel.

No, some of the specialist teams only have either glider or parachute infantry version. The teams with duplicate names have both parachute and glider versions. All are in fact airborne.

The majority of buildings in Normandy at this time seem to have been stone masonry, with walls at least 1-2 feet thick (but often thicker).

PM me (upper right corner of forum) and I will give you my e-mail.

The spotting unit must have a qualified observer, so it is normal for a team that loses the qualified individual to be "denied" access to artillery. The problem is when this happen in the preliminary stages of a fire mission and the indirect asset gets locked up. Unless the unit has already gone to fire for effect, the mission should automatically cancel due to no response from a qualified observer. Instead, the firing unit continues on as if they are communicating with an observer that is still alive but blind.

This issue has been reported.

Unless the HQ is in a vehicle, this sounds like a bug, but we would need a save or clear screenshot to confirm. . No, there is no significant delay for temporary command once in range, but as stated above, the command chain display (green lights) always shows the status of the normal chain of command.

From above:

The green lights / red Xs in the lower left always show the normal chain of command. Also remember it is a chain, not a tree, from the currently selected unit (each light next to the unit text represents the link from that level to the next higher HQ). In the case of temporary command by a higher HQ in a formation, the command chain display will not change. The only indicator will be the close voice/visual icons displaying on the selected unit, despite a bad link in the chain to the unit's own immediate superior HQ. Only a higher HQ (XOs are not HQs) from the out-of-command unit's own chain of command can provide temporary command. The HQ must be within close visual/voice range.

"Personnel" mission type is not available to mortars during setup. These were likely 105mm howitzers. Until the advent of the proximity (VT) fuze very late in the war, this is how air bursts were achieved. In the game, artillery units with time fuzes available can select a "personnel" type mission during setup. This will fire standard HE with time fuzes set to attempt to burst at an optimal height above ground, but you will note that in practice shells burst at mixed heights and some still burst on impact with the ground. "Personnel" is only available during setup due to the extra time and coordination involved in conducting an air burst fire mission. edit: yes, as YD posted while I was typing this. As I mentioned above, mortars at the time did not have time fuze ammunition, so this is not an option in the game. M56 HE-Heavy did not have a time fuze but an impact fuze with time delay (all other US mortar ammunition was fuzed to burst instantly on impact, i.e. "super quick"). The purpose was to achieve penetration of cover before bursting. Again, as far as I can tell, there is no way to cause the 10 HE-Heavy rounds available to be used, but more testing won't hurt.

That sounds like a bug. Save would be needed to report.

The HE-Heavy is only available to off-map mortars. Ideally it would automatically used for fire for effect on a bunker or building point target.

The second HE line is M56 HE Heavy, but as far as I can tell they are never used.

A number of stats in the manual are straight from wikipedia.

Not all platoons HQs have an assistant leader in them.

What is the scenario?

Either that or it is a limitation of the spotting system. Off-map assets are never "out of contact" or "out of position."

It does matter, because if only the spotter is out of contact with its superior HQ there won't be a problem with accessing a support asset and the order will be transmitted. This is not my interpretation. This is how it works. Well sure, but you could waste a bunch of time trying to fix the problem by addressing the spotter's C2 when the actual problem is the support asset's C2. Luckily you don't have to spend time pondering, because if a support asset is "out of contact", the break is in the support asset's C2.

Well, that is your interpretation of confusing text, but in fact the only status that originates on the spotter end is "denied". All others refer to the status of the support asset, including "out of contact", which does mean there is no link, but the break is up the firing unit's chain of command, not the spotter's.

No. C2 for an on-map firing unit does matter, and without C2 they can show as "out of contact," but this is on the firing unit end NOT the spotter end. Spotters are never unable to access support assets because of their own C2 status, however bad C2 can affect their efficiency, thus IDEALLY the spotter should also have good C2.

Clearly you did not pay the troll toll.

"DENIED" is a specific status caused only by the selected unit not being qualified to call for the support asset. None of the above play any role, but rather are examples of situations where support assets would be listed as "out of contact," "out of position," "busy," etc. This is not correct. Access to a radio does not affect the spotter. Any unit qualified to spot maintains access to support assets regardless of C2 and equipment. In the case of the latter, most likely the qualified observer (the platoon leader) has also been destroyed.

Since FOs are qualified to spot for all support assets, "denied" would only appear if the qualified individual in the FO team was a casualty.