jtsjc1

Some screenshots from testing for a new CMBS scenario.  In part, thanks to a challenge by @kohlenklau who started the below topic.  Check out the topic.  There are several new scenarios from different titles being worked on.   
 
Buran-30 Battalion Tactical Group (BTG).
Command a Russian BTR Battalion Tactical Group.  
Map: 5104 meters x 2512 meters = appx 12.8 square kilometers.                                                                      Ground conditions: Wet.  Weather: Hazy.                                                                                                          Supply: Scarce.  Headcount: 70%.
In a few days I'll start a topic in the CMBS Maps and Mods forum. 

Ah I meant to upload that as can’t add it to the BP. It was more just an outline of the campaign structure. I’ve attached it here fir now. 
Five Days Campaign Overview_v1.pdf

The mystery has been solved ☺️
 
 

I have it, read it and used it for my Tank Battle of Lisow scenario. It's really a decent book.  It does cover some aspects of the battles from the German side. The main reason for having more Soviet information is that there isn't much information from the Germans due to incomplete records from them.

The action the Ogledów covers is very specific to in and around Ogledow. There was a great deal of fighting in the whole sector but the campaign focuses on a few square km around Ogledów.
Numbers were hard to pin down as both sides do not tally. However the following extracts from the designer notes and their source I've listed below:
From the designer notes:
"One of these units, the 501st Heavy Tank Battalion, commanded by Major von Legat, was a source of German great expectations.  After being destroyed in fighting during the earlier stages of Operation Bagration, it had been reconstituted at Ohrdruf on 14th July 1944 and equipped with the new Tiger IIs. On the 5th August 1944, the 2nd and 3rd  companies totalling 31 Tiger IIs (the 1st company with an additional 14 Tiger IIs did not arrive at the front until the 12th August 1944) of the 501st entrained bound to join Army Group North Ukraine. Their combat debut proved very inauspicious, as after detraining, most suffered final drive breakdowns while on a 50 km road march. After a supreme effort by the mechanics twenty Tiger IIs were available for immediate combat. This mechanical unreliability was to plague the unit throughout its future combat operations ." 
‘Tigers in Combat I’ by Wolfgang Schneider
"For this operation 16th Panzer Division, with the 501st and 509th Heavy Tank battalions attached to it, was divided into two main kampfgruppen - Kpf.Gr “Bloemecke” (reinforced Pz.Grn.Rgt 64 – I Bat (mot) and II Bat (gep)); and Kpf.Gr “von Busse” (reinforced Pz.gren. Rgt. 79). "
Source ‘Fire Brigades: The Panzer Divisions 1943-1945’ by Kamen Nevenkin
"The 501st Heavy Tank Battalion (consisting of 2nd and 3rd companies) was now down to only eleven operational Tiger IIs out of the twenty it went into action with twelve hours before - due to on-going mechanical issues with the new vehicles.2 However this did not affect the morale of the Tiger crews of the 501st who were very confident that their new Tiger IIs would be more than a match for the Soviets in their lighter armoured and armed T-34s. "
Source: ‘Germany’s Tiger Tanks – Tiger I & Tiger II: Combat Tactics’ by Thomas L. Jentz
At this point I should stress and note that when reading through these accounts there are some discrepancies that can be troublesome to reconcile with other sources (although detailed German accounts of this action are scarce to non-existent it would appear). The key one is the date in the Battlefield.ru account is incorrect – this is then repeated in other versions/retellings of this action. To confirm - the action/ambush occurred on the 12th August 1944. This is confirmed in several Soviet sources, including Guards Junior Lieutenant Oskin’s commendation for ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’ which states that the date of the action he was famously involved in was the 12th August 1944. 
The reference you mention most likely pertains to this action on the 13 August 1944.
At 0900Hrs on the 13th August the 2nd TBn, the 2nd Tank Company of the 71st Independent Guards Heavy Tank Regiment, and the 289th Rifle Regiment from the 97th Guards Rifle Division3, began moving toward ZARAZ (just over 1km north west of OGLEDOW). King Tigers which were positioned west of Ogledów, blocked the attacking infantry with gunfire. A platoon of JS-2 tanks, led by Lieutenant Klimienkov, advanced and joined in the battle. Soon one of the German tanks was on fire, and another one was knocked out. The infantry, without opposition, then moved into Ogledów, where tanks of the 3rd TBn were already eliminating the remaining Germans.
Later in the day seven Tiger IIs moved in from the direction of Mokre. An IS-2 belonging to Guards Senior Lieutenant Udalov opened fire at 800 meters, destroying two Tiger IIs, one of which also caught fire. The German tanks retreated, regrouped, and advanced on PONIK. Lieutenant Belyakov's IS-2 was in ambush in that direction. Opening fire at the column from 1000 meters, he set fire to one Tiger II. The rest turned back.
Thats most of what i found. As I said reconciling numbers of tanks etc at specific times and places was nigh impossible. So educated guesses were made where exact/differing numbers were given.
Hope this helps?
Cheery!
 

b.t.w., most of these i'm posting in this thread are from NPYE's  mindblowing berlin maps, and these are just the fist version- the new maps look even better from the previews he's showing.
so anyhoo...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

well, i've finally got something to contribute- all comment critiques, etc. welcome.
cheers,
rob

Looking forward to the Ogledow campaign, especially because I made a map for this exact area for the Forgotten Hope 2 Mod for BF2. Due to the gameplay limitations of that engine, it is scaled down a bit, but the general look is similar:
http://forgottenhope.warumdarum.de/fh2_maps.php?map=51
 

In short no objective account.
I found  numerous on-line accounts of this action. Many of them would appear to be based on, or heavily reference, an account published on Battlefield.ru which could be found at the link below though it appears its now broke...
The Soviet view of the Ogledow action referencing primary sources:
http://www.battlefield.ru/royal-opponent.html
A slightly more detailed overview of the Ogledow engagement and includes some original sketch maps showing the locations of KOd tanks. It appears to be heavily based on the original Battlefield.ru account
http://tankarchives.blogspot.com/2013/07/king-tigers-at-ogledow.html
Discussion querying loss rates in this action:
https://www.feldgrau.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11435
 
This link takes you to an account which attempts to debunk the whole action, I’ve added it here for err, ‘interest’:
https://elgri.livejournal.com/10845.html
What happened to the captured Tiger IIs from Ogledow
http://www.battlefield.ru/was-tiger-really-king.html
My own notes and summary:
German tank losses in this action – three Tiger IIs destroyed - on the 12th August are confirmed by German records, but further losses in the next day or so are more challenging to reconcile with Soviet claims. That’s not to say the Soviets did not KO or capture the tanks they claimed they did, just from my research it is difficult to corroborate these claims. Thomas L. Jentz (‘Panzertruppen Vol 2’) states that 501st had 45 Tiger IIs on strength by 7th August 1944 and in ‘Germany’s Tiger Tanks – Tiger I & Tiger II: Combat Tactics’ page 153 gives a situation report that shows by the 21st August the unit had ‘only’ lost six Tiger IIs as total write offs, whilst 12 were in need of repair. Schneider in ‘Tigers in Combat I’ on page 46 confirms that the 501st lost three Tiger IIs on the 12th August 1944 and indicates that on the 13th August – “Heavy fighting and further losses. 1 tank – Tiger 002 – is captured intact by the enemy.” The German losses are noted and challenged in the Battelfield.Ru article where the author notes –“Jentz's figures are doubtful. On the battlefields near Ogledów, Mokre, and Szyldów, twelve King Tiger tanks were left behind. From the [Russian} archive records currently available, it appears that the 501st Battalion was routed…”
It is worth noting that the German records for the 501st would appear to be contradictory as several authors provide slightly different numbers for the 501st for the end of August 1944. For example, Dennis Oliver in Dennis Oliver (‘Tiger 1 and Tiger II’ page 5) gives 501st as having 41 Tiger IIs on strength with 26 combat ready by the end of August 1944 having lost 4. Whilst Thomas L. Jentz (‘Panzertruppen Vol 2’) states that 501st had 45 Tiger IIs on strength by 7th August 1944 and in ‘Germany’s Tiger Tanks – Tiger I & Tiger II: Combat Tactics’ page 153 gives a situation report for the 31st August 1944  as 13 complete write-offs; 14 operational; and 18  in need of repair for  total of 32 Tigers. Reconciling kill claims and operational tanks is always a challenging (futile?) exercise given the various factors common to both sides such as over inflated kill claims, incorrect reports, vehicle accounting systems combined with different definitions of when a tank is ‘knocked out’.
 
What is clear is that the combat record of the 501st during this and subsequent actions in the Sandomierz bridgehead was generally unimpressive. Possibly due to the original battalion being all but destroyed attempting to hold back Soviet attacks during Operation Bagration. Such catastrophic events would mean few of the experienced crews would survive to help form the cadre for the new unit to be rebuilt around. 
The 501st was reconstituted on the 14th July 1944 with the new Tiger IIs but this only gave the whole unit around a month to reform and train on the new vehicles, and as a combat unit, before being sent into action – perhaps therein lays the reasons for the lacklustre performance of the new tanks and their crews through August 1944: 
•    after the heavy losses in June 1944 the reformed 501st  consisted mainly of new recruits without combat experience and lack of thorough training due to the short time between being reformed and sent into combat;
•    serious technical problems with the new Tiger IIs (final drives in the vehicles being especially prone to failure, especially if the driver was inexperienced);
•    lack of experience with the new tanks and their strengths and weaknesses combined with overconfidence and overestimation of what the weapon system could achieve, especially the thick armour, often resulted in poor reconnaissance measures and a resultant poor tactical handling.
The 501 st’s record through August 1944 was so poor that on the 22nd August 1944 Major von Legat was relieved of his command. It is also reported that he had links to the 20th July 1944 conspiracy to kill Hitler. On the 21st December 1944 the battalion was redesignated as schwere Panzer-Abteilung 424.
It is worth mentioning that the Soviet 6th Guards Tank Corps did not have significant numerical superiority during this action. Referencing Battlefield.ru’s account – “It had the following operational tanks to face the German III Panzer-Korps assault: nine T-34-76's from the 53rd GTBr (GMc Note: Oskin’s tank appears to have been a T34-85 according to most accounts), and nine T-34-76's and ten T-34-85's from the 52nd GTBr. The 51st GTBr, positioned to the north, had eleven T-34-76's and four T-34-85's. At Staszów there were eleven JS-2 heavy tanks, and one JS-85 heavy tank from the 71st Independent Guards Heavy Tank Regiment.” 
Crucially and in marked contrast to their German opponents from the 501st all their crews were seasoned and experienced armoured combat veterans. The high level of professionalism of the Soviet tank crews ensured they made excellent use of reconnaissance, took full advantage of the terrain and the tactical opportunities it afforded and ensured excellent tactical handling at all levels of the unit. 
Hope this helps?

Struggle for Pomerania – RZM Imports Inc   Just got this great looking book. It has a beautiful fold out color map. I found it for $60 on Ebay brand new. Another online store has it for $70. JJ Fed books aint cheap!

Imagine a Bergepanther to recover immobilized tanks...

Btw here´s my take on rubble and rubbled indi buildings concerning wet/moist weather conditions. The buildings crumbled walls as well is higher standing and the inside got more of a burnt out looks. It´s just a draft made from earlier works 2 years back. Something for you to tackle maybe @Lucky_Strike? 🙂
Btw your PS-Gimp file swap method works perfectly fine. Huge time saver! 😎

Edit: and the Zip file containing rubbled indi building stuff (4 files): https://www.dropbox.com/s/87qkx3dqmbgopoy/RHZ Indi Building Damage.zip?dl=0

Struggle for Pomerania – RZM Imports Inc   Just got this great looking book. It has a beautiful fold out color map. I found it for $60 on Ebay brand new. Another online store has it for $70. JJ Fed books aint cheap!

Hiya Folks,
Some of you may remember those of us who put up the Red Army Studies site way back in the '00s or '10s. We had a host of files from the Soviet Military History Journal of the 1980s in pdf format that were on a very very slow server. I decided to make those files available once more by sharing them all through a shared Google folder. Everything within that folder can be viewed by anyone with the link below:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/125aCdAW_f5wXKx9jns5hzSJEN9Be5hVN?usp=sharing
There are also a number of handbooks and regs for both the Soviets and Germans in WWII. May they prove helpful in some capacity.
Best regards,
Grisha

Time to release it. 

Hi everyone! I've put out a new video where I compare a combat mission scenario to both the historical events that are portrayed and the actual real-life location. I thought I'd post this on the General Discussion board as it's also kind of about Combat Mission scenario design and research in general.
As it's about a Market Garden scenario, I've slept a quite few hours less the past few nights in order to get this video done in time for Operation Market Garden's 78th anniversary on saturday the 17th of september. I hope you'll find it interesting; spending the day basicly giving myself a battlefield tour and filming the locations of the scenario that I just played was amazing. Geeky, for sure, but amazing 😁.
Props to @Pete Wenman who is the author of this scenario for his excellent research and scenario design.
 
 

Personally I would love to see another RT module covering the same time frame, with the minor Axis nations: Hungary, Romania, Finland, maybe throw Bulgaria in as well.

One down. 120+ to go...

Douglas Nash - From the Realm of a Dying Sun series worth getting.
Or 
Norbert Bacyk
Warsaw: Battle for Praga July - September 1944 v. 2 (Operations / East Front): The Tank Battle at Praga July - December 1944 

Ah, so we want to talk “rational”, which is kinda strange given the whole lead up to this mess but, ok I will bite.
There are two types of rationality at work here, objective or high level, and subjective or relative.  High level, the rational is that at least as far as anyone can tell the Russian public are not entirely onside with this whole dance.  So if one were to bleed Russian forces enough they might buckle, much similar to how Afghanistan in the 80s went but accelerated.  The cost will be high but if Russia will collapses (or somebody with real power in the back room “retires” Putin) then the pay off is Ukraine remains free, gets all sorts of reconstruction aid from the west and makes the world record for admission into NATO, while Russians burn their own cities.
At a low level,  Russians just blew up my home and killed my friends and family, I am not “rational”, I am furious and willing to take as many Russian soldiers with me cause they are likely to kill me anyway [aside: are we really applauding the Russian military for not committing war crimes? Man, that is a low bar].
In the end it is a Ukrainian decision and all we can do is support them as much as possible -in case there was any doubt the west has picked a side here-, and more than we did in the run up to this mess.

Did you bother to check out a YT  video before you purchased the game? There's more than enough content out there to try before you buy. Come on man.

He was obviously so angry about getting ripped off that it took 13 years for him to clam down and write about it.

It may be an upbringing issue too! 

Did you bother to check out a YT  video before you purchased the game? There's more than enough content out there to try before you buy. Come on man.

Nice! Sounds alot like the story of PVT John R. Towle except he died during Market Garden.