jtsjc1

The full Berlin map...

Lieutenant Aleksandr P. Oskin in an T34/85 and 501st Heavy Tank Battalion | Weapons and Warfare

Yeah it didn't get any better after this action either...
The 501st’s record through August 1944 was so poor that on the 22nd August 1944, as you say, 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. I can't find any record of what happened to him after this.

From what I've read their CO was relieved after this action. 

Poland summer 1944, early morning. Panthers moving out.

King Tigers from Schwere Panzer-Abteilung 501 about to engage Soviet IS-IIs. They did better in-game than they did in RL!

ZIP-CRACK!
"Did you see that?"

@Vergeltungswaffe. It's the best book on the battle of Berlin by one of the best authors on the late war period. An absolute must have for every Ostfronter.

Russian tanks were often not painted at all at least not in the beginning of the war. Never read or they continued this practice later. Better look at some late war photographs. 

At the Luftwaffe Ministry, MG Platoon commander Hörter and the last rifleman from his HQ team hug the floor as enemy bullets slice through everything around them. They are frozen with fear and anticipate death any second. As the Soviets change magazines, the eyes of the two men open and find each other. In that moment, the gaze of each silently asks the other, "Do you want to die like a dog, or like a man?"  Suddenly, they find strength, rise and engage the enemy squad.

 
The Soviets, thinking they had won the firefight, are taken aback. Hörter cuts one down with his MP40. The remaining enemy soldiers lose their nerve and dive for cover. When Hörter and his comrade stop to reload, the Soviets exit the room and run down the stairs to the ground floor.

 
At that moment, the concrete HQ Stug rounds the corner and scans for targets. In a reversal of fortune, the Soviets are now the ones facing annihilation! But, like with Hörter, fear is replaced with courage and two Russians ignore the new threat to turn and re-engage Hörter's team.

 
The Stug fires.

 
But the shot comes too late for Hörter. Like so many men, fate has decreed that he and his comrade are indeed to meet their end in the Fire and Rubble.

(Last of series.)

Yup 2.11 is the latest. Don't forget Radzymin was home to the largest tank battle in Poland...
https://www.thefewgoodmen.com/tsd3/cm-red-thunder/cm-red-thunder-add-ons/razymin-master-map-care/

I just bought it and the version is 2.11 Game Engine 4 so I think it is up to date.  I opened a couple of scenarios and noticed that the Russian tanks did not have red stars on them.  German halftracks had the iron cross.  I am assuming everything with my installation of ok though.  Thank you for the replies and looking forward to some big honking tank battles.

As the cannon half-track readies itself to engage enemy tanks, a sudden jolt is felt and the vehicle emits a sharp, loud metallic sound. A few seconds later, it happens again. This time, the loader makes a gurgling sound and slumps over. An AT-rifle has them zeroed in!

 
From his observation perch just behind the barbed wire, the anti-tank platoon HQ sees the lead T-34 move to rush the wire. With this many tanks incoming and the AT half-track in a panic, he orders his panzerfaust man to engage. It is a good shot and takes out the enemy tank.

 
A few seconds later, another T-34 surges forward. This time, there is no panzerfaust available. However, the sharp eyes of Stug 2's gunner, under commander Kahl, sight the threat and send a round down range from Strongpoint East. It brews up the tank.

 
The burning tank's crew bail and 2 men attempt to rush the AT platoon HQ's position. The German team has no choice but to defend with small arms.

 
This alerts the remaining enemy tanks to their presence and a T-34 sends off a canister round, killing and wounding part of the HQ team.

 
Meanwhile, at corner of the Luftwaffe Ministry, the Soviets gain the upper hand in the firefight against Hörter and his men. The panzerschreck team is wiped out and Hörter's team loses its radioman and a rifleman. The rest are pinned.

"Training" continues...
 

Panther vs Four T34/85 range 245 mtr. The 85 mm is struggling against the glacis which is 140mm if you consider the slope of the glacis. That makes the JS2 the only tank capable taking on the Panther or the SU 100 and ISU122. I checked the performance of the 85mm gun and Battle Front got it spot on. The penetration took place at the bottom of the glacis. 

 

So out of the gate I just want to say that Combat Mission Cold War is fantastic and is probably my favorite Combat Mission. Overall everything seems exceptionally well done and I am having tons of fun with the Campaign and Scenarios. I think I may have found an issue with M735 and M774 ammunition however. While playing various missions and some quick battle multiplayer with some friends, I noticed that the T-64A was remarkably durable. I didnt think too much of this at first, because I was expecting the T-64 to be a tough nut to crack. But as time went on I started to notice that it might be a bit too tough.
M735 and M774 are not capable of penetrating the front glacis plate of T-64A, in combat mission. I have not tested this agaisnt the other Soviet tanks with similar armor compositions, so I am not sure if this potential problem pertains to those tanks as well. If the same issue exists there, much of this post may be relevant to those tanks also since they have the same or similar armor profiles on the glacis.
 
I would like to start out by showing how the current game models the mentioned APFSDS vs the named target. I performed this test at 1000m, 0 degrees angle. I used RISE Passives for the M735 test and M60A3 TTS for the M774 testing. I counted each APFSDS fired to ensure I was not confusing sabot hits with other types of ammo the AI might choose to fire. I did the tests after noticing the durability of the T-64 glacis in various battles to verify under controlled conditions what I suspected was happening. In the screenshots you will notice that HEAT and Sabot hits have a different damage decal. To summarize the results, neither round can reliably penetrate the T-64 glacis. The game appears to model the weak point near the drivers hatch as the "upper front hull" and the main glacis as the "super structure front hull." M735 is ineffective against the superstructure and can occasionally gain penetrations against the driver plate area. M774 is slightly more effective with almost all rounds that hit the superstructure bouncing off, but very occasionally one will get though. M774 also tends to get through the driver plate area fairly reliably. However in both cases many of the hits to the driver plate area are counted as partial penetrations and not complete penetrations, which is odd considering that there is basically no composite armor in this area. Partial penetrations can seen in these screenshots via a smaller hole decal. They are rare for both rounds, especially vs superstructure.
 
M735:




 
M774:


 
The T-64A glacis plate uses a laminate armor array that consisted of 80mm of steel followed by 105mm of texolite followed by a 20mm backing plate of RHA. This armor greatly increased protection against shaped charges while still providing good protection against kinetic threats.  For additional visualization purposes, I will use some screenshots from war thunder in some areas. There will also be screenshots from various books and webpages.
 

 

Source: https://thesovietarmourblog.blogspot.com/2017/12/t-72-part-2.html#8010520

From Zaloga's T-64 Battle Tank:

 
 
 
 
The Combat Mission CW manual states that M735 has 410mm of penetration and M774 has 440mm of penetration. These numbers are identical to the ones quoted on the steel beasts wiki, and are listed as being for a range of 3000m. I will include the table here, as well as some other rounds which will be relevant.

 
From Tankograd: https://thesovietarmourblog.blogspot.com/2017/12/t-72-part-2.html#8010520

 
The above simulation shows that M735 would certainly penetrate the 80/105/20 array and then some at 1000m.

 
The Israeli M111 APFSDS was a derivative of the M735. It would appear to be ballistically of similar performance due to that and the penetration values on the SB wiki. Russian testing of this round revealed that it could penetrate

From Tankograd:

It should be noted here that the T-72A and M1 featured a even thicker armor array than the one on the T-64, going to 60mm RHA/105mm texolite/50mm RHA. So if this could be penetrated by M111 it stands to reason that M735 could go through the weaker T-64A armor.
 
After the end of the cold war T-72M1's were shot at with various German ammunition, including DM33 which is similar in performance to M774. These T-72s have the extra armor added later in the early 80s. It should be noted as well that the extra armor plates are past the scope of CMCW since they were not implemented until after the 1982 Israeli conflicts. DM33 105mm APFSDS penetrated the hull at 2km.

 
Additionally, here is how M735 performs in steel beasts at 1840m, which is using the same penetration numbers as the CMCW manual (the picked range was just as close as I could get to 2km in the editor without spending 1 million hours trying to get it exact):


 


 
 
Based on the general evidence, I think that the M735 and M774 ammunition should be made much more effective in game. M735 should be effective agaisnt the T-64A armor out to any practical range and M774 should be capable agaisnt the T-72A armor if it is not already, which I am guessing it is not based on in game performance agaisnt the worse T-64A armor array.

Sturmtiger from photo and Maus can be included in their own vehicle pack.

This was a neat 2 minutes. A Spitfire attacked and shredded the lead AA vehicle. Then, it got shot down by the remaining two. Then, a heavy point barrage by 75mm Pack Howitzers knocked out the Panther with their first FFE salvo and the AA vehicle beside it with their second.

 
The first hit brewed up the already buttoned-up Panther. That was the front hull top hit. However, a second hit on the engine deck came seconds later. And, in the next minute, two more hits that would have likely killed the Panther, had it still been alive. Not bad. The paras got an easy morning!

See below to reveal the release date...
😁

Makes sense, but they definitely would have still been stomped in a conventional war. The pershings armor is just too weak.

They were pretty effective in Korea against the T-34/85. They had reliability issues due to the engine and transmission I believe.

I believe there is a third volume of this coming out in April for those interested. Covers the final phases of the fighting in Hungary and retreat into Austria. Ideal accompaniment to Fire & Bubble ...

I'm going to let the action play out in a larger chunk before posting again. Probably when my big push gets underway. In the meantime, here's an overview for those interested:

The enemy may have more armor and/or lighter vehicles near the Asten objective. No hard spots -- just some iffy intel. Also, despite the casualties I've inflicted so far, I could still be outnumbered by a fair stretch.

A potato with jumper cables can run this game engine if you dial it down low enough - your rig is fine. 

Any tank is capable if in a good position, or if they just get lucky. 
This platoon of M48s caught these T-62s in the flank at pretty close range. The results speak for themselves.