Antman

No problem, costard; controversial claims require referencing From memory, Eisenhower said during a meeting that it would be best if the German war leaders were 'shot while trying to escape' and that the Russians should be allowed to do the dirty work of executing most of the German General Staff. This needs to be understood in the context of the Morgenthau plan for reducing Germany to an agricultural nation, and the whole concept of 'unconditional surrender'....in the end things didn't go the way Morgenthau and his backers wanted, but Hitler made enormous political capital from both Morgenthau's ravings and from the Allied policy of unconditional surrender. I had to move books down to the garage because I've just got too many:) No room I can't recommend "Visions From A Foxhole" too highly; the author (Foley) was a graphic artist, and his sketches of combat soldiers are included in the book.

Arggghhh! Wordwrap!!! I hate that!

When I said 'elite units', I meant certain formations that have a sense of their own 'specialness' and 'separateness' from society...not the general soldier, either professional or conscript, who although he has been trained to kill, still sees himself as part of society, no matter how much he may feel that those at home or in the rear areas don't understand what it's like to be a combat soldier. Historical examples of the 'Death Cult' in action would include some of the orders of crusading knights, the Mamelukes,some units of Waffen-SS and the French Foreign Legion, to name just a few. Note that these formations are known for their fighting effectiveness. Regarding Eisenhower, and plans for the execution of German war leaders and the General Staff; I can't put my hands on the source(embarrassingly) since I moved 2000 books down to the garage, but any good book dealing with the wartime Allied plans for post-war Germany willcover this. The original sources (from memory)are the diaries of Bedell Smith and Harry Butcher, and perhaps Kay Summersby. Eisenhower himself omitted a great deal fom his diaries when it came time to publish his memoirs. In fairness, I would point out that Eisenhower several times investigated the deaths of German POW's in Allied custody (there were quite a few incidents in Normandy of the killing of prisoners en masse, as well as several cases of whole railroad cars of German POWS suffocating to death through overcrowding). Another thing to remember (and any honest book by a combat veteran will confirm this) is that surrendering on the battlefield is one thing; whether the enemy accepts your surrender is another thing- itchy trigger fingers can cause an instant massacre of soldiers who are genuinely trying to give up, and many times there is simply not the time or extra men to guard prisoners- so they are killed. Read about this, if you want, in: "Visions From A Foxhole: A Rifleman In Patton's Ghost Corps" by William A. Foley Jnr, an ordinary infantryman who several times executed groups of prisoners during the push into Germany,for reasons both vengeful and practical.

History shows that very often elite units evolve an ethos that can best be described as a Death Cult; in which the acceptance of one's own death in the service of the unit is twinned with a self-image as dealers-out of death and destruction. These kinds of religious-military cults often commit atrocities; their fighting effectiveness is, if anything, increased by such acts.

In ancient and medieval times the slaughter of the enemy - and his women and children- was often carried out, quite cheerfully and at the direction of higher command. Eisenhower planned at one point for the shooting out of hand of the entire German General Staff once the war had been won. My point? Um........

I for one would be very interested. Happy to serve in either role. Have been cranking out PBEM turns for a few years now. Cheers, Matt Email address ant_man@aapt.net.au

"The original Carentan CMBO operation had many virtues as playable (not all would agree) but made quite extensive compromises with historical accuracy. I found that every step back in that compromise led to a corresponding degree of lack of playability. This not just referring to correct sizes of formations, armament, terrain and distances - even the landscape as such in a topographical sense (as far as you can come using the CM terrain of course - you can never actually recreate the claustrophobic nature of the terrain in question, nor is it in any ay possible to recreate Norman villages or towns). The Elephantiasis is quite inherent, if starting with the same ambition as the original Operation it will rapidly grow quite beyond control in all asepcts. You know Carentan herself, as I found out, looks humble enough in life, as it does on a postcard or a wartime map, but projected unto a CM map it turns out to be quite a large town. Of course, there was very little fighting to speak of within the urban area itself IRL, but what is a Carentan Operation without a visible Carentan... The workable alternatives would be to either choose hotspots for scenarios, or narrow down the Operation idea. Perhaps focus the Operation on following the progress of a particular participating battallion or company" Beautifully put, Dandelion... Cole's battalion attack down the causeway to Ingouf Farm might make such an Op... As far as the original goes, it was designed for best play as German vs AI (and the order of battle derived from Martin Poppel).... Some interesting tweaks arise from converting it to a more human vs human stoush...

Lol, indeed sir... It is the very same Los who built both classic Ops; Just as the German paratrooper and Knight's Cross with Oakleaves winner Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte fought at both Crete and at Carentan so Los battled the Editor's limitations "Circular Square", eh? I know not of this place... and I am no longer driving a T-26. I upgraded to the new Nissan Citrus-it's a lemon.

Hey Dandelion- Double congrats! A vacation is as good as a holiday "There is the widely read "Band of Brothers" book by this American researcher whose name is ghastly well known and yet keep forgetting it (but most people the Forum know him - who is he guys?). " It's that bloody Stephen Ambrose... I'm beginning to realize that I'll actually need to spend some $$$ on books to get any closer to the facts...the net has it's limitations....just read an account of Carentan online which has the 501st PIR supported by Grant tanks...but you get that Like yours, my Carentan project just started to grow and grow...at one point I was considering including the fight for Carentan itself... But at the end of the day, it must be do-able and playable...both of which Los's original achieved... The H2H version I'm working on will incorporate a few minor tweaks based on some of my reading, and a few random reins to add confusion , but the 20-battle extravaganza is out Faithful copy of the original being playtested now... cheers, Matt

You don't call, you don't write....your father and I are going crazy with worry....

The Hon. John Kettler wrote: "Night's challenging enough to set up during" I have taken to turning the gamma up by 30% for night battles....you get a much better sense of the terrain

"Ewoks are dumb". He's right, you know...

"The Freezing Point" on its way to ya...

Hey Philippe, I didn't know about the Vuosalmi Campaign...thanks!

You can use the Advanced Search at the Scenario Depot to deliver up Winter War scenarios by searching with the criteria Location: Finland and Date: before 1941... And of course also at The Proving Grounds.... http://www.the-proving-grounds.com/ I would expect that the Finnish Brotherhood here at the BFC Forums probably have them all Cheers, Matt

Very minor typo there might stall you: Look for "Sergei" A lot of his are not the Winter War, but instead cover the Finnish front during WW2 proper.... One Winter War Op I know of is "The Freezing Point'...not by Sergei...I have it, but I don't think it's at the Scenario Depot...mail it to you on request... Cheers, Matt

I should perhaps add the caveat that these are fairly old books...McKee was writing in the 1960's, the Ballantine series was (?) early 1970's, and the Whitaker's late 1980's... Wilmot ('The Struggle For Europe')is the grand daddy of them all...

Two that I found very informative and readable: 'Caen: Anvil of Victory' by Alexander McKee and 'Rhineland: The Battle To End The War' by W.D and & S. Whitaker As well,if you can find them, certain volumes of Ballantine's Illustrated History Of The Violent Century" (!)cover the ETO: e.g 'Battle Of The Reichswald'by Peter Elstob, 'Battle Of The Ruhr Pocket' 'Bradley';both by Charles Whiting, plus many others, including 'Bastogne' and 'Normandy Breakout' these are nicely detailed accounts, each covering a campaign or leader... Cheers, Matt

Thanks Kingfish- I'd already found & read this account...great maps, but a little short on some pertinent details...it sparked my interest,if only because the artillery support mentioned for the Americans consists of 105mm SP guns and 75mm pack howitzers... In contrast to the CMBO op, which uses 155mm and 75mm... Is the US 105mm considered to be under-modeled in it's blast effect? I am in contact with Los (creator of the original CMBO op) and am awaiting his thoughts on this issue... Thanks again, Matt

Glad to see you back on board... Some time ago you mentioned on this forum that you were working on a version of the Carentan operation for CMAK.... I have just completed a faithful copy of Los's original CMBO op; a project I inherited from Bruce ('Pud') who did most of the work, but had to give it up for university. I couldn't stop myself from reading a bit about the battle, and now I have a lot of questions regarding order of battle and so forth....perhaps with a view towards a slightly different H2H version...for example, some US Paras crossed the Douve and canals by boat... If you (or anyone on these forums) can point me towards further info about this battle, or want to share any thoughts, please do so... Meanwhile, I'm just giving 'Carentan Classic' a final playtest before posting it to TPG... Regards, Matt

Glad to see you back on board... Some time ago you mentioned on this forum that you were working on a version of the Carentan operation for CMAK.... I have just completed a faithful copy of Los's original CMBO op; a project I inherited from Bruce ('Pud') who did most of the work, but had to give it up for university. I couldn't stop myself from reading a bit about the battle, and now I have a lot of questions regarding order of battle and so forth....perhaps with a view towards a slightly different H2H version...for example, some US Paras crossed the Douve and canals by boat... If you (or anyone on these forums) can point me towards further info about this battle, or want to share any thoughts, please do so... Meanwhile, I'm just giving 'Carentan Classic' a final playtest before posting it to TPG... Regards, Matt

>>>>>Ruthless, ambitious, medal-hunting officer causes the death of several good men, before revealing his essential incompetence as the unit is overwhelmed by a massive enemy attack... A grand and tragic theme, worthy of perhaps Tolstoy or Homer...James Mason is good, too.

Not just the Germans: Tortoise Super-Heavy Tank A39: Designed 1944 Number built 6 Weight 78 tonnes Length 10.0 m Width 3.9 m Height 3.0 m Crew 7 (Commander, gunner, machine gunner, 2 loaders, driver, co-driver) Armour 178-228 mm (33 top) Primary armament 32-pounder (96 mm) Secondary armament 3 x 7.92 mm Besa MG Engine Rolls-Royce Meteor V12 petrol 600 hp Power/weight 7.7 hp/tonne Suspension torsion bar Speed 19 kph (road), 6 kph (offroad)

"Maus" Heavy Tank = +25,000%

"Yeah thanks but when you buy units where goes the rarity limit. eg 150+ rarity is it most unlikely that I could have found this unit IRL?" Sorry...I don't understand the question...???