Heinrich505

Great find for the map, Phil. I have now located it and Yushkovo on the google map. Thank-you also for the exerpt from Hitler Moves East. I'd say the SL scenario seems to capture the action very well, from my times playing it. The exerpt describes the battle just as I'd imagined it. Thanks so much for providing it - all these years I wondered what some of the details might have been for that very scenario. It was also curious to me that an 8,8 cm flak gun would be in the scenario, but with that exerpt, it is now explained, as two platoons of 1st Company Anti-aircraft Battalion 611 are noted as having accompanied the 478th on their push into Burzevo. Since the 8,8 cm flak was the only sure T-34 killer at range, I'm sure the StuG crews were glad to have them along for the ride. I don't have that volume, but I have Carell's Operation Barbarossa in Photographs, which shows a small map of captured towns around Moscow, essentially the extent of the German advance before they were beaten back. Burzevo is shown on the map. There is no description of the battle, as the book is mostly photographs, but there is a snowy shot of a StuG in the area that could have been located in Yushkovo or Burzevo [Burtsevo]. Burzevo is also mentioned in the Time Life Series Barbarossa on page 134, where it mentions that the men of the 478th took the village and crammed into the small huts for relief from the cold. It doesn't mention the battle for the village though. Great detective work, Phil! Thanks. Gary

Phil, I looked at some Moscow area maps, trying to find Burzevo, but I couldn't locate it. Most likely a very tiny place that suddenly became important when the temperature dropped to -30 F. Google Map present day didn't help at all. The 258th IFD managed to get very close to Moscow, per some maps I did find. I couldn't find anything specific for the 478th Regiment of the 258th IFD, but they were definitely SW of Moscow, and even closer than the scenario detail of 27 miles. There were some unconfirmed reports of German troops scouting to within 12 miles of the Kremlin, using local trams. I know that the original designer must have had a source to detail such an engagement, but where it came from is quite a mystery. I wish I could have found the source. It had to be quite a read. Gary

Phil, I sent you an email.

Barbarossa mindset, eh? I'll dig around in my ASL boxes and see what I come up with.

Phil, Regarding BARB SHKLOV's LABORS LOST, it is great fun! I'd say you did a very good job of translating it over from ASL. It has been forever since I was laboring over the ASL maps and carefully maneuvering my cardboard truppen into harms way. CM has always been a dream come true for me, as I was now able to actually see in 3D the battle that I mostly had to use my imagination for with ASL. The force mix is good, and I found myself using a sort of cautious aggression in the assault. I had to keep casualties down, but at the same time, I had to clear out that square. I knew that using the StuGs properly was going to make the difference for winning and losing. Those doggone "Stalin Students" were really hard to dislodge, but the Großdeutschland showed how it is done. I "only" had 13 letters to write, and 12 were wounded as well. I have a strange "refresh" of the screen every now and then - no idea what is causing that - but when that happened, sometimes I would see the StuG phase out in a blink and be replaced for only a second with the Stummel, but then the StuG mask would replace it again. Very strange, and I am sure it is some sort of weird Windows - NVIDIA thing going on, but no matter, because the StuGs looked really cool! The battle plays out very tightly, and the attacker can really get hurt quickly and badly if he missteps even slightly. The time for the battle seemed just right, with the need to move quickly to resolve the tactical situation in the time allotted balanced against the need to keep casualties down. It was great fun and a very enjoyable battle. Your "translation" from ASL worked very nicely. Thanks for your hard work and effort on this. It is greatly appreciated. Regards, Gary

A good plan. I, too, am excited to see how things play out.

Haha. That certainly did seem a big distance to "re-orient" ones self. I'd love to see whatever you decide to put together. I don't know how all the maneuvering would be possible without all sorts of triggers and complicated AI commands for the Russian tanks. He was all over the place, stumbling into knots of enemy tanks that seemed to be doing a lot of stumbling of their own. Use your creative license and condense as you see fit. We are already way ahead with your StuG creation. Now I'm wondering if the short StuG can get penetrations on a T-34 from the front. I think it will be very exciting, even if a bit quick. One hit on the halftrack masquerading as an assault gun will likely be fatal. The trick will be, how not to be hit, paraphrasing Monty Pythons How Not to be Seen.

Thanks, George. I couldn't remember what it was called but I was pretty sure someone here would. Phil, the movements you diagrammed look pretty good for his first encounter. That would be kill #1 and #2. After your drawing, he then drove east for a few minutes and ended up in a small wooded area. He dismounted, and did foot recon, finding another T-34 beyond the small woods. The T-34 spotted him and fired, but his crew had also spotted the Russian and they fired as well, blasting the turret off the T-34. That would be the 2nd encounter and kill #3. It appears that he then drove a few hundred meters to the south along the edge of a wooded area. They were spotted and had to race into more woods to avoid the Russian tank fire. From the narrative it appears they dashed south, and then into more woods, but once hidden, they located another Russian tank to their east, because he has his driver turn to the left. He got the drop on the Russian tanker, and fired first, destroying the enemy tank. This would be kill #4. Then it would appear they reversed from that area, drove for a while (south???...it's not clear) and then has his driver turn to the west and dash across a small clearing into a group of large trees. At this point he spots 3 T-34s on a nearby rise. It would seem he is lower than the Russians, as he says they are silhouetted against the blue sky. While attempting to maneuver closer, they almost get bogged in a large stream, but manage to back out. In searching for a safer crossing, Wittmann has his driver turn right (north, I'm guessing) and they find a better crossing, splashing across to what is described as the southeast bank...which doesn't seem right if they were on the east side of the stream. They are sneaking up behind three Russian tanks, and get to about 500 meters from them, and behind them. It would appear that they knocked out the center tank with a shot to the rear engine compartment. That's kill #5. Then they turned left to deal with the next tank, which apparently spun around to face them. It took three rounds to the front of the T-34 to supposedly kill it, with a shot in the turret ring that jammed the turret. The third Russian tank dashed off the hill to safety somewhere. They thought that was it, and started to check their assault gun for damage, but apparently the Russian tank crew managed to unjam their turret, and got off a shot that was a very close miss. Wittmann's boys recovered quickly and put one shot to the turret ring again, and this time the enemy tank started to burn. This would be kill #6.

Phil, it just occurred to me that 65.8 might not even be an identifiable height location. It was common for German commanders to use a grid set over a map, with a straight line drawn across the map. Then, positions to advance to were referred to by using the grid, not the actual location, to avoid the Russians listening in on radio frequencies and figuring out what the German destinations were. So, 65 might just be a number on an X axis, that cross-referenced to 8 on a Y axis. Where those two met on the straight line across the map, was where the destination was, and the Russians would have no clue, unless they had the map. Of course this doesn't help us at all, but it might explain why all the elevations listed on your P47_S46_PULINY_1931_300dpi map seem to have nothing even close to the elusive 65.8. In my second reference, Panzer Aces by Franz Kurowski, the point reference is 56.9, again located near a stream. This account is much briefer, but lines up very much with the one from Simpson's book, again pretty close in details, but one of the tanks destroyed by Wittmann in Kurowski's book is a KV-1.

Okay. Will do.

I think the free ride in a lend-lease Studebaker, along with the vodka, borsch, and sauna fun really seals the deal. In the two sources that I have, I think he actually observed 18 T34s total, but really engaged two sets of three T34s, as the impression I got was that it wasn't a giant phalanx of 18 T34s crusing across the valley. They were likely broken up into 6 sets of 3 tanks each. In one of my sources, he engages and destroys a KV-1 at 400 meters with a shot to the turret ring, as one of the three tanks he kills, but in the other, he only destroyed T34s. I'm inclined to believe the KV-1 might have been an error and that the entire group of 18 were all T34s. There was a lot of moving and maneuver on Wittmann's part, dropping into gullys, or crashing through wooded areas. He was trying to flank the Russian tanks, as he knew frontal shots against them were kind of futile with his short 75. From the narrative, his gunner was going for the turret ring or the rear engine compartment. He managed to blunder into some of the Russian tank groups, so Benpark is right on about the action being very fluid and mobile.

Hahaha. I'm sure the wife has always wanted to visit the Ukraine.

Phil, I am looking in the book Tiger Ace, The Life Story of Panzer Commander Wittmann, by Gary L. Simpson, but I don't seem to be much help on this. I thought the author would be able to really nail the location down, but he doesn't. There is mention that Wittmann's unit is in the area of Moszkov, and he is given orders to advance "...to [a] stream at point 65.5 and guard. Reconnaissance probe reports possible enemy panzer attack." There is mention that LAH is now trying to make contact with the light infantry battalion of the 25th Infantry Division. There is no further help in locating 65.5, and I scoured the map you attached but I didn't find Moszkov on it. As you suspected and noted, the date is July 12th. Sorry I'm not more help in tying down the elusive and mysterious 65.5. Gary

@Lucky Strike You've got my thoughts going back to the very challenging CMBB scenario, where the Germans historically first ran into a KV-1. The German player was given several Mark IIIs, some infantry with grenade bundles, and a Flak Gun, if I am remembering the OOB correctly, and they had to try and take out the KV-1. I think the KV was immobilized. It was a hoot trying to play that, and the KV-1 was pretty much shrugging everything off. If you could smoke the area a bit, and then get the Flak gun set up, you had a decent chance of taking out the KV-1, but you only had moments before the KV-1 would home in on the Flak. I can't remember if any StuG assault guns were also included. But, I don't think we can tow and set up a Flak gun in CMFR, so this battle might not be reproducible. The StuGs used in the Stalingrad mod were actual assault guns, but the long 75 barrel was "adjusted" so that visually it appeared to be short.

Enjoy your vacation time, and don't get caught by the Mrs while trying to covertly keep up with your CM mods. You are supposed to be on "vacation." There will be hell to pay!

Doggone it, Phil's administrative assistant must have left the bourbon out after she was told to hide it from him. Someone get the latte' machine fired up as we need to pump Phil full of mocha choka grande peppermint latte' with whipped cream on the top. That way we can get him back on track and pushing out more cool BARB or STAL stuff. He gets so maudlin when he hits the bourbon. Ya just can't get good help these days. Sheesh! He never gets this way with Johnny...Walker that is... Phil, with this StuG of yours, it might be possible to recreate Wittmann's early armor encounters, as he did some crazy things while commanding the early assault guns.

Phil, This is a brilliant little struggle in the cold. When I first bought Combat Mission Barbarossa to Berlin, I wondered the same thing you did. Was there a game scenario that covered the situation pictured on the box art? There wasn't, but I always wondered what might have happened if that little picture played out. Well, you nailed it, pal. This little battle is perfect for what is depicted in the CMBB picture. We got the house, fairly intact, and I only had to write two letters. Sadly, I think they were from friendly fire, as the Assault Gun boys shot a little short on one shell. The troops patched up the two wounded, and Schultz got a small fire going in the ruins so we could warm up. The two Russians we took prisoner were more than happy to help with the fire, and we ended up sharing some of our rations, as they they appeared to be more starved than we were. We did set up a perimeter, just in case some other Russians decided they wanted the warm house back. The StuG is perfect. It was the deciding factor. Otherwise, I think we'd have taken some really bad casualties. I was not able to button up the StuG commander. The button was greyed out. I felt a little uncomfortable when getting close to the house and not able to have the crew button up. Is there a way to fix that? Just curious. Otherwise, the StuG looks amazing and performed well. Thanks so much for putting this together. It brings back a lot of nostalgia to the early battles of CMBB. These games were absolutely jaw-dropping for me, because it brought 3D to all the ASL games I had been enjoying for years. Now I was able to get down alongside the troops and see what they were seeing. Great job Phil! Gary

Beautiful job, Phil. This is a very tense little scenario, and I was definitely having flashbacks to the Stalingrad Mod that NPye put together and so many others had a great hand in modding as well. The wind whistling around the frozen terrain was a great addition. I was feeling the cold. As an aside, I saw there was a sherman-vc.mdr file in the goody box. What does that go to? Regards, Gary

Phil, Another masterpiece, the BARB KALTE EINTOPF scenario. The action is crazy, with a veritable wave of Soviets, and not enough ammunition or troops, muhahahaha. I had to cycle the guys around to the ammo stash when they started getting low on ammo. I really felt bad for the guys in the OP. Damn, I wanted to save them...but... This reminded me of your amazing gems for Cholm. Same type of desperate situation, the same sinking feeling of hopelessness, and a resigned feeling that you had to hold on, because there was no place to run to. Fight to zee letzte round, Männer, und zen throw grenades. Vas? Out of grenades? Throw rocks!!! I was holding my breath right to the finish. Excellent job. Hilfe...Sani... Gary

Phil, Doggone it, I was hoping you'd leave the extra gear on the Russkies, to SLOW THEM DOWN!!! They were charging hell bent for leather towards my positions, and too fast. Vee need more men - zee situation ist kritical!!! Great little battle. A regular nail biter! Wonderful job. Gary

Will do.

Phil, Yikes, some very tense moments in the BARB DIE VERWUNDETEN BESTIEN scenario. Well done, as always. Very tense moments. Grossenkiester was heading over to the gun crew after the battle, planning on doing some kiester-kicking of his own, after Antretter let his gun crew fire the last two AP shells at some Russian crewmen fleeing in the weeds. Luckily those two shells weren't needed, or things would have really been bad! Thanks for the cool scenario and mods. Thing are really looking sharp. The PZII looks pretty cool too! Gary

Excellent! If your character's HQ section is wiped out, does the campaign end?

No problem. It's ready when it's ready. ;-D More to look forward to.

Great work Phil! It is always appreciated. Those two campaigns really look cool. I'll look forward to them when they come out. I didn't see BARB Kalte Eintopf in the goody box. Is that still a WIP? Just curious. Having a lot of fun with BARB Mann Gegen Panzer and BARB Snos Mosta. With the limited troops available, you really have to think carefully about where to deploy and use them to their best advantage. Gary