Jaeger Jonzo

I enjoyed the film as 'a movie' it had great visuals and realistic looking tired grimy troops and vehicles and the random violence of it all is depicted well. But they just shouldn't have given it a stupid dirty dozen Hollywood style ending which leaves you walking away shaking your head. They would have just sneaked up from a flank and stuck a Faust into it! And no crew would have sat in a disabled tank at a crossroads in enemy territory on their own. End of.

They could have made a really good film but they just couldn't help themselves and turned it into a Hollywood farce the end sequence was just ridiculous and an insult to anyone with moderate intelligence. Big shame, had high hopes for it.

I do believe the bunkers were occupied, certainly the reenactment portrayed it as a defended bunker that the paras are storming with ferocity! The book written about the paras assault is a great read and really puts you in there on the night with them. I'm typing this on a train otherwise I'd go and get that book title! Sorry. I have the vehicle pack but not used it in cm yet. Are the bunkers bigger? The Merville bunkers are a fair size.

There is a book written about the actual action from the paras side and another written by a German officer at the battery (may be the commander, can't remember). Am sure a grog will be along soon to give both book titles. I've got the para one, just can't remember it's title at moment, will look for it. I've personally been to the battery position and have some photos of it if you need them but probably all available online anyway (Google images?). They do a re-enactment in one of the bunkers of a para assault on the bunker that was very life like and scared the cr*p out of my wife! It certainly had the shock factor.

Superb video, thanks for sharing

Great stuff, look forward to it, thanks and Merry Christmas

Looks great, looking forward to it thanks.

some interesting ideas here and great to see a new campaign being made for cmfi. Would have preferred it if historical maps and town names had been used personally. I don't mind the fictional idea of the winter counter-attack but would have preferred real objectives in Italy to aim for.

I still think the building damage needs more work to add to the immersion. Why no buildings on fire or smouldering for a start? I Just fought over a mainly timber dwelling village and it looked totally un-molested and clean, despite numerous HE rounds fired into buildings etc. One wooden house took about 8 rounds of 75mm before a hole finally appeared in the front wall and it still had a pretty tiled roof intact!! Couldn't BFc implement a decal style progressive damage to the buildings? Ie sections of roof or walls collapsing, tiles missing from roofs etc etc

The German team leaders get taken out just as efficiently I can vouch, along with said mg42 guy.

Well I will be buying it, too many good vehicles to miss out on. 20 bucks is naff all, relatively speaking in today's world. My only gripe is why was the wasp missed out? Thought they saw duty in Normandy? And also why create fictional units like concrete emplaced allied AT guns? But well done BFC on continuing to support CMBN

Sorry for my ignorance but what is scandade? Thanks

Having just read Tigers in the mud a second time around, I enjoyed reading more of Ottos responses. Thanks for sharing.

I don't quite get why you think there is any large window required between newly won ground being taken, the guys instantly starting to dig in and consolidate as much as they can before any enemy action? They start digging in instantly to save their own lives! The author even mentions 'corporal Black? Killed by a bullet still bent over his shovel' These guys were in a race against time to get these holes dug due to all the arty coming in and instant counter attacks. No doubt they enlarged and improved them over night or if fixed for a day or so, but generally they dug a hasty slit trench as a matter of life or death, hence damn quickly! Pretty sure we'd all do the same in their boots.

Thought some if it was cobblers. 'Other than 1st,2nd & 3rd SS, the other divisions were merely 'volksturm' divisions...really? Tell that to the Viking division on the Eastern front or the 12th HJ in Normandy! Some of the other statements were dubious too.

Well again, the very next chapter I've just read, the author states that as soon as his company gained the crest of Hill 113 at the Odon after a direct bayonets drawn infantry assault, which he quotes as 'reaching our first objectives' we began to dig in, two men digging each slit trench'. As each enemy salvo came in, they hit the earth, got up and carried on digging. Interestingly he also says a R.E. Bulldozer arrived to dig the battalion CP out the reverse face of the slope! As for brewing up, well we Brits do love our tea, it does have a calming effect, probably in the same way people took up smoking during the war. They still offer us tea at hospitals here if you've had a bad turn or dizzy/distressing spell...like it's a miracle cure! The tankers often brewed up inside their tanks or just behind it at any opportunity/forced halt. Pretty sure the pbi did too using a bit of sand and petrol and ration tin, a trick learned in the desert war.

Guess we will have to agree to disagree on this one then To me it's always felt tactically wrong to not be able to consolidate a position. Play a large map with several companies in command and arty present on both sides and you might feel similar. It will not apply to your regular 30-40 minute slugfest but as soon as larger distances and bigger forces are involved the situation tends to require some way of being able to defend a position, rather than hiding in some trees. As for Brits stopping for tea in a battle, think that's mostly Hollywood directors taking the usual cheap shot, bit like the scene in bridge too far where the US airborne implore the Brit armour to steam down the single road. I read a very different reason from a British tank officer in his memoir.

Just read 'Vur folk and fuhrer' , memoirs of a young Liebstandarte section commander on the Ost Front. It was a fascinating read, thoroughly enjoyed it. Lots of interesting insight from the other side of the fence. Tigers in the mud is great too. Memoir of a Tiger company commander.

Flamers like the crocodile and Bren carrier. Flail tanks. Kangaroos. But like others here, I'd like some properly done campaigns based on the major operations with correct maps and forces. They are a great challenge. I wish BFC could somehow make ops and campaigns playable as h2h/pbem, that would be superb. Medics. I always try to treat my wounded in my battles. Proper medic teams would add to the immersion, though not a biggie. Ooh, and the ability to dig in

All valid points but now it's been around a while I expect quite a few of us are fighting out bigger longer battles so digging in becomes more valid or realistic. Play a large/huge map and trust me you easily end up with some units un-engaged for over 10 minutes. Ops and campaigns would also make valid use of it. I think it'd be pretty cool if you could order a platoon to advance to & dig in on a hill or at crossroads etc. To hold it. The officer in Lion rampant mentions digging in as soon as they reach 'bound' points in the offensive, ie a hedge line before crossing another field etc, or digging in as soon as they reach a hamlet or village. Don't forget these guys expected instant retaliation as soon as they gained any ground whether from enemy attack or arty stonks, so of course they dug in at every opportunity.

Sorry didn't mean to pass over your comments earlier Sergei, think you must have replied while I was still typing my own. Well the book I'm currently reading is 'a Lion rampant' written by a platoon leader with the 15th Scottish. (Excellent book by the way) and he constantly mentions digging in during the Scottish corridor advance. You guys seem to forget these guys had trained for 3-4 years so were at peak physical fitness and discipline was firm, not to mention self preservation kicking in to speed your digging. If it didn't happen why would they bother mentioning it in accounts?

Valid points by warts and Yankee, but doesn't escape the fact that 'dig in on arrival' is exactly what infantryman do in wartime in hostile terrain. Read any infantry account in Normandy and there are constant references to digging in at every leap forward or position held. Certainly British doctrine and pretty sure the same for all other nations, though have read US troops often had to be bawled at to dig in When faced with the inevitability of an aggressive counter attack by some HJ units, I don't blame the PBI for getting under cover ASAP! I still think it's a fundamental missing item from the CM series, doesn't stop me enjoying it but does bug me every fight. Do a google search on 'How long does it take to dig a foxhole', you get a variety of answers. The very basic an infantryman would do is dig a shell-scrape about 20cm dp with a mound of earth piled up at the forward edge. That would be done in less than 10minutes.

Joe, if you play 30 minute encounters then your right there is no point but the majority of my pbem fights are 1hr plus. It just seems wrong that you advance a company to say capture a hill or village then they just sit openly on the local terrain waiting to get hammered by fire. Any infantry unit would immediately dig in on arrival. If it was done dynamically it could give maybe shell scrape cover in 10 mins, foxhole in 20-30, slit trench in 45+, all dependant on quality of troops as well. I am fighting a large pbem at present with a battalion of infantry & support weapons, arty etc, on a large rural map with village and crossroad objectives. It just seems daft that I manoeuvre and deploy companies or platoons to these hot spots then I can't secure them properly and/or I get creamed by inevitable arty stonks...because the infantry can't carry out a fundamental aspect of infantry combat. Doesn't hurt to ask if it's possible to implement

Apologies if this has been covered before, but I may have missed it. Don't we all think that some kind of time related 'dynamic' digging in should be carried out by infantry units that remain stationary for a given time? Circa 5-10 minutes? I have read countless books over the years of infantry memoirs and the mantra they repeat again and again was the need to dig in, deeper and faster the better. I think the devastating infantry losses we suffer so easily in cmx2 is because they are too exposed to direct and indirect fire on any part of the map. The accounts mention digging in as soon as they had any kind of pause, even moving up to the next hedgerow they would dig scrapes if told to wait for further orders before continuing the advance. Mortars and arty were deadly in Normandy so the men on the ground quickly dug slit trenches or foxholes as fast as possible. This is especially so when an objective has just been taken, knowing there would probably be an immediate enemy counter attack or barrage/stonk to retake it. I don't really buy the 'not in timeframe' of a regular CM battle as most fights are at least 40 minutes, with many bigger scenarios lasting up to an hour and half. If you hadn't dug your own foxhole by then I'm pretty sure someone would be digging your grave instead! Just think it would be far more realistic if this could be implemented in some way.. Pretty sure it would make infantry casualties a little more realistic too.

Could this be used to create a meta campaign with several players fighting on either side? That would be great. Really like the idea of having a campaign applying meaningful battles