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altipueri

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Posts posted by altipueri

  1. And a bit more OT, if you can Hackett so to speak. I'm having an Arnhem morning:

    At Knossington Hall in Rutland on 14th September 1944 Brigadier 'Shan' Hackett gave out his orders to his 4th Parachute Brigade 'Orders Group' for Operation MARKET, and having finished, he asked the unit commanders and senior staff officers to stay, “now you can forget all that", he told them, "your heaviest fighting and worst casualties will not be in defence of the northern sector of Arnhem town, but in trying to get there".

    In the afternoon of 18th September the brigade dropped on Ginkel Heide, 8 miles from Arnhem; 6 aircraft were shot down on the fly-in, and there was a sharp action on the DZ against an enemy battalion: some 200 men were lost before the battle had even started. The 11th Battalion was taken from his command off the DZ, to march to Arnhem and reinforce the 1st Parachute Brigade. During the next day the other two battalions (156 and 10th) tried to force their way through the strong blocking line of the 9th SS Panzer Division north of Oosterbeek, and suffered heavy casualties. Changing direction they withdrew, but through the chaotic landing of the Polish gliders, which the Germans were hotly contesting. The Brigade, its strength now much reduced, then fought through the Wolfheze woods towards Oosterbeek, against increasing numbers of SS infantry, SP guns and armoured cars. In the thick of the fighting was Brigadier Hackett, rifle and bayonet in hand.

    Major Geoffrey Powell, one of his company commanders relates:

    "In a clearing in the woods I saw 3 jeeps and on the trailer of one a wounded man lay motionless. Germans were darting through the woods; the squat barrel of a SP gun appeared, it fired and hit one of the jeeps, which burst into flames. A driver ran from it shouting that it was loaded with ammunition. We all waited in horror for the explosion: then out of the trees a short spare figure ran to the burning vehicle – it was the brigadier! Springing into the driver's seat of the jeep with the wounded man he gunned the engine into life, and the jeep and trailer roared across the clearing."

    Shortly afterwards the Brigadier told Powell to charge the enemy and clear them out of a nearby hollow in the woods; there he gathered 150 men, all that were with him at that time. The Germans closed in again and kept them under constant rifle and machine gun fire which took a steady toll. The Brigadier himself led several rushes to keep the enemy at bay; until as dusk approached and with all ammunition gone they faced annihilation or capture. He gathered the survivors together, and in a bunch he led them out in a wild charge through the surprised Germans, running on into the defensive positions of the Border Regiment 400 yards away.

    With the remnants of his and of the 1st Parachute Brigade, and with the survivors of other units of the Division, he took command of the eastern flank of what came to be called the Oosterbeek Perimeter. His HQ was in slit trenches only 200 yards from the forward positions near the MDS crossroads. For the next four days the thin 'line' held firm under constant mortar, artillery, tank, MG and sniper fire. Ignoring the shot and shell he moved around the houses, gardens and woods encouraging the small groups of airborne defenders. He was first wounded slightly on 21st September whilst standing on the lawn of the old Rectory, which was Kate ter Horst's house: and on Sunday 24th whilst returning to his 'HQ' he was hit again by mortar splinters, and this time seriously. The airborne medics by this time had no facilities to treat such casualties, so together with several hundred other wounded men he was evacuated through the German lines to St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Arnhem. The German surgeons there said that for stomach wounds euthanasia was the only treatment; nevertheless, an airborne surgeon - Captain Lipmann Kessel, carried out a brilliant operation.

  2. Given that most of the world thinks Angry Birds and Candy Crush are what computer games are about I find it strange that the minor wargame sect factionalise and bitch so much amongst themselves.

    Hearts of Iron is a great game. Most of what Paradox have done are terrific historical games; so too for AGEOD and Matrix. CM too, of course.

    Pretty much all of these games are good and potentially instructive to children and could be too to our wretched politicians who have such a shallow understanding of history.

  3. I saw by accident the RTS game Sudden Strike which looked just like the huge detailed table top WW2 games of my youth in the 1960s. That set me to looking for a turn based game but I came across CMBO and the WEGO system which I think is its appeal together with the now sadly dropped equipment lookup information which was just like the large folders of armour penetration detail we used in those pre computer days, together with 20 sided dice we made up ourselves as this was before they were available in shops.

    Also the great random battle generator, now also sadly dropped as QBs are now a pain.

  4. Driving through France the last few days and been thinking about the D day remembrances.

    Also decided there is no way you could spot a hidden AT gun in woods or drive a tank through them.

    Similar thoughts to Michael re the meat grinder of the eastern front. Early days in the desert war used to end when bad light stopped play but it soon got a bit more serious.

    As ever so thankful for those who through it. Some 90% of German casualties were on eastern front so just glad that awfulness was there.

  5. Do any of you use the "Random article" button on Wikipedia? (It's about 5 down on the left)

    To me it is the modern equivalent of wandering through a library and just pulling a book off the shelf just to see what it's about, or opening Encyclopedia Britannica and just reading a bit at random.

    How many of you know who George Eulas Foster was? He was resting in splendid isolation until I just clicked on "Random article" a couple of minutes ago whilst writing this post in order to check how many items down the menu it was.

    Supplementary question - why do I sometimes get a "preview post" button on the forum, and sometimes not?

  6. I'm flattered at even jokingly to be classified as a dedicated fan. I am worried that I seem to spend more time on the forum than playing the game.

    And it's just as well I previewed this reply because I'm too non computer savvy to understand why the "quote" has only repeated Steve's bits and not mine - hence not showing what the "makes no sense to me at all" bit was about.

    I give up, and I've only had three glasses of port; but the evening is not over yet.

    And this is an example of the dedicated fan mistaking himself for the average customer :D

    It is normal for any one gamer to think his specific method of play is the most common amongst the customer base as a whole. Our experience is that the person who voices the loudest opinion about a narrow topic is most likely not our average customer. The reason for that is CM has so many features that when someone focuses on a specific element of a specific feature it's very, very unlikely that is the same feature that everybody else is complaining about.

    This makes no sense to me at all.

    Steve

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