Seedorf81

I spent some time on the Final Blitzkrieg pre-order page and ran out of likes, so here a:
👍

Gunner, perhaps. With such a pounding the inside of the tank must be a terrible place. And the turret would be turning this weird continious way if that gunner was wounded or killed, and slumped over on the turretcontroller.

The vehicle is currently available in-game in the Panzergrenadier Battalion B (Panzer Brigade) formation, though it is only the early one with the 15mm guns.
In CMRT the late version with the 20mm guns is introduced in December 1944.

Shows that a well-modded CM1 is not much inferior to CM2 graphics.  

You can tell a Sherman I Hybrid from the hull hatches and the fact that the front hull is made from cast armor while the rest is welded.
Late model hulls, on which most of the Sherman Hybrid (or in US nomenclature, Composite) production was based on, had hatches larger than the earlier ones.
Sherman I Hybrid :

Sherman II :

 
By the way, congratulations on your recovery!

I've never seen this tank described as a "Hybrid" before. And I always thought that it came from 11th Armoured Division. You learn new things even at my age.

The Hybrid Firefly served in Downfall's theater and is present in R2V, so it should be added to the TO&E when possible.
As seen in this rather well-known picture :
"A Sherman Ic Hybrid of the Coldstream Guards, Guards Armoured Division photographed near Namur, Belgium December 25, 1944."

Sorry to bother you like this.

That assumes someone who matters is reading the thread 😉.

Not only the Sherman, Cromwell and Staghounds too.

Sherman Tulip

The 1st Polish Armoured Division used Sherman IIAs, they were refitted with them in Holland so I think they would have been available around the start of CMFB's timeframe. There is no reason not to have them in since they're in R2V, they just need the MTO markings removed and to be put into the TO&E.
Here are some pictures of them.


I found a caption for this specific one: "Sherman IIA of the Polish 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade, KO'd in the Netherlands in late 1944"

The Sherman Tulip was two RP-3 rockets on a fixed rail on each side of the turret. They were set to a certain distance and there was no way to aim them apart from that, so its use as an off-map asset would be dubious. It was clearly designed to be used in direct fire.
As far as I know it was a modification unique to the Guards Armoured Division in Northwest Europe.
Here is an excerpt from a combat action in the Netherlands in April 1945:
"Tulip equipped Sherman tanks, belonging to the 1st Armoured Battalion, Coldstream Guards, 5th Guards Armoured Brigade, Guards Armoured Division, were involved in the action near the bridge over the Twente Canal between Enschede and Hengelo, in the Netherlands, on the 1st April 1945.
Lt Boscawen’s No.2 Troop of five tanks was leading the way at maximum speed down a concrete canal road to take the bridge by surprise. No.2 Squadron’s armored car had managed to rush over the bridge first. Sergeant Caulfield’s Sherman Firefly had turned right to cross the bridge and follow the scout car but spotted a German four gun 8.8 cm flak battery to his left. He opened fire as he crossed the bridge.
Lt Boscawen’s Sherman Mk.V tank was following. His tank fired its 75 mm (2.95 in) gun and machine guns at the German gun emplacement. It was protected by high earth mounds so he launched both his rockets. At the same time, the canal bridge was blown up by German engineers and his tank was hit in the petrol tank by a German shell that caused the tank to catch fire."
If that is the case then I think it's a bummer, but fair enough. It was a pretty rare and special vehicle though quite representative of its timeframe and theater.
The Ostwind definitely served on the Western Front though, there is no reason to omit it considering it is present in F&R.

Much better footage of the the Bradley encounter

Excellent fire discipline at about1:40 through 1:50. I’m assuming the rifle has a burst or auto function, but he is snapping off single shots. Also, the automatic fire you can hear in the background is three to five round bursts. Good fire discipline saves A LOT of ammo!

I had a girlfriend long time ago from Lithuania, she very firmly insisted caling her Central European, while her friends viewed themselves as half-Russians. Baltics are crossroads, it depends whom you ask and where. Also, they are unique in NATO actually possessing significant Russian minorities.
Interesting thing in this Il-22 case is that it still managed to come back and land, despite bloody mess inside.

As far as I know most revolutions and uprisings have one or more underground/resistance/rebel - groups that do have a decent "organisational structure" with active planning and communication. Sometimes they're small in size (Nazi-Germany), sometimes huge (Afghanistan).  Some are only strong in a country's rebellious area's (Yemen), while others can be found almost throughout the entire country. (Vietnam, Algeria 1950's).
Those organisations usually make plans for what to do, and how to act, when the opportunity for "the revolution" arises.
They're all a bit like embers in a dying fire. Waiting.. but as soon as a new piece of wood is thrown upon those embers the flames suddenly come back to life.
The Prigozhin-revolt was not one log into the fire, but an effin busload of logs! Even in Russia most people, and certainly any "revolutionaries" must have realized that something big was going on. I think the storming of the Bastille in France may have been less huge in every aspect (except for the final result, that is).
But I haven't heard of ANY streetfighting ANYWHERE in Russia, because revolutionary groups took their chance. Nowhere, as far as i know, were huge demonstrations reported. No attacks on governemental institutions, no riots, no protests, not even minor disturbances, no cheering crowds. Not the least bit of chaos! Such a huge country, but nowhere any noticable support for, what after a few hours was stunningly obvious for even the stupidest of onlookers, an uprising on the way without any opposition!
But nothing but silence..
And that for me indicates that we will not see a people's uprising in Russia. Maybe someone close to Putin succeeds in killing him, or maybe he falls terminally ill, but I cannot see a second "storming of the winterpalace".

Hm... Our response to jet Shahed-238.... eee... jet "Bober"(?). By the way fragments of shot down allegedly Shahed-238 were shown about week ago, but Air Force Command can't confirm this was exactly this type of drone. 
Reportedly this UKR jet strike drone still under tests. 
 

Turkey Follows China in Move Likely to Infuriate Putin (msn.com)
Turkish banks have started to refuse to work with Russian banks, according to a Russian media report, which follows a similar move by institutions in China to avoid secondary sanctions linked to Vladimir Putin's full-scale Ukraine invasion.
Russian business newspaper Kommersant reported on Wednesday that Turkish banks had terminated relationships with almost all Russian credit institutions and suspended payment processing, although there was an exception for foreign subsidiary banks in Russia.
Sources told the paper that dealings between Turkish banks and Russia were complicated by U.S. President Joe Biden's executive order in December imposing secondary sanctions against foreign firms that help Moscow in the war.
Biden's order allows U.S. authorities to disconnect foreign banks from the U.S. financial system that violate sanctions imposed against Moscow.
Logistics companies working with Turkey told Kommersant that cross-border payments have become much more complicated and that more data and documents were required to confirm that sanctions rules were not being violated.
A source in Turkey's banking sector told Russian state news agency Tass that Turkish institutions were "in a holding pattern." This was because Biden's order required additional clarification, as it was "very broadly worded" under the rules of the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department.
 
 
Meanwhile, independent Russian language news outlet The Bell reported that the move by Western countries to block Russian firms from circumventing sanctions "so far looks strong" and that it now meant that "Russia was in trouble with its largest trading partners, China and Turkey."
The Bell said that "problems with international settlements should also be expected" in other countries that Russia terms "friendly" potentially adding to transaction costs and the prices of imported goods.
 
 
 

As far as I know most revolutions and uprisings have one or more underground/resistance/rebel - groups that do have a decent "organisational structure" with active planning and communication. Sometimes they're small in size (Nazi-Germany), sometimes huge (Afghanistan).  Some are only strong in a country's rebellious area's (Yemen), while others can be found almost throughout the entire country. (Vietnam, Algeria 1950's).
Those organisations usually make plans for what to do, and how to act, when the opportunity for "the revolution" arises.
They're all a bit like embers in a dying fire. Waiting.. but as soon as a new piece of wood is thrown upon those embers the flames suddenly come back to life.
The Prigozhin-revolt was not one log into the fire, but an effin busload of logs! Even in Russia most people, and certainly any "revolutionaries" must have realized that something big was going on. I think the storming of the Bastille in France may have been less huge in every aspect (except for the final result, that is).
But I haven't heard of ANY streetfighting ANYWHERE in Russia, because revolutionary groups took their chance. Nowhere, as far as i know, were huge demonstrations reported. No attacks on governemental institutions, no riots, no protests, not even minor disturbances, no cheering crowds. Not the least bit of chaos! Such a huge country, but nowhere any noticable support for, what after a few hours was stunningly obvious for even the stupidest of onlookers, an uprising on the way without any opposition!
But nothing but silence..
And that for me indicates that we will not see a people's uprising in Russia. Maybe someone close to Putin succeeds in killing him, or maybe he falls terminally ill, but I cannot see a second "storming of the winterpalace".

UKR anti-drone weapon )
Cameraman jokes: "Hey, show his hood! A snake skin on a moment! My boots cost cheaper!"
 

I doubt that the infrastructure failures we see in houses have something to do with the war (not the fires we see in warehouses and power equipment - those are surely happening with a little help).
Pipe leaks and boiler failures are things that happen after many years due to bad installation or manufacturing practices. What we see are the consequences of the economic downfall of Russia in the 90s and the corruption that began to take hold after that. 
No saboteur goes around digging up warm-water pipes to drill holes in them. And no pipe fails from one year to the next because the maintenance worker for the boilers was drafted.
This is the result of shoddy construction from the time the pipe was laid five or ten years ago - choice of material, rushed installation etc.

As far as I know most revolutions and uprisings have one or more underground/resistance/rebel - groups that do have a decent "organisational structure" with active planning and communication. Sometimes they're small in size (Nazi-Germany), sometimes huge (Afghanistan).  Some are only strong in a country's rebellious area's (Yemen), while others can be found almost throughout the entire country. (Vietnam, Algeria 1950's).
Those organisations usually make plans for what to do, and how to act, when the opportunity for "the revolution" arises.
They're all a bit like embers in a dying fire. Waiting.. but as soon as a new piece of wood is thrown upon those embers the flames suddenly come back to life.
The Prigozhin-revolt was not one log into the fire, but an effin busload of logs! Even in Russia most people, and certainly any "revolutionaries" must have realized that something big was going on. I think the storming of the Bastille in France may have been less huge in every aspect (except for the final result, that is).
But I haven't heard of ANY streetfighting ANYWHERE in Russia, because revolutionary groups took their chance. Nowhere, as far as i know, were huge demonstrations reported. No attacks on governemental institutions, no riots, no protests, not even minor disturbances, no cheering crowds. Not the least bit of chaos! Such a huge country, but nowhere any noticable support for, what after a few hours was stunningly obvious for even the stupidest of onlookers, an uprising on the way without any opposition!
But nothing but silence..
And that for me indicates that we will not see a people's uprising in Russia. Maybe someone close to Putin succeeds in killing him, or maybe he falls terminally ill, but I cannot see a second "storming of the winterpalace".

I don't see any serious signs of societal crack as yet. And partly our differences in perception is cultural thing- for example, from my observation Westerners tend to take Russians openly grudging, cursing and complains as signs of them breaking just in a moment...while this is normal and not even particulary alarming state of things there. Even in military.
Now about Prig...yes and no. Prigozhin "coup" was treated by larger part of population as "war at the top"- struggle between and within Kremlin elites. It was dent in their system of power and authority to be sure, but not societal crack we are talking about here- that means, it was not manifestiation of aversion to this dumb war. Opposite, actually; it is clear that A.D. 2024 many segments of society a posteriori read it as warning of what will happen if MoD will not wage this war effectivelly enough. Plus it was self- made by Putin himself, giving way too much space to Wagner. Note also how much more effective Russian military appear to be when tsar finally, after one bloody year, decided to silence Girkinoids and similar guys. It was also Putin's personal mistake.
Yup, these are even different civilizations, with very different views on individual, collective, hierarchy etc. ...and yet, here we are: they probbaly tanked 350 k casualties, excluding wounded....and they still recruit actual volunteers and support for war, both official and unoficial, seems to be high or at least stable.
In my personal opinion such dynamic of slaughter in unnecessary, conventional war would likely cause serious political troubles even in modern China with its 1400 mlns of atomized consuments and likely break North Korea (totalitarian regimes tend to be more stiff in this regard)... but this is subjective theory.
It probably can. But not under these sanctions. At least - not in timespan that would be acceptable for Ukraine. And that is putting aside big question of what "breaking" actually means, because it is understood very differently, depending where somebody stands.
Like above- people in muscovia grudge constantly; it is character, way of communication and even way of orienting social hierarchy. I would be very surprised if we see any real discontent in the form of true social pressure on Putin to end this war. And even then there are ways of dealing with it by Kremlin. Given ubiqiuty of state controlling and even shaping formal organziations (by traditional ways...spies), only true form of discontent could be spontaneus combustion of emotions in one place - that means, traditional, unpolitical riots. These are usually very local and can be redirected toward scapegoats very easily...like nationalists complains were directed at Gerasimov.

Note, these are AI-art. This is the guy who wound up the Twitter-arts world with hilariously banal AI reinterpretations of Hopper's 'Nighthawks', inspiring many other trolls....