StieliAlpha

Ok, one beer on my account!?

Yeah, the "out of place" Center of Gravity made me wonder, too. And how exactly could you load the second and third main guns? That would be simple: Cat ladders, platforms and man handling. Not very convenient, but workable. But I agree to questioning the power availability. I don't have many numbers, but AIRC, the Tiger turret weighed 18tons. Let's assume 10tons for the KV2. That would be 30tons for this monster. To move that on ab approx 2m slew ring, you need a huge drive moment, aka power. But then, the beast probably did not want to drive anywhere, once in firing position.

See my earlier post above, but here is another, very similar picture. Not quite so impressive, I agree. http://warisstupid.tumblr.com/post/114666771194/m4-shermayne-german-artillery-shell-embedded-in

You seem to know the Russian "special designs" very well. What do you make of this one here: https://stukablr.tumblr.com/image/126922265670 Is this a real pic, or a fake. Somehow, I can't believe the normal KV2 carriage would carry three stacked turrets.

Yep, that's a problem with Pinterest and the like. The source is completely unclear and mostly, there is no description. E.g., I have seen a pic of a Russian tank, where apparently 5 KV1 turrets were stacked above each other on one normal KV1 chassis. My simple engineers mind tells me: That Center of Gravity would never work. Hm, that leads me to an idea...

Yeah, would have tickeled the driver. No really, I found most interesting in those pic's that neither shell, nor armour plate shattered. All deformation is purely plastic.

Perhaps I should have posted the pic's here in a first place. This shows what a "not weak spot" hit can look like:

Another two pic's found on Pinterest, which I found worth to share.

We need cavalry. And motorcycles, of course. BTW, does anybody know Pinterest? I opened an account a while ago, but I am still not sure what to make of it. In any case, they offer an amazing amount of pictures, though with very varying quality. Just found this one there:

Yep, that's the place.Another mystery solved. I'll surprise my sister with this new knowledge. She lives something like 5 km away from Kaunitz.

Well, finding was easy. Simply search Google for "bunker gerbini". ? I thought, the bunker looks north. That way it would perfectly cover the Strada Statale 192, which branches of from a motorway further north, leading to Catania. I am quite sure, this was a main route ever since ancient times. I wondered about the attack direction from Gela, too. But probably, the idea was to cover an attack from the main route. And, of course, this farm to the south: The buildings we see now on Google Maps may be new, but again: I am sure there was "something" ever since. Looking at the photos, I think the bunker housed MG's. As reference, have a look the web site of the "Festungsmuseum Reuenthal" (see below). IIRCR, the main guns were 105mm, the secondary positions MG's. Note, how small the MG slots look from inside. I am certainly no expert. Just an engineer, trying to apply common sense. And, no, the Kaunitz I referred too, is near Paderborn in Germany. I always wondered, how a place in the mids of Westfalia could have such an "outlandish" name. https://www.festungsmuseum.ch/about-us/festungsmuseum-reuenthal/museumsrundgang/ Finally: Why don't you ask Sergio Cavacece, who took the bunker pic's back in 2013, if he has any more details. You'll find his contact info in the Internet.

Found our bunker. Check it out here; http://www.ventenniooggi.it/catania-segnalazioni--tracce-della-guer or here: http://www.placebeam.com/?r=poi&l=37.46667&g=14.83333&type=all&title=Gerbini%2C Sicily%2C Italy

Interesting question, indeed. I had a quick look at Google Maps and found nothing, what I would identify as support position. For the bunker theory speaks: The thing perfectly covers the Strada Statale 192 to the north. But the it's rear is blocked by the farm, which I assume is there not only since yesterday. Further, I found nothing the like, covering the other approaches to Gerbini. I agree, with it's "towers" on both ends, it looks like a fortification. Almost "Vauban" like. Could it be an older structure? Hm, are there no Italians around, to shed some light? I'll ask a friend. BTW: Where does your nick name come from? I know a town called "Kaunitz" near my home town.

If you look closely, there are two of those "original" tanks. Don't know, if they really were still in use in WW2, but it sounds possible to me. Another thought: Is the picture from WW2, or from the Russian civil war?

Hmmmm, the oblong shape is strange and it seems completely unsupported. Not good for a bunker. Did you have a look at the closer vicinity? Anything like possible trenches, bushes containing MG positions or fox holes around? Here in Switzerland, they still have a lot of WW2 defensive position still standing. And mostly, one can see the defense layout clearly. If you spend a little time to observe.

I have not seen it personally, but a friend of mine got hooked to it and was (or is) quite enthusiastic about it.

Yeah, but how difficult is it to personally scan the various forums (or "fori"?) and delete the crap? Probably takes about 15 minutes for one guy. I would consider that as some sort of customer service. For now, it is only nuisance. Soon the SPAM may be source of invading stuff.

I notice an increasing amount of SPAM in the forum, at least three SPAM posts in the FB forum. I know, normally the administrators delete this stuff. But is there no way to fiter-out this crap rightaway?

Same here. While a "bigger unit", say mortar, HMG or AT, is deploying, I can't give "face" orders. When deployed and for all others, it works as usual.

I had a look at YouTube last night, but could not really figure out, what this movie would be in the end: Just a "making of" and collection of re-enacting scenes, or a proper movie made from that?

Most certainly. There seems to be a lot of new good stuff in the pipeline. I am eagerly waiting for "Dunkirk". And recently, I read that Emmerich plans a new "Midway" movie. If nothing else, the latter one will be a great explosives show.

Nooooo, Murphy's law only proves by exception, that physics are right. ? I like C3k's text. Basically what I wanted to say, but my fingers got sore... I guess the short answer to your OP is: - Is muzzle effect in the game? We don't know. - Would it have an effect on close combat? Most likely. - Were muzzle brakes designed for the "close combat" effect? Most certainly not.

Yes, with some hindsight, I am surprised that the topic has never been discussed here. And, yes, I am quite happy with the discussion, too. I was a little upset yesterday, when it seemed to turn wrong for my feeling. To add some content: I was sort of shocked today, when I did a little research to get some more solid statistical back ground. To be honest, to date I knew this harassment issue only from reading some newspaper articles and found them bad enough. But after only a little research, I began to understand, that there is a very different magnitude. Disgusting.

That sounds too sophisticated to me. I understand, the main purpose of muzzle brakes is to reduce the recoil. I don't know, if this is modelled, but it sounds very "Tank internal" to me any ways. A second effect is to deflect the flash and smoke, which improves spotting, obviously. Later tanks were increasingly designed for long range combat and high accuracy. That results in high barrel pressure and large recoil (the energy throwing out the round has to be absorbed somehow). Muzzle brakes "deflect" some of the energy, thus other components of the gun and tank can be designed smaller. Helping to save weight, space, etc. Guns for infantry support were normally short barrelled, because they needed less accuracy and a lower muzzle velocity (due to the short firing range). Both results in a lower pressure build-up in the barrel. Therefore the recoil was less of an issue and hence no muzzle brake installed

Yeah, in my case, there were some Sherman's around, too. I sent the Luchs forward for scouting. Basically to clear infantry. Which it duly did, until it caught a 76mm round... The following King Tiger paid back in heavy coin.