IronCat60

The U.S. tankers had a love-hate relationship with their "football helmets". The ventilation holes let in rain water so they were usually sealed with tape and painted over to secure the ends of the tape from coming loose. And what kinda tape you ask, well good ole "duck-tape" was used as it was a new issue item as evident from this next few paragraphs. The Idea for what became duct tape came from Vesta Stoudt, an ordinance-factory worker and mother of two Navy sailors, who worried that problems with ammunition box seals would cost soldiers precious time in battle. She wrote President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943 with the idea to seal the boxes with a fabric tape, which she had tested at her factory. The letter was forwarded to the War Production Board, who put Johnson & Johnson on the job. They had been making medical adhesive tapes from duck cloth tapes since 1927. A team headed by Johnny Denoye and Bill Gross developed the new adhesive tape to be ripped by hand, not cut with scissors. Their new unnamed product was made of thin cotton duck tape coated in waterproof polyethylene plastic with a layer of rubber based gray adhesive ("Polycoat") bonded to one side. It was quickly adapted to repair military equipment and weapons. This tape, colored in olive-drab was nicknamed "duck tape" by the soldiers. Now back to the U.S. tanker helmet. A liner for under the shell was issued for the colder and wetter European climate but the neck flap rested on the back of the neck just about jacket collar height and was called the "funnel". It usually became tucked into the collar interior due to movement and "funneled" the rain water running off of it into the jacket. Once again duct tape was applied to extend this neck flap to prevent that problem. Also a steel helmet was issued to fit over the tanker helmet liner to give more protection to the crews. But as the crew helmet liner was used as support for the steel helmet the designers had to make it stop at the top of the earphones built-into the crew helmet or the steel helmet would be too wide if it covered the earphones. So the lower protection of the wearers head was the same as if they didn't wear a steel shell at all. Incidentally the number of wounded in tank crews for the British and Germans was significantly higher than for the Americans. This was due to the fact neither country had their crews wear helmets so they suffered a much greater amount of head wounds and a lot of the head wounds were caused by accidents in the tank while driving over rough terrain. Banging your head off a tank tends to put you out of action for awhile.

Leather helmets used in motor-racing were adopted as head protection. The design of the leather helmets was a ridged dome of pressed and glued together leather to absorb impact. The inner layers are cushioned by quilting a pattern of "pockets" filled with shredded leather or horse hair. A "skirt" around the lower half provides protection from the elements as all early race cars were open cockpit. This is a photo of a vintage Italian race car helmet.

Ok guy's there is a simple explanation for this. That is the Fuhrer's bunker and they are holding out till he commits suicide. Then you should be able to blast them when they open the back door to take his body outside for a sour-kraut roast.

With a AA gun? Do you think the giant skeet throw mechanism they launched him from killed him first from the "G" forces he was pulling? Reminds me of the Monty Python sketch "Death of Mary Queen of Scotts" or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, "think you used enough dynamite there Butch?"

That has to be the most profound piece of writing that explains perfectly to anyone who has not served in the military about how a unit can come to feel like family. The biggest rock to hold on to in the chaos of combat is your unit. It gives you sense of place, purpose and family when you need it the most.

acctingman1969, I apologize for my snarky reply. When I wrote it I had not even reasoned that you could be playing the demo. So once again sorry my ass over rode my brain. Respectfully, Christopher

Should have known the British military would use "Tardis" technology in some form or fashion. Makes me wonder about their rucksacks if they can do that with a ration box.

Yes, the manuals install for pdf when you install the game. They also make a shortcut right on your desktop. I hate to bring up the next question, are you running a legitimate copy of the game?

Thank you all for taking interest in this post and answering my question, It helped resolve my issues on using the Canadian OOB's!

I have just noticed that there is no selection what so ever for the Vickers Machinegun in the Canadian and Polish OOB's. The only way it seems possible to include such a important weapon is to use a Medium Machinegun Carrier and dismount the crew to use it in a defensive position. Am I the only one with this fault or is it common across the board?

Hey if we gave a Sgt. York Anti-Aircraft system to the Germans that thing would lock on to the outhouse and blow the crap out of that T-34! Now wouldn't that be just Charmin!

O.k. love the windows. And Heckle and Jeckle. Oldies but goodies. But I still cannot get a alpha channel to save my life. I add a alpha channel. Select the area I want transparent and export 32 bit, advanced settings A8 R8 G8 B8. And all I get is a black wall. does this in add alpha channel or color to alpha. I am running the latest version of Gimp. FYI, I do 3d modeling for a train simulator program so I am familiar with Gimp. Though this version is still new to me. As is bmp's with transparencies. I mostly deal with tga's.

I know full well of the "other side of the coin" with the Russian crimes they commited and the suffering. I also remember Uncle Joe was in charge and was the author of the Katyn Forest massacre of the Polish Officer Corps. Not to forget the countless other atrocities he initiated such as the "Blocking Units" used to shoot their own soldiers who fled the battlefield. And as the inhumanity of both sides progressed the SOP became "paybacks are a bitch". Also look at the U.S. and our inhumanity to our own countrymen during WW2. We dispossessed hundreds of Japanese citizens from their homes and businesses then put them in internment camps. However we let the German decendents run free all over the East and Midwest of the country. Plus look at modern times. Just because a person is of Middle Eastern ethnicity or practices the Muslim religion puts them under scrutiny. The first casualties of any war is innocence and humanity.

This is documentary made for Russian Television about the Great Patriotic War and the Soviet Army's rise from defeat to victory. It even covers the war against Japan in the last chapter. There appears to be 18 chapters in all. The narration is in English but the maps are in Russian. The interesting thing about this series is that they are honest about the mistakes made and needles loss of soldiers if that is the truth of the situation. Something that rarely happens in Russia, objective journalisim. The reenactments of the battles are good and the CGI for the tanks, artillery and aircraft looks great. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A6UWkK2U4s This is chapter one, Operation Barbarossa. May we always remember the great sacrifices and losses the Russian people endured in the war. Salute comrades.

O.k. gents I have been beating my head against afore mentioned wall trying to figure out how to apply a alpha channel to the brick wall to give it a chunky "shot up" look. Now I know that the transparent sections/gaps will still block view and direct fire. I just desire a more rough look for the wall yet I cannot get a alpha channel to work with it. Right now I just have the uniform texture of the wall broken in places with broken bricks texture placed in these sections to represent the impact of objects against the wall damaging it. I also feel this maybe a futile effort as if the top edge of the wall is transparent in spots it will make the wall appear "hollow" between the side textures.Screenshot (68).bmp

To get a loan with this bank first you have to go through the 9 Circles of Loan Application with Loan Manager Dante Alighieri. Also a surefire sign that if you miss a loan payment there will be the devil to pay. And their ATM fees must be hell.

THANK YOU JOHN! John, once again you have come up with some great historical material. Thank you for sharing. I throughly enjoy reading these articles. I love the whitty banter among forum members because it is like insider jokes from the people who know what they are talking about. And thank you to all the forum members who contribute to this site. Big or small, participation says it all. Oh also I am modding the Gaz-mm with canvas doors, a different grill and U.S. markings to make a Dodge weapons carrier. This will be a "drop in the Z folder" file though you will have to remove any other mods for the 2.5 ton truck as it replaces that vehicle. Will be done soon.

For the next Patch would it be possible to have all the move paths of units related to the selected unit capped with a line so it looks like the letter "T". That way when you select say 1st Platoon and give them their move paths and want 3rd Platoon to follow behind them you can tell where the move paths of the Squads related to 3rd Platoon end when they become entangled in the mess of movement path lines. Would make navagation a whole lot easier.

This is my very first "whine posting" (and yes, I would like some cheese and crackers with my whine). I have noticed that the Heavy Machine Gun Crews break down the gun when moving even one action tile. I checked this against a WW2 Army training film and to move the gun short distances they just picked it up by the tripod. I would appreciate it if using the "move" or "slow" command for a short distance move kept the gun together the same way AT guns can be deployed and rolled into position.

Sorry no pics. During a PCS (permanent change of station) move from Ft. Hood to Germany after Desert Storm I was robbed blind by Central Texas Movers. the civilian company contracted to handle house hold goods. They took all my Desert Storm stuff. Like the whole collection of Surrender Phamplets that were dropped on the Iraq's. My collecton of BMP manufacturer plates pryed off of the bulkhead of a BMP we captured. And most frustrating the few pictures I had that were taken by friends and then I received a copy. They also stole personal items. Including BDU uniforms and military rank and insignia owned beyond standard issue. Plus my Desert Storm issue uniforms were stolen. It was legally within in their possession, sealed with their wire seals or tape, and their responsibility to safeguard. After looting my items all opened boxes were sealed again over the old tape. With the seal tape that read "Central Texas Movers Official Seal. No self-incrimination there eh? Several of my friends who were part of this large NCO move from Ft. Hood to train new Bradley IFV units in Germany had their stuff shipped by Central Texas Movers with the same rampant thievery. Of course CID (Criminal Investigative Division) became involved in these cases.

Yes this the Droids err, I mean Sound Mod you are looking for. Though different author he has the weapons shooting sounds with the empty casing clanging around.

Though I have not listened to it to verify it is the one you want, Oddballs Final Soundmod - Standard Version CMBN-CMFI, by Oddball_E8 is at GreenAsJade's Combat Mission Mods Warehouse. The link is http://cmmods.greenasjade.net/ You will need to establish an account to log in. Hope this helps

Love the comments gents! Very clever. And Seedorf81 I feel for you. I wish they had the Dodge Weapons Carrier for the Infantry AT Guns instead of the "large target" 2.5 ton truck. You can lead a Kubelwagen to water but you just can't make it swim. Christopher

Thank you John! This is great stuff! Christopher Mech.Gato

Great post John! I have never heard Ike's D-Day broadcast to the Europeans. Thank you, that was a historical treat! Christopher Mech.Gato