hank24

According to the 4.0 manual, there are the following limits: Maps can have a maximum total surface area of 18 kilometers squared (4248m x 4248m if shaped as a perfect square). No side can be longer than 8,000 meters. The ratio of the length and width of the map must be 10:1 or less. So, the longest map can be 8 km x 2.25 km (18/8 = 2.25). Very useful for an interesting vehicle recon scenario displaying a long range recon behind enemy lines after infiltration.

Precisely what I think. Just did never found the time to dive deeply into scenario scripting. Sometimes recon troops stay at an observation point for longer time, though. But that is not interesting for a scenario here.

Schneller Durchbruch eines leichten Spähtrupps. Quick Break-thru of a lt. recon troop. A Quick Battle with CM:RT. Three light recon troops (lt. Spähtrupps; two eight-wheel SPW each) cross the map Village Forest Meet 056 (1008m x 992m) against a Russian Inf Battalion reduced to third strength to get low force density on map. Two of three troops succeeded, but in the end, a quick break-through was inevitable but nice to watch. Unfortunately, there is no bigger map available as Quick Battle that is suitable to the tactical situation desired here (Studienka has a river and Gog and Magog is devoid of cover). The AT-guns were just relocating - fortunately.

A deep recon Quick Battle can be designed the same way against the US forces in CM:FB as described above.

Aufklärungsabteilung (AA) of Infantriedivision (with slight variation here and there): Staff Reiterschwadron (cavalry squadron) Radfahrschwadron (bicycles) Schwere Schwadron (hvy. squadron) with 2 lt. Inf. Geschütz 7,5 cm, 3 PaK 3,7 cm, and 3 lt. Panzerspähwagen (armored car; '39 that was SdKfz 221 (MG), 222 (2 cm), and 223 (Fu = radio with frame aerial). SdKfz 221 was tactically useless and soon relegated to message relay vehicle role. The AA and Anti-tank battalion were often used as Schnelle Truppen (fast forces) because they were the only ones being at least partly motorised in the InfDiv. Especially for sealing the pockets in Russia. In '45, the Aufklärungsabteilung was substituted by a Füsilierbataillon, basically a normal grenadier battalion equipped with bicycles. The AA of InfDiv(mot) were organised like those of the armored divisions I think. I know it of the later war GrenDiv.

Interesting discussion here, recon is not subject of CM scenarios often. @SimpleSimon, you are right in principle, Abteilung means department. But here it is different, in the Wehrmacht it was used for battalions when applied on tank or armored recon forces, e.g. Aufklärungsabteilung 33 (in short AA33). The recon forces had and still have a strong relationship to the cavalry and their traditions. The 24. PzDiv (sign see above), which was converted from 1 . Kavalleriedivision in 1942, retained words like Rittmeister instead of captain and Schwadron instead of company. I served with PzAufklBtl 1 of the German Bundeswehr from 1979 to '83 and as far as I know, in '79 (Heeresstruktur 3) it was organised and had the same doctrine like its counterparts at the Wehrmacht from 1944 on. In the late war, the PzAufkl grew heavier and heavier and the task shifted from scouting and road recon (Viel sehen, ohne gesehen zu werden - See much without being seen) to the ability to fight for information, flank security, and rearguard on delay operations. The AA and later PzAufklBtl was always a divisional force and did recon to some 40 km depth. There are always leichte Spähtrupps (light recon troop) of two eight-wheelers (SdKfz 234/1 (2,3,4), later Luchs) and hvy. recon troops (StuG III, later three Leopard1 - you fire into something, if it fires back, it is enemy occupied). The AA were often misused as line manoevre element, because it was a complete all-arms battalion (in '44 and '79). The vehicles were precisely built for these tasks, the Luchs is so quiet, you hear nothing from 1 metre distance, except breaking twigs. Eight wheel drive to operate on soft ground, rear driver, powerful radios, and even able to swim (Luchs). So, nearly no problem to infiltrate enemy lines at night. During the buildup of the Bundeswehr, there were two doctrine fractions, the russians and the africans. First the russians prevailed with the M-41 Walker Bulldog as recon vehicle, later doctrine changed to the african model, therefore, the Luchs. For information on recon procedures, see 3 part video from 1957 below, narration is in German language, but there are a lot of informative drawings used, also. The next two days it will rain here, so, I will try to set up a Quick Battle with CM:RT, for recon behind enemy lines. Objective is to reach opposite edge. Huge map, meeting engagement, low force concentration, two or three light recon troops. Maybe later one for infiltration at night. Might be interesting and thanks for all the tips and tricks.

Must have been late '79 or early '80. I remember I was just busy to learn to drive the M113 for the drivers license. The GIs liked my boots which were privately purchased and made of nice, shiny, soft leather. I instantly took orders, rode to the shop at Hildesheim and bought some 8 or so pairs of boots and exchanged them for cigarettes. Everybody won with this deal. And I mean their boots were rather primitive, thin, and ugly. I think it is like living next to a volcano. You know about the danger, but you simply don't care after some time or when you are born at that place. And you are absolutely sure where you have been in Germany all the time? With all these odd place names like Gross Dahlum converted to Great Sssadahlum by the British soldiers? (They all knew Salzdahlum, a village close to their barracks; always coined their own names - really strange) And be assured, the farm was not ruined by this incident.

This video is excellent! Best presentation ever.

Wow, that picture looks exactly like the landscape where I grew up; east of Brunswick, north Germany. Rolling hills, much agriculture, very small woods between fields and larger forests on hilltops. Villages typically two kilometers apart. North of the Autobahn A2, the Lüneburg Heath starts with less hills, larger distance between villages, and more forest, because the soil is not that good. To the south, the Mittelgebirge starts at the Harz mountains and the Weserbergland with steeper and higher hills and more forest. So, long lines of sight here, this is the perfect ATGM country. Cocerning the compensations farmers received for damages. My father was not really pleased when three or four Chieftains rolled over one of our fields. The destroyed crop was compensated, but MBT's compressed the soil so much, that far less grows in these lanes for some years.

The Bundeswehr PzAufklBtl (armored recon) had a radar platoon at that time, 4 Rasura on DKW jeep and 5 AN/TPS 33 on Spz kurz (Hotchkiss). As far as I remember moving targets only, you just see a spiky plot on a very small screen or a signal on your ears. Much depended on the skill of the operator. They were able to discriminate tanks from moving infantry and give an estimate on number of targets. The range was fairly long, though. So, as the name says, it was for surveillance, not more.

@FlatEric999 your pictures are not visible.

I remember to meet a comrade in 1980 from the Bundeswehr PzAufklBtl (armored recon) at Eutin. This btl had the M48 with 105 mm gun. Do not know the version, though.

And the sound of the Leopard1! Not long ago I happened to hear one again at Trier proving ground. It roars like a lion, pure brutality - I love it. Leopard2 does not have that.

Yes, it is the badge of 24. PzDiv, one of my uncles served in it, he was flown out of Stalingrad wounded and my grandfather was missing in action while serving in the artillery branch of this division 1945. And now this is the color of the German recon forces, which I served in.

I grew up just 8 km from the inner-german border and never felt any fear or such - today I think that is strange. Just the opposite, there are many nice memories concerning the military of that time. We often had the 16/5th Queens Royal Lancers on exercise at the farm of my father. They were stationed at the town of Wolfenbüttel nearby and everybody loved to see them, my mother because we talked english all day, the soldiers because they had warm places to sleep and a shower, and my father because he had an agreement to get a bottle of Famous Grouse for each day of their stay. We did things you never get elswhere, driving a Ferret Mk1 (I called it armored Dune Buggy), a Scorpion tank and even firing a Sten SMG on the meadow behind the barn. Once my father and me visited their barracks for some claybird shooting and the officers invited us to the officers mess. Wow, never saw so many silver cups and a living tradition like that. When I served at PzAufklBtl 1 (Armored Recon) from '79 to '83 (just the proper time for this game) we were not even allowed to keep our battalion coat of arms, it was from the Black Hussars from Brunswick who fought with the British against Napoleon, but was too similar to the SS sign. That happens to military traditions when you loose your wars. At that time I met kind guys from the 2nd Armored Division on Reforger exercise near Brunswick and found some nice friends there (Cpt. Hutto somewhere around here?). And I served as contactperson for the team of 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards during the Boeselager Cup, an international competition among reconaissance forces. Still remember the 'Biwak' on the last evening. One day I heard the sound of a Huey helicopter nearby and it did not disappear. So I looked for the source and found some thee or four Huey Cobra hovering directly at the outskirts of the village. I immediatly fetched my brothers and we tried to follow them with my Renault R4. Tough job, soon they were gone. But suddenly they reappeared one after the other over a ridgeline and took my car as a training target. Oh, man, that was exciting. I tried to make their job as difficult as I could but these helis were really fast and agile. I would love to ride one of those, must be like a flying Kawasaki. I think Germany really lost something important with all these kind soldiers who are gone now and with them the BFBS radio and the British Wargamers Association with which I had so nice times at Rheindahlen and elsewhere. And, by the way, a german Recon Btl was a complete all arms force in '79, ideal for a Bundeswehr expansion one day. There was a ground surveillance radar plt, two companies with Luchs and Leopard1, and a heavy company with grenadier plt (on Schützenpanzer kurz, later Fuchs), engineer plt, and 120 mm mortar plt. And now I am here, working as an engineer on military simulation and looking forward to my retirement next year being excited to have all the time necessary to play my favorite game then, CM:CW.