Need help with upcoming UI mod

[Juju]

Yay, I'm bored, and what better way to kill time than to start preliminary work on my upcoming RT UI mod.

Got most of the Soviet small arms weapon slots done and whipped up a couple of Soviet HQ silhouettes, but without the game (or simply a 1920x1080 bmp screenshot. Nudge, wink.) there's only so much I can do at this point.

I could, however, already do with some help. I have little to no clue as to what the 1943-1945 Soviet rank structure looks like (or will look like in the game) and I'm having serious trouble finding useful pics or links. At all!

Any of you grog boys (or one of the testers) here got some info on that? If so, help me out, please?

Also, I'm looking for decent pictures of the Soviet RM41 50 mm and BM43 82mm mortar rounds. Kind of a long-shot, but if anyone has anything, that'd be sweet.

[Lille Fiskerby]

Hi Juju

Ranks in the Red Army, maybe this can help you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_ranks

LF

[Juju]

Thanks Lille, but I already found that one. Sadly these were used from 1958 to 1991.

I guess there are plenty of Russian sites with the info I need, but since they're usually in Russian, I wouldn't know what to search for.

[Lille Fiskerby]

OK, what about this one :

http://www.coh2.org/news/712/ww2-soviet-ranks-and-insigna

LF

[Rambler]

Here's another site. Has early war rank too: http://ordinarygaming.blogspot.com/2012/03/painting-wwii-soviet-infantry-part-1.html

[Juju]

Yep, found all those pics. Some look promising. Kinda. I could work something out from that. Problem is, there's not much point in doing anything without seeing what the game does/uses. I really hope we get access to the manual soon. They usually devote a couple of pages to the rank structures. Thanks anyway, guys! :-)

[Der Alte Fritz]

Hi Juju

I have the rank structure from TM-30-130 Handbook on the Forces of the USSR 1945 edition which I could send you, together with their US equivalents, you could then reverse engineer the structure from CMBN.

On mortars see;

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=79&t=16166&start=15

Table of different mortar types and rounds:

http://www.battlefield.ru/mortars-ammunition.html

picture of 50mm mortar with rounds:

http://www.battlefield.ru/images/phocagallery/artillery/50_mortars/thumbs/phoca_thumb_l_model1941_01.jpg

http://milday.ru/ussr/ussr-army/urrs-artillery/635-rm-41-50-mm-rotnyy-minomet-obr-1941-g.html

All Russian mortars:

http://zonwar.ru/granatomet/minomet4.html

This is a really good document on motorcycle mortars and shows the 82mm rounds (it is from a US bikers site who restore old Soviet era motorcycles! Go figure!):

http://www.goodkarmaproductions.com/HTML/PDF/Part_XVII_Motorcycle-Mounted_Mortars.pdf

[Juju]

Hi Juju

I have the rank structure from TM-30-130 Handbook on the Forces of the USSR 1945 edition which I could send you, together with their US equivalents, you could then reverse engineer the structure from CMBN.

Some great and potentially useful links there, Fritz, thanks.

I'd love to take a look at those rank structures please. PM me and we'll take it from there.

So far, with my meager knowledge, and from what I can see in the videos, I cooked up at least some of the possible ranks. Had to estimate the colors by looking at photographs.

Am I at least on the right track here?

BTW, these are the size they would appear in the game.

[Fizou]

Looks great Juju and thanks for doing this. One of the true must have mods.

[Lille Fiskerby]

Really looking forward to your RT UI mod, as always.

LF

[Der Alte Fritz]

Juju

Try this for uniforms

http://www.tridentmilitary.com/Reproduction.uniforms.html

and see the shoulder boards page

http://www.tridentmilitary.com/Soviet-WW2/soviet-ww2-shoulderboards.html

should be everything you need on one site

[John Kettler]

Juju,

There's the rank, but there's also the horsepower. In the Red Army, it's the latter which really counts.

You could easily find a junior or very junior commander in charge of a much higher formation. This might be the result of casualties, but it could just as easily be because someone screwed up and was sent to the Penal Battalion or was simply not cutting it as a combat commander. The junior officer might also be singled out by a much higher commander as an effective, decisive leader and promoted several echelons higher in a single swoop. The way it works in the Red Army is that everything hinges on position. On authority. The rank insignia come later. It's the job that matters; the combat tasks which need to be done.

In Penalty Strike, Ply'cyn, while carrying the rank of a Platoon Commander, was appointed the Penal Company Commander in a Penal Battalion composed of disgraced officers. It didn't matter that he was younger or had less combat experience than his frontoviki fellow officers who weren't in penal status. He was chosen for the position. He took command. His former colleagues went to work immediately for him. As subordinates. And in his dealings with the military hierarchy, his horsepower derived from his position, not his rank.

Similarly, in From Stalingrad to Pillau, Kobylyanskiy went from running a 76.2mm Regimental Gun section to the entire Regimental Gun Battery, whether he thought he was ready or not. Eventually, just like Ply'cyn, he got his sea legs. In the Red Army, you either cut it or you don't. If you don't, you will be sacked and someone brought in who can and will.

Doubt this'll be in the game, but it does offer some intriguing possibilities.

Regards,

John Kettler

[Der Alte Fritz]

John

This is something that the Soviets took from German experience and methods in that it is the man on the spot who commands regardless of rank.

Partly this evolved from Scharnhorst's reforms of 1812 but also took practical experience from the Great War where the 'KTK' Front Battalion Commander commanded everything in his sector, even higher ranking reinforcements, because he was the man on the ground with the minute by minute experience.

From a practical point of view what this means to the Soviets is that Lieutenants commanded Companies, Captains commanded Battalions and Major commanded Regiments.

[Juju]

and see the shoulder boards page

http://www.tridentmilitary.com/Soviet-WW2/soviet-ww2-shoulderboards.html

Holy shoulderboards, Batman, that's a lot of variation. Thanks!

I sure am glad I only need to 'copy' the look of the structure BFCwill put in the game, otherwise I wouldn't see the woods for the trees.

Oh well, best to practice a little patience at this point. Plenty of other things to tackle.

[Der Alte Fritz]

Sent ranks table by email. Let me know if you need anything else Soviet.

I have got lots of links to Russian language sites that hold useful pictures and information.

[Hister]

Thank you for this Juju!

[Vinnart]

Juju, one suggestion I have is to lighten the detailed weapons I am ure you plan to do for the weapons panel. This gives more contrast so that they show better. I have been taking your weapons into photoshop and under enhancment tab going to "color variations", and hitting lighten a few times, which seems to do the trick. After doing this I go back and fix the black background which ends up lightening too. They do "pop" better after doing this. If you want to see some I have done to compare PM me, and I will send to you.

[Juju]

Vinnart, I'm going to try if altering the soldier view background can produce the same effect without having to lighten all the weapons, cos I'd hat to do that.