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"Hot mustard" ULTRA code


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Hello everyone,

I was about to play the "Hot Mustard" scenario in CMFI and encountered the phrase "strictly hot mustard" in the scenario notes discussing ULTRA's evaluation of the combat effectiveness of the HG Division. What does this mean? Is this a 1940's slang term, or first introduced as an ULTRA classification? I guess it means "Keen" or "Effective" but I'm not sure, really. I ask here because google, as is typical now, is absolutely useless on all fronts (thinks I'm either looking for recipes or mustard gas). I found it in the game notes, and since it's WWII related I figured someone here might know! As always, I'm enjoying the snot out of CMFI! Thanks!

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4 hours ago, TheQuakerOatsGuy said:

Hello everyone,

I was about to play the "Hot Mustard" scenario in CMFI and encountered the phrase "strictly hot mustard" in the scenario notes discussing ULTRA's evaluation of the combat effectiveness of the HG Division. What does this mean? Is this a 1940's slang term, or first introduced as an ULTRA classification? I guess it means "Keen" or "Effective" but I'm not sure, really. I ask here because google, as is typical now, is absolutely useless on all fronts (thinks I'm either looking for recipes or mustard gas). I found it in the game notes, and since it's WWII related I figured someone here might know! As always, I'm enjoying the snot out of CMFI! Thanks!

A google search for "hot mustard slang meaning" gave the result: 'The phrase "hot mustard" is a figure of speech that means something is extremely powerful, passionate, or enthusiastic.'

Meanings can change over time, so there's no telling for sure if this is the same as the 1940s meaning. But there's a good chance that it means that it's a high quality formation.

On the topic of the HG Division, I think James Holland's book 'Sicily '43: The First Assault on Fortress Europe' is worth a read. My impression from that book was that the HG Division was "elite" in the sense of being prestigious. But not necessarily elite in the sense of being an extremely effective unit. Bearing Herman Goering's name came with high prestige and expectations. But didn't automatically increase the fighting effectiveness of the troops or the competence of the officers. This prestige probably gave the HG Division the advantage in the pre-invasion scuffle between it and the 15th Panzergrenadier division over who would get control over only Tiger company on Sicily (which had apparently been earmarked to go to Tunisia before Axis forces there surrendered).

The division also apparently received some experienced tank crews from the Heer, as well as remnants of Fallchirmjaeger units that were decimated in Crete. Which would have given it a relatively skilled core of troops that should have set it above a lot of the much poorer quality Luftwaffe field divisions (this wouldn't necessarily have set it above a Heer panzer division). But, because it was a Luftwaffe, not a Heer, division, it still had officers with no training or experience in ground combat. This was apparently a problem for the division in the very battle represented by the CMFI scenario 'Hot Mustard'. Though the Germans won that engagement (only to be stopped later when they ran into more elements of the 45th infantry division), a single US infantry battalion really shouldn't have been able to delay two battalions of panzergrenadiers supported by a heavy tank company for as long as they did. That they were delayed for that long James Holland credits to the fact that the German commander of this wing of the HG Division's counterattack (until he was relieved) was a Luftwaffe officer with no training in ground combat.

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33 minutes ago, Centurian52 said:

a Luftwaffe officer with no training in ground combat

As a player of CM (but not a Luftwaffe officer) I have some sympathy.  As anyone who has played me knows, I also have no training in ground combat.

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