CM:BN Reference Material Thread - Pt. 1

[Gromit]

Hello all:

After spending time these past few months reading posts here for CM:BN, I have noticed that a recommendation thread for tactics books readily available and in paperback would be a welcome addition as reference on how to achieve success on the battlefields of WW2. I think everyone can learn how to better prepare and adjust battleplans while playing Combat Mission.

I picked up my personal copy of Truppenfuhrung about 7 years ago while doing research for designing a WW2 combat boardgame. It wasn't cheap at almost $65 for the hardbound version, but I feel it was well worth it. Fortunately for you guys, it is available in paperback for about $16. Here is the link to Amazon.com if you are interested.

So, just what is Truppenfuhrung you might ask? Well, it is the culmination of years of German tactical doctrine that emerged from the general staff based on developments during the pre-war years 1933 (part I) and 1934 (part II). Its origins go back much further, to the likes of Clausewitz, Moltke and Seeckt. Part of the value in the english translation by Condell and Zabecki is the Editor's Introduction, which points a critical eye at Truppenfuhrung - for instance, the Germans forgetting Clausewitz's lessons on strategy after the death of Moltke.

The book is organized in a fairly unique manner. Each chapter is given a roman numeral after the Introduction. However, starting with the Introduction, content is laid out in consecutively-numbered paragraphs without regard for changes in chapter or subchapter. For instance, the Introduction consists of paragraphs 1-15; Chapter XIV. Armored Combat Vehicles contains paragraphs 725-758, further broken down into three subchapters: Armored Cars, Tanks and Defense Against Armored Vehicles.

The "About the Book" section in the back sums Truppenfuhrung up pretty well I think:

"Rather than giving German military leaders a 'cookbook' on how to win battles,

Truppenfuhrung

offered instead a set of intellectual tools to be applied to complex and continually changing battle conditions."

I got to thinking about Truppenfuhrung as Elvis and JonS completed their AAR and we began commenting on it. Below are just a few references pulled from the book in regards to certain stages or areas of the AAR battle. See if you can match the following paragraphs to the AAR (subchapters in bold) :

Conduct of the Defense

"456. Advanced positions prevent the attacher from early occupation of commanding ground forward of the outposts. (Advanced positions essentially were a second outpost line in front of the main outpost line) Advanced positions should be sufficiently equipped with heavy mgs, AT weapons, and light artillery batteries. The advanced positions should not be exposed to defeat in detail. They must be withdrawn in adequate time."

"457. The combat outpost line can be weak as long as advanced positions are forward of it and in terrain easily observed in daylight."

"Small, deliberate, limited objective attacks launched under the cover of the combat outposts can disrupt the enemy's attack preparations and produce important information."

Combat in Woods

"559. Combat within and for wooded areas can influence significantly the course of an engagement."

"Commanders can easily lose control of their units. In the forward lines commanders only control their immediate proximity. Limited observation and the pressure and increased tension of close combat lead to confusion for both friendly and enemy forces."

"563. Immediately after entering deep woods, units are assembled and reorganized if necessary."

"Columns, rather than skirmish lines, are generally the best formations for advancing through woods."

"564. In general, defensive positions should not be established at the edge of a wooded area. They should be established either well in front of or deep in the woods. If positioned deep, the combat outposts should be advanced to the edge of the woods."

That's just a small sampling of applicable paragraphs. The book also has a nice appendix with German Inf and Arm org charts, contents of the US Army FM 100-5 (heavily derived from Truppenfuhrung) and German Generals' analysis of the FM 100-5.

Hope this gets you guys motivated to do some research yourself. Please feel free to pile-on and post links to other good reference material!

[Pak40]

Good stuff, thanks for the info. Some of these things I've learned the hard way from playing CM.

After reading the "Combat in Woods" section, I wonder if CMBN will allow defenders the option of creating fallback dug in positions. Does anyone know the answer to this?

[Gromit]

No problem Pak40. While I am thinking about it, I wasn't being a smartarse about either of the AAR player caliber of play, I just found it great that CM:BN so closely emulates real WW2 tactics. One more reason to chomp on that proverbial 'bit' in anticipation... eh?

I have some time, so here is a contents list for Truppenfuhrung for those of you who are interested:

Part I: 1933

Introduction

I. Order of Battle and Task Organization

II. Command

III. Reconnaisance

IV. Security

V. Marches

VI. Attack

VII. Pursuit

VIII. The Defensive

IX. Disengagement and Withdrawal

X. Delaying Action

XI. Combat Under Special Conditions

XII. Quartering

XIII. Cavalry

Part II: 1934

XIV. Armored Combat Vehicles

XV. Air Forces

XVI. Air Defense Units

XVII. Communications

XVIII. Chemical Warfare

XIX. Smoke

XX. Obstacles

XXI. Armored Trains

XXII. Transport

XXIII. Logistical Support in the Area of Operations

Annexes

Cheers! :cool:

[GreenAsJade]

"563. Immediately after entering deep woods, units are assembled and reorganized if necessary."

"Columns, rather than skirmish lines, are generally the best formations for advancing through woods.

It will be interesting to discover whether CMBN correctly simulates this, because I think this is largely a C&C factor, right? A good test of the "process based" C&C implementation would be whether this real life experience is true in CMBN also...

[YankeeDog]

C2 is one reason for advancing in columns when in very dense terrain. stealth and maneuverability on contact are other reasons. A skirmish line has a very large forward signature, so it's most likely to be seen or heard by a waiting enemy at a distance. Also, when a skirmish line stumbles into an enemy ambush the whole line may get pinned down at once and then there are very few tactical options; the individual soldiers pretty much have to fight where they are. And if the enemy has been smart about where they set up their ambush, this will not be to your advantage.

But a column has a very small forward signature, so it may not be spotted so quickly by a waiting enemy, and even if the enemy does spot the point, they won't necessarily see or hear the rest of the unit following the point. When a column makes contact, the rest of the column is more likely to have some freedom of maneuver, either to move laterally and then forward to engage, or to provide covering fire for a withdrawal of the point (the classic "Australian Peel").

But there are drawbacks of the column in dense terrain, too. Columns are very vulnerable to flanking, and if the enemy spots and is able to anticipate the column's path of march, they may be able to set up a classic "L" shaped ambush, which is very deadly.

So ideally, you want some sort of flank protection when advancing in column through dense terrain, which is why in practice some mixture of column and other formations are used in dense terrain. Depending on the nature of the terrain and the direction of most likely threat, individual squads might be in column, but the platoon in echelon right, etc.

[Moon]

That's a great find, Gromit! Some great reading is also to be found in a number of the books from the Nafziger Collection, available via our Battlefront Bookshelf:

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=21&Itemid=26

[Baneman]

...

But there are drawbacks of the column in dense terrain, too. Columns are very vulnerable to flanking, and if the enemy spots and is able to anticipate the column's path of march, they may be able to set up a classic "L" shaped ambush, which is very deadly.

....

Which begs the question ( if anyone knows or is allowed by NDA to comment ) - is it possible to keep one side of the "L" from firing until the column is alongside them in CM:BN in order to pull off such an ambush - or is that beyond the abilities of the AI ?

In CMx1, the first guys to have their covered arc breached would start firing and give the game away before the trap was properly set.

[YankeeDog]

Often, an "L" shaped ambush would be executed by maneuver -- that is, as soon as the advancing enemy column hits the defensive line, one (unengaged) side of the defensive line wheels around to set up enfilading fire. In practice, a completely stationary "L" ambush is tricky to set up unless you know the enemy's exact line of march -- otherwise, even a slight deviation may result in the enemy column 'missing' the ambush.

But sometimes you can use terrain to predict the enemy approach path with precision, and you do raise a valid point that a stationary "L" ambush is difficult to spring perfectly in CMx2 in this kind of situation, especially in WEGO (at least, in CMSF it is. It's possible there have been some changes in CMBN that would affect this). In RT, you can set cover arcs for the facing line, and then HIDE the enfilading line, group select the enfilading line, and manually unhide them with one click as soon as the firing starts.

In CMx1, incidentally, you could set up "L" ambushes via use of the AMBUSH command -- just set all units in the L to target the ambush circle, and wait for the first unit in the column to walk in...

[Jonny(FGM)]

In CMx1, incidentally, you could set up "L" ambushes via use of the AMBUSH command -- just set all units in the L to target the ambush circle, and wait for the first unit in the column to walk in...

Only in CMBO, i think they replaced that command with target arcs. What would be nice is to be able to "draw" your cover arcs, action square by action square

[YankeeDog]

Oh, yeah; I think you're right.

In general, Target Arcs are more useful than the old Ambush circles. There were a few specific places where the Ambush circles were really handy, tho...

[Michael Emrys]

C2 is one reason for advancing in columns when in very dense terrain. stealth and maneuverability on contact are other reasons. A skirmish line has a very large forward signature, so it's most likely to be seen or heard by a waiting enemy at a distance. Also, when a skirmish line stumbles into an enemy ambush the whole line may get pinned down at once and then there are very few tactical options; the individual soldiers pretty much have to fight where they are. And if the enemy has been smart about where they set up their ambush, this will not be to your advantage.

That can be the case. On the other hand, if it is not an ambush situation but an advance to contact of a defensive outpost, the skirmish line works quite well in that as soon as the outpost unmasks, there is a good chance that it will be brought under fire by more than one element of the skirmish line. And being first to establish fire superiority is important in any shootout.

Michael

[YankeeDog]

In dense terrain like heavy woods, the problem with a skirmish line vs. a defensive outpost is that because a skirmish line has such a large forward presence, an enemy picket will usually see that it is up against a clearly superior force, and make a withdrawal rather than forcing contact, which will probably be easy to do since the terrain is so dense. The advancing force may not even realize they've been spotted.

If the objective is to sweep the area and clear of any enemy presence, then this may be OK -- forcing the enemy to pull back is as good as killing them, then. So if enemy presence is expected to be light and/or disorganized, a skirmish line may be a useful way of making a clean sweep.

But if the enemy picket is the forward eyes of a prepared defensive line, it will almost certainly fall back upon sighting the advancing skirmish line, giving the forces at the enemy MLR a good warning that a strong attack is approaching.

In contrast, if a squad is advancing in column, an enemy picket in dense woods may only see the first few soldiers before he has to make the decision to either engage or withdraw. In this case, the OP doesn't know if he's looking at a small recon unit, or the vanguard of a larger attack. If the picket withdraws immediately, he does so with little useful intel. But if the picket stays until the presence of the full advancing force is verified, it may be too late to get away...

In more open terrain, other considerations apply. But regardless of terrain, there's certainly no one formation that works for all situations, and unless the enemy disposition is known with certainty in detail (a rare thing), there is always some guesswork involved.

[insert typical cliche about what happens to plans after contact with the enemy here]

Cheers,

YD

[Pešadija]

Is there other CM:N relevant tactical literature? I miss an informative read, and Clausewitz's ultra-know magnum opus left me... kinda meh.

[Krilly]

Two titles which I enjoyed and I think are interesting reading in regards to a CM:BN type game are Infantry Tactics by Stephen Bull and Panzertaktik from Wolfgang Schneider. Althougn I love The Schneider book I recognize it is not for everyone as it is rather picture heavy.

But both books are quite informative about small unit tactics in WWII.

http://www.amazon.com/Infantry-Tactics-Second-General-Military/dp/1846032822

http://www.amazon.com/Panzer-Tactics-German-Small-Unit-Armor/dp/0811732444/ref=pd_sim_b_1

Edit: choose Amazon liNks for the 'look inside feature' which helps in getting a 'sneak preview' of the books.

[Pešadija]

They both look appealing! And picture heaviness isn't bad, if it doesn't cut down on text!

[akd]

I would buy Scneider's book for the pictures alone. You can't go wrong with that one. Infantry Tactics, however, is a compilation of 3 or 4 (I think) normal size Osprey Elite titles, with some material cut-out and artwork reproduced smaller. You are better off getting the original titles if you can find them cheap.

[Pešadija]

Osprey, god no! They're good, but I gorged myself on them recently, so...

[Krilly]

If you are looking to get to know more about the organisation and 'hardware' of The german and US forces I recommend you pick up the 'army handbook's. Especially * The german 'army handbook is a real gem. The us handbook is a bit light but a decent start at getting to know us forces in WW2.

http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-German-Military-Forces-Department/dp/0807120111

http://www.amazon.com/Army-Handbook-1939-1945-George-Forty/dp/0750920505

[JonS]

Is there other CM:N relevant tactical literature? I miss an informative read, and Clausewitz's ultra-know magnum opus left me... kinda meh.

"Closing with the Enemy" by Michael Doubler. The book is based on his earlier thesis called "Busting the Bocage", which is available from CARL/US CGSC

[JonS]

It will be interesting to discover whether CMBN correctly simulates this, because I think this is largely a C&C factor, right?

No, not really. It's a commander/player decision. You, as player, must make a decision, and issue the appropriate orders, as to whether you'll go in extended line or column. The decision is almost totally context sensitive, and really not a decision for the engine to simulate, correctly or otherwise.

[undead reindeer cavalry]

Panzertaktik from Wolfgang Schneider. Althougn I love The Schneider book I recognize it is not for everyone as it is rather picture heavy.

i have found the photo captions exceptionally informative. usually i can't stand picture heavy WW2 books, but for some reason i really enjoy the pictures (and their captions) in this one.

[undead reindeer cavalry]

Truppenfuhrung is great, but it is quite theoretical. the described practices were usually impossible to practice in practice, especially what comes to defence.

there are a number of similar translated German training documents online, like

German Squad In Combat of the Special Series. they may be of inspriring reading.

EDIT: the one i keep going back again and again is "Infantry in Battle". it's not about WW2, but the content is good.

http://carl.army.mil/download/csipubs/infantry/inf_intro_cvii.pdf

http://carl.army.mil/download/csipubs/infantry/inf_cviii_cxv.pdf

http://carl.army.mil/download/csipubs/infantry/inf_cXVI_cXXI.pdf

http://carl.army.mil/download/csipubs/infantry/inf_cxxii_end.pdf

[Pešadija]

practices were usually impossible to practice in practice

Just sayin', redundancy is fun.

[Broadsword56]

Here's a good AAR from the US Army Command & General Staff College on hedgerow tactics in Normandy for the Allies, with diagrams of some successful tactics:

http://www.cgsc.edu/carl/resources/csi/doubler/doubler.asp#f2

[Michael Emrys]

Here's a good AAR from the US Army Command & General Staff College on hedgerow tactics in Normandy for the Allies, with diagrams of some successful tactics:

http://www.cgsc.edu/carl/resources/csi/doubler/doubler.asp#f2

That's quite similar to what Doubler has in his book. I notice some additional maps and illustrations. Haven't read the text so I don't know if it departs from the book text.

Michael