betasoldier wrote:That's one I need to read, Clausewitz. Haven't read him yet, but he's one of the most relevent to our time period.
Western Military thought is based on Clausewitz and Eastern military thought is based on Sun Tzu.
I never read Clausewitz either. I have his book, just never got around to reading it yet. But I have a fim undersanding of what he says becuase I've lived it.
The art of maneuver is based on Pinning the enemy down in one place and hitting him close and hard from another place. You do this by Establishing a Base of fire and a maneuver element. The Base of fire consists of people who can shoot, placing accurate rounds on the enemy to keep him focused either on your or the mud beneath his face. the maneuver element moves onto the enemy flank (left or right) gets online in order to maximize fires to their front and moves toward the enemy shooting as they go--"Fire and Maneuver".
I have found it difficult to get gamers to do this well and consistently in a life fire gaming event. Last year I had enforcers doing it in practice in Bf2 and it worked real well. But once we got into a live game, people resorted to what they knew and that went out the window. This is something you have to train on repeatedly over and over and over again in order to drill it into someone's head to use it instead of what they do in a game when they are alone.
betasoldier wrote:I prefer to play as the Germans because, frankly I think they have better equipment as well, but still, in game that T-34/85 is a real killer for any Panzer, even the Panther G, if in the hands of an truly experienced tank crew that communicate with VOIP in game. It's horrifying to see the damage just one experienced tank crew can cause going up against inexperienced tankers, myself included.
I would prefer to play Germans as well. I know they have better equipment. You stated that an excellent T-34/85 crew could dominate any panzer on the battlefield including a Panther G. This is true because they are trained and highly experienced. On the Eastern front a trained crew was a rare commodity for the Russians. They just did not exist. Not until Late 43 and 44 did you see highly experienced Russian crews thinning the panzer ranks and yes they were undoubtedly operating T-34/85's.
betasoldier wrote:MG42, best MG during the war in my opinion, its awesome ingame, just sucks having to change the barrel so often and you run out of ammo so freaking fast. That is the MG that teaches you to tap and arc, if you hold it down for even a second 20 rounds or so are gone.
You got that right. The American M60 MG is based on the design of thed MG42 which was based on the MG34. The M249 SAW and the M240 are also based on the M60 design. The M60 was in use by some American force for nearly 40 years and the M249 has been in use for the past 20 and will see many more years. The M240 has replaced the M60 in the past 5 years or more and I'm sure you will see that beast continue on into the future.
I really can't wait to get this game. But I am an organizer. I have been researching German Division sized elements and smaller organizations. Depending on the year you will see many different changes and use of different equipment as it comes out of production. Today, US Armored forces use a 4 vehicle platoon organized into two 2-vehicle sections. A German ARmore company at the beginning of the war consisted of 32 tanks. That's five 6-vehicle platoons with 2 vehicles at the command level. From 43 on, a full strength company used 17 vehicles in a Company. That is four 4-vehicle platoons with one vehicle for a command vehicle.
