June 2002
Sunday, June 30, 2002
June 30, 1944
Technology, Germany-
The Germans have formed the first operational unit equipped with Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighters. The unit will be deployed to France in the near future.
Air War, Britain-
To date, 2000 German V1 "Flying Bombs" have been launched against England, mostly against London. In response, the British have increased the number of anti-aircraft guns, fighter aircraft, and barrage balloons.
Saturday, June 29, 2002
A Growing Library
The boys at Boots & Tracks have a little something to share:
"Despite numerous projects in development here at Boots & Tracks, we never forget our commitment to making regular announcements. Today, we have a great AAR from Eric Hansen. Stop by and read this gem. You will be impressed..."
Friday, June 28, 2002
June 29, 1944
Western Front, France-
The port of Cherbourg finally surrenders to forces of the US VII Corps. The cost to the US has been 22,000 casualties while 39,000 Germans are taken prisoner.
Thursday, June 27, 2002
June 28, 1940
Politics, Britain-
In London General Charles de Gaulle is recognised as leader of the Free French by Great Britain.
Wednesday, June 26, 2002
June 27, 1944
Western Front, France-
Cherbourg is now entirely in Allied hands which gives them access to a major port. Work begins immediately to rid the area of booby-traps and roadblocks and prepare the harbour for use.
Eastern Front, Finland-
Field Marshal Keitel arrives to offer support to the locals in their defence against the Soviet attacks.
Tuesday, June 25, 2002
June 26, 1944
Western Front, France-
The British launch Operation Epsom, a drive west of Caen. Troops and tanks of the 15th, 43rd, and 11th Armored Divisions make good initial progress, but are then halted following very heavy losses.
Monday, June 24, 2002
June 25, 1940
Western Front, France-
In France hostilities cease. The fall has taken place with unprecedented rapidity and suggests that no other European country is safe.
Mediterranean, Gibraltar-
Plans are put in hand to create Force H, a British naval unit which will seek to replace the French Navy in the western Mediterranean.
The Best Defense Is a Good Defense
Tomcat just dropped the latest installment on my desk:
"The third in the series of AARs from Round 4 in the Rugged Defense Short-75 and Panther-76 Tournaments and accompanying movies is now available on the Rugged Defense Combat Mission Tournament AAR website.
Also, read all about the Tournaments themselves from the Rugged Defense Combat Mission Tournament website.
This AAR completes the trilogy of games between Barleyman, Buckeye and Me262. Thanks guys for some really excellent AARs. None of the attackers won in this Group so it is really worthwhile to learn from the defenders in these three battles to see how a good town defence can be created.
This is the same map of course as for the previous AARs but you will again see another entirely different style of attack and defense in this battle. One point of note is just how flexible Barleyman keeps his defense, moving it around continuously to meet perceived or real attacker threats.
This AAR again really does show just how difficult it can be to get a foothold into a well defended town and is an excellent example of how to keep your defence fluid and reactive to an attacker's moves.
Thanks Me262 and Barleyman for a very interesting and informative exercise for us all! ;-)
Enjoy this battle! There is a lot to learn from it as from the previous ones.
The 4th AAR in the series should be published shortly.
Rob (Tomcat)"
Sunday, June 23, 2002
June 24, 1940
Western Front, France-
The armistice between France and Italy is signed. In the minor skirmishes between the two countries the French, weakened and demoralised, have comfortably beaten off badly managed and ill-conceived Italian attacks.
Saturday, June 22, 2002
June 23, 1944
Eastern Front, Ukraine-
Marshal Zhukov begins the Soviet summer offensive with fresh heavy artillery. On a front stretching from Vitebsk, through Mogilev to the River Pripet, the Russins advance against German Army Group Centre behind a withering artillery bombardment and gain ten miles in several places on this first day. Many Luftwaffe units have been transferred to the west so Soviet aircraft have the skies almost to themselves. Stalin has given Churchill early notification of the new moves and sees them as a 'double hit' against the Germans, coming so soon after the Normandy invasion. He has deployed fourteen armies with 6,000 tanks and other heavy armour, 7,000 aircraft and 45,000 guns and mortars, plus five air armies.
June 22, 1944
Politics, Germany-
Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop visits Helsinki to try to tie Finland more tightly to Germany.
Far East, India-
The British 2nd Division reach the defenders of Imphal, but Japanese resistance continues.
Thursday, June 20, 2002
A Minor Adjustment
Panzerman is straightening up the joint a bit:
"Just a small update this time. The scenarios page has been updated, no new battles but it has gotten a bit of a face lift. For the rest of the news head over to the zone...
Panzerman"
Wednesday, June 19, 2002
June 20, 1944
Italy, Umbria-
The British XXX Corps opens its attack on the Albert Line, one of a series of German rearguard positions in northern Italy, south of Lake Trasimeno on either side of Chiusi. The fighting is hard; the Germans give ground grudgingly.
Short & Sweet
PawBroon's update may be small, but it's fun for the whole family:
"Here you go.
Your usual AARs and Max update.
I have had a case of Real Life Intrusion and haven't spent much time on MODs or Web mastering.
Now since most of you have just rediscovered the joy of Stock Textures, albeit contrasted, I'm sure none will hold grudges on me for that.
MODs or not, please join me in thanking Fionn Kelly and Max Molinaro for their continued dedication to our Community.
PawBroon"
June 19, 1940
Western Front, France-
General Hoth's XV Panzer Corps occupies Brest and General Stulpnagel's II Army Corps reaches Nantes.
Monday, June 17, 2002
June 18, 1943
Politics, Britain-
Field Marshal Sir Archibald Wavell becomes Viceroy of India. General Sir Claude Auchinleck succeeds him as commander-in-chief of India although a new East Asia Command will reduce his importance. Churchill has made these appointments as he has lost confidence in their capabilities and wishes to limit their military roles.
June 17, 1940
Western Front, France-
Guderian reaches the Swiss border at Pontarlier. Allied troops evacuating the Atlantic coast of France in the troopship Lancastria are bombed by the Luftwaffe and 3,000 men are drowned. Churchill demands that this news be kept from the British people - and it was for some years. Despite this loss, some 192,000 troops are brought home from the north and west coasts of France.
Politics, England-
Churchill makes his 'finest hour' speech.
Sunday, June 16, 2002
More of the Good Stuff
There is another scenario available from the RoW tournament. As always, these are thoroughly playtested and promise to be loads of fun. Also, it appears RoW II is off and running.
Saturday, June 15, 2002
June 16, 1941
Africa, Egypt-
The British lose the initiative as Halfaya remains in German hands and neither 7th Armoured nor 4th Indian Divisions enjoy any success.
Sea War, Mediterranean-
A French supply ship,leaving Toulon with ammunition for the Syrian theatre, is sunk by torpedoes from a British aircraft.
Friday, June 14, 2002
June 15, 1940
Western Front, France-
The evacuation of the remaining Allied troops in northwest France begins. Operation Ariel extends this to the Biscay ports from the 16th. Some 214,000 troops are saved during the evacuation, although 3000 perish when the liner Lancastria is sunk on the 17th.
Thursday, June 13, 2002
Read All About It!
The Battlefront Bookshelf Area Opens
Battlefront.com is proud to announce the opening of our new Bookshelf Area. You can now purchase many fine books directly from Battlefront.com. The Battlefront Bookshelf is currently featuring six titles from the popular Nafziger Collection.
Click HERE to peruse the book titles for sale in our Bookshelf.
June 14, 1940
Western Front, France-
The Germans enter Paris. The French Seventh Army under General Frere leaves the city without fighting and von Studnitz leads the 87th Infantry Division in its triumphal entry march.
The Spice of Life
PawBroon has assembled an update that is not lacking for variety. Included are a Satyrical AAR, a book recommendation, a non-Satyrical AAR, new pictures from Max, and more. Head over to M&Ms and you're sure to find something to your liking.
June 13, 1941
Final Solution, Vichy France-
Over 12,000 Jews have been "interned" in concentration camps after being accused of disrupting relations between Vichy France and Germany. The Vichy authorities are increasingly persecuting Jews and passing legislation to deny them property rights.
Tuesday, June 11, 2002
He's Back...
Chris is back in the tweaking business:
"I added a few more bits of info to my CM charts:
-added turning speed for turretless vehicles
-added setup/deploy speed for various support weapons"
June 12, 1940
Sea War, Mediterranean-
The Italian Navy records its first success when the subnarine Bagnolini torpedoes the light cruiser HMS Calypso.
Updated Winter Jadgpanther
An update to the classic MDMP insprired Fernando J. Carrera Buil winter Jadgpanther mod. This version now sports improved winterized roadwheels courtesy of the talented hands of Paul McMahon and Gordon Molek. Enjoy!
Madmatt
June 11, 1940
Politics, France-
The French government decamps from Paris to Tours.
Mediterranean, Cyrenaica/Malta-
The first air combat between the British and the Italians sees the RAF bombing the Italian base at El Adem in Cyrenaica and a reprisal attack on Malta a few hours later.
Politics, Allies-
Churchill, meeting the French government in their new headquarters at Tours, is unable to generate the same fighting spirit there that he is instilling at home. He steadfastly refuses to send RAF squadrons to France, knowing this will reduce his own country's chances of survival. It brings to an end RAF sorties from bases in southern France.
Sunday, June 9, 2002
June 10, 1942
Home Front, Czechoslovakia-
Reinhard Heydrich, the deputy governor of occupied Czechoslovakia and architect of the Nazi genocide program, dies after an attack by Czech agents on May 27. In retaliation, over 1000 Czechs accused of anti-Nazi activities are murdered, 3000 Czech Jews are deported for extermination, and 150 Berlin Jews are killed. The Czech village of Lidice is leveled. Its men are executed; its women and children are sent to concentration camps.
A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words
On June 6, The Wargamer posted four exclusive Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin screenshots. Swing over here to have a look.
June 9, 1941
Eastern Front-
Luftwaffe units begin their moves to forward positions close to the Soviet border.
Mediterranean, Syria-
The cruiser HMS Leander arrives with six destroyers off Syria to support the action there, and the destroyer HMS Janus exchanges fire with the French destroyers Valmy and Guepard.
Thursday, June 6, 2002
June 7, 1942
Eastern Front, Crimea-
The Soviet garrison at Sevastopol is badly under strength as the Germans continue their heavy attacks.
Pacific, Midway-
At Midway, a Japanese submarine claims the carrier, Yorktown, in a final succes for the Japanese in what has been a turning-point sea battle in the Pacific. The Japanese are left with only two carriers and have been found seriously naive with regard to the value of superior battle intelligence. Yamamoto's scheme while theoretically sound was complex, and given the other failings which afflicted his forces, it never had a chance of success and proved inflexible under pressure. Good fortune runs with the American forces, and they now have the initiative.
The Poles Deliver the Goods!
Przemyslaw "Losiu" Bartula recently conducted an interview with the boys at Battlefront.com. In it, questions were raised about:
-historical research
-Combat Mission's competition
-the closed data format
-the "we-go" system used in CM
-CMBO sales figures
-CM II
-Tac Ops 4
-Airborne Assault
If you'd like to read the entire interview, head over here.
The D-Day Update
PawBroon pays homage his own way:
"Not updating today would have been criminal.
I mean, of course I am no Grog, I consider myself more like an History Puff.
Well you wouldn't know what that is so I'll be a little more specific.
An History Puff is your kind of guy who would come up with a full lather of Anecdotes when confronted with Historical Facts.
Just like your regular personal hygiene puff, or so I'm told, I wouldn't know since I'm French...
So today is the 6th of June.
You don't need to be extra clever nor to be a huge fan of Tom Hanks to know what that date stands for.
We all are Wargamers and have played countless of games revolving around those dates, those events.
Overlord, Barbarossa and so on...
As a French, I'd like to thank all of you people whose relatives got their collective asses on the line to save ours.
Eventhough we do love to hate every single one of you foreign buggers, there are still some people in here who know what they have been given and its horrendous cost.
And now for some MODs.
Gordon Molek is still very much into MODing.
Of course, it's not as if there was any talk about him quitting, but what's that nonsense about actually playing the game?
Huh?!
As you can tell for yourself, his King Tiger will really be something.
And when he is not busily doing his own MODs, Gordon is tweaking others'.
So here comes: Comet, Challenger and multiple TDs.
Since there's an unwritten Rule amongst us that you should let one MODer bath in his well deserved Fame before tweaking his hard work, don't hold your breath for those TDs.
After all, the Originals are not even released yet.
Speaking of which, some further previews of Marco Bergman's outstanding work will be updated shortly.
With all those Winter Comets, it was only normal JorgeMC decided to do some more Winter uniform for the SS.
No use in having them assaulting whitewashed hardware wearing shirt sleeves.
So here you are then!
Should do well with the Newly Released Winter Wonderland.
As usual, Previews are in Incoming.
Now just because we had MODs doesn't mean that we shouldn't expect Fionn's AAR and Max's latest You-Know-What.
Go get them while you're here.
PawBroon"
Wednesday, June 5, 2002
June 6, 1942
Pacific, Aleutians-
The attack on the Aleutians, having failed to divert the Americans from Midway, proves more successful than the main mission. The Japanese land on the islands and quickly gain territory.
A Banner Day!
Panzerman is in a redecorating mood:
"I have made a few small changes to the site, namely a new banner. Also the "Old News" and "About the Team Page" have been updated. For the rest of the news head on over to the 'Zone...
Panzerman"
Winter Wonderland arrives for CMMOS 3.2
Sorry for the lack of updates to the page lately but if you knew what I had been working on, you would understand. ;-)
Okay, Gordon has sent in a new CMMOS update with the Winter Wonderland mods and a few other goodies added.
Enjoy!
Madmatt
Tuesday, June 4, 2002
June 5, 1940
Western Front, France-
As if to demonstrate the insignificance of Dunkirk, German forces now move on to the Battle for France. Regrouped French forces put up a good defense north of Amiens, but otherwise the Blitzkrieg campaign regains its energy. German Army Group B breaks the Weygand Line, manned by 49 French divisions along the Somme and Aisne.
Daladier is dropped from the French cabinet and de Gaulle is promoted to Under-Secretary for Defense.
The Luftwaffe ace Werner Molders is shot down by French aircraft. General Vuillemin pleads with the British to send him aircraft to help his cause; the fact that he is not ably using all his own machines would count against him even if the RAF had aircraft to spare.
June 4, 1943
Mediterranean, Pantelleria-
The Island of Pantelleria, equidistant between Tunisia and Sicily, has been bombarded by air and sea and will continue to be so for some days.
Monday, June 3, 2002
The Mother of All Updates!
Tom's been a busy boy:
" While Tom has some serious problems with the server that hosts his website he deceided to release a real " Ueberupdate ":
Letīs start with some tanks: Tarkus has released a new Marder II, Andrew Fox did a great job with his " Comet " and Marcus Bloess made a nice tri-color variation of the popular " Graal Tiger " that is now integrated into the " Graal Tiger " pack ( if you have downloaded this set already , you can get the new Tiger directly from the TCMHQ NEWS site ).
The " Faces & Uniform " page features JM Gottwaldīs long awaited new German uniform mod and the " Goodies " section presents three (!!) alternative CM game interfaces ( Grey Steel Interface by Tarkus, Sharpīs Interface by Tom Crehan and the giant Interface by Michael Dorosh ) together with Tomīs new " No Markers " mod and a sneak peak of his CM screensaver project. Last , but not least: a scaled field path by Randy Sickbert and a " reversed terrain order " batch file can be found on the " Ardennes 1944 " mod site.
Check it out...this should be a fine Sunday for modsluts ".
img src="http://www.combatmission.com/superted/Graphics/Misc/Comet.jpg">
(Post-)Weekend Update
PawBroon has a few tidbits to pass along:
"No MODs this time around again.
For those who are wondering, I'm just in after a long week end with YK2, so I've decided to update Fionn's AARs and Max's latest pics before doing heavier field work.
Don't run Amok though, the MODs will be up in a day or two.
Thanks again to Fionn Kelly and The_Capt for their willingness to share that AAR with the rest of us.
And of course, what can I say to Max Molinaro save for the fact that he should get a good night sleep?
I mean, I know that the delusion that once neighbours are Body Snatchers is very classical in your part of the world and that sleep deprivation does that to any artistic bloke, but Max, I'm worried...
PawBroon"
Sunday, June 2, 2002
June 3, 1944
Far East, India-
The 64-day Battle of Kohima ends with the remnants of the Japanese 31st Division withdrawing in good order. It is the lack of supplies, rather than the attacks of the British and Indian forces, which has forced the Japanese to fall back. The fighting at Kohima has been among the most savage of the whole war.
The Saga Continues
Tomcat's got the latest installment:
"The second in the series of AARs from Round 4 in the Rugged Defense Short-75 and Panther-76 Tournaments and accompanying movies is now available on the Rugged Defense Combat Mission Tournament AAR website.
Also, read all about the Tournaments themselves from the Rugged Defense Combat Mission Tournament website.
This is the same map as for the previous Barleyman vs Buckeye AAR but you will see an entirely different style of attack and defense in this battle. In fact the Allied defender, Me262, has considerably more infantry than the German attacker, Buckeye, and has obviously compromised by reducing his forces in other areas.
We really do have a special treat for you with this AAR. If you think there will be very much left of this sleepy lakeside town on a cold, damp, foggy, December morning after this battle is over, you have another think coming. This battle may appear to start slowly with little action for the first 10 turns, but you can be sure it literally heats up very quickly after that.
This AAR really does show just how difficult it can be to get a foothold into a well defended town and is an excellent example of how to keep your defence fluid and reactive to an attacker's moves.
Thanks Buckeye and Me262 for a very fiery and destructive battle as well as an instructive one! ;-)
Rugged Defense had well over 300 downloads of the first AAR posted a couple of weeks ago. The RD server was overloaded with the demand for the movies and thanks to the generous offer from Battlefront.com and CMHQ, just the AARs themselves are now being hosted on the Rugged Defense website while the movies are being hosted at CMHQ. Thanks Steve and Madmatt for arranging this and helping us out.
Rob (Tomcat)"
Saturday, June 1, 2002
June 2, 1940
Western Front, France-
The remaining French forces at the Dunkirk perimeter are driven back into the town but the Germans still fail to move into its centre. The evacuation area is now very small but boats still manage to get in and out.
Western Front, Norway-
A further Allied evacuation gets under way.