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78 years ago today, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union

Jredbaron96

Jredbaron96

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78 years ago today, Nazi Germany and her Axis allies and satellite states commenced Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Six months later, Germany's failure, coupled with the introduction of the USA into the war, sealed Germany's fate.

The German invasion resulted in the deaths of 27 million Soviet people, most of them civilians. Over the next 4 years most of Germany's troops and equipment would be lost on the Eastern Front, and combined with the American and British bombing of Germany, meant that the thousand year Reich ended in 1945.

Hard to believe this year will mark the 80th anniversary of the start of WWII.
 
My daughter will be at Normandy in a few days, little bit late for the 75th anniversary but there will still be some stuff going on. We must never forget the horrors the war brought. Most people in North America were very insulated from the devastation but much of the world want so lucky, including the Russians as you have rightly pointed out
 
Jredbaron96 said:
78 years ago today, Nazi Germany and her Axis allies and satellite states commenced Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Six months later, Germany's failure, coupled with the introduction of the USA into the war, sealed Germany's fate.

The German invasion resulted in the deaths of 27 million Soviet people, most of them civilians. Over the next 4 years most of Germany's troops and equipment would be lost on the Eastern Front, and combined with the American and British bombing of Germany, meant that the thousand year Reich ended in 1945.

Hard to believe this year will mark the 80th anniversary of the start of WWII.
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Jredbaron96:

This may sound incredibly nerdy (who am I kidding? This IS incredibly nerdy.) but I have been running a long series of miniature, table-top wargames of Operation Barbarossa and beyond up to the end of the Stalingrad campaign since June of 2016. Battles between German Czech-made Pz 38(t)s or German Pz IIs and Pz IIIs versus BT-5s and BT-7s, T-26s, T-28s, even T-35s, KV-1M1940s and T-34M1940s up to Stalingrad with T-60s, T-34M1942s vs Pz IIIJs and Pz IVFs with infantry support and artillery support. The campaign got a little behind when I moved house last year and it became more of a solo affair when I left an old crew of veteran miniature wargamers behind in Montreal, but I'm hoping to recruit new gamers by next year (2020 = 1944) for Operation Bagration and beyond.

The first battle was at Altyus (on the River Neuman) on June 23rd, 1941 (Played June 24th, 2016) and it's been about one battle every two or three weeks since then. The most recent battle was near the railhead at Kotluban where very heavy fighting occurred northwest of Stalingrad in November 1942. Yes, I'm a little behind schedule but what can I say?

Excessive nerding-out is now complete. Please return to your regularly scheduled normality.

Apologies for inflicting my geeky zeal one everyone.

Cheers.
Evilroddy.
 
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evilroddy said:
jredbaron96:

This may sound incredibly nerdy (who am i kidding? This is incredibly nerdy.) but i have been running a long series of miniature table-top wargames of operation barbarossa up to the end of the stalingrad campaign since june of 2016. Battles between german czech-made pz 38(t)s or german pz iis and pz iiis and bt-5s and bt-7s, t-26s, t-28s, even t-35s, kv-1m1940s and t-34m1940s up to t-34m1942s vs pz iii js and pz ivfs with infantry support and artillery support. The campaign got a little behind when i moved house last year and it became more of a solo affair when i left an old crew of veteran miniature wargamers behind in montreal, but i'm hoping to recruit new gamers by next year (2020 = 1944) for operation bagration and beyond.

The first battle was at altyus (on the river neuman) on june 23rd, 1941 (played june 24th, 2016) and it's been about one battle every two or three weeks since then. The most recent battle was near the railhead at kotluban where very heavy fighting occurred northwest of stalingrad in november 1942. Yes, i'm a little behind schedule but what can i say?

Excessive nerding-out is now complete. Please return to your regularly scheduled normality.

Apologies for inflicting my geeky zeal one everyone.

Cheers.
Evilroddy.
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neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrdddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd
 
Jredbaron96 said:
neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrdddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd
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Mea culpa maxima.

Cheers.
Nerdy Evilroddy.
 
Evilroddy said:
Mea culpa maxima.

Cheers.
Nerdy Evilroddy.
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It's all good. I've been meaning to get my own version of nerd on once I get my hands on Glantz's "Stumbling Colossus" again.
 
Jredbaron96 said:
It's all good. I've been meaning to get my own version of nerd on once I get my hands on Glantz's "Stumbling Colossus" again.
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jredbaron96:

May I also recommend Robert Forczyk's two volume history entitled Tank Warfare on the Eastern Front. The books are meticulously researched, well written and very insightful. They make a very worthy addition to David Glantz's corpus of work and are a pleasure to read.

Cheers.
A semi-respectable Evilroddy.
 
Evilroddy said:
Jredbaron96:

This may sound incredibly nerdy (who am I kidding? This IS incredibly nerdy.) but I have been running a long series of miniature, table-top wargames of Operation Barbarossa and beyond up to the end of the Stalingrad campaign since June of 2016. Battles between German Czech-made Pz 38(t)s or German Pz IIs and Pz IIIs versus BT-5s and BT-7s, T-26s, T-28s, even T-35s, KV-1M1940s and T-34M1940s up to Stalingrad with T-60s, T-34M1942s vs Pz IIIJs and Pz IVFs with infantry support and artillery support. The campaign got a little behind when I moved house last year and it became more of a solo affair when I left an old crew of veteran miniature wargamers behind in Montreal, but I'm hoping to recruit new gamers by next year (2020 = 1944) for Operation Bagration and beyond.

The first battle was at Altyus (on the River Neuman) on June 23rd, 1941 (Played June 24th, 2016) and it's been about one battle every two or three weeks since then. The most recent battle was near the railhead at Kotluban where very heavy fighting occurred northwest of Stalingrad in November 1942. Yes, I'm a little behind schedule but what can I say?

Excessive nerding-out is now complete. Please return to your regularly scheduled normality.

Apologies for inflicting my geeky zeal one everyone.

Cheers.
Evilroddy.
Click to expand...

Okay, it's nerdy. My own interests in the 70s (and in my 20s) was board war-gaming. I never acquired an interest in miniatures (or later computer war-games) because I my biggest interest was in accurate simulations - I always suspected that miniatures and era's new computer war games were far more interested in game excitement than they were in reproducing the battles and their factors accurately.

So I got into SPI (my favorite) and several others. Subscribe to the mags (and their folio games) for years...till they folded in the late 70s. I bought a couple of books on military simulations, statistical modeling, and designed computer software to "correct" flawed combat results tables through regression (which taught me programming and launched by career).

Most importantly I kept and cataloged and collected as many games AND SPI periodicals as I could - many still unopened. The research articles on battles and game integration was a great resource for both historical and modern conflicts (in particular that the "Then Next War" Soviet invasion of Europe).

Anyway, I didn't play a lot and slowly lost interest. But I thought many were some of the best sims around, and there are a few today that still write about and play these games.

So I know your interest - the what if factor is still the most exciting part to me (the Russian Front being my greatest interest).
 
Jredbaron96 said:
Hard to believe this year will mark the 80th anniversary of the start of WWII.
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Most historians acknowledge WWII started with the invasion of Poland, September 1, 1939. Others point to the annexation of Austria in 1938, the 1931 invasion of Manchuria by the Japanese, Italy's 1935 invasion of Ethiopia. Still other say WWI and II were the same war, with a breather created by the Treaty of Versailles that made what followed worse.

Whatever, there is no discounting the egregious loss of life and endless suffering which still reverberates today. Laying blame and choosing beginnings resolves nothing. Finding alternatives to war is the only solution and it does not seem to be the way of mankind.



 
Those reading this thread may be interested in a fascinating Twitter feed:

@RealTimeWWII

Basically a bunch of Brits who "live" tweet World War II in realtime, including quotes and pictures.

For example:

"Allies are victorious in Syria: Damascus, capital of Vichy French colony, falls to an army of Australian, Indian, & Free French troops." which also happened today in 1941.

The tweet including a picture from Damascus with troops marching in.
 
Evilroddy said:
Jredbaron96:

This may sound incredibly nerdy (who am I kidding? This IS incredibly nerdy.) but I have been running a long series of miniature, table-top wargames of Operation Barbarossa and beyond up to the end of the Stalingrad campaign since June of 2016. Battles between German Czech-made Pz 38(t)s or German Pz IIs and Pz IIIs versus BT-5s and BT-7s, T-26s, T-28s, even T-35s, KV-1M1940s and T-34M1940s up to Stalingrad with T-60s, T-34M1942s vs Pz IIIJs and Pz IVFs with infantry support and artillery support. The campaign got a little behind when I moved house last year and it became more of a solo affair when I left an old crew of veteran miniature wargamers behind in Montreal, but I'm hoping to recruit new gamers by next year (2020 = 1944) for Operation Bagration and beyond.

The first battle was at Altyus (on the River Neuman) on June 23rd, 1941 (Played June 24th, 2016) and it's been about one battle every two or three weeks since then. The most recent battle was near the railhead at Kotluban where very heavy fighting occurred northwest of Stalingrad in November 1942. Yes, I'm a little behind schedule but what can I say?

Excessive nerding-out is now complete. Please return to your regularly scheduled normality.

Apologies for inflicting my geeky zeal one everyone.

Cheers.
Evilroddy.
Click to expand...

You may like "Red Orchestra"... A video game based on the Eastern Front. Fairly realistic arms, ballistics, etc.

" Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 features an advanced ballistics system for both small arms and tank rounds - incorporating bullet drop, flight time, and tanks with more realistic armor properties than most games (featuring: penetration and deflection, in relation to range and projectile trajectory angle). The player's movements are realistically modeled, giving them the ability to lie and move prone, sprint (while standing or crouching) and to deploy machine guns on objects.

Red Orchestra is notable for its emphasis on realism in comparison to other World War II-based FPS games. There is no "crosshair" for a player to aim with in the middle of their screen; instead, the player must either aim down the three-dimensional iron sights, or aim from the hip using the game's free-aim system. The former requires compensating for the breathing of the character and natural sway from holding the gun, while the latter is much quicker but accurate only at very short range. The player must also keep track of their ammo usage mentally unlike many other FPS games, most of which use an ammunition counter. Additionally, the player's health status is not represented by "health points" as many other games use, but by a diagram of the player's body with reddened sections that show where he or she has been wounded; there is no way to recover from wounds, although after a brief period of time, the player will function at 100% again. Receiving wounds will temporarily slow the player down, especially if they receive a wound to the legs or feet; receiving a wound to the hands causes the player to drop their currently held weapon on the ground. Rifles usually kill players in one shot if they connect with the torso or head. "
 
Fledermaus said:
You may like "Red Orchestra"... A video game based on the Eastern Front. Fairly realistic arms, ballistics, etc.

" Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 features an advanced ballistics system for both small arms and tank rounds - incorporating bullet drop, flight time, and tanks with more realistic armor properties than most games (featuring: penetration and deflection, in relation to range and projectile trajectory angle). The player's movements are realistically modeled, giving them the ability to lie and move prone, sprint (while standing or crouching) and to deploy machine guns on objects.

Red Orchestra is notable for its emphasis on realism in comparison to other World War II-based FPS games. There is no "crosshair" for a player to aim with in the middle of their screen; instead, the player must either aim down the three-dimensional iron sights, or aim from the hip using the game's free-aim system. The former requires compensating for the breathing of the character and natural sway from holding the gun, while the latter is much quicker but accurate only at very short range. The player must also keep track of their ammo usage mentally unlike many other FPS games, most of which use an ammunition counter. Additionally, the player's health status is not represented by "health points" as many other games use, but by a diagram of the player's body with reddened sections that show where he or she has been wounded; there is no way to recover from wounds, although after a brief period of time, the player will function at 100% again. Receiving wounds will temporarily slow the player down, especially if they receive a wound to the legs or feet; receiving a wound to the hands causes the player to drop their currently held weapon on the ground. Rifles usually kill players in one shot if they connect with the torso or head. "
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Seconded.

I can also recommend Combat Mission 1-3, available from GOG Galaxy in a format that works with newer Windows versions.
The graphics are dated, but it is quite simply the finest engine I ever encountered for handling company to brigade sized WW2 engagements. The amount of historical scenarios is mind blowing, and if you dig around on the net for some after action reports, there are some epic examples of skilled players applying various doctrines against unsuspecting opponents who think they are playing Starcraft. I still fondly remember a reverse slope defense near the Gustav Line that saw two platoons of my Fallschirmsjaeger wipe out most of a British infantry batallion in a single, well-timed counterattack.

Damn... Now I have to reinstall to scratch that itch...
 
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