Posts made by legion3

I just don’t remember seeing it but I will defer to your memory, As I said I was there for only minutes and we were constently on the move and of course had other things on my mind then  :wink:

The T 34 helped the Russians win World War 2. Overated or not. With issues or not. I guess sometimes numbers do count.

I am not questioning your integrity. I was on that highway too. I don’t recall seeing any T34’s, several T54/55’s however, I must admit my time was very limited spending only a few minutes getting past that mess and moving on. If you spent more time there then your knowledge on the scene is superior to mine.

This whole thread has brought back some serious memories, was it really 17 years ago?

I just respect any tank shooting at me, whether or not its overrated or not. Nothing more terrifying than having 125mm shell whistling past.

I’m sorry the “Highway of Death” had destroyed equipment mostly, not much runs when its been blasted. Once on operations with the Egyptians I saw several of their T-34’s running around, they were using them as enemy forces. This was of course back in the 80’s but they were running then.

So you don’t like Russian heavy equipment, well I guess they had enough of it to route the Germans. And even though I spent most of the 80’s preparing to fight them, I wonder if they would have had enough to route us to?

God bless him! And the rest of the 2nd Infantry Division.

I had a scout master someyears ago who was with the 106th when it was decimated just south of your Grandpa’s position.

Mauser K98 what all other bolt action rifles strive to be.

The Lee Enfield a real close second.

@11HP20:

Below I have a list of heavy equipment produced by the Russians that is well known for mechanical reliability.

As you can see from the list it’s not hard to imagine the T-34 might break down a lot just like everything else the Russians have ever built without stealing the plans from someone else first.

Hmmm…

Cute…not accurate but cute.

Having faced Russian made stuff I can tell you it does work and works quite well.

The AK47 and the Makarov pistols are reliable in any conditions, any where and at any time. If the T-34’s broke down at Aberdeen its more likely the Americans had no idea what they were doing with them. Apparently enough of them worked on the battlefield.

Whom did the Russians steal the plans to the T-34? What Russian stuff have you seen break down?  :wink:

1. Axis and Allies Series
2. The Gamemasters Series
3. Panzer Leader
4. Panzer Blitz
5. Arab-Israeli Wars

Obviously I like tank games  :wink:

@a44bigdog:

I used to think the T34 was an awesome tank but after reading a recently de-classified test of 5 specially prepared T34’s by the US at Aberdeen proving grounds during the war I am no longer of that opinion.

:?

More info please. How is the history proven on the battlefield not as important as some “tests” at aberdeen? I wonder if the German’s point of view was asked for at Aberdeen?

Don’t come drop a bomb like that without more info as to why. What did these tests say?

Yes, picking an overall number one would be difficult. You cannot compare tanks by age nor can you compare different era’s.

In very modern tanks only a few have actually seen combat:
M1A1, T-72, Merkava III (and the whole Merkava family) and the British Challenger I and II.

On paper the French GIAT LeClerc, German Leopard II, Russian T-90, and Japan’s Type-90 all appear to be top of the line machines.

The beauty of WW2 is most of the designs saw combat and thus you can weed out some tanks easily. However, a good tank crew in an inferior tank can actually do quite well. So even obsolete tanks were still being used late in the war. Heck, My “obsolete” M-60A1 took apart several “modern” T 72’s back in the day.

The T-34 would have to be near, if not at the very top of any WW2 tank list.

My personal favorite was the Panther and then the Tiger 1, however the “best” German tank design was probably the Mark IV as it was able to be upgrade easily and was the basis for many different fighting platforms. But the US and Russians, while having other designs, pretty much stuck to the Sherman and the T34 and just simply outproduced the Germans.

Albert Speer used to hold the sherman tank up to the German Army as the model for what tanks should be, a medium, easy to build, easy to maintain, armored enough, armed adequately, all weather, all terrain vehicle easy to move from place to place. Unfortunately (or fortunately) they weren’t listening.

And while any longer war might have had a different outcome, after all who knows?  More likely than not it would have simply led to the eventual Atomic bombing of Germany. As long as the US was still on course to develop the A-Bomb by August of 1945 any delay in the war would have had profound implications for Germany and Europe.

Delay was not what Germany needed it was victory no later than 1943.

When I went to Marine Corps tank school in 1985 the T34/85 was an enemy tank we had to learn about as several were in the hands of the lesser allies of the USSR.

This tank alone was produced in more numbers than all the German tanks ever built.

Like the Makarov PM pistol, Like the AK47 rifle the T-34 is a Russian masterpiece. A simple and rough design that works, anywhere and at anytime.

The fact that the Germans had to design counter - tanks (Panther et al) to attempt to defeat it shows just what the vehicle was. One of the top ten tanks in history.

How many ships were sunk in WW1 and WW2 combined and were worried about a few oil spills  :?

The English were being pragmatic when they attacked elements of the French fleet, they did not want the ships to fall into the AXIS control, however, it is unlikely that the French ships would have made any real difference but better sunk then even a remote threat.

Attacking the French fleet is the type of typical British military response and it is why they don’t lose wars very often. You do what it takes to win.

The best, what would you have chosen, sorry if I left others out.

The Germans used all sorts of pistols as they were the most pistol heavy army of the war.

Depending on my task I probably would have wanted a P38 - newest of the bunch and with the added double action but a Hipower would have been a good choice too.

@Adlertag:

Germany lost the war the day they attacked Russia.

End of discussion.

People with another opinion are ignorant retardet morons.

Only a sith deals in absolutes.  :wink:

Some would say Germany lost WW2 when they invaded Poland,
Some would say Germany lost WW2 when they failed to knock England out of the war.
Some would say Germany lost WW2 when the US entered the war.

It seems to me that Germany lost WW2 when it failed to win in Russia and not when they invaded it. Lots of reasons the Axis lost

Ah, another fan of the merchant raider. As a southern I’ve always loved the story of the Alabama. Had the Union not used chain-mail armor, perhaps the outcome of that duel off Cherbourg been different.

The German World War One Raider Wolf led a glormous life also.

Yep, and since I am a multi generational Floridian I am a big fan of the CSS Florida - Which ran the blockade into Mobile and escaped to boot. Took 37 prizes, two of which were converted into the CSS Tacony and Clarence which took 23 more prizes. And if not for the violation of Brazilian waters…who knows but c’est la guerre

The French Navy of 1940 was mostly obsolete, most ships were lightly armoured and not as well armed when compared to other navies.

The newer designs were the Richelieu Class which were modern but were also incomplete when the war began. The Dunkerque class were really just light weight battle cruisers.

And the  the Aircraft Carrier Bearn was old and slow and was never really anything more than an aircraft transport. Even before the war France had no real naval aviation. Germany probably could have made no more use of her than the Free French Navy did…which was nothing but as an aircraft transport. She was also at sea at the time of the armistice with Germany and retreated to Martinique.

At best the French Navy could have added some strength to the Italian Navy but would have added ships no better and perhaps even worse than they already had. They certainly would not have been used any less unsuccessfully then the Italian Navy was already employed.

In German waters the French fleet would have been an added fuel drain on a already streched thin German fleet. German navy sorties were restricted by the lack of fuel far more than a lack of guts or the Royal Navy. And the Navy would have had to train more sailors to man these ships, placing a strain on the Reich’s manpower situation, which was also an issue. You simply can’t underman a ship so it seems unlikely the French Navy in German hands could have contributed much to any attempted Operation Sealion.

As successive German Navy bootcamps turned out sailors every 6 months or so, maybe the French fleet could have come on line and begun commerce raiding or added to a larger German presence in Norway or the Atlantic, but without real airpower the result could only be the same.

Big capital ships look pretty and look strong but with out fuel and a well trained crew they are just that.

And yet not even a big deal compared to the ultimate commerce raider which had these stats

Displacement: 1050 tons
Length: 220 ft (67 m)
Beam: 31 ft 8 in (9.7 m)
Draft: 17 ft 8 in (5.4 m)
Installed power: 300 HP
Propulsion: Steam engine
Speed: 13 knots (24 km/h)
Complement: 145 officers and men
Armament: 6 x 32 lb (15 kg) cannons, 1 x 110 lb (50 kg) cannon, 1 x 68 lb (31 kg) cannon

CSS Alabama at sea for 534 days out of 657, never having pulled into a single Confederate port. She boarded almost 450 vessels, captured or burned 65 Union merchant vessels, and took more than 2,000 prisoners without a single loss of life from either prisoners or her own crew.

But thats another war  :wink:

Japanese Battleships of the Kongo Class

Japanese Heavy Cruisers (these ships gave the US Navy some of its greatest whoopings in its history), Torpedo armed Heavy Cruisers!

Aircraft carrying subs of the IJN the I-400 class - how cool is that!

Italian Battleships of the Littorio Class - very sleek and very Italian in style
Italian Cruisers in general

German Cruiser Prinz Eugen - the Kreigsmarine survivor

The big heavy Cruisers of the Portland class and Pensacola Classes: USS Indianapolis

USS Alaska and Guam - America’s Battlecruisers - to cool, to bad thay never got a chance to chase down the German BC’s.

On another note, Axis & Allies games have never claimed to be overly historically accurate.  That’s not their mission.  Their mission is to provide a fun gaming experience while introducing people (especially young people) to an important chapter in history.  They’re meant as a jumping-off point to stimulate curiosity.

As such, there is a fine balance between not only historical accuracy and playability, but also between evoking the “feel” of World War II combat while keeping things simple and easy to learn while not overly distorting the reality of history.  If you veer too far into simulation territory, you’re going to scare a lot of people off.  If you make it too abstract, you’ll also lose people.

This why my friends (some who are very good wargamers and some who are far more casual) can always play A&A, (or Fortress America et al) quick, simple with few complicated rules. Sure we could break out the older Avalaon hills games but they take to long too set up, to long too play and are too complicated for many.

Many new players get frustrated with the older more complex games, heck, even some of the old hands get weary of complexity. I knew some purists (if it wasn’t squad Leader it wasn’t a war game) back in the service who initially would not touch A&A but they ended up eventually joining in, as A&A even brought people in who hated games but enjoyed the table chatter and fun of invading the US as Japan. Certainly not “historical” but its enjoyable.

What a great series of games.