A Test "Talvisota" Battle

[Korpraali V]

ORIGINAL: Alby

Can you ski???
[:D]

Can you say "Alamo" with Texasian accent?
[:'(]

[FlashfyreSP]

ORIGINAL: Korpraali V

ORIGINAL: Alby

Can you ski???
[:D]

Can you say "Alamo" with Texasian accent?
[:'(]

[X(]

He's got ya there!

[Alby]

except he misspelled 'Texian'

LOL
[:D]

[FlashfyreSP]

I think he meant the Chinese who fought next to Davy Crockett....Hop Sing and Chow Lu.

[;)]

[Alby]

ORIGINAL: FlashfyreSP

I think he meant the Chinese who fought next to Davy Crockett....Hop Sing and Chow Lu.

[;)]

[:@]
And its "David" Crockett
[:D]

[KG Erwin]

Time for a singalong:

"Born on a mountain top in Tennessee
greenest state in the land of the free
raised in the woods so he knew ev'ry tree
kilt him a b'ar when he was only three
Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier!"

[:D]

[KG Erwin]

ORIGINAL: Korpraali V

ORIGINAL: KG Erwin

Just for fun, here's my Finnish commander's name : I will be Lt Col Laakso Erwin. Glenn = glen = valley = laakso. That's the closest I could get with the available online translators. [;)]

[:D] Laakso is regular Finnish last name. So, everstiluutnantti Erwin Laakso could be a good choise [;)]

OK, it's Lt Col Erwin Laakso, then. I like it. [:)]

Of course, now I'll have to wait until the "SPWaW Enhanced Final Definitive Complete that's-all-folks" OOB set is released. [;)]

[Alby]

[:D]

[KG Erwin]

I also decided which battalion my force will be: II/JR17/6th Division, composed of the 4th, 5th and 6th Companies.

Historical note: in January 1940, to confuse Soviet intelligence (and no doubt, students of the war), the 6th Div was redesignated the 3rd Div, and JR17 became JR7. [&:]

[Kuokkanen]

ORIGINAL: Korpraali V

Finnish cavalry had its own formations. They never fought on horses, but always dismounted.

That's something new for me [X(]

Finnish Vickers tanks were used only once, with very low success.

What was date of this?

[Korpraali V]

ORIGINAL: Matti Kuokkanen

ORIGINAL: Korpraali V

Finnish cavalry had its own formations. They never fought on horses, but always dismounted.

That's something new for me [X(]

New? You said the same before:

ORIGINAL: Matti Kuokkanen

To my knowledge cavalry (horseback riding) was never used by finns in military action

Finnish cavalry was like mounted infantry: Moving by riding, fighting like other infantry. No cavalry charges etc. They were organised in cavalry regiments.

ORIGINAL: Matti Kuokkanen

Finnish Vickers tanks were used only once, with very low success.

What was date of this?

26th of February 1940. That was the only time they were used during the Winter war. Some use took place during the Continuation war.

[Kuokkanen]

ORIGINAL: Korpraali V

ORIGINAL: Matti Kuokkanen

Finnish Vickers tanks were used only once, with very low success.

What was date of this?

26th of February 1940. That was the only time they were used during the Winter war.

Sounds like idea for scenario [;)]
Do you happen know more about that day?

[Korpraali V]

ORIGINAL: Matti Kuokkanen
Sounds like idea for scenario [;)]
Do you happen know more about that day?

Something...

http://www.winterwar.com/Battles/Naykkijaervi.htm

[;)]

[Korpraali V]

Btw Gunny:

If you like to add some historical spice to your battle, you may want to consider taking command of the whole Regiment from the end of February (two weeks that will be). Casualties in the Ishtmus were so high that a Company could have been reduced to smaller unit than a Platoon. No chances for reinforcements excluding some single fighters and _small_ units. So having Battalion sized formation would mean that you are commanding a Regiment. Naturally the enemy won't be reduced...[8|]

[KG Erwin]

Revisiting this subject: today I ordered the "Talvisota" DVD thru Amazon. One of the hosted dealers had it for $28. I've seen clips of this on YouTube, and I had to get it.

Also, someone on YouTube has posted a PBS documentary called "Fire and Ice".

Furthermore, my local library has a copy of William Trotter's "A Frozen Hell".

So, I'm gonna have another go at a short 5-battle generated campaign (Nov 1939-Mar 1940).

Now that ENH-DV is my standard playmode, maybe, just maybe, I can survive the war before the truce is declared.

In looking over past postings, it seems that the only real chance the Finns have would be an aggressive defensive scheme.

I'm gonna do a lot of studying and battle-testing before I attempt a DAR. My ingrained USMC-style firepower-heavy tactics have to be cast aside. That in itself is gonna be tough to do.

[KG Erwin]

Here's one thing the DV team left out: Finnish weapon 88 is called "knife". You messed up on this one -- it's called "puukko". Apparently it has much symbolic meaning. I changed it in my personal OOBs.

[Alby]

ORIGINAL: KG Erwin

Here's one thing the DV team left out: Finnish weapon 88 is called "knife". You messed up on this one -- it's called "puukko". Apparently it has much symbolic meaning. I changed it in my personal OOBs.

we didnt miss it, we didnt change any weapons names to native languages that i recall
if we had, we would probably still be working on it...
[:D]

[KG Erwin]

ORIGINAL: Alby

ORIGINAL: KG Erwin

Here's one thing the DV team left out: Finnish weapon 88 is called "knife". You messed up on this one -- it's called "puukko". Apparently it has much symbolic meaning. I changed it in my personal OOBs.

we didnt miss it, we didnt change any weapons names to native languages that i recall
if we had, we would probably still be working on it...
[:D]

That's fine, Alby. I just changed it to suit my own preferences.

[Alby]

ORIGINAL: KG Erwin

ORIGINAL: Alby

ORIGINAL: KG Erwin

Here's one thing the DV team left out: Finnish weapon 88 is called "knife". You messed up on this one -- it's called "puukko". Apparently it has much symbolic meaning. I changed it in my personal OOBs.

we didnt miss it, we didnt change any weapons names to native languages that i recall
if we had, we would probably still be working on it...
[:D]

That's fine, Alby. I just changed it to suit my own preferences.

Change it back, it doesnt suit mine...LOL
[:D]

[String]

Just tried out a finnish campaign of my own as well.

I bought three companies of ski infantry, a platoon of engineers and jaegers. 6x81mm mortars and 4x76mm howitzers for artillery and platoon of infantry AT's, two 37mm AT guns make up the AT force. Two tanks and an armored car was also bought for future upgrading.

Not sure how historical that is, but sounds more or less okay for me, except the tanks, but those I bought, as I said, for future upgrading to use in the continuation war.

First mission was an advance. For the prep points I got 3 150mm batteries and 2 122mm batteries.

The whole thing was a wild success, I was opposed only by soviet infantry and the AI left map edges uncovered so it was very easy to encircle the soviets and advance on from the flanks. The armored car proved most useful, at one time forcing the surrender of 5-6 soviet squads that had retreated into its hex.

The heavy artillery units kept most of the soviet infantry supressed and most of my casualties came when most of the soviet infantry from the centre started retreating on a few ski squads which were in a blocking position and when a 203mm soviet battery caught my engineer platoon in the open. In the end the soviets managed to rout 3 ski infantry squads.

Total losses were 87 finns vs 930+ soviets. Could have been more for the soviets but when their force morale broke i decided to just keep the remains of the soviet centre encircled and under constant artillery attack while my ski squads rushed through the AT guns in the rear to occupy the last victory hexes.

The Ski infantry is VERY good on advance, combining great mobility with good firepower. I felt that this was a good example of finnish tactics during the winter war, but I'm sure more knowledgeable members of this forum will correct me if i'm wrong. [:)]