News from Heroes and Leaders mod

[asl3d]

The landing craft mechanized (LCM) is a landing craft designed for carrying vehicles. The Landing Craft, Mechanized (LCM) was produced in seven Marks by the US and Great Britain for their amphibious forces during World War Two. The US Navy, Army, and Coast Guard utilized the Marks 2, 3, and 6. The British forces used the Marks 1, 4, 5, and 7.
In 1941, the US Navy requested designs for an enlarged landing craft that could han-dle and land a light tank. They contacted Higgins Industries in New Orleans and requested a larger design than the LCVP. A few days later, several naval officers traveled to New Orleans to examine some designs. They found a working prototype of the LCM-2, a landing craft with a bow ramp and the ability to carry a 16 ton tank. Higgins had built the LCM prototype in just over 60 hours!, which was then tested before high ranking officials of the Marine Corps and Navy on May 30, 1941.
The LCM-3 was designed to carry and land a 30 ton tank (it could transport a middleweight tank, like the M4 Sherman) or motor vehicles on the beach, or 60 soldiers embarked. Compared with its predecessor, the LCM-2, its length was increased by 1.5 meters to 15.2 meters overall, while the beam remained at 14 feet. The forward draft increased by 0.5 meters to 0.9 meters, while the rear draft remained at four feet. The LCM-3 cargo well was 9.4 meters long and 3 meters wide. Its displacement was 23,587.2 KG light and 47,174.4 KG fully loaded. Power was provided by either two 100 HP, Kermath six cylinder gasoline engines or two 225 HP Gray Marine diesels. The diesel-powered LCM-3's speed was rated at 8 knots (9.2 MP/H) fully loaded and its range was 225.3 Km at full speed. Its maximum endurance was 1,367.9 Km at an economical 6 knots (6.9 MP/H). The steering position was protected by 6mm High Tensile Steel (HTS) and some were fitted with plastic armor on the coxswain's position. The LCM-3 was usually armed with two .50 caliber (12.7mm) Browning M2 (HB; Heavy Barrel) machine guns, situated to either side of the steering position. A few LCM-3s were fitted with rocket racks and redesignated as Landing Craft, Mechanized (Rocket), or LCM-R. They were mainly used in the Pacific until the Landing Craft, Infantry (LCI) and Landing Ship, Medium (LSM) were fitted with rocket launching equipment. Various US shipyards built 8631 LCM-3s during the conflict.
At first view, the LCM looks like the LCVP. Distinctive feature on this type was the high bow-ramp. Further more, with its length of 15.20 meter it was much larger then the LCVP. Another difference was the used material, the LCM was almost completely built out of steel plate (with exception with the early ones, which had wooden coxswains shelters for the compasses, so they would not be affected by the steel).
The LCM from Higgins became the LCM Mk 3, also called the 'tanker lighter'. Higgins built also an extended version of the LCM, the LCM 6. When the production ended, some 11,392 LCM’s were built.
At D-Day there were 486 at hand, 78 were lost during the next two days. In all, 486 LCMs were committed to Operation Neptune, including 358 of the LCM-3 version. The total was almost evenly divided between the U.S. and British navies. Additionally, the U.S. Navy counted almost 1,200 LCMs in the Pacific Fleet, while the Allies listed 280 in the Mediterranean.

[asl3d]

The Douglas A-20 Havoc (company designation DB-7) is a United States attack, light bomber, intruder, and reconnaissance aircraft of World War II.
In March 1937, a design team headed by Donald Douglas, Jack Northrop, and Ed Heinemann produced a proposal for a light bomber powered by a pair of 450 hp Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior radial engines mounted on a shoulder wing.
The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) issued its own specification for an attack aircraft. The Douglas team headed by Heinemann, took the Model 7A design, upgraded with 1,100 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engines, and submitted the design as the Model 7B.
Although not the fastest or longest-range aircraft in its class, the Douglas DB-7 series distinguished itself as a tough, dependable combat aircraft with an excellent reputation for speed and maneuverability. Ex-pilots often consider it their favorite aircraft of the war due to the ability to toss it around like a fighter. The Douglas bomber/night fighter was found to be extremely adaptable and found a role in every combat theater of the war, and excelled as a true "pilot's aeroplane".
When DB-7 series production finally ended on 20 September 1944, a total of 7,098 had been built by Douglas and a further 380 by Boeing. As a proof of American excellence in mass production Douglas redesigned its Santa Monica plant to create a mechanized production line to produce A-20 Havocs. The assembly line was over a mile long, but by looping back and forth, fitted into a building that was only 700 feet long. Man-hours were reduced by 50% for some operations. Production tripled.
The USAAC was impressed enough by the A-20A's high power to weight ratio and easy handling characteristics. Two variants were ordered, in a tranche of more than 200 aircraft: the A-20 for high-altitude daylight bombing and the A-20A for low- and medium-altitude missions. It was intended that the high-altitude variant would be fitted with turbosupercharged Wright R-2600-7 engines; after a prototype suffered technical problems, the USAAC changed its order and an initial shipment of 123 A-20As (with less-powerful R-2600-3 engines) and 20 A-20s (R-2600-11) entered service in early 1941. A further 59 aircraft from this first order were received as P-70 night fighters, with two-stage supercharged R-2600-11 engines.

The USAAF received 356, most of which were operated by the 5th Air Force in the South West Pacific theater. When the war started was the 89th Bombardment Squadron which began operations in New Guinea on August 31, 1942. In early 1944, 312th and 417th Bombardment Groups were sent to New Guinea, equipped with A-20s. Most sorties were flown at low level, as Japanese flak was not as deadly as German flak. A-20s were an ideal weapon for pinpoint strikes against aircraft, hangars, and supply dumps. When operating in formation their heavy forward firepower could overwhelm shipboard antiaircraft defenses and at low level they could skip their bombs into the sides of transports and destroyers with deadly effect. With the end of the New Guinea campaign the A-20s squadrons moved to the Philippines and in 1944 three full four-squadron A-20 groups were active in the campaign that led to the invasion of Luzon. After the Philippines were secured, A-20s started attacks on Japanese targets in Formosa.

In Europe, USAAF A-20s were assigned to North Africa and flew their first combat mission from Youks-les-Bains, Algeria, in December 1942. They provided valuable tactical support to allied ground troops, especially during and following the Battle of Kasserine Pass. During the North African campaign, many of the A-20s were fitted with additional forward-firing machine guns. In England, three A-20 equipped Bombardment Groups were assigned to the 9th Air Force and became operational in 1944. They started using the same low-level tactics that had been so successful in the Pacific, but due to heavy German flak, losses were too high and the tactics were changed to medium-level raids.

[asl3d]

Troops landing by glider were referred to as air-landing as opposed to paratroops. Gliders could land troops and ancillaries in concentrations precisely at the target landing area. Furthermore, the glider, once released at some distance from the actual target, was effectively silent and difficult for the enemy to identify. Glider infantry are loaded into gliders which are attached to towing aircraft by a cable. The loaded gliders are then towed through the air by towing aircraft and flown to a release point usually just beyond the hearing range of enemy troops.
In 1940, Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister, decreed the formation of a British glider force of 5000 gliders. Initially the American Glider Infantry Regiments (GIR) had only two battalions, but later in Europe, the two battalions of the 401st GIR were divided in March 1944 to act as the 3rd battalions of the 325th and 327th GIRs. American plans were on a similar scale. The Allies first used gliders in the invasion of Sicily, Operation Husky, in 1943. This first experiment was disastrous. Poor planning and bad weather resulted in the gliders being scattered in the air. Several landed in the sea and 200 men drowned. Dozens of gliders and tow planes were damaged or shot down by friendly fire. Few gliders reached the intended landing zones, and only 73 men (from most of a brigade) reached the intended target, the Ponte Grande bridge south of Syracuse.
The crews of these aircraft landed their gliders in circumstances which would challenge the most seasoned pilot. Sometimes flying in at night they had but a few moments to pick a likely landing spot, avoid the other gliders making similar approaches and those already on the ground, avoid incoming enemy fire and then land the aircraft without crashing into any trees or ditches.
In both the British and American armies, there was a sense that the glider infantry were poor cousins to the more glamorous paratroopers. In the United States Army, glider troops did not receive the extra pay awarded to paratroopers until after the Normandy invasion (where glider troops provided essential support to the parachute regiments and fought on the front-lines alongside their parachute brethren). This blatant inequality of treatment came to the attention of U.S. Airborne High Command and from that point forward the glider troops were issued the same jump boots and combat gear as paratroopers (including the M1A1 carbine with folding stock) and earned the same pay until the war ended in Europe in May 1945.
Gliders could carry and deliver much bulkier and heavier equipment (such as anti-tank guns, or vehicles such as jeeps or even light tanks) that could not be parachuted from the side-loading transport aircraft normally used in World War 2. Thus glider infantry units were usually better equipped than their parachute infantry counterparts. Any one stick of glider infantry could disembark intact and combat ready, while paratroops needed time after landing to regroup and reorganize before beginning operations. Under ideal conditions, whole glider units could land intact. Unlike drop planes which delivered paratroops, gliders were totally silent and detection by the enemy was difficult, greatly increasing the element of surprise. In fact, completely undetected insertions were possible, especially during night landings. Glider infantry required much less training than parachute infantry. In fact many glider infantry units were simply converted from regular infantry units with only cursory training.
Gliders required a relatively smooth landing area free from obstructions. A common countermeasure against gliders was to sow posts and other obstructions in likely landing areas. Gliders were fragile and glider landings were rough and brutal affairs. All too often, gliders were destroyed during landing attempts, killing or injuring the crew and passengers. In practice, it was difficult for entire units to land together and glider-borne units often ended up even more widely scattered than parachute units. Gliders and towing planes were extremely[citation needed] vulnerable to interception by enemy aircraft while gliders were under tow. Gliders were also helpless against ground fire if they were detected before landing, but the same can be said for any aircraft flying over enemy territory.

[asl3d]

US Second Line Rifles

Never before had the dough-boys been required to use so bewildering a complex of weapons. Perhaps the most confusing of the latter to adjust to was the greatly enlarged class of defensive weapons, which included land mines and boobytraps. These insidious manglers complicated an infantryman's task and introduced a new type of terror into his campaigning. lie dared no longer even trust the ground, which had always been his close ally. As a result, it was necessary to learn not only to detect and disarm the enemy's mines and traps, but to lay some effectively for his own protection. Also, he had to learn to use demolition charges and often to improvise them out of materials at hand.
To add to the confusion, types of grenades (hand and rifle) were multiplied. What is more, their use vastly increased. Whether the enemy lurked in rocks or in dense vegetation, grenades helped to root him out. To supplement them in the business of dislodging the foe from strong positions, new weapons developed. The most notable of these was a flame thrower which, carried by foot soldiers or mounted on tanks, did terrible execution.
Tank and air enthusiasts, observing the Nazi blitzkrieg, had jumped to the conclusion that infantry could be used only to hold ground taken by armor or by air bombardment. This did not prove to be the case. Although foot soldiers, more than ever before, had to learn to cooperate with tanks and with planes, this did not spare them from having to be in the forefront of almost all important assaults. In short, while they could not advance against the enemy without the aid of tanks, artillery, and air, neither could those arms gain ground or destroy the enemy's will to fight without the aid of the infantry. What was required was not a reshuffling of the importance of the several branches, but the development of better techniques by means of which they could work together. Such techniques were far from perfect when the conflict came to an end.
Battlefield communication continued its trend-which stretched back to the Civil War-toward improvement. For the first time there was radio communication between the elements of a company. By the end of World War II eight radios were included in the rifle company's equipment. Radios and telephones knit companies tighter together, but by no means made them act as one man. Dispersion to avoid the deadly effects of enemy fire threw squads, or fractions of squads, on their own in combat, particularly in dense foliage, in the mountains, and in night operations. This put a heavier-than-ever burden on the ingenuity of squad and platoon leaders, and even on the individual dough-boy.

[asl3d]

A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.

It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.

There are only two kinds of people who are staying on this beach: those who are already dead and those that are gonna die. Now get off your butts, you're the fighting' 29th.

And when he gets to Heaven, to St. Peter he will tell, one more Marine reporting, Sir — I've served my time in Hell.

Today we may say aloud before an awe-struck world: We are still masters of our fate. We are still captain of our souls.

No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.

The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example.

Always there are dogs in every invasion. There was a dog still on the beach, still pitifully looking for his masters.

He stayed at the water’s edge, near a boat that lay twisted and half sunk at the waterline. He barked appealingly to every soldier who approached, trotted eagerly along with him for a few feet, and then, sensing himself unwanted in all the haste, he would run back to wait in vain for his own people at his own empty boat.

Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering.

Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die.

They seemed terribly pathetic to me. They weren’t warriors. They were American boys who by mere chance of fate had wound up with guns in their hands, sneaking up a death-laden street in a strange and shattered city in a faraway country in a driving rain. They were afraid, but it was beyond their power to quit. … And, even though they weren’t warriors born to the kill, they won their battles.

Dear Madam Bixby,
I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.
I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.
I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.
Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,
Abraham Lincoln

[asl3d]

About 39% of the new recruits volunteered to serve; the remainder were called up through conscription, also known as the draft. Over 10 million men were inducted into the military while the Selective Training and Service Act was in effect from September 16, 1940, to March 1947. Volunteers came from a variety of sources. Some belonged to training programs at their high schools or colleges, like the Army’s Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), and entered the military directly from school. Others signed up for duty at one of the many recruiting centers that popped up all over the United States, especially right after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Sidney Phillips of Mobile, Alabama, remembered deciding to join the Navy along with a friend after hearing about the attack. When they met the next morning to go to the recruiter, however, the lines of young men waiting to enlist were already longer than a football field! “We thought we were going to be the early birds,” Phillips recalled. He and his friend ended up joining the Marines, thanks to a shorter line and a persuasive recruiter.
Each branch of military service required different skills, but all new recruits went through a few weeks of basic training, often called “boot camp.” The goal was to turn the wide variety of individuals who entered the service into teams of fighters who could work seamlessly with one another to achieve their objectives. To do this, basic training taught a new recruit to think of himself less as an individual and more as an integral part of his unit. As soon as they arrived, new recruits turned in their civilian clothes and belongings and received standard issue uniforms and equipment. Camp personnel shaved the heads of the recruits and assigned them serial numbers. Platoons of recruits slept, ate, and learned together, and even did hours upon hours of physical fitness training as a unit. Following commands, they practiced the same basic skills over and over— marching, loading, unloading, and cleaning their weapons. Drill instructors used tough methods to force the newcomers to become attentive to detail and protocol. Even the smallest mistakes could result in extra kitchen duty or a challenging physical punishment—sometimes for the entire group.
"It was true we were all volunteers and all of them were young men—18, 19 years old—and all of them wanted to prove that they were men and that they were part of the best and that they were the best. That was true. We were.“ Many veterans remember those first few weeks of basic training as a transformative experience. “When you go through boot camp and they pass you,” recalled Ben Quintana of Mississippi, “you’re ready to fight anything.” Before reporting to a ship or heading overseas, however, most recruits went through more specialized training for their specific duties within their branch of the military. Some learned how to operate radios or other communications equipment. Others trained to use special weapons or invasion techniques. Depending on the assignment, service members sometimes trained at six or more different locations before finally deploying overseas, and even then they might have received further training before seeing action.

[asl3d]

The H-612 was a casemate for field gun, without auxiliary premises. The configuration was very basic, since apart from the firing room in which the cannon was, it only had a small tobruk turret for its defense. Its size in comparison with the rest was quite reduced, being its length of 14.60 meters, its width of 12 meters and its height of only 4.50 meters.
The defensive constructions of the Atlantic Wall correspond to a set of models predefined by the Todt Organization in works known as Regelbauten. These various models correspond to the needs of the military and are adapted to the environment of these installations.
Several categories of buildings exist and are listed by numbers and letters: from number 1 to number 704 for Army installations (Heer).
Several Regelbauten publications have been published since 1938. The main Regelbaut used by the workers of the Todt Organization for the construction of the Atlantic Wall corresponded to the 600 series, available from November 1942 and comprising 108 construction models.
Through the generic term of bunker, one must understand a set of buildings made of reinforced concrete, of different sizes and functions. There are observation posts, individual combat stations, artillery sites, shelters or ammunition bunkers.
These various structures are generally grouped together to form what is commonly referred to as a strongpoint. Among the nearly 700 strongpoints along the Atlantic Wall from Norway to the Spanish Basque Country, role and structures are different from each other.
The strongpoints are grouped under the terms of divisional, coastal, railway and Flak batteries.
Divisional batteries, which are only armed by the Heer, can be protected by concrete constructions (such as field batteries) or disposed at temporary points without strong protections (batteries in field position).
Coastal batteries are armed both by the Heer (HKA: Heeres Künsten Artillery) and by the Kriegsmarine (MKA: Marine Künsten Artillerie). The artillery guns are placed into open-air concrete structures before the allied bombardments forced the Todt Organization to build casemates.
Batteries positioned on tracks, also called Eisenbahn Batterie, have the advantage of being able to be equipped with large caliber guns and are supposed to protect particular points like estuaries and ports.
Finally, the Flak batteries (Flak Abteilung) ensure the protection of particular points against the adverse air attacks.

[asl3d]

All permanent, fortress-type works and many field works are of concrete reinforced with steel. Some field works, however, are of masonry, brick, or timber. Steel also is used in concrete structures for beams, turrets, cupolas, gun shields, machine-gun loopholes, and doors. These installations are prefabricated and are assigned code or model numbers. The concrete works themselves are designated by type number and are constructed from plans prepared in the Anny Ordnance Office.
The usual thickness of concrete walls and roofs is 2 meters; smaller thicknesses are found as a rule only in the small field works. In casemates the minimum thickness of the walls and roof is 2 meters, and generally increases commensurately with the caliber of the gun.
Most German concrete fortifications are reinforced with steel bars running in three dimensions to form cubes of ten or twelve inch sides. The diameter of the bars, _ which are hooked at both ends, varies from 3/3 inch to 5/c inch, the most common size being 1/2 inch. The roof over the interior compartments in most structures is supported by steel I-beams, encased in the concrete roof. The size of the beams depends on length of the span. Steel plates laid between the I-beams, and resting on the lower flanges, form the ceiling of the structure. These plates prevent the inside of the roof from falling if the structure sustains a direct hit from artillery shells or aerial bombs. In some cases, the roof is supported by reinforced-concrete beams instead of the steel I-beams, apparently to save critical material.
From experience in the North African campaign, the Germans derived a type of open, circular pit lined with concrete, which they called a "Tobruk". Hitler subsequently ordered Tobruk pits to be used as defence works in the field, and instructions for building them were distributed down to divisions. A Tobruk pit, which consists of a concrete weapon chamber with a neck-like opening at the top, is built entirely underground. The concrete usually is reinforced.
Tobruks vary in size, depending on the weapon mounted in them, but the diameter of the neck is kept as small as possible to reduce the risk of direct hits. Instructions to German troops insist that a Tobruk should not have a concrete roof, since this would reveal the position to the enemy. A board of irregular shape, used as a lid, camouflages the circular opening and keeps out rain.
The Germans also have used a Tobruk as a base for a tank turret, usually taken from a French Renault 35. Such an installation, called a Panzerstellung, has a turret armed with an anti-tank gun and a machine gun coax sally mounted. The turret is bolted to a circular metal plate, which is rotated by hand on wheels around a track in the top of the pit affording a 360-degree arc of fire.
Other types of the 'Tobruk' could be used to fire mortars from. This last one is recognizable on the little pillar in the middle where the mortar was placed. A little door at the side gave entrance to the bunker, sometimes it had a short stairway.
Tobruk's were also modified to carry turrets of tanks, mostly pre-war turrets. But there were also Tobruks who had the turret of the Panther V.

[asl3d]

The length of the Atlantic Wall was an 5,300 km as it stretched from Northern Norway along the Atlantic coast to the French border with Spain. The part of the wall facing England was the strongest part of the wall, with the highest number of defenses. Of the bunkers constructed over 600 were of the H-667 type, above. These bunkers were only a tiny piece of a huge complex of over 10,000 bunkers which were constructed in a two year period between 1943 and 1944 as part of Hitler’s Atlantic Wall. The Todt Organisation were responsible for the construction work and it is estimated that in total 13 million cubic meters of concrete were used in the Atlantic Wall.
Most Normandy strongpoints contained one or more artillery weapons, and they were fortified in a variety of ways. The single most common weapon along the Normandy beaches was the German 50mm anti-landing gun in one of its various versions. This had been the principal German tank and anti-tank gun in 1940-42, but with the advent of the thickly armored T-34 and KV tanks on the Russian front, it had become obsolete. Surplus 50mm KwK 39 and KwK 40 tank guns as well as the towed PaK 38 version were remounted on new pedestal mounts (Sockellafetten) with a new spaced armor shield. These were primarily intended for use against landing craft or enemy infantry, and were usually mounted in Vf600 open concrete gun pits for full 360-degree traverse.
The 50mm guns were supplemented with a wide variety of other artillery weapons, usually old field guns in the 75-77mm range. Guns used in Normandy ranged from World War I Austrian mountain guns to World War II Soviet 76mm divisional guns. Some strongpoints mounted the field guns in fully enclosed bunkers, but in other cases they were simply deployed in field entrenchments.
The H-667 bunkers contain anti-tank guns and are orientated to direct fire along the beach and not against ships at sea. For additional protection against naval fire a large thick reinforced concrete wall protects each bunker opening. The bunker was designed to fire along the beach with its curtain wall protecting the gun from offshore fire. Often they were mounted in pairs, facing one another 500 to 800 meters apart.
A small portion of the 50mm guns were mounted in fully casemented bunkers such as the H667 to provide better protection against air attack and naval gunfire, but these better bunkers were usually reserved for larger-caliber guns.
When the Type H-667 housed the 5cm Fest Pak - a redundant tank weapon previously used in the Panzer III, was renewed with a basic box structure as a beach defense weapon and, besides its use in this bunker, was fitted in a number of other fortification types including open ‘Tobruk’ type positions.

[asl3d]

Most Normandy strongpoints contained one or more artillery weapons, and they were fortified in a variety of ways. The single most common weapon along the Normandy beaches was the German 50 mm anti-landing gun in one of its various versions. This had been the principal German tank and anti-tank gun in 1940-42, but with the advent of the thickly armored T-34 and KV tanks on the Russian front, it had become obsolete. Surplus 50 mm KwK 39 and KwK 40 tank guns as well as the towed PaK 38 version were remounted on new pedestal mounts (Sockellafetten) with a new spaced armor shield. These were primarily intended for use against landing craft or enemy infantry, and were usually mounted in Vf600 open concrete gun pits for full 360-degree traverse. A small portion of the 50 mm guns were mounted in fully casemented bunkers to provide better protection against air attack and naval gunfire, but these better bunkers were usually reserved for larger-calibre guns. The 50 mm guns were supplemented with a wide variety of other artillery weapons, usually old field guns in the 75-77 mm range. Guns used in Normandy ranged from World War I Austrian mountain guns to World War II Soviet 76 mm divisional guns. Some strongpoints mounted the field guns in fully enclosed bunkers, but in other cases they were simply deployed in field entrenchments.
Among the most lethal fortifications deployed in Normandy strongpoints were a family of special casemates designed for enfilade fire by heavy anti-tank guns. Even fully enclosed bunkers were vulnerable to naval gunfire around their unprotected gun embrasure, so these enfilade-fire casemates oriented the embrasure perpendicular to the shoreline and shielded it using a reinforced wall facing the sea. The most powerful of these were the bunkers armed with the 88 mm PaK 43/41. Due to the considerable range of the 88 mm gun, a single bunker of this type would be used to cover 3 km or more of coastline. In the case of Omaha Beach, there were two bunkers at the eastern and western end of the beach that could cover the entire 7 km of beach between them. Besides the 88 mm enfilade-fire bunkers, there were similar designs: the bunkers armed with the 50 mm gun and the bunkers but intended to house 75 mm guns.
In the strongpoints built in the towns, the troops were usually garrisoned in houses near the beach, some of which were reinforced with fighting positions. Bunkers were also constructed to store munitions and supplies. There was generally a single command bunker in each strongpoint, sometimes supported by a dedicated observation bunker for associated artillery forward observers with a communication bunker to connect with higher headquarters. The strongpoints were usually ringed with barbed-wire obstructions and sometimes with minefields. Within the strongpoints, networks of communication trenches and firing pits supported the bunkers. Priority for bunker construction went to the coastal strongpoints. A smaller number of additional strongpoints were created a short distance inland, but generally the D-Day fortifications lacked any true defence-in-depth. Most inland strongpoints were intended to cover important access routes off the beach. In addition, some strongpoints were created inland to serve as battalion or regimental headquarters.

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The H-677 was a casemate able to contain up to a Pak 43/41 88 mm, without auxiliary premises. Built using steel bars and a whole lot of concrete, these types of bunkers were a creation of German engineering. Seen on the beaches of Normandy, it held the powerful and famous 88mm (8.8 cm) PaK 43/41 towed anti-tank gun which delivered a serious punch when struck fired. These bunkers would usually be put at both ends of the beach so it's line of fire would cover the entire beach. At Omaha Beach it had two of these bunkers, while at the rest of the beaches, there was typically only one. It was constructed with a concrete wall on the outside that would be able to deflect incoming enemy fire. Most of these would be covered by earth or camoflage nets to stay hidden from reconaissance planes. Some were even painted in a camoflage pattern, but it depended on the local unit. A total of about 146 of these were created and placed on the Atlantic Wall.
Design plans were to be rigidly conformed to, however, it is estimated that less than half of the casemates, bunkers and shelters that comprise the Atlantic Wall in France adhered to the blueprints laid down by the designers and engineers of the Festungspionere Korps (Fortress Engineering Corps). Fluctuations in terrain accounted for most deviations, particularly in the actual location of the various components of a battery or strongpoint. The shortage of essential materials also caused builders to compromise on the designated quality of bunkers as the war progressed. But, that said, the various types of concrete defences remaining to this day are, by and large, still recognisable as to the purpose for which they were intended.
Tobruk or ringstand (ringstiinde) are among the most prolific as they were incorporated into virtually every fortification that could support them, including kitchens, stores and wash houses, while the R621 personnel bunker (Gruppenstand), and associated R501 are also numerous as are the H667 and H677. However, the most recognisable structure are the Sturm or reinforced casemates prevalent in the large shore batteries. The photograph of a German soldier stood alongside one of the massive guns of the Batterie Lindemann in the Pas de Calais endosed in its three metre thick casemate is one of the iconic images of the Second World War and one used frequently by Nazi propagandists to convince both the German people and possible invaders that the Atlantic Wall was an impregnable barrier. But the true situation was that there remained many long-range guns, particularly those under the control of the army, and their crews on the Atlantic Wall, particularly around the landing beaches, that had minimal protection from attack on D-Day.

[asl3d]

The Tobruk or "ringstellung" is basically a reinforced foxhole, some with a small, two-man habitat attached to it. The simplest version is named Bauform 201 or 58c, but a a variety of bunkers emerged from it. Tobruks are also an integral part of many larger bunkers, where they serve as observation posts and machinegun positions.
The tobruk Panzerstellung were the most common type of fortified position along the Normandy coast, and existed in a wide range of styles. More officially termed "Ringstanden," they were all characterized by a single circular opening for a weapon. There were two basic types, the Vf58c and Vf58d, which differed in construction details. The tobruks were most commonly used as machine-gun pits, armed with a wide variety of machine-gun types. Another very common type, theVf6 I a, was designed for 50mm mortars, and had a small concrete platform in the center for supporting the mortar. Generally tobruks offered a small shelter behind the ring opening to provide cover for the crew during bombardment.Access was through a door in the side or rear of the structure. Since the tobruks were only protected to Class B I standards (I .5m or less) they were generally constructed flush to the ground so that the earth formed an additional layer of protection. In this configuration, they presented a very difficult target for Allied troops, as they were not easily visible and could only be knocked out by a direct hit. In some cases, tobruks were mounted along the seawall immediately along the water's edge. In these cases, the preferred solution was to construct thicker walls than the Class B I standards, though there were many cases where the lesser standards were followed for the sake of economy.
While the tobruks were better than earth entrenchments, they were not as resistant to attack as the types of fully enclosed machine-gun bunkers found in the Westwall or in the Festung ports. Since their principal weapon was situated in a circular opening, they could be disabled by close infantry attack. By contrast, the fully enclosed machine-gun bunkers required far more substantial means, often point-blank fire from large-caliber artillery.

[asl3d]

Organization Todt (OT), the German labour organization, received the assignment of constructing the new fortifications. The initial work did not begin as part of the fortified line that became known as the Atlantic Wall, but rather as a series of coastal positions designed for supporting an invasion and closing the Straits of Dover to shipping. These heavy batteries, which had protection against aerial and naval bombardment, later came to symbolize the strength of the Atlantic Wall and became the focus of propaganda films.
In 1942 the Organisation Todt built H-625 and H-626 flanking casemates for 75mm anti-tank guns. These two types, which were similar to each other, included quarters for the crew and a magazine. In late 1943 the Organisation Todt began building the simpler H-680 75mm anti-tank gun casemate in large numbers. This type had only a small ammunition storage area. At about the same time the H-677 (similar to the H-680) for an 88mm anti-tank gun started appearing. Over 130 bunkers of each type were built. In 1943 the army dropped plans for the construction of additional H-631s and opted for the smaller and simpler H-676, which consisted only of a gunroom. There were several designs of casemate for the 50mm tank gun, but the most popular was the H-667, originally one of the Kleinst-Schartenstande or small combat bunkers that began to appear in 1943. Its simple layout was reminiscent of the H-676 and required half as much concrete. Over 500 units were completed, surpassed in numbers only by the more than 600 H-612 casemates for assault guns ranging from 75mm to 105mm.
German Kriegsmarine and Heer gun batteries were spread fairly evenly behind the D-Day landing beaches in Normandy but the fortified strongpoints were more concentrated on the eastern flank, where the coastline was more accessible.
The H669 was a casemate for field gun, without auxiliary premises. The H-669 was less than half the size of the H-611 and consisted only of a gunroom of about the same size and two small storage chambers for a limited supply of ammunition. The H-670, the H-671 and the H-679 were even smaller, but they still accommodated the same types of weapon as the larger ones on a pivoting mount. The H-679 could mount a 155mm gun.

[CHINCHIN]

Buf!! It will be hard to take the beaches!

Very well made units. [&o]

[rico21]

I'm happy to find more crazy than me![&o][:D]

[asl3d]

One version of the tobruk commonly seen on the Normandy beaches was the Panzerstellung, equipped with a tank turret. These were sometimes based on the standard Vf67v tobruk, but also on modified types including a common but non-standard U-shaped tobruk. These usually used turrets from captured French tanks and the two most common types in Normandy were the World War I Renault FT tank turrets and the later APX-R turret.The APX-R turret was developed by the Atelier de Puteaux in 1935 for the Renault firm, hence the APX-R designation. It was initially used on the Renault R-35 infantry tank, though it was later used on the Hotchkiss H-35 and H-39 cavalry tank as well. It was gradually upgraded with better visors switching from the initial binocular "fente Estienne" to the improved PPLRX-I 80P armored periscope in the APX-RI turret, which had a wide field of view. There were three production/armament configurations of this turret, the L.7I3 with the initial 37mm S.A. 18, the L739 turret with the slightly improved 37mm S.A. 18 M.37, and the L767 with the new long-barreled 37mm S.A. 38. However, the latter weapon was usually reserved for Renault and Hotchkiss tanks used by the Wehrmacht for anti-partisan fighting while the two earlier types of turret with the short S.A. I8 were used on the tobruks. These turrets also had a coaxial machine gun, generally the 7.5mm Modele 31. In some cases, the Wehrmacht modified the turret by cutting open the observation dome at the top and installing a split hatch in its place.
The turret was manned by a single gunner and in the original tank version, a leather strap seat was suspended from the turret ring. In some cases this was removed and the gunner simply stood. The standard Wehrmacht practice was to man these tobruks with at least two soldiers, the second of whom assisted the gunner by providing ammunition. There was no formal ammunition stowage in these bunkers; the ammunition was usually stored in its shipping containers, which in the case of French 37mm ammunition was a simple wooden box. There was an access hatch in the back of the turret, but access into the tobruk was usually through the bunker door.
Besides the fighting bunkers, there were a variety of other defensive bunkers in the strongpoints. Typically, each strongpoint would have two or three personnel and command bunkers. There was generally not enough space in these bunkers to house the entire strongpoint garrison, but rather they were used for sleeping by a portion of the platoon or company while on watch duty. For example, on Omaha Beach, there were enough personnel bunkers for about 50-60 percent of the garrison. So at WN62, there was a single 20-man bunker for the usual alert group, but when fully manned the strongpoint had over 30 troops.

[asl3d]

ORIGINAL: CHINCHIN

Buf!! It will be hard to take the beaches!

Very well made units. [&o]

Well, the American infantry did not have it easy either.

Do not forget that all scenarios can be won, although at first it may seem difficult.

Surely you will enjoy the "bloody Omaha" beaches.

[asl3d]

ORIGINAL: rico21

I'm happy to find more crazy than me![&o][:D]

Welcome to the ruins of Stalingrad and Normandy.

I want to take this opportunity to congratulate you for the excellent work you have done in TotH.

Is awesome!

I thought I had a very complete collection of SL and ASL scenarios but, obviously, I was very wrong.

[asl3d]

In the observation of fire, the greatest reliance by the Germans was placed on forward observers. The artillery forward observer (Vorgeschobene Beobachter) played a decisive part in the success of infantry. In the attack he accompanied the infantry, and was assisted by a radio operator. If the attack was stopped, the observer directed the attack for fire at the enemy's resistance points and was driving the infantry to the next assault. In static warfare, the observer ordered the destructive fire against the enemy and also the cover fire to help his own troops. He also directed the destructive fire against the enemy infantry that he was about to attack or that he was actually attacking. The results of this are shown not only in the effective cooperation between the two arms, but in the existence of a spirit of brotherhood in combat: the advanced artillery observer became the best friend of the infantry.
German spotters tended to be attached to a given gun battery. American and British platoons could expect artillery support within 5–10 minutes of a call for assistance. The Germans required closer to half an hour. Partially this is organization and availability, partially this is the lack of telecommunications infrastructure in the German military. Germans could also do map based fire (“blind”) or impromptu fire spotted by an Forward Observer. Their impromptu fire was dependent on have accurately surveyed the battery’s position and firing positions for the Forward Observer; it also involved complicated maths by the battery when called upon, and hence was slow to arrive, about 15 min from call to shell fall. The Germans carefully accounted for a range of factors (elevation changes, wind, temperature, etc.). That meant, although slow, they tended to be quite accurate. Firing time against a previous target, or near a previous target, was faster as they kept their previous calculations. If the Germans had time to prepare they pre-plotted (“registered”) firing points so that effective fire could be quickly delivered as needed.
In the initial phase of the German attack the organization was still widely dispersed, allowing as many gun tubes as possible to engage the enemy at any given time. At that moment combat reconnaissance has gone ahead and finds obstacles as well as the forward edge of the enemy lines, if that has not already been done by dismounted patrols earlier. It was extremely important during this critical phase of the attack that the enemy is prevented from aimed fire of his weapons through indirect fire of friendly forces, either in the form of preparatory fires or on-call ones. The Vorgeschobene Beobachter in their SPW's had to be positioned far enough forward in the organization that, driving from one observation point to the next, they could maintain continuous observation of the battlefield. If it was possible, each lead company should be directed to coordinate with a forward observer. The tactical leaders called for artillery support. The permission to fire was obtained from the commander of the formation (Gefechtsverband: e.g., battalion or regiment).

[asl3d]

H&L German Spotters full