SPzAbt 503 seeks volunteers.

[sztartur2]

The 503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion seeks volunteers to embark on the following operation.

[sztartur2]

Gents,

I need two or three volunteers who is willing to test for my campaign about the 503rd. I need people who are reliable, and willing to test scenarios more than once and give constructive feedback.

I have crated a campaign with 6 maps -all downloadable from this forum- and 8 scenarios. The first scenario is made public the SPzAbt 503: The bridgehead.

If you are interested you need to do the following.

1. Download and install the following maps
-Puszta 1 - Rainy,muddy, foxholed version
-Puszta 2 - Train version
-Puszta 3 - Foggy version
-Mezotur - Muddy version
-Szajol
-Turkeve
MAKE SURE TO HAVE THE LATEST VERSION!


2. Send me a PM here with your mail address.

Then I will send you the link for the scenario set and the campaign files.

[sztartur2]

I have found the following resources in English for reading.

A very interesting e-book, I have not red it but I have some books listed in the bibliography.
http://expresslanka-ebook.blogspot.com/ ... ns-on.html

An interesting article:
http://www.historynet.com/desperate-pan ... war-ii.htm

And of course the Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Debrecen

[sztartur2]

This picture is taken in the main street of Debrecen. I have lived there for 7 years before moving to Budapest.

[rickier65]

This looks interesting, I'm looking forward to trying it out.

thanks!
rick

[sztartur2]

Information about Tiger battalions:

An e-book found on the NET
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/37180814/public ... alions.pdf

and of course the ever classic Armor Site
http://www.fprado.com/armorsite/tigers.htm

and of course the Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_hea ... battalions

[Mad Russian]

Is there any kind of museum at Debrecen? That's one of my favorite battles on the Eastern Front. Very difficult to get good information about the fighting.

The battle is interesting though because of the confused nature of the actions involved. The weather and terrain make it very difficult to model in a scenario. At least it can be.

There is no mud in any tactical level computer wargame like the MUD on the Eastern Front and that makes it difficult to recreate the deep mud environments they often encountered.

Good Hunting.

MR

[sztartur2]

MR,  there is a museum in Debrecen but not in WWII topic. The closest war museum is in Budapest.

Yes, it is very hard to find data on this period for this operation. Historians neglected it because in the communist era it was not "right" to write about the horrible losses of the red army in men and material and was politically incorrect to mention the rapes and robbing that our "liberators" have done. Some books were written, partially mentioning the events glorifying the Red Army.

There is a young historian Dr. Norbert Számvéber (whom I have the pleasure to know personally) who collected information about this and wrote books about the topic.  These books are in Hungarian. You can find the author on Facebook so If you ask nicely he may provide information.

The books he wrote:
Páncélosok a Tiszántúlon (Tanks in the land over the Tisza)
Az alföldi Páncéloscsata (Tank battle in the Hungarian Plains) -an update of the previous book
Nehézpáncélosok (Heavy Tanks) -The 503rd Panzer battalion's combat history during their stay in Hungary. This was the primary source of the campaign I made. The previous two books also use information from this book heavily.
The combat history of SS units in Hungary.

These are titles with information about the time frame and location.

Mr Számvéber wrote many other books there is one in English
SS Armour in Normandy: The Combat History of SS Panzer Regiment 12 and SS Panzerjäger Abteilung 12, Normandy 1944

[Mobius]

ORIGINAL: sztartur

This picture is taken in the main street of Debrecen. I have lived there for 7 years before moving to Budapest.

What's that tower like building in the background for?

[sztartur2]

http://puszta.com/eng/programs/cikk/cso ... m_debrecen

this is how it looked like in the beginning.

http://gallery.xorp.hu/varosok/debrecen ... 3.jpg.html

[Ratzki]

Looks better with the dome on the top.

[rickier65]

I'm playing the first battle for this. I'm taking quite a beating, but I'm closing on the Soviets. Not sure that I will survive the first scenario though. This is a battle that will have me replaying to try a different strategy I suspect.

Thanks
rick

[sztartur2]

Rick, if you decide to restart I would suggest you to wait till I update my maps with the Hungarian houses. Will upload maps soon.

[rickier65]

ORIGINAL: sztartur


Rick, if you decide to restart I would suggest you to wait till I update my maps with the Hungarian houses. Will upload maps soon.

I've been interupted with some otehr testing. I will see how the first battle ends and then decide if I need to restart. The soveit AT guns are a challenge. I'm probably not using the correct tactics against them.

I'll wait for your new maps to play the succeeding battle.

Thanks!
rick


Thanks

[sztartur2]

Besides Rick I need additional testers, so I you have the desire to try this out please send me a PM.

If you think this  campaign is no good I would be grateful to know your opinion why, and how could I make it better.

[rickier65]

First battle results: Most of the Tigers in the 503Bn suffered damage, one was abandoned. But the abandoned tank was recovered, and the damage was repaired.

I also earned several Iron Cross, Second class and wound badges.

The soviets held firm and had to be dug out of their postitions using both the Tigers and the Pz IVs as well as the Pz Grenadiers.

thanks
rick

[sztartur2]

Any improvement suggestions?

[rickier65]

ORIGINAL: sztartur

Any improvement suggestions?

I don't think I have any. I think a couple of other players were also playing it. The scenario was longer than I usually play. I think it ended around Turn 51. But I don't play that many on 2km maps. At least one person mentioned wanting more smoke ammo.

I ran out of artillery early in the scenario, but the balance seemed pretty good to me. I don't want to say too much in the way of a spoiler, but I the Soviet AT guns were well positioned. I won, but only with a marginal victory, so it could have gone either way.

Thanks
rick

[rickier65]

I finished 2nd Scenario. This one was more straightforward and allowed me to collecxt some medals, including an Iron Cross 1st Class. I sustained some damage, but no losses, and all were repaired before leaving Mezotur the next morning.

Thanks
rick

[sztartur2]

Good luck with the "hard morning" [:D].