WW2 Warfare Discussion thread

[GodlikeDennis]

The tank destroyers/self-propelled guns were a way to upgun outdated tank designs cheaply, to increase their effectiveness and change their role. Some examples are:

Panzer III - Stug III
Panzer IV - Stug IV
             - Jagdpanzer IV
Panzer 38(t) - Hetzer
                 - Marder III
Hotchkiss/Panzer II - Marder I (GWagon)/Marder II

Often, outdated tanks could have their turret replaced with a turretless superstructure that allowed for a much larger gun. This was a cheap way to make old tanks effective again. They weren't built new from factories (the Jagdpanther/Jagdtiger/Elefant are probably exceptions) but were rather taken back to factories to have turrets removed and superstructures/massive guns added.

[Pauly3]

and some of those gapfillers proved to be very effective
Wittman, the most succesfull tank ace of WW2 started in a Stug III
actually i think the CoH Wehrmacht is weird cause Stug III was way more common than Stug IV

[Dann88]

In a movie I saw, US soldiers threw stones to make mines explode, can it work in real life? Because most of mines I know (and in that movie) was buried.

[Walentin 'Walki' L.]

Yes, my brother is a pioneer in the Bundeswehr and he showed me a book with a lot of mines (all types). Anti infantry & Anti Tank: Almost every mine had the text: To defuse, trigger the mine from save distance by shooting or throwing something against it.

I.E. Butterfly mines they are defused by shooting at them.

[Dann88]

Why the German flamthrowers wear goggles? Because of the "flash" from flame or the heat? If the heat then they have to wear a mask (with goggles in it)
By the way, the goggles with mask used in Africa I saw in games and movies are kinda... scary (and cool ), is the goggles come with other stuffs like cloth and backpack all the time or some soldiers got it, some didn't?
I just found out the iron canister the grenadiers carry behind have a gas mask in it, imagine a blob of gas-masked grenadiers

[Walentin 'Walki' L.]

Why the German flamthrowers wear goggles? [...]

Cause a flamethrower is very hot :p. Try to sit very close to a campfire and stare at it. I don't think you are able to face it for long and of course it was also as a protection.

[stealthattack1]

Why the German flamthrowers wear goggles? [...]

Cause a flamethrower is very hot :p. Try to sit very close to a campfire and stare at it. I don't think you are able to face it for long and of course also as a protection.

i belive we call that a "good point"

[Dann88]

If it's hot then just a goggles will not enough, just wear mask with goggles then.

[Walentin 'Walki' L.]

Never had the effect that your eyes hurted after you sat next to a campfire but your face didn't hurt then .

[stealthattack1]

i think also they wore masks because breathing burning gasoline fumes
isnt too good on the ol' lungs.

[Pac-Fish]

Neither is gunpowder

[Cranialwizard]

i think also they wore masks because breathing burning gasoline fumes
isnt too good on the ol' lungs.

Neither is most of the crap that soldiers were breathing. Breathing gas was the least of their worries.

[Darkjolly]

After lurking some pages, Ive was surprised too see the Soviets and the Finish actually had their own battles. Were the Finns on the axis or allied side on? or were they just defending their land and then went neutral?

[Sommarkatze]

Ever heard about the winter war? XD

They were on the axis side. Partly? XD Not allied really, more like - we are fighting the same enemy lets help each other out? <3

Fun fact is that the finnish fought for a little time against the germans!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapland_War

[stealthattack1]

sommarkatze pretty much summed it up. soviets fought finns when the soviet union and germany were still allied, and the finns used guerilla warfare to wear down the red army.
they were defending their land.