The following are military questions asked by members of the Gearbox Software forums and answered by Col. John Antal (US Army, Ret).
Q7: Asked by NickNameless
Colonel, if you could go back in time and were placed in charge of the D Day invasion forces on the Normandy beaches, without knowledge of the success of the effort that is now history, what changes to the plan would you have implemented and why?ANSWER:
Intriguing question. Most of the problems with the D-Day landing s occurred at Omaha Beach. The changes that I think would have made the most dramatic effect on the D-Day operation would be to 1) Add more special armor; 2) Press for early delivery of the M26 Pershing Tank and; 3) Start the bombardment of the beaches earlier.
Add much more special armor - "Hobart's Funnies" as they were called - to the American effort. The special armor was primarily a British idea developed by General Sir Percy Hobart. Except for the DD "swimming" tanks, the American shad very few pieces of special armor at Omaha or Utah Beach. The photo above depicts a Crab Tank that is designed to flail its way through German beach defenses. This kind of special armor would have made a tremendous difference at Omaha Beach.
Push for the early deployment of the M26 Pershing tank - In January 1944, at a dozen sites in England, fields were filled with row upon row of American-made M-4 Sherman tanks waiting to be used in the fighting. The 32-ton Sherman had a very reliable engine and was easy to produce and load onto ships for transport overseas. It was a tribute to the industrial might of the United States.
General Maurice Rose, tasked with exploiting the breakthrough from the Normandy beaches, had misgivings about the Sherman. As commander of the 3d Armored Division, he knew had significant shortcomings when compared to German tanks -- its armor was relatively thin and its gun couldn't penetrate the frontal armor of the German Panther or Tiger tank, even at short range. The German tanks, however, could easily destroy the Sherman from long range. The Sherman had been designed to fill a specific role on the battlefield: to support the infantry in breaking through enemy defenses. Once the enemy line was breached, tank divisions would exploit the breakthrough and attack the enemy in his vulnerable rear areas. The job of killing other tanks was left to tank destroyers. The problem was that tanks had to be able to fight other tanks. General Rose knew this from firsthand combat experience, and he was not alone in his concerns.
With the D-Day assault looming near, most of the American tank commanders who had combat experience fighting German armor wanted a better tank -- they wanted the M-26 Pershing with its heavy armor and 90 mm gun. The Pershing was already built and tested. Experts informed General Dwight Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, that if American factories switched production to the Pershing, several hundred could be deployed to England by May -- in time for D-Day. General George Patton, the senior tank commander in the U.S. Army, disagreed with replacing the Sherman that late in the war. He believed that the Sherman was adequate and did not want his tanks engaging in tank-to-tank battles. With Patton's persistence, deployment of the Pershing was given low priority. The more heavily armored and up-gunned Pershings would not appear in Europe until late in the war, and even then only in small numbers.
That fateful decision cost the lives of many American Soldiers and very likely was responsible for prolonging World War II. As the Battle of Normandy developed, it became clear that the Sherman was outclassed by German armor. In one deadly instance, a single German Panther destroyed an entire company of 17 Shermans! The Army paid a staggering cost during World War II for its flawed tank choice. General Rose's 3d Armored Division started with 232 Shermans in June 1944; by May 1945 the division had lost 648 destroyed and another 700 knocked out but repaired and returned to service -- a loss rate of 580 percent! The human price paid for each destroyed tank was two to three crewmen killed or wounded.
Tank crews called their Shermans "purple heart boxes" or "Ronsons," after the popular cigarette lighter; like a reliable Ronson, the Sherman was sure to catch fire if hit. The Sherman tankers used courage and innovative tactics -- like the "mousetrap" -- to make up for inferior weaponry. After World War II, veteran tankers swore that this imbalance would never happen again. Through evolving tank designs, and by remembering the horrible lessons of World War II, the Army procured the M-1 Abrams tank. With its legendary survivability, maneuverability, firepower and shock effect, the Abrams is the best tank in the world.
Start the bombardment of the beaches one hour earlier - Although the bombing of Utah, Gold, Juno and Sword Beaches was effective, the bombardment of Omaha Beach completely missed the German Beach defenses. When the first wave of infantry hit Omaha Beach they expected to see smoking shell craters and dazed Germans ready to surrender. Instead, they found the Germans waiting for them and not a single Allied shell had hit the German defenses. The bombers and the big guns of the Allied Navy overshot their targets as they were worried about hitting the advancing American landing craft.
...But, having been in military operations, and knowing how hard they are to accomplish effectively, I will tell you that the answers I have provided above are only possible because "hindsight is 20-20." Everything looks much clearer 60 years later. When you think about all that could have gone wrong, and study all that went right, my hat is off to General Eisenhower, his planners, and the heroic men who led the way on D-Day to crack the Atlantic Wall.
Q8: Asked by Truman:
Tank Tactics. Fix em and flank em work on infantry. What is the plan when a squad or platoon comes across a tank? Where is the weakest spot on a tank's armor?ANSWER:
Good question Truman. Actually, the FIND, FIX, FLANK, and FINISH tactical concept works for tanks as well as infantry - and also for tank-infantry teams. One of the most important concepts in tank-to-tank combat is to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy tank you are fighting. All tanks are more heavily armored in the front, less on the flanks and much less in the rear. You always want to avoid attacking a tank head-on. Flank and rear attacks bring the most success as you can avoid the tanks main weapons and can attack the areas of the tank that have less armor protection.
During WWII, German tanks were better armor and had better guns than most American tanks. The American main battle tank that fought in Normandy on D-Day, the M4A1 Sherman, had a weak 75mm gun that could only penetrate the frontal armor of most German tanks at very close range. The best way for a Sherman tank to destroy German tanks, therefore, was to find the German tank first (FIND), for either tanks or infantry to engage the German tank and keep it busy (FIX), while another tank, antitank gun or bazooka team moved to the left or right (FLANK), to shoot the panzer in the flank or rear (FINISH). Of course, every tank gunner looks for that dream shot where he sees the grill doors of an enemy tank engine compartment in his sights! HOOAH!
Q9: Asked by erotic_hamster
How many OST troops where there fighting for the Germans in Normandy? And did they do anything to help the Germans? Because I have only heard that they surrendered without trying to fight when they encountered allied soldiers.ANSWER:
The German Army was stretched to the limit in June 1944. They needed every man they could muster to defend the Atlantic Wall defenses against the expected Allied invasion. Since there were not enough German troops, the Germans recruited - often at gunpoint - non-Germans into service. The Ost battalions - from the German word "Ost" for East - were third-class troops designed to fight inside concrete pillboxes and hold the Allies back while the better trained and equipped regular German Army could move forces to counterattack the Allied beachheads. There were ten "Ost" battalions in Normandy. These soldiers were primarily "recruited" from former Soviet prisoners of war. The Ost units depicted in Brothers in Arms are from the 709th German Infantry Division which consisted of the 729th, 739th (both with 4 battalions, although the 4th battlion in each formation were Ost), and 919th Infantry Regiments. This coastal defense division protected the the Utah beach landing zone area as well as the eastern, and northern coast of the Normandy Cotentin Peninsula. The soldiers in Ost units were in a tough situation as 'foreign soldiers" in the German Army. Many did not speak German, and had little love for Nazi cause, but they fought as well as might be expected for such soldiers. They had little hope of surviving if they were captured by the Allies and if they were eventually sent back to Russia they knew that they would face life in the Gulag or immediate execution. If they ran away from the fighting, their German sergeants and officers would shoot them. They were no match for the elite airborne troops of the U.S. 101st and 82d Airborne Divisions that they met in battle on D-Day and, as a result, were mostly combat ineffective a week after the invasion.
The End
- Colonel John Antal, U.S. Army (Ret.), Gearbox Software
The following are military questions asked by members of the Gearbox Software forums and answered by Col. John Antal (US Army, Ret).
Q4: Asked by Lars
Is it as Bull says in Band of Brothers, that when you fix the bayonet on the M1 Garand, you won't be able to shoot very straight?
ANSWER:
The weapon shoots straight, with or without the bayonet. The added weight of the bayonet on the end of the rifle, however, can cause the shooter to experience muscle fatigue. This is fatigue has a tendency to make the shooter less accurate.
Q5: Asked by Erich
A German painting of soldiers on the Eastern front standing next to a destroyed Russian T-34 Tank. By the time the Allies invaded Normandy on June 6, 1944, the Germans had been fighting on multiple fronts for almost five years.
How professional and tough to beat was the German army (SS included)? In most movies or stories or games the Germans are mindless unorganized and an easy kill. How true are these depictions of the Germans?
ANSWER:
The German Army, called the Wehrmacht, was a very professional fighting force but was weakened by years of war and heavy casualties. The German soldier was plenty tough, and most had combat experience, but they did not outclass the Allied forces that landed in Normandy in training, equipment, combat support or supplies. When General Eisenhower launched the D-Day invasion the Germans only had a few divisions in the Normandy area. The Allies fooled the German high command into believing that the main Allied invasion force would fall at the Pas de Calais, not in Normandy. Some units, like the Ost Battalions that manned the defenses around Utah Beach, were good only for the defense of static positions. On D-Day, some of the static defensive units of the German Army were a mixture of veterans, young boys and old men. Other units, like the German paratroops and SS units, were capable of complex offensive operations. These units, and especially the panzer divisions, were initially held back when the Allies attacked in Normandy. Large numbers of German forces were kept in reserve for weeks after the initial landings as the Germans expected the real attack to occur at the Pas de Calais. The Allies, therefore, gained a tremendous advantage over the German defenders of the Atlantic Wall by hitting them in a weak spot. Even though it was a weak spot, the German defenses in Normandy were still a hard nut to crack and the Wehrmacht put up a tenacious defense.
Q6: Asked by Ryan
U.S. Paratrooper with M1A1 Carbine. Why did American Paratroopers use the M1 Garand but they didn't use a carbine with a full stock? It would still be lighter than the Garand and smaller.
ANSWER:
Good question Ryan. During the fighting in Normandy, paratroopers use both M1 and M1A1 (folding stock) Carbines. The M1 Carbine was a very compact weapon. It was lightweight, had a high rate of fire, and shorter than the M1 Garand Rifle. The paratrooper modification, the M1A1, with a pistol grip and a side-folding metallic stock was even more compact. The lighter weight made this weapon ideal for paratroopers who were assigned crew served weapons like machineguns, mortars or howitzers. This version also was produced in limited numbers and on D-Day some paratroopers and glider troops carried the standard M1 with stock and others had the folding stock.
Most paratroopers, however, preferred the M1 Garand Rifle. The M1 Garand is considered by many to be the best rifle of WWII. The M1 Rifle has greater range, superb accuracy and even though it is heavier, in the hands of a well-trained paratrooper it was the deadliest rifle on the WWII battlefield.
Check back tomorrow for part 3.
The following are military questions asked by members of the Gearbox Software forums and answered by Col. John Antal (US Army, Ret).
LTC John Antal in Kuwait standing next to a destroyed Iraqi tank in 1994.
Q1: Asked by gotitall_01
Glider troops in a WACO CG4A Glider. Waco and Horsa Gliders were vital to reinforce the paratroopers on D-Day.When you talk about D-Day and the gliders that were involved in it, you hear about soldiers coming out with broken body parts or at sometimes even getting killed. Did the gliders do more harm then good?
ANSWER:
Although the gliders were dangerous - every landing was a crash landing - they were also vital because they carried the jeeps, antitank guns, howitzers, heavy equipment and supplies that were critical to reinforcing the lightly armed paratroopers. Without the glider troops, the invasion might have failed. Although the stories of glider crashes are horrific, most of them landed safely and deployed their troops and equipment. Today, this kind of operation could be accomplished by helicopters, but in WWII the gliders were the only way to move this many troops and such heavy equipment behind enemy lines.
Q2: Asked by Clay
A squad of American Soldiers, in Normandy, shortly after D-Day. Can you master the WWII tactics they actually used and lead your squad to victory in the new game Brothers in Arms?
What were the tactics used during the ground war in the Pacific Theater compared to the tactics of the ground war in the European War? Also, how were our tactics changed in the Pacific theater based on the terrain of certain islands and the tactics of the Japanese?
ANSWER:
Hello Clay: Tactics vary according to the mission, enemy, terrain, your troops and time available - -what we call in the military METT-T (Mission Enemy Troops, Terrain and Time), but the basic tactics that you will use in Brothers in Arms were the same tactics used in both the Pacific and European Theaters of Operation during World War II.
To win in Brothers in Arms, you must know and employ authentic WWII squad tactics. You cannot survive and win using "Rambo-like" heroics. You must lead your team as a real WWII squad leader would have led them, capitalizing on their strengths and protecting their weaknesses from the enemy. Let's begin by going back to basics. Sun Tzu, who's 2,000-year old Art of War is still studied by thoughtful soldiers today, explained the art of tactics with these words:
"The art of using troops is this:
......When ten to the enemy's one, surround him;
......When five times his strength, attack him;
......If double his strength, divide him;
......If equally matched you may engage him;
......If weaker numerically, be capable of withdrawing;
......And if in all respects unequal, be capable of eluding him,
..........for a small force is but booty for one more powerful."
In actual combat, as in Brothers in Arms, this advice holds true. Each infantry squad is divided into teams of complementary capabilities that derive from the various weapons carried by each team member. In Brothers in Arms, players execute rudimentary tactics using an Assault Team and a Fire Team. The Assault Team consists of three soldiers armed with rapid firing M1 carbines and M1 Thompson submachine guns. The Fire Team consists of three soldiers armed with M1 Garand rifles and a Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR). To win in Brothers in Arms, you must give tactically sound orders to these teams to fire and maneuver--the basis for all tactics. These basic tactics, employed in WWII in both the Pacific and European theaters of war, can be distilled from Sun Tzu's advice into what the U.S. Army called the "Four F's": Find, Fix, Flank and Finish the enemy.
FIND the enemy first: In Brothers in Arms, you should use your Assault Team to scout forward and make first contact with the enemy. A cardinal rule of squad tactics is to always engage the enemy on your terms, not his.
FIX the enemy with fire: Once you find the enemy, you must quickly decide what to do next. As a squad leader you must use your understanding of the terrain, your team leaders' reports and your knowledge of the enemy to make a rapid tactical decision. You must decide how to engage the enemy. The object is to deny the enemy freedom of maneuver by fixing (holding) him in place. If the enemy appears to be too strong, you should withdraw your Assault Team and try another tactical approach. If the enemy seems weak, hold your Assault Team in position to suppress the enemy, fixing him with the team's fire, while you bring up your Fire Team to a position of advantage. Once your Fire Team is in an advantageous position, order them to plaster the enemy with their fire. The rapid firing BAR is vital to this task, so protect it at all costs. Once your suppressive fire has fixed the enemy, you are ready for the next step.
FLANK the enemy: Finding, forcing and hitting the enemy's vulnerable flank is the surest way to win a tactical engagement. While the Fire Team suppresses the enemy, the squad leader leads the Assault Team to maneuver against the enemy's flank. Once you've hit his flank, your opponent is "placed on the horns of a dilemma," since he is now receiving deadly fire from two separate directions. Finding a flank, or creating one, is the essence of WWII tactics - in both the Pacific and European theaters of War -- and the central art to winning in Brothers in Arms.
FINISH the enemy: Yet, the battle's not won until the enemy is finished off. As the Fire Team continues to suppress the enemy, the Assault Team uses fire or close assault to finish him off. Grenades, submachine guns and carbines are the weapons of choice for the assault. As the Assault Team closes with the enemy, the Fire Team shifts fire to stop the enemy from moving away.
Q3: Asked by NickNameless:
Gearbox weapons shoot. Team members had a chance to learn how to load fire and apply immediate action to all of the pistols and rifles in Brothers in Arms.
I've heard the M1 Garand was very difficult to reload from mid clip. Must you clear a clip before reloading?
ANSWER:
The M1 Garand is not difficult to clear and reload, but it does take a few seconds to unload a partial clip and then reload a full eight round clip. There is a release button on the left top of the receiver. Pull back the charging handle and press the release button and the half-full clip of .30-06 ammunition will pop out. You can then reload a full clip, or replace rounds in the clip individually. Reloading the clip with individual rounds is something that a Soldier would only do in a safe place and with moments to spare.
Check back tomorrow for part 2.
The following are military questions asked by members of the Gearbox Software forums and answered by Col. John Antal (US Army, Ret).
Q5: Asked by Raydude
When the "fire" element of a fire and maneuver team engages an enemy how do they stagger their firing times so that they don't all run out of ammo at the same time, or close to the same time?
Example: If the fire team has all springfields with an 8 round clip do they train to shoot off rounds so only 1-2 people are reloading at any given time? And if so, what was the general idea they followed?
Answer:
As the poster says, the M-1 does MY talking! The standard rifle of the paratroopers of the 101st Airborne, and the U.S. Army in WWII was the M1 Garand Rifle. The M1 Garand was the main U.S. combat rifle of World War II. It had a maximum range of 3,200 meters and maximum effective range of 400 meters. Fully loaded with an 8-round clip, the M1 weighed 11.4 lbs. The M1 was designed for semi-automatic fire using a spring steel clip containing eight .30-06 rifle cartridge rounds. This is where the term "clip" originated and all other rifles use either a stripper clips or detachable box magazines. For the U.S. soldier, this semiautomatic design of the M1 provided greater firepower over German soldiers mostly equipped with K-98 bolt-action rifles.
The M1903 Springfield was the standard rifle in WWI, and was used in WWII as well, but primarily as a sniper rifle. The M1903-A4 sniper rifle version of the standard Springfield with the 2.5X power scope was an accurate rifle with an effective range of about 600 yards (550m).
Fire discipline is one of the most important elements of squad tactics, Ray, so here is my answer: Leadership and Training. Leaders must keep track of their squad's ammo expenditure and make sure their soldiers don't run out of ammo. Paratroopers fired a lot during D-Day, and most were really excellent shots. All of the paratroopers of the 101st Airborne on D-Day carried as much ammo as they could - sometimes too much. In addition, after every action, whenever there is a lull, a good soldier picks up whatever ammunition he can find. You strip the dead, the wounded and the enemy of weapons and ammunition as needed.
Q6: Asked by Biggs
How good was the communication between tanks and foot soldiers...since BIA is using the tank as one of your Fire teams, I was wondering were the tank commanders in close communication with a squad leader on the ground or were tanks and foot soldiers not usually tied together as a team. if so, was the whole thing usually well coordinated?
Answer:
Biggs, your question is one of the most important combined-arms lessons learned of the war. The answer is that during the D-Day operation, it was very tough to communicate between dismounted infantry and tankers. Infantry leaders had to use hand and arms signals, pre arranged plans, or get close enough to shout to the tank commander to communicate. Because of the tank infantry cooperation problems learned in the fighting from 1941-1944, intercom field phones and better infantry-to-tank radios were installed in U.S. tanks. It was a hard lesson to learn, but one that was invaluable to making the combined arms tank-infantry team work.
Q7: Asked by jman71
Mohawks: Why did Airborne troops have them, about how many did it, was it based on squad, platoon, or company, or was it just a few guys doing it for fun. I think this is kind of funny, I can't imagine a G.I. with a Mohawk.
Answer
Mohawks! Super question!! The photo you may have seen of 101st Airborne paratroopers with Mohawk haircuts was a special group - and only a single 12 man squad of paratroopers from the 101st Airborne, who called themselves the Filthy 13 - and they answer why is attitude. This squad was notorious in the 101st Airborne for hard fighting and reckless courage. The spirit of the Filthy 13 was sparked by a paratrooper named Jake McNiece, a half Native American man from Oklahoma who was reportedly the toughest man in the squad. The squad were immortalized on D-Day by a Stars and Stripes photographer who filmed them placing war paint on their faces. The Filthy 13 fought all the way through until the end of the war, although with heavy casualties. A total of 30 soldiers passed through the squad to replace those killed or wounded in combat.
Q8: Asked by MP5A49MM
How effective was the MK.II frag grenade as I've heard somewhere that they hardly ever killed the enemy but wounded them!!
Answer
Grenades were very effective, but they would often wound rather than kill the enemy. This was usually good enough, as a dazed, wounded man is seldom as brave or capable as you often see in the movies! The standard U.S. fragmentation grenade in WWII was the Mark II. It weighed .6 kg (21 ounces) and had a 4-5 second fuse. The grenade is a very important weapon to the combat rifleman and is invaluable in close quarter fighting in hedgerows and villages that the paratroopers of the 101st Airborne found in Normandy on D-Day. A trained soldier could hurl a Mark II Fragmentation Grenade about 50 yards - half the length of a football field.
The End
Post more questions and Keep up the fire!!
- Colonel John Antal, U.S. Army (Ret.), Gearbox Software
The following are military questions asked by members of the Gearbox Software forums and answered by Col. John Antal (US Army, Ret).
Q1: Asked by HippyGoth
It appears the Colonel knows his history, one thing I've always wanted to know, is how well did the Allies perform as a "single unit" during the war?
When I say unit, I'm referring to co-ordination between the various allies forces. We see outstanding co-ordination in modern warfare, it seems closest between the US and UK forces (for those who wonder, this is just my personal observation, I'm sure NATO works with all allies equally), but the military has nice modern gizmos to keep things tight. How was all this performed in the 2nd World War without the modern gizmos today's military takes for granted?
Answer:
Good question HippyGoth! You are right; the Allies did not have the high-tech situation awareness gear that our Soldiers have today. For instance, the American forces in WWII had radios from different manufacturers that often couldn't talk from ground to air, ground to sea or even between allied forces! They had to do it the old fashioned way, through planning, training and leadership. At the squad level, however, not that much has changed. Although squads can be equipped with individual soldier radios for short distance communications, most rifle squads still rely on voice commands, hand and arm signals and "FOLLOW ME" leadership.
Q2: Asked by Clay
At squad or platoon level, the fire and movement tactic is used, but what about when you are working along side another company and your own? When you have around 100 people firing along side you. How is this used then? It would seem like a little hard to control having every platoon or squad doing their own thing by flanking and suppressing. And if your were to have your company fire, and the rest maneuver that would get a little crowded. So basically, is there a different tactic used when you are attacking with your company or division? Or do companies not bunch up and spread so as you basically fight down at platoon level instead of Company level? But then, you would possibly be running into other unit's line of fire if you flanked with your platoon to the left or right in the middle of the line. Hope this is good now. I'm talking about real life tactics here and not the game.
Answer:
Clay, I know just what you're talking about! I've had the honor to lead formations of soldiers and tanks from fire team to a regiment and, yes, it is much harder to control larger formations. Luckily, the basic principle is still the same. Find the enemy, fix him with fire, flank him, and then assault and finish him. If you lead a platoon, you can have two squads fix the enemy with fire while one squad maneuvers to attack the enemy with fire form the flank or assault. If you command a company, you can use two platoons to fix the enemy with fire, and maneuver a platoon in assault. In almost all cases, you want your fixing element to be larger and have greater firepower than your flanking and assaulting force. Colonel John Antal, U.S. Army (Ret.) Gearbox Software
Q3: Asked by Catch22
U.S. Army Hand and Arm Signal for Action Front/Right/Left/Rear and Assault Can you tell us anything about the hand signals that we might see our teams using to communicate with us? Are their different hand signals for different types and numbers of enemies?
Answer:
Glad you asked that question Catch 22. Yes, different armies, and sometimes different units, use various hand and arm signals to direct soldiers in squad and platoons. In the U.S. Army in WWII the hand and arm signals were very much like the ones used by our infantry today (See example above). German hand and arm signals were similar, but every army (and often units within an army), has a tendency to do things in its own way.
Q4: Asked by Dunnigan
I noticed in the samples videos that bodies are lifted when near an exploding grenade. Do grenades generate enough explosive force to lift a human body? The MkII "Pineapple" grenade weighed 1.3 lbs and its explosive element was used to distribute shrapnel to kill or wound rather than by explosion.
Answer:
Great question Dunnigan! The short answer is that grenades are deadly! You really don't want to be on the receiving end of a grenade. On the other hand, they are not the "mini atomic bombs" you see on some movies. In general, however, fragmentation grenades kill their targets by shrapnel, not explosive force. A grenade does have enough power to lift a body and in some circumstances -- depending on how the person is standing and his conditions -- can move a body. I saw a grenade explosion throw a man out of a trench. Luckily, he lived. Grenades used inside closed areas - buildings, caves, trenches, armored vehicles etc. - have more pushing/body throwing force. In addition, WWII German grenades usually had more explosive force than the U.S. Mark II "pineapple" grenade. We have come as close as you can to balancing how real grenades act in real combat with game play.
Check back tomorrow for the second half!
- Colonel John Antal, U.S. Army (Ret.), Gearbox Software
