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feedmegin posted:And also the sims tend to be written by Americans rather than Russians, of course. :P Considering the chaotic dissolution of the USSR I would expect there to be publicly available USSR written reports/sim results floating around. Has anyone come across any? Like, say, East German held copies. Murgos fucked around with this message at 17:36 on Dec 31, 2014 |
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Dec 31, 2014 17:32
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JcDent posted:Thank you for that PzIII bit! Vidja always ignores them, it's always PzIV, then the near mythical Panther, then the mythical Tiger, and I've never even seen a King Tiger in an FPS before.
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Dec 31, 2014 18:21
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Rhymenoserous posted:The article wants you to believe it's a secret nuclear weapons lab when it's probably just an underground "Auxiliary" complex for ME-262 production. That's what I meant.
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Dec 31, 2014 19:26
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SeanBeansShako posted:Somebody needs to do an effort post reguarding the Red Army and other Soviet forces before the 2nd World War. I'd be into it. Especially over that weird war with Poland in the twenties. Frankly, it was all over the place. That weird war with Poland was, from the Red perespective, as follows: 1: Civil War was still going on. Bolsheviks had explicitly disavowed all of the Polish partitions, partly in order to appease Poland, and party because back then they arguably werent imperialists (yet). 2: Poland, after having been cockblocked by the entente from nonverbally renegotiating its border with Weimar Germany, decided to move East. 3: Poland attacks, and is initially pretty successfull. 4: Polish advance is pretty serious business, White General Brusilov calls for White army remains, wherever they may be, to join the red army in evicting the Poles. (This is kind of like Union and Confederate troops joining forces against a British invasion, and was a pretty big deal) 5: Here one needs a distinction, considerable parts of Poland actually werent that happy about the war (one should note that, in 1905, Polish nationalists and Russian leftists were on the same side of the barricades), so Pilsudski (who made some other decisions that actually alienated some Polish Nationalist segments) was not able to bring the full force of Poland to bear yet. 6: Due to increasing Russian/Soviet and decreasing Polish unity, the Soviets fight the Poles back to their pre war positions 7: And decide to turn Poland into "the corpse over which the Red army will ride to liberate the proletarians of central/western Europe". 8: Polish unity, and third party support for Poland increases a lot 9: "Wonder of the Vistula happens", Reds now again on the run 10: Red bribe Poland to not march on Moscow/Peter by offering considerable tracts of land. They manage to screw over Pilsudskis alliance with Petljura in the process, and believe that they will eventually get that land back at some point (spoiler, they do). 11: Poland takes that deal. Secretly, Poland had considerably incentives for having the Reds win in Russia. They assumed that a Red Russia would forever stay an international phariah, and that this would thus prevent any new partition of Poland because nobody would invite the Russians to one. One should add that this war was fought, on the Russian side, by the same army that emerged from the Russian Civil War and fought in it. Russian forces at Kalkin Gol were hugely different from that, as were Russian forces in the Finish War. Russian forces in the Railroad war against the nationalist Chinese were again something a bit different. What is interesting is to find out why Soviet performance at Kalkin Gol was so drastically different from Soviet performance in Finland. Morale was propably one thing, the Japanese were the aggressors, and fighting them in Mongolia was better then fighting them in Russia proper. Due to the whole "leadership from below thing", the Japanese werent exactly all in, why the Soviets (I think rightly) felt that getting defeated would have huge consequences down the line, and thus invested a lot more military force a lot quicker. The war with Finland was completely avoidable, and Soviet propaganda nonwithstanding, the troops knew that. I dont buy the "Soviet won at Kalkin Gol because Zhukov is unique special snowflake leetsauce" argument, Soviets during the Winter War for example features Chuikov who is pretty well regarded. Meretskov wasnt exceptional, but he wasnt a retard either. What I would deem possible is that, being in the far east and quite a bit away from Moscow, commanders would find more liberties and less central intrusion, and that this aided with cohesion etc.
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Dec 31, 2014 20:07
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Zhukov wasn't unique, he was just a skilled commander who made good decisions right off the bat, against Japanese officesr who dropped the ball. Fun fact: when he was summoned to Moscow, he figured he was going to be tortured and jailed, because he knew a lot of officers who died in the purges. In fact, he had a luggage case packed for two years since the purges started, ready for jail. He wrote his wife, saying "I have this request for you. Don't whine, remain calm, and try to tolerate our painful separation with dignity". But then he was sent to gently caress up Kalkin Gol, and did allright for himself!
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Dec 31, 2014 20:44
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Currently reading Ivan's War right now and I can't even think of how annoying the constant political meddling in the Red Army must have been for those actually there if it annoys me so much this many years after the fact. The war against Finland is downright pathetic. It's also pretty interesting, the author goes into detail regarding the average soldier's and civilian's opinions regarding the Soviet regime. Thanks to whoever recommended this one too!
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Dec 31, 2014 20:54
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Does Brusilov really count as a White General? I mean he was one of the more liberal Generals in the Tsarist army, and obviously you wouldn't call him a Red, but he also wasn't really involved in the Civil War. He never fought against the Bolsheviks even though he was certainly more of a White at heart. It's not as if Wrangel or Denikin ended up Inspector of Cavalry in the Red Army for 4 years though. His call for the Russians to unite against the invading Pole were certainly still a big deal for the Bolsheviks but I just wouldn't call him a White General. Tsarist would perhaps be more accurate. Perhaps I'm just being a pedant.
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Dec 31, 2014 21:16
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forkboy84 posted:Does Brusilov really count as a White General? I mean he was one of the more liberal Generals in the Tsarist army, and obviously you wouldn't call him a Red, but he also wasn't really involved in the Civil War. He never fought against the Bolsheviks even though he was certainly more of a White at heart. It's not as if Wrangel or Denikin ended up Inspector of Cavalry in the Red Army for 4 years though. His call for the Russians to unite against the invading Pole were certainly still a big deal for the Bolsheviks but I just wouldn't call him a White General. Tsarist would perhaps be more accurate. You have a point actually, but yeah, that thing was a really big deal PR wise. Especially since Brusilov had won serious military victories, which Wrangel or Denikin or Ungern Sternburg (lol) did not really do.
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Jan 1, 2015 06:17
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SeanBeansShako posted:Anything Milhist at all on YouTube should have comments blocked forever. Some people make poor examples of themselves. I would say the comments regarding my period aren't that bad, but this is kinda bad. And a bunch of the people who put these songs online are Nazis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORNOFGZgi2w
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Jan 1, 2015 07:24
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I watch the ones uploaded by that confused Japanese guy who's always correcting his German. So much easier on the mind.
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Jan 1, 2015 13:17
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SeanBeansShako posted:I watch the ones uploaded by that confused Japanese guy who's always correcting his German. So much easier on the mind. The "Deutsches Vaterland" guy is from Hong Kong.
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Jan 1, 2015 14:03
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Hogge Wild posted:The "Deutsches Vaterland" guy is from Hong Kong. I never really looked too deep into his profile, my bad. The user comments on his videos scared me enough.
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Jan 1, 2015 14:08
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SeanBeansShako posted:I never really looked too deep into his profile, my bad. The user comments on his videos scared me enough. Welp! After digging some more I found out that he's a Holocaust denier. Can't really say that I'm surprised.
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Jan 1, 2015 14:25
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Hogge Wild posted:Welp! After digging some more I found out that he's a Holocaust denier. Can't really say that I'm surprised. I remember a when a uni classmate heard me speaking about Ian Kershaw's biography of Hitler, and linked me some videos that he promised I would find "enlightnening." They were David Irving's presentations, back from when he came to my country some decades ago. 
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Jan 1, 2015 15:04
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Azran posted:I remember a when a uni classmate heard me speaking about Ian Kershaw's biography of Hitler, and linked me some videos that he promised I would find "enlightnening." They were David Irving's presentations, back from when he came to my country some decades ago. I always find it strange how naziboos try to claim Holocaust never happened. Isn't killing off Jews and undersirables one of the core tenets of Nazis?
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Jan 1, 2015 15:20
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JcDent posted:I always find it strange how naziboos try to claim Holocaust never happened. Isn't killing off Jews and undersirables one of the core tenets of Nazis? But convincing people that the Jews fabricated the Holocaust to cement their grip onto global power makes them look more dangerous and sinister, and thus creates an incentive to do Holocaust 2, this time for realsies.
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Jan 1, 2015 15:24
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I think the funniest thing was when Irving explained the concentration camps in Eastern Europe were made by Polish jews after the fact. Also, something that I found interesting is that, in "All Hells Let Loose", Max Hastings mentions that Poland's jew community (something like 5% of its total population IIRC) was constantly discriminated by the state. The fact took me unaware, movies like The Pianist had created this mental idea of Poland being way more Jewish than that.
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Jan 1, 2015 15:34
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Hogge Wild posted:Welp! After digging some more I found out that he's a Holocaust denier. Can't really say that I'm surprised. Now you know why I avoided going to deep. Those videos now are tainted to me.
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Jan 1, 2015 15:41
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Mightypeon posted:You have a point actually, but yeah, that thing was a really big deal PR wise. OOh, let's talk about baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg! There's a character!  Born to noble baltic parents, he enrolled in marine officer school and hared off to fight in the russo-japanese war, but it had sort of ended by then, and he was transferred to Siberia, where he fell in love with mongol culture and religion! In 1913, he went native and tried to help mongols gain their independence from China, but his superiors crimped his style. Along came WW1, where he fought rear-guard actions against German troops, and already at this point he was deemed a "reckless, unstable officer" according to others. Also, he was discharge for disobeying an order. Then he kicked around the ME leading syrians and doing allright for himself, but then the Russian revolution happened! Flipping off the whites and the bolsheviks simultaneously, he nominally followed Semyonov, but had his own thing going, forming the "Savage Division" of Buryats, Baskir, Mongols, Tatars etc. and leading them on raids from a reinforced train station. At this point he became known as "The Mad Baron" for being At this point, Ungern got the idea that monarchy was the only social system which could save Western civilisation from corruption and self-destruction. He wanted monarchies all over Europe, and was especially enamoured by the idea of resurrecting the empire of Genghis Khan with a Qing emperor (the "Bogd Khan"), and a shamanic state religion. This is from memory so bear with me, but in a memoir he says "Ah! The idea of central Asia united in the worship of the burning sun, hearts thumping to the beat of the reindeer-hide drum.". Oh, Roman Eventually, he realized this ambition by freeing Mongolia from the Chinese, restoring the Bogd Khan as civil and spiritual head of state, though in practice he lead it as a dictator. He was granted the title of darkhan khoshoi chin wang, a high hereditary title in that culture, and apparently believed himself to be the reincarnation of Genghis Khan! Finally, the soviets got to him, and he was shot. One source, says that "When he learnt of his death, the Bogd Khan ordered prayers for his soul to be read throughout Mongolia. They were undoubtedly needed."
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Jan 1, 2015 16:18
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100 Years Ago I've been having Christmas. So, let's catch up with what's been going on. (Further Reading is temporarily suspended because it almost doubles the length of time needed to put each post together.) Christmas Eve: Snow and panic in the Caucasus; rotting corpses and a few carols on the Western Front. Christmas Day: An attempt to set the Pipes of Peace in their proper and full context. There's an awful lot of war going on as Tommy Atkins and Johnny Crapaud meet the enemy and find he is them. Even the Italians are inserting their oar into Albania. Boxing Day: The Turks have somehow made it almost to Sarikamis, and immediately come under fire. Some of the truces persist after Christmas Day itself. December 27: The Belgians cross the Yser again and establish another exposed bridgehead, for some reason. First Artois sputters into life for a moment; the Turks continue inching closer to Sarikamis. December 28: An important day for future Allied strategy and for the nascent British efforts to develop a practical landship. December 29: Sarikamis turns decisively against the battered Ottomans, and a look at why the last couple of months have been full of "The Allies are running out of shells..." December 30: In typical style, the Russian brass hats seem determined to believe that they're losing a battle that actually is going well. The French renew First Champagne, and Dunkirk cops an air raid. New Year's Eve: A conveniently quiet day to quickly review the situation as it stands, and ask "why is nobody interested in a negotiated settlement?" Happy new year.
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Jan 1, 2015 16:33
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Tias posted:OOh, let's talk about baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg! There's a character! The guy is incidentally the reason why Mongolia, a place not exactly noted for its industrial base of proletarian population, became "communist". They were basically up for "anyone who kicks this fucker in the nuts becomes our new overlord" and the Soviets basically did. This was in a phase in which they were searching for enemies more evil then them to slay in order to prove that they are the good guys, and pretty few actors other then Sternberg met that criteria. Given that they didnt care much about Mongolia (to Mongolias benefit imho) other then denying it to the Chinese and Japanese (which they did, Kalkin Gol was in Mongolia, and I would argue that for Mongolia, Moscow was a better boss then Japan because it cared much less and was far more distant), so it basically became a pretty okish deal (as in, "we pretend to be ruled by you and you pretend to rule us"). Apocryphically, Sternberg also pissed off his Mongolians underlings by building a pyramid or a wall out of the skulls of his opponents, and the Mongols were pissed because they apperantly regarded this as a Timurid, not Mongol custom and found Sternberg to totally culturally insensitive. This propably didnt happen, but if not true then well invented.
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Jan 1, 2015 19:29
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Skull pyramids not being a Mongol custom. Heh.
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Jan 1, 2015 20:20
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Most I know of him is that you can play Mongolia under his rule in Kaiserreich. And make him even more batshit.
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Jan 1, 2015 20:41
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He also looks like the only other goon that I ever saw in person. Not you Hegel.
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Jan 1, 2015 20:52
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Mightypeon posted:The guy is incidentally the reason why Mongolia, a place not exactly noted for its industrial base of proletarian population, became "communist". Ironically enough I first ran into the name in Charles Stross's Laundry Files series, which (sorta) pulled a "make them look good by having them face a greater evil" with STERNBERG of all people by having him basically vs. the Lovecraft Mythos. Granted, his opposition came in the form of an unholy necromantic spell he provided the victims for... It was pretty funny how easy it was for Stross to write him into the Mythos, he already WAS an evil insane aristocrat fascinated with an East Asian culture, all Stross had to do was adjust the fascination to those fake East Asian cultist cultures Lovecraft came up with.
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Jan 1, 2015 21:10
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Where can I read this?  I think I came across him in a comic book where the protagonist meets him, it was possibly Corto Maltese?
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Jan 1, 2015 22:23
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Tias posted:Where can I read this? I think it is corto maltese in siberia. But im not sure if its supposed to be the real baron he meets or someone based on/inspired by the real baron.
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Jan 1, 2015 23:27
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JaucheCharly posted:He also looks like the only other goon that I ever saw in person. Not you Hegel.
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Jan 2, 2015 00:24
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He looks like the crazy navy guy from The Abyss.
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Jan 2, 2015 02:10
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Tias posted:Where can I read this? You'd be surprised how much of a stock villian he was in the twenties for media entertainment. I bet the dude really regrets being caught and executed by the Soviets because the royalties he could have had!
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Jan 2, 2015 03:13
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SeanBeansShako posted:You'd be surprised how much of a stock villian he was in the twenties for media entertainment. I bet the dude really regrets being caught and executed by the Soviets because the royalties he could have had! The guy loved royalties remember.
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Jan 2, 2015 03:21
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Frostwerks posted:The guy loved royalties remember. Especially without a head because royal skulls make for great drinking cups I guess.
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Jan 2, 2015 06:49
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JaucheCharly posted:Skull pyramids not being a Mongol custom. Heh. It skull walls not skull pyramids you culturally insensitive person! Compared to the puny Timurids, Glorious Mongolia has to compensate for nothing (or was it the other way round?)!
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Jan 2, 2015 06:50
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When I read about military developments from World War I up to the end of Cold War, I think of it as the golden age of mad scientists.
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Jan 2, 2015 06:54
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JcDent posted:When I read about military developments from World War I up to the end of Cold War, I think of it as the golden age of mad scientists.  In all fairness you had a lot of that time spent trying to defend against things that aren't easily defended against given the methods known at the time - machine guns, gas, nukes, etc.
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Jan 2, 2015 07:20
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JcDent posted:When I read about military developments from World War I up to the end of Cold War, I think of it as the golden age of mad scientists. The problem was when a mad social scientist got control of a country.
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Jan 2, 2015 07:31
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MadDogMike posted:Ironically enough I first ran into the name in Charles Stross's Laundry Files series, which (sorta) pulled a "make them look good by having them face a greater evil" with STERNBERG of all people by having him basically vs. the Lovecraft Mythos. Granted, his opposition came in the form of an unholy necromantic spell he provided the victims for... It was pretty funny how easy it was for Stross to write him into the Mythos, he already WAS an evil insane aristocrat fascinated with an East Asian culture, all Stross had to do was adjust the fascination to those fake East Asian cultist cultures Lovecraft came up with. O thank god I'm not the only one. And this is in The Fuller Memorandum, third book in the Laundry Files. It's basically a good deconstruction of spy novels with Lovecraftian horrors and computer jokes. The first novel is a little rough, just because he hasn't figured it all out, but it's amazing if that's a niche you're interested in.
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Jan 2, 2015 07:32
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FAUXTON posted:
Also magic beams that stop gasoline engines.
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Jan 2, 2015 07:50
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In a semi related question, why didn't the Nazis build a heavy bomber?
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Jan 2, 2015 08:26
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They did, but development was hampered by the idea that all bombers should be able to dive bomb.
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Jan 2, 2015 09:04
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