St. Nazaire raid

[Biggles]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Nazaire_Raid


Well......is this featured in any mod?


"the dock was severely damaged and rendered unusable until 1947."

Does that means that the harbor should be unusable after March 28th, 1942?

[Respenus]

:o:o:o

If it were modded into any of the supermods, welll....:rock::rock::rock:

That would be great. But I guess players would like such a thing, so there is a possibility that it's not! Try it out. Try starting a campain after 1942 and see what happens ;)

[U-snafu]

Not sure about the newest version of Uwac but looking through the SCR file of Uwac 1.7--looks like han solo got A couple task forces of british PT boats, armed trawlers, armed tug boats, a few destroyers, along with an ammo merchant scripted to raid St.Nazaire on 03/28/1942. Of course you will have to be near that port on that day to see it because their only scripted to appear on that day.

[AVGWarhawk]

Problem with modding damaged ports is the fact that the port will be damaged from day one to the end of the war. The ports are not dynamic, just static with moving ships and smoke.:lurk:

[U-snafu]

The ports files can be modded?? (good news-I now have another idea for a small project containing a lot of work for a small return--my specialilty:rotfl: )

If so, I suppose you could dock at port after the St. Nazerie raid--replace the "La_Rochelle" port file (used for st, nazerie) in the locations file with a "modified damaged "La_rochelle" file from 03/29/42 on for a few months of game time then change the port file in locations back to the stock file to simulate the damage and subsequent repair:lol: .

[Biggles]

Not sure about the newest version of Uwac but looking through the SCR file of Uwac 1.7--looks like han solo got A couple task forces of british PT boats, armed trawlers, armed tug boats, a few destroyers, along with an ammo merchant scripted to raid St.Nazaire on 03/28/1942. Of course you will have to be near that port on that day to see it because their only scripted to appear on that day.

I'd like to be in the port that day!:up:

Or maybe not....:hmm:

well anyway, cheers for yer response!

Just came to think of.....wasn't there a big air attack on an italian port in 1941? What port was that? I can't remember:damn:

[U-snafu]

"I'd like to be in the port that day!:up:

Or maybe not....:hmm: ":yep: :yep: :yep:

What I've learned (by trial and error) with Uwac's sripted operations is to be hidden nearby at the given time and place and sneak in an opputune torp shot to help the battle. my sub doesn't last long when it's surfaced in the middle of the action of the surface ships duelling it out:D :D

[P_Funk]

A little aside here. My grandpa was at the St. Nazaire raid. Well at isn't as accurate as saying he was a part of the commando group that went in on foot. His detail was assigned to blow up a munitions dump. Obviously not the sexy targets of the harbour but one that was in the mix of collatoral damage. His descriptionm of the explosion is a great big "KA-POW!"

That's my bit to add.

[andy_311]

Actually I have been in a port when the allies took over and had to start a mission from there (Lorient late Oct 44) and its no fun I will tell you.You got ships fireing at you from the word go and if thats not enough then you got the bombers going to pd might sve your bacon from the ships at the harbour mouth but it won't save you from the bombers I think the depth in Lorient is something like 13M.

[Biggles]

A little aside here. My grandpa was at the St. Nazaire raid. Well at isn't as accurate as saying he was a part of the commando group that went in on foot. His detail was assigned to blow up a munitions dump. Obviously not the sexy targets of the harbour but one that was in the mix of collatoral damage. His descriptionm of the explosion is a great big "KA-POW!"

That's my bit to add.

That's so cool!:up:

We have only one warhero in my family, my grandma's husband's brother-in-law was a navigator on a B-17 Flying Fortress.

[P_Funk]

[quote=P_Funk]
That's so cool!:up:

We have only one warhero in my family, my grandma's husband's brother-in-law was a navigator on a B-17 Flying Fortress. Dangerous job that. Well... they all were pretty dangerous. But the lifespan of a bomber crew could be very short. Lucky though he had the best darned bomber in the war. I have abook about those. Pictures in it of heavily damaged B-17s that managed to come home. One engine, one wing, no tail, huge tears through the side fuselage. Incredible.

I will say my grandpa's stories are the best. Between being a commando and then being returned to his Division to be a part of D-Day (Tank Commander on Juno beach) he had a hell of a wartime. Met Churchill after a few raids, served directly under Lord Lovett (even saved his life once), was at Dieppe, Norway, N. Africa, Malta, Austria, France, worked to put a 17 pounder gun into a Sherman and later met Patton as he came to see this marvelous new tank that was capable of fighting a Panzer at range. Even mouthed off to Patton when he criticized the Canadians. At the end he was in Holland for that grand liberation.

It all sounds too god to be true but his record was read at a hearing to confirm his actions and by god he ain't lying. God bless the Canadians.:up:

[Biggles]

Good lord:o

that beats my grandma's husband's brother-in-laws biggest story, but I tell it anyway:

His division was sent to bomb Berlin in......43-44 I think. They dropped their bombs and began to turn home while they were badly hurt by enemy flak. Two of his friends onboard died then, and the planes' navigation instruments was completely destroyed. The rudders was also baldy damaged, so they could barely change their course. And to make things worse they went into a big mist. They just flew on since they couldn't see anything. After several hours they could see the ground, and they decided that they rather land with some fuel left than to crashland. So they found an airfield, threw out all that was loose (my grandmas husband saw this, he was bloody scared, since he thought that the germans was finally attacking:rotfl: ) and landed. They got out of the plane, put their hands in the air and waited for the german troops to surrond them (They thought they were in Germany). Then the owner of the airfield said in the speakers: Relax boys, you're in Sweden!:yep:

That's my familys big war story.

[edit] oh yeah, I also found this, it appears that it was rammed by a ME:109........http://aeronautics.ru/archive/wwii/photos/gallery_006/AC%20B-17%20rammed%20by%20ME109.jpg

[P_Funk]

That's excellent. Great story. I don't want to sound cocky but I'm not sure which story to tell. :p There are quite a few good ones. Like the time when his Regiment "liberated" a brewery somewhere outside of Caen. Well naturally since they hadn't had a good pint in weeks they backed their water truck up under one of those HUGE barrels and filled her to the top. Well just as that was finished the Regimental CO decided to pay a visit to the conquering heroes. He was an uptight man and an old school leader. He started by telling them about what great lads they were, heroes, they were all going to get medals for their actions. Well he decided to propose a toast. So he walked over to the back of the water truck and put his foot up on the tail gate, grabbed a mug and opened the tap.

He was expecting water. Instead he got a mug full of the finest golden beer you'd ever seen and in his shock it flowed over like a volcano. Soon his rage was like a volcano as suddenly in a matter of seconds they went from being the finest lads he'd ever seen to being the stuff of such vulgar words taht I can't even begin to repeat it.

So in a vengeful voice he ordered "open all the taps". So here are all these mud covered soldiers that hadn't had leave since they got to Normandy. They stank, were wearing the same clothes that they shipped out in and had braved death for many long hours that day, and they had to stand there with parched lips watching hundreds of gallons of golden beer foam down a hill.

It doesn't end there though. After the CO left in a great huff a Private went to drive the truck away to get it refilled since the guy who had driven the truck and had filled the resevoir to begin with had suddenly vanished when the CO arrived.:rotfl:
But before the Private can even get a few metres the Seargent Major said "Hey! What do you think you're doing? Back that bastard up and fil'er up again!"
:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

So long story short they all got proper smashed that night and in a matter of hours the truck was empty again.

[Biggles]

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

What can I say? You don't get completely smashed in the USAAF.

I don't know why, but it reminds me of a short story that Major Winters (you know, from BoB) told in a History channel special about D-day. He siad that during the battle in Normandy, he once walked down a road, to find a Sherman outside a barn. He asked where the Tank officer were, and the driver said: "He's in there lt." and pointed into the barn. Winters walked in, only to discover the tank officer, a quite old man, calling on to a young french woman. When he heard Witners coming, he turned around, quite ashamed and suddenly asked:

"eeeh....Is my tank still outside?"

Lt. Winters lost it that day, he apparently became quite mad at that ol' british tanker.

[Kaleu_Mihoo]

now that's a really amazing story! The sad story I can tell you is, after the surreder of Poland in 1939, a colleague of my grandfather managed to escape to Great Britain and become a navigator in the polish 305 bomber sqadron. Their Wellington was badly damaged over Bremen by a nightfighter and they were forced to ditch in the north sea. The entire crew was M.I.A.
Back to topic: Wiki says " the dock was severely damaged and rendered unusable until 1947." so you don't need to disable the whole port.
greets
mihoo

[Respenus]

Well my part of Europe din't have a chance for such big acts. But those in my family that could fight in those days, were partizans :yep: And many risked their head for helping them (my mother grandma was warned and ran away before the Italian came to burn her house). In WWI, my ansestors (under a different name in those days of course) were general on the front, between Autria-Hungary and Italy (in those days, Slovenians were part of the Austria-Hungury). I always forget the English name of the river where the front was situated. Maybe the one of the first Blitchkrieg actions in war might help, The Miracle at Kobarid.

[Biggles]

[quote=Respenus]first Blitchkrieg actions in war might help quote]

LoL, like that spelling: Blitchkrieg! If ye didn't know, it's spelled Blitzkrieg, but hey, you probably knew that.

[P_Funk]

My grandfather says his father never spoke of WW1. Apparently he was a Machine Gunner on the Western front. Think of that weight on your conscience. We talk about the horrors of war and for the individual soldier I doubt anything could beat WW1 in that sense. In many ways it was the last soldier's war. After that collateral damage was rampant.

[Biggles]

My grandfather says his father never spoke of WW1. Apparently he was a Machine Gunner on the Western front. Think of that weight on your conscience. We talk about the horrors of war and for the individual soldier I doubt anything could beat WW1 in that sense. In many ways it was the last soldier's war. After that collateral damage was rampant.


Hm, yes.....statics says that 10 000 men was killed to gain 10 meters of land........quite terrible....and I think there was a bigger risk to die during WW1 than it was during WW2....

[P_Funk]

Truly a stupid war. But it makes you think. If the First World War hadn't been to brutal and demonstrated in just about the most extreme way how outdated the conventional wisdom of the past was would the Second World War have been as... improved an affair? For instance Rommel perfected his method of Fire and Maneuver Tactics in the latter part of WW1. He published a book on it in the 30s. How different could it have been?

But then again that's silly since WW2 was just the eventual completion of what was halted in 1918. "Not a treaty but an Armistice for 20 years". A cookie to who can name who said that. And how right he was.:nope:

[Sailor Steve]

Since people are telling war stories, here's one from the other side:

Back in 1998 I was working for a foreign-language satelite TV company. One Sunday morning I took a call from a gentleman asking about getting German TV. For some reason he started talking about his wartime experiences. He said his name was Fred Schmid (he was very particular about the spelling, no "Shcmidt"). He said he joined the German army at age 16 after his older brother was killed in a train wreck on the way to boot camp. He was put into the tank corps, and ended up on the Russian front. At age 17 he was his tank's driver, and his poor commander died in a funny way: he was outside in the woods "taking a dump" (as he put it) when a Russian bomber attacked them. The tank wasn't hit, but the commander bought it. Herr Shcmid said the rest of the crew elected him to be their new commander as he was the only one who could read and write.

He was 72 then; if he's still around he's now 80.

[P_Funk]

That's a good story. Do you have any family stories too? But I love that other side of the line stuff. We always get the evil German thing whenever WW2 gets brought up. My grandpa said he never hated the other soldiers, that they were just lik him caught up in a war. Though they didn't spare any sympathies for any SS they encountered. And I can't blame him considering what a few SS regiments did to the Canadians. I believe it was the 12th SS Hitlerjugen (sp?) that executed a number of Canadian prisoners after D-Day. If they were Hitler Youth I guess they were already crazy.

[Sailor Steve]

No, no family stories. Two of my six uncles were at Pearl Harbor, but they both died long before I ever thought of asking them. My dad turned 17 just after The War ended. He was in the navy for a couple of years, but my stories are probably better than his, as I at least got to a combat zone.

[Hylander_1314]

I like the one my Uncle used to tell how they'd get plastered on torpedo juice and the nagging headache that followed, and then go out on a night mission with heaving seas, and no radar, no lights or points of reference. PT duty could be rough.

[Bonden]

My cousin, now in his 80's I'd guess, who I've known most of my adult life told me a story about his war experiences just a few years ago. He and two others had been captured by a like number of Germans. Somehow, he and these other two managed to overpower their captors and escape in a stolen Mercedes, nice one too he says, and proceeded to drive in a westerlerly direction until they ran into friendly forces. We were in a bar at the time and that's about all I recall of the story.

Someday, at say an earlier time of the evening, I'm going to get him to tell me the story again and see if I can get him to elaborate a bit more. He's a bit closed mouth about the whole thing.