BrucErik CSD Studio

[Shards]

We have the "Finnish Nightmares" calendar this year. This month's phrase is also very good and worthy of Bru's attention:

"Juosta pää kolmantena jalkana"

You do? Wow! The nightmares are very true and to the point.



But I hope Bru doesn't take the one you mentioned too literally.

New month, new calendar page!

And I feel very appropriate for CoolDTA and Bru's interactions here!

"Näyttää Närhen Munat"

[CoolDTA]

New month, new calendar page!

And I feel very appropriate for CoolDTA and Bru's interactions here!

"Näyttää Närhen Munat"

Master Bru might be a tad confused with that one.

@Bru: Olenets = Aunus (in case you want to be consistent with Finnish names)

[bru888]

@Bru: Olenets = Aunus (in case you want to be consistent with Finnish names)

I will work both names in to the text. Meanwhile, prepare for an education on shungite.

[bru888]

Cool, do you see any discrepancies in these three original (unedited) scenario descriptions?

// NAME
scenario_name = Last Stand at Rukajarvi

// DESCRIPTION
scenario_descr = The Finnish attack on the Northern Karelia had aimed advancing the Repola - Rukajarvi - Ontajoki axis and encircling the Russian troops with a leftwing hook. Finnish 14th Division under the command of Col. E. Raappana was ordered to advance Rukajarvi and outflank the Russian 54th Division which was defending the area. ||First patrols crossed the border on July 1, and 14th Division's advance started on July 3. Soviet forces tried to delay the Finnish eastward advance by defending the narrow isthmuses on the coastal road to Rukajarvi. 14th Division had no light units and their advance was slow. ||Furthermore Russian 54th Division, with the help of the 73rd Border Guards Detachment put up a stiff resistence on the prepared positions at Ontrosenvaara and Rukavaara ridges and delayed the Finnish advance for 3 weeks.||However Finnish troops slowly outflanked the ridges and forced the Russians to fall back towards Rukajarvi. The capture of the Rukajarvi from the Northern road was threatening thousands of Russian troops which were already evacuating the Northern Karelia and retiring to the eastern side of the Ontajoki River. Russian command sent elements of the 27th Rifle Division and the 71st Border Guards Detachment to the area in order to gain time for the retreating troops. As the leading elements arrived Rukajarvi the Border Guards formed a perimeter at the northern approaches of the town, waiting for the inevitable Finnish attack.


// NAME
scenario_name = Litsa River - Last Grasp of the Fox

// DESCRIPTION
scenario_descr = Operation Platinfuchs (Platin Fox) was a German and Finnish military operation which had the objective of capturing the Russian White Sea port of Murmansk. Murmansk was a vital harbour and station point for the lend- lease equipment Western Allies were sending Russia. Its presence was especially a line of life for the besieged city of Leningrad. After the commence of Operation Barbarossa, in order to cut the railroad and capture Murmansk, German High Command transfered the Gebirgskorps Norwegen to Northern Finland to occupy Petsamo.||The Korps was consisted of two mountain divisions; 2nd and 3rd Gebirgsjager Divisions and several independent Finnish battalions. As part of the Finnish- German offensive, Gebirgskorps Norwegen crossed the border between Norway and Finland into the Petsamo area on June 22. Their orders were to attack and capture Murmansk. However, the area between Petsamo and Murmansk had one the most terrible terrain German troops had operated. Deep swamps, rough terrain and lack of suitable roads seriously hampered Axis offensive and the attack bogged down at Litsa River. Korps commander Eduard Dietl ordered his troops to prepare defensive positions on July 17. Here, for a couple of weeks German troops consolidated their strenght and secured their flanks by the arrival of several Finnish battalions from the islands in the Barents Sea. In the beginning of September a new offensive was started from River Litsa. 2nd Gebirgsjager Division, with the 3rd Gebirgsjager Division on its right started its advance on the swampy river bed of the Litsa River. Facing them was the Russian 14th Rifle Division entrenched on the higher ground on the road to Murmansk. The elite mountain troops of the Wehrmacht was soon to realize the strength of the Russian soldier defending rough terrain. ||Note: Some of the Gebirgsjäger units are replaced with the player's Waffen SS and Wehrmacht core units.

// NAME
scenario_name = The Last Barrier - Karhumaki

// DESCRIPTION
scenario_descr = The Karelian Army's advance was fast after their victory at the Syväri River. Finns took Petroskoi at the beginning of October and pushed the Russian 7th Army to the shores of the Lake Ääninen (Lake Onega). After a brief delay, at Petroskoi the 7th Army Corps has started the attack north towards Karhumäki (Medvezegorsk) on the west side of Lake Ääninen. However Russian troops were well entrenched on the Hills overlooking Karhumaki. In November, Finns launched several attacks by the 1st and 4th Divisions.||The Soviet troops dug in at Karhumaki Hills, has managed to repel attacks from all directions until November 29. On 5 December, Finns resumed the offensive with reinforced troops. The Finnish command had brought the elite 1st Jaeger Brigade with a Tank Battalion from Petroskoi to spearhead the attack. With the first lights of the day, the Jaegers launched their assault to remove the last obstacle before Karhumaki and open the way to Poventsa near the Stalin Canal.

[bru888]

One last question: Luftwaffe involvement in northern scenarios such as Litsa and Petsamo is a natural conclusion. Do you have any thoughts on whether Luftwaffe would have appeared in support of Finnish operations in Karelia, say in the fall and early winter of 1941?

EDIT: Ah, never mind. According to this source, the closest the Luftwaffe ever came to Karelia, at least from the direction of and in support of Finland, was Rovaniemi which would be the approximate location of your Maid of Finland's navel. The Luftwaffe is out from Kirkenes until Litsa. Oh well. But wow, what did we ever do before the internet?

[Erik2]

I played the Battle of Midway on my Commodore 64. It was txt-driven like the old role-plays.
Ah, those where the days.

[CoolDTA]

Cool, do you see any discrepancies in these three original (unedited) scenario descriptions?

Well, there is one good thing: the Karhumäki description is passable.

Rukajärvi. What is this "coastal road"? No such thing. "14th Division had no light units and their advance was slow"??? It had the Kevyt osasto 2 (Light Detachment 2) known as Raappana's Fist. There's even a bloody 500 pp book of it! It was the leading element of the attack to Rukajärvi. Maybe the general map below is useful:

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Litsa. It was really a German operation. The complete bs of "arrival of several Finnish battalions from the islands in the Barents Sea" is hilarious. Which islands?? Spitsbergen (Norway) or perhaps Novaya Zemlya (USSR)? These clowns could at least use a map when making their fairy tales but I guess they can't. Anyway, there were two Finnish units to guard the German flanks. Erillisosasto Petsamo (Indep. Det. P) the right flank and from the 12th of July the 14th Inf Reg (JR14) their left flank or rather the isthmus to Kalastajasaarento (Rybachy Peninsula). The German assault began on the 29th of June (the CW started on the 25th of June after the Soviet bombings of 15 locations in Finland). First attack Jun 29 - Jul 17, second Sept 8 - Sept 13. No chances for a breakthrough with such meagre forces (two divisions) in a horrible terrain against a well entrenched enemy with superior numbers.

But wow, what did we ever do before the internet?

We used and continue to use books.

See below a map showing the boundary the operational areas of FAF and Luftwaffe (Luftflotte 5).

map017.jpg (119.74 KiB) Viewed 3425 times

[bru888]

Well, I suppose there could have been a "coastal road" skirting many of those small lakes! Thanks, you continue to enhance the feeling that I had slowly developed of not being able to rely on these scene-setters verbatim.

Look, those guys were developing for a game. They were making fun and having fun. If it somewhat reflected reality, fine, whatever.

But I graduated college with a history degree (subsequently discovering the unmarketability of such a degree and moving post-grad into finance) so I have always had a love for it. You will see this again in CW41, I believe.

Yet, I could have slipped into La-La Land myself if I had gone ahead and included the Luftwaffe in Olonets (= Aunus; you will like how I worked that in). But I thought and stopped myself to check. My source and your map indicate how dumb that would have been to have the Luftwaffe in Karelia.

Even my whimsies need to have a basis in fact. Take shungite, for instance . . .

Thanks for your input, Cool.

[CoolDTA]

Look, those guys were developing for a game. They were making fun and having fun. If it somewhat reflected reality, fine, whatever.

I understand that but why go over the top? Take for instance these non-existent Finnish battalions. Why idiotically add "islands in the Barents Sea"? When spewing nonsense don't make it so easy to get caught.

But I graduated college with a history degree (subsequently discovering the unmarketability of such a degree and moving post-grad into finance) so I have always had a love for it. You will see this again in CW41, I believe.

History degree? Nice. No wonder your work is professional unlike those amateurs. Psst, I don't understand ppl who don't appreciate history.

But what's with the bloody shungite??!! ( )

[bru888]

But what's with the bloody shungite??!! ( )

I'm glad somebody took the bait. Behold the story of shungite!

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Yes, it is whimsy but it is based on fact. This was the mission originally designed for the Luftwaffe. They have been scrubbed in favor of the Ilmavoimien Komento (is that term accurate for the times or do you have something better?).

And yes, there is a reason for assigning the strategic bombers to the ore processor: a suggestion that Shards made a while back, tying the bunker's strength to the underlying supply source. As the bombers flail away at the bunker, they are really lowering the supply beneath it and, as supply dwindles, so does the bunker. It was too tough for any bomber to destroy in an acceptable amount of time.

Now if the player is not a reader, he is going to be penalized.

[CoolDTA]

I'm glad somebody took the bait. Behold the story of shungite!

Okay, that is a great story.

They have been scrubbed in favor of the Ilmavoimien Komento (is that term accurate for the times or do you have something better?).

'Ilmavoimien esikunta' is the correct term.

[bru888]

I'm glad somebody took the bait. Behold the story of shungite!

Okay, that is a great story.

Thanks!

They have been scrubbed in favor of the Ilmavoimien Komento (is that term accurate for the times or do you have something better?).

'Ilmavoimien esikunta' is the correct term.

Very good. I noticed that in Finnish, the second word in a title is often not capitalized. I will violate that protocol for the benefit of non-Finnish speakers to whom that may look odd.

[bru888]

As I move on from Olonets/Aunus, I will leave you with one more preview of a hopefully interesting vignette:

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Erik, I got this idea from your spawn trigger but the Unit Damage Done condition does not work with AA-guns as the Class, or with the Landsverk II as the Unit Definition. The only way I could get it to track Landsverk II unit damage was to link the condition to the unit itself, which has to be on the map in the beginning of the scenario.

[CoolDTA]

Nice vignette and having the unit as a prototype makes the otherwise early appearance okay.

I noticed that in Finnish, the second word in a title is often not capitalized.

Well spotted. Usually in multiword names only the first word is capitalized unless it is a well established name (e.g. the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat (=Helsinki News/Times)).

[bru888]

Erik, I am taking some liberties with this guy's Rukajärvi map. Rukajärvi is today's Rugozero and Ontajärvi is today's Ondozero. They triangulate with Repola thusly:

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The town of Ondozero/Ontajärvi is about 28km from Rugozero/Rukajärvi but what I believe the guy is referring to as Ontajoki (river) is this stream flowing south into Ontajärvi (lake); it doesn't show on the map but you can see it in satellite view and it is only about 12km away:

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So this would make sense of the author's statement of "The capture of the Rukajarvi from the Northern road was threatening thousands of Russian troops which were already evacuating the Northern Karelia and retiring to the eastern side of the Ontajoki River." In other words, the Finns, generally attacking from the west, would be pushing the Soviets to the other side of Ontajoki.

Now, you have left markers on the map pointing to the Ontajoki without it actually appearing, which I think is correct; from the size of the scenario map, that river would not be appearing. But I don't think he captured the area properly.

This is how he had it, based on your following his template:

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I am going to make the map look more like this, the area inside the red box, with the Finns driving south between the two lakes, and Rugozero/Rukajärvi being the objective tucked into the southwestern corner:

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[bru888]

I zoomed in a bit more. This will be the new template (resized; the actual size of the image is 1080 x 1080):

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Cool, I feel the need to name the portion of the lake on the right that will show on the map. The Russian (anglicized) name is "Ozero Vanchozero" (I think "ozero" is "lake" so Google is repeating itself ). Do you have an actual Finnish equivalent? If not, do you care to make one up? I know that you will come up with something appropriate.

[CoolDTA]

Cool, I feel the need to name the portion of the lake on the right that will show on the map. The Russian (anglicized) name is "Ozero Vanchozero" (I think "ozero" is "lake" so Google is repeating itself ). Do you have an actual Finnish equivalent? If not, do you care to make one up? I know that you will come up with something appropriate.

It is Vansjärvi. Please see the map below showing the Finns' advance. Rukajärvi located in the center.

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[bru888]

You, sir, are a järvi of knowledge in this theater of operations! Thanks.

It is interesting to note that what we are portraying here, among all this movement and activity, is what takes place inside the red box.

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OOB is expandable to some degree so a scenario could be made to cover all of the action depicted here, but the map would be tremendous and many units would be required. As it is, we are giving just a sample of the nature of the fighting that took place in this region. Much of OOB content is like that; limited in scope for fun without tedium.

Well, Erik, Rukajärvi is big enough in our map now to allow for the use of your Special Boat Service units, transplanted from Bengtskär, on a mission to hijack some lake gunboats! Liquid lakes can be just as much fun as frozen ones.

[Erik2]

Are you writing a background story of the transportation from Bengtskär to Rukajärvi ?

[bru888]

Are you writing a background story of the transportation from Bengtskär to Rukajärvi ?

No. I merely swapped them out of Bengtskär in favor of regular infantry labeled as Coastal Jaegers. The SBS units were useless against Soviet marines, totally outclassed unless they came over to the island in a horde. The other thing that bothered me was the implication that they had rowed over from the mainland, some 25 to 30 kms. Some rowing job! Sure, they could have been lowered from ships but that wasn't mentioned.

Here, though, at Rukajärvi, they look quite natural. You'll see, but if you don't agree, you can always take them out of the official version.

Here's a preview. Bear in mind it's still a work in progress. The Jaeger commandos are rowing across the northern part of Rukajärvi. Their mission is to catch the onshore crews (Soviet SBS units) unawares, overpower them (occupy the four village hexes) and hijack the four gunboats. Not as easy as it looks because, until being hijacked, the gunboats are hostile (presumably with some crew members still on duty). A lake battle will ensue as the Soviet gunboats in the south are activated and move north in retaliation.

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Note: Yes, I am aware that Rukajärvi probably wasn't large enough to accommodate, or call for, gunboat fleets. This is one more bit of artistic license that is based on fact. In reality, these gunboats operated on lakes the size of Ladoga, Peipus, Onega, Ilmen and in the Caspian Sea. Oh well, yet another bit of whimsy. Hopefully not stretching the truth too much.

[Links removed.] I had posted a couple of links here to web sites that discussed Soviet Union gunboats during WW2. Sometime after having gone there again today, my anti-virus picked something up and I dealt with it. Out of caution, I removed these links just in case but, who knows? I go all over the internet in search of stuff. But these are the only two obscure links that I have posted recently that I can remember, so just in case, they are gone. Rest assured that I have scanned my entire hard drive, twice, with two different programs (Windows Defender and Malwarebytes). I am now getting the "all clear" and that includes the downloadable stuff that I create and make available here in the forum.