Capitaine Vengeur

Even such reports could be made in a humourous understatement way that saves a bloody day. This anecdote concerns an American lieutenant trapped into a house surrounded by lots of German Panzers during the Battle of the Bulge (I don't remember at the moment the precise name and place, I'll search for if asked). The lieutenant seemed a bit nervous to the colonel on the radio, who asked in a quiet tone how many tanks there were, and how far away. Then the lieutenant replied in an equally quiet tone: "Well sir, if I walk upstairs, climb on the window, and piss down the street, I can spray at least six of them..."

The USSR had understood in 1989 that no country can exist as a superpower, it's far too expensive. It took 20 more years for America to learn the same. Modesty is not a defect, especially when drawing up budgets. Now I wonder where the Congressmen will save all that money from? Will they take risks to disappoint the military-industrial complex and the influent lobbyists of this and that? Or will they cut into healthcare, education, and other things the common taxpayers rely on, considering that it's easier to deceive one million electors than one single seasoned lobbyist? No, they can't do that... Can they?

This impression is well renderd in the video games "T-34 vs Tiger" (Operation Bagration, 1944) and "Steel Fury" (T-34/76, Matilda Mk II and Pz IV Ausf F2 battling around Kharkov, 1942 - not played that one, actually, but same system). As a tank leader, you can se s**t around through your periscopic cupola, and even with open hatch, the countryside shakes too much for you to notice suspect details through binoculars when you drive above idle. And yet, you can see further away advancing into the large plains of Bielorussia than trapped in the middle of tiny Dutch gardens with hedgerows. The problem in that game is that you usually advance or defend with your flanks uncovered by infantry, at best by lighter armour (T-70, SdKfz or so); seeing pictures, the close support seems to be improved in "Steel Fury".

Even Andrew Jackson, the sworn enemy to the money speculators and to the large powers released to the banks, has ended with his face of the $20 banknote!

I just hope now that we won't realize thereafter that a wave of suicides has followed among brainless young people lacking a firm self-identity yet and living only through their idol - as it happened for the followers of many of the 27-year-old-ending stars quoted here.

It's even appalling, that Oslo doesn't have that many rotary wings, considering the high number of tiny islands in the Oslofjord where a boat or a helicopter can hardly land, but where a first-aid team can always be winched down and up from a stationary helo in case of trouble.

Have a watch at "Southern Comfort" before thinking about visiting the bayou unprepared ! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Comfort_(film)

On July 21, 1861, the armies of the United States and of the Confederate States of America clashed for the first time on a large scale, near a place named Manassas Junction, Virginia, somewhere in the narrow field between their capital cities of Washington DC and Richmond, where countless other bloody slaughters were to take place. This can be seen as the real overture of the American Civil War, after the failure of all of the diplomatic maneuvers.Many elements that were to be seen again and again in following battles were revealed on this day: unreliability of empiric chains of command, friendly fire and errors in maneuvering due to heavy smoke and to amateurism from non-professional troops and officers inexperienced in large pitched battles, uselessness of cavalry in these same pitched battles, heavy casualties to rifled weapons fired at close range on dense lines of infantry due to the stubborn use of outdated Napoleonic tactics taught at West Point... Symptomatically, the Army of Union was mostly made of volunteers raised for 90 days only, whose enlistments were coming to their ends – which urged the battle in spite of lack of preparation. Both sides expected this first blood to be decisive for their cause, preceding a triumphal march on the opposite capital city and a swift surrender from the enemy: either the end of the rebellion, or the acknowledgement of the secession. Safe for some wise spirits, nobody could imagine that this non-conclusive first battle would lead half a continent to a four year long civil war, and would cost the lives of 200,000 American soldiers of both sides died from battle wounds, 400,000 others died from sickness and exhaustion (60,000 in the PoW camps), and some 300,000 free or slave Southern civilians died from various causes including mostly sub-nutrition. Remember that at that time, the most expensive war the Americans had faced, their War of Independence, had cost but about 25,000 lives. That bloodbath would let a slavery-freed country united in institutions, but divided for about one more century by a barrier of rancor and difference in development.

Actually Gepard, not all of the European countries of those days had populations largely used to the military stuff. While the German States used some form of conscription and military service, the French (and British, Russians, Austrians...) still used comparatively small armies of professional troops, either volunteers or pressed into the ranks for a long-term service (a seven-year term with possible re-enlistments for the French, which gave seasoned troops, but too few and sometimes aged – fighting at one to two is another explanation for the defeat in 1870). About the officers, an inquiry in the French army shortly before 1870 revealed that about one quarter of the officers had big problems to read a map (mostly aged junior officers raised from the ranks). Also concerning the mobilisation, the French one was far from “acceptable” in 1870: while the Germans spent one week to gather and then send their troops to the Rhine, the French urged at once everything they had towards the border and then spent two weeks trying to reorganize that mess! I'm surprised that Sedan could be considered a battle worth being studied. While Cannae and Stalingrad, sure, both demonstrate the best way to lure a reinforced elite enemy center, and then crush the enemy's feeble wings to double-envelop him, Sedan only shows how to envelop a completely immobile, not even defensive enemy, voluntarily self-locked into a one-way trap, and as stunned as a fish off water – which is no performance and definetely an exceptional, uncommon case. Not surprising that many talked about treason from the staff ... Anyway, all of the European conflicts of that crucial decade 1859-71 were indeed really short and one-sided, with too little time for the underdog side to correct his mistakes. And while I enjoy the colorful European uniforms of that era (Zouaves, Bersaglieri, whiteclad Austrians, Prussian Black Hussars...), I have devoted more interest to the continental-scale American Civil War, where non-directly military weapons had time to intervene (blockade, hunger, inflation of the Confederate dollar), where a real move of pendulum happened from one side to the other in the long term, and where a real evolution can be observed from the ridiculous bands of dressed-up re-enactors at Bull Run, to the hardened half-professional troops at Appomatox. Besides, I just love the folklore and the Rebel and Yank songs and marches of that period! We are a band of brothers and native to the soil Fighting for our Liberty, With treasure, blood and toil ....

One of the most peaceful places I've ever visited... Bastards, all of them !

In many ways, the Civil War still looked like the Napoleonic Wars. For example, although useless on the battlefields, the cavalry was still a powerful strategic weapon to be used far behind enemy lines, and all of the Stuart, Mosby, Forrest or Grierson, were the deserving heirs to the Lasalle, Fournier, Platov or Lützow from the Napoleonic era. Also, many American old leaders were obstinately against progress, like Robert Lee as a determined enemy to the breech-loading rifles as a waste of cartridges making the men run out of ammo too quickly. On the other hand, the Europeans did not always display the wisdom you describe, Gepard. For instance, I don't know if the Americans actually used in battle their Gatling guns during the Civil War; the French used some machine guns during the German-French War, but in such an absurd and ineffective way that that they proved to be mostly useless. And they kept on launching ancient charges of heavy cavalry which only led to fruitless bloodbaths (the Germans did too on a couple of unfortunate occasions). The vain slaughter of the Prussian Guard at St-Privat also proved that the efficient German command could have some gaps too. It is noticed that in a dinner before the German-French War, Phil Sheridan detailed his own deeds in the South and explained that the goal of war was to make the enemy populations yell in pain up to have their government be overthrown or surrender; it is noticed that von Moltke, the Prussian Chief of Staff who was present, compiled the idea in his notebooks as "interesting, to be studied". The American Civil War is one of the periods of military history I prefer, especially in studying the psychology of the generals of both sides. Humanly speaking, it's fascinating. Beyond individual bravery and military skill for many (and the complete opposite for some others), you can gather the worst of the human kind. Some alcoholics, others religious fanatics, some timorous at best, others impulsive at will, some completely unpredictable, many self-promoting egocentrics... Sad that Ted Turner won't produce the complete planned Civil War trilogy after "Gettysburg" and "Gods and generals". These movies put the accent on the character of such military leaders in an emphasized way.

I really enjoy most of the WW2 warbirds that can be found here or in Wings over Russia/ Africa. But I have a problem with the gunnery. I'd like to have a trigger devoted to each group of weapons (the way it is in IL-2 1946 for instance), rather than to have to cycle through several weapons configurations to find the most efficient one in the midst of a harsh dogfight. The solution, of course, is to replace in the plane's data file GunGroups with Primary/ Secondary Gun specifications, and to adapt the commands configuration. Just the way it's done in the example below for a BF 109 E. [LeftNoseMG] SystemType=FIXED_GUN GunTypeName=7.9MM_MG17 GunGroup=1 InputName=FIRE_PRIMARY_GUN MuzzlePosition=-0.1677,2.8028,0.1200 MaxAmmo=1000 EjectShells=FALSE [RightNoseMG] SystemType=FIXED_GUN GunTypeName=7.9MM_MG17 GunGroup=1 InputName=FIRE_PRIMARY_GUN MuzzlePosition=0.1677,2.8028,0.1200 MaxAmmo=1000 EjectShells=FALSE [LeftWingCannon] SystemType=FIXED_GUN GunTypeName=20MM_MGFF GunGroup=2 InputName=FIRE_PRIMARY_GUN ---> InputName=FIRE_SECONDARY_GUN MuzzlePosition=-2.1301,2.4904,-0.5971 AimAngles=0.4068,0.0,0.1140 MaxAmmo=60 EjectShells=TRUE EjectPosition=-2.13,1.197,-0.69 EjectVelocity= 0.0,0.0,-2.0 [RightWingCannon] SystemType=FIXED_GUN GunTypeName=20MM_MGFF GunGroup=2 InputName=FIRE_PRIMARY_GUN ---> InputName=FIRE_SECONDARY_GUN MuzzlePosition=2.1301,2.4904,-0.5971 AimAngles=-0.4068,0.0,0.1140 MaxAmmo=60 EjectShells=TRUE EjectPosition=2.13,1.197,-0.69 EjectVelocity= 0.0,0.0,-2.0 Nonetheless, I have observed that on such modified planes, the AI-controlled planes seem to only use their primary guns. With the example above, I've never seen such a modified AI-controlled BF 109 E, either friendly or enemy, use its 20mm guns. Same thing for other planes I've tried to modify. So, is there a way to have the AI-controlled planes use their secondary weapons on given or any circumstances? Perhaps by adding or modifying a line of code in the AIData block? (still the example of a BF 109 E) [AIData] AileronDeltaRoll=1.3 AileronRollRate=-1.0 ElevatorDeltaPitch=1.0 ElevatorPitchRate=-0.1 ThrottleDeltaSpeed=0.10 ThrottleVelocity=-0.03 DeltaSpeedForAfterburner=50 DeltaSpeedForAirbrakes=-50 MaxPitchForAltitude=15.0 MinPitchForAltitude=-10.0 PitchForThrottle=0.005 PitchForAltitude=0.01 PitchForVerticalVelocity=-0.01 RollForHeading=20.0 RollForHeadingRate=-0.6 MinRollHeading=15.0 MaxRollForHeading=45.0 PitchForRoll=0.20 FormationSpeedForPosition=0.8 FormationSpeedForRate=0.45 GunnerFireChance=80 ---> ? GunnerFireTime=2.5 GunnerAimOffset=0.0050 Thank you for helping.

Bet that some mangas about the story of the champion team will soon be available !

It seems some love stories never end. I've lost the count of the number of times I've seen these six movies (original or graphically enhanced versions). At nearly 40, I'm still a complete geek about SW, and happy as a child at most of the new products, letting apart any cold lucidity or critical mind I usually display. Nonetheless, as a fan of the Expanded Universe, I've taken some distances with the original movies. For instance, one of my favourite characters in the whole EU is Admiral Thrawn from T. Zahn's Trilogy, and my favourite era is the Knights of the Old Republic series (3960 years before Episode 4). I've found KotOR the first game the most achieved SW story: a growing band of very different characters in backgrounds and species often knocking each other (= Episode 4), an initiatory journey revealing the fate of the hero (= first trilogy), the ultimate destruction of a planetoid threat following a legendary lightsaber duel (= Episode 6), and of course the essential SW ingredient: fall and redemption.

" Good. I don't like Visigoths. Tomorrow, we'll get sign: "No Spiders or Visigoths Allowed." " (Roberto Benigni in Life is beautiful)

Bloody Bastille Day ! Tomorrow was our national day, with festivities and usual military parades expected. And there we learnt that 5 of our military had been killed by a kamikaze explosion the previous day while protecting an Afghan meeting (one civilian was also killed), and that a sixth one had been shot dead at an Afghan checkpoint on 14. This happened a few days after the progressive withdrawal from A-stan has been mentionned (oncoming elections , of course). Many of the parading units on this Bastille Day had some tours of duty in A-stan, had worked with the impacted units in the same area (Kapisa), and the emotion was real. This brings to 70 the number of French KIA (17 this year, our most expensive one). Beyond numbers, they had names, stories and families, and here are the names of the five fallen on 13. All of them were seasoned soldiers who had already served several times overseas. Lieutenant Thomas Gauvin, 27, 1er RCP (paratroops) - Top of his year at St-Cyr in 2005 - Central African Republic (2010) Adjudant Laurent Marsol, 35, 1er RCP - Gabon (2002 and 2003), Central African Republic (2003 and 2008), Kosovo (2004 and 2005), Chad (2006), Afghanistan (2008 and 2009) Adjudant Emmanuel Techer, 38, 17e RGP (paratroops engineers) - Chad (1994 and 2008), former Yugoslavia (1995 and 1996), Senegal (1998), Kosovo (1998), New Caledonia (2004) Adjudant Jean-Marc Guéniat, 37, 17e RGP - Central African Republic (1995 and 2008), former Yugoslavia (1995 and 1997), New Caledonia (2002), Ivory Coast (2006) - Father of two Caporal-chef Sébastien Vermeille, 30, SIRPA (army news agency) - Afghanistan (2003), Ivory Coast, Djibouti, New Caledonia, Kosovo, Chad

Just the result of the Theory of Evolution. Look, we don't see any more those once many people hairdressed with rock and roll quiffs or ridiculous big round African wigs with huge sideboards, neither the once ubiquitous Disco dancers. Where are they? All gone! Evolution... Some mythical reservations are said to still host a few punks ans skinheads, but the scientists have serious doubts about that. Almost all of them have gone too. So why wouldn't the Goths as they are disappear and evolve in something different... Something even more silly and crappy, of course: that's the main way of Evolution...

A friend of mine had travelled on the Senegalese ferry-boat Joola a couple of years before her capsizing in 2002 (64 survivors, 1953 dead, more than the Titanic, on a small ferry designed for 600 passengers). He wasn't surprised and knew that such a disaster was to happen after his sail on an overcrowed boat where nobody gave a damn about possible safety rules. It seems that some human disasters cannot be avoided.

Nasty junk !!! I have booked for a river cruise just next month on the Dniepr and coasts of Black Sea, and such terrible news could make me sleep with my life jacket. I just can imagine what panic such a swift shipwreck can be, when cold doesn't kill you on the spot.

Unforgettable moment. Thanks to the photographers. And welcome back to the miserable dull civilian life, so ungrateful to deserving veterans.

Otherwise, no pictures of a flight of hungry seagulls over Osama's grave?

I just want it ! - In my gunsight ...

I spent holidays in Rhodes last year, and it was a subject for jokes from our insular guide. For example, when the bus drove along splendid villas: "You know, no rich men are living here. We have no rich men in Greece - according with the tax authorities. Only one hundred private swimming-pools are declared in whole Greece." That week during spring 2010, a nation-scale strike was expected in Greece, but few services were actually blocked that day on the island. But 2011 promises to be harsher, and I would certainly not travel to Greece this year. They'll probably have an empty tourist season, which shall help to push this unfortunate country towards the abysses. And yes Von Paulus, the problem is not an exclusively Southern one. Here in France, the stormy debates about the jungle of innumerable tax shelters advantaging the rich shall weigh much in the oncoming presidential elections next year. Or will just be another smoke screen as usual.

"When the last tree has been cut down, When the last river has been poisoned, When the last fish has been caught, Only then you will realize that money cannot be eaten." (Native American prophecy, 19th Century) We have only one inhabitable planet. We have billions of people to feed and hundreds of vain individual desires to satisfy, but we have only planet. No spare parts, no spare world, no world mechanic. Yes Shrike, nobody seems to know for certain. But if we have the slightest doubt about anything having the slightest chance to irreparably harm our irrepleacable treasure (though underrated as such), we should feel the instinctive duty to search for and find solutions - whatever costly would be the research, whatever ridiculous would seem the experiments, whatever unpleasant would be the solutions. But do we degenerate chimps still perceive such instinctive duties?

Ben Johnson ?