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Thread: General World War 2 Discussion Thread24 Feb 2015, 13:29 PM Jump back to quoted post20 Feb 2015, 04:01 AMcoh2player The majority of those 100,000 men were overtrained professional officers and non-commission officers- there were only marginal portion of privates. So this was an army that was composed of leaders. But this is normal for a peacetime army; keep the officer cadre intact and recruit/conscript as need arises, rather than keep a whole army sitting around doing nothing. The Red Army certainly did this in the 80's at least, and the US is similarly top-heavy now, despite its degree of activity. In: The Library
Thread: Technology, can we survive without it?24 Feb 2015, 13:22 PM But technically, both fire and stone tools go back before the appearance of Hom.Sap., so in that sense there has never been any modern human who has lived without technology of some kind. Plus, even language might be considered a technology of sorts. In: Scrap Yard
Thread: hi Coh224 Feb 2015, 13:16 PM Jump back to quoted post24 Feb 2015, 12:02 PMVon Kluge pretty sure you don't know much about me; muhahahah I know your name, and unlike Ami, I know how to pronounce it too. In: New Members
Thread: Soviet WW2 movies24 Feb 2015, 13:08 PM I hope some of you may find these interesting. I found myself wondering recently whether there were any Soviet era films about WW2 to be had on YouTube, and it turns out there are. Like many here, before CoH2 came out I knew only a little about the Eastern Front; I knew of the significance of Stalingrad and Kursk and stuff, but little more. So I started watching Russian-language documentaries, also on YouTube, and found them quite illuminating. More recently I started wondering not just about how Russians remembered the war, but also about how they represented it, to themselves, when they were still the USSR; the period in which the political aspects of the war were still topical and relevant; that is, these films (bar one I think) were probably made by and for people who had been through or were in KOMSOMOL. Also, the representation of the sexual politics of the period is quite interesting, and all of them feature women on the front line in one aspect or another. I had known, of course, that Soviet cinema had always been quite sophisticated, ever since Battleship Potemkin. Nevertheless, I was quite impressed by some of the technical aspects of these movies, some of which are quite stylised in parts. Also, some of them are done on a rather larger scale than most Western productions, as they probably did use the actual Red Army as extras, and still had a fair bit of original kit lying around. These films are all, of course, in Russian with English subtitles. Also, I know there are people on this board who live in or come from Eastern Europe and Russia, and if any of them would like to offer suggestions for other movies to add to this list, I hope they will suggest them. And so: Star https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcGC2JDh-pc This is easily the most accessible movie, being more action-y than others, and probably technically post-Soviet, judging by the image quality. Essentially a story about a Reconnaissance unit behind enemy lines. (The subtitles give this as "The Star", but seeing as Russian seems to use definite articles in almost exactly the opposite way that English does, I've dropped it.) Only Old Men Are Going To Battle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7gdKC76Lwg This is almost a companion piece to the English move Battle of Britain, and is in some ways structurally similar, so much so that seeing as BoB came out in 1969, and this in 1973, it may well be a conscious "imitation". Obviously, it's about fighter pilots and the air war. Hot Snow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3Qa6IYqZ9A This is about a battle fought as a delaying action as the Germans advanced toward Stalingrad, comparable to the likes of A Bridge Too Far or The Bridge at Remagen. They Fought For Their Land part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obBpLyIgbww part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWwVex6Y-tg About 3 hours in all; another story of the Red Army in retreat. Has some impressively large scale battle scenes, so somewhat similar to something like The Longest Day. The Dawns Are Quiet Here part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfftHKf164E part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5mf6tTBNq8 Story about an all-female AA unit close to the front. This was the one I found most technically and narratively interesting; it's mostly in black and white, but some parts are not, and highly stylised, to sort of distinguish between "now" and "then". Quite fascinating, I thought. Also about 3 hours in all. Liberation This is really a trilogy, in order: The Bulge of Fire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcekvQeHS6o The Breakthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgTLjkxwZuY (The) Battle for Berlin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y1qjl3X0M4 This is the most "historical" and least "narrative" of the lot. Notable again for stylised use of B&W and colour, for big set pieces with lots of hardware including IS2's and ISU's, and for startlingly good representations of the major leaders: Hitler, Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Mussolini. Crew Of A Combat Machine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyVo_KI53_4 Story about a tank duel between a T-34/85 and a Tiger ace. Subtitles are a bit dodgy; frex "ace" is sometimes given as "ACC", and sometimes in other ways, needs a little bit of interpreting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyVo_KI53_4 I'm still trawling through what can be found on YouTube, so may add more to this list, and again, any suggestions are welcome. I hope some of you will find these interesting, anyway, I certainly did. In: The Library
Thread: hi Coh224 Feb 2015, 11:51 AM Greets, I'm a long time lurker, and have only really registered because I wanted to post some stuff I found interesting and in which I thought this community might also be interested. Although I do not play online, I am an avid watcher of CoH casts; in fact I reckon I've probably watched something like 80%+ of all the headline caster's stuff on Youtube - which leads to a kind of odd situation in which I sort of know quite a bit about you lot, and you know nothing about me, obvs. I probably won't be active much here, as I can only really contribute to some of the historical/political discussions. Which brings me neatly to the stuff I want to post, which is some Soviet-era Russian movies about WW2. They are really quite interesting when seen alongside Western war movies, and I thought some, at least, might also be interested in them. I'll be starting a thread in Scraps about them. So, hello again, and I hope you find them interesting. In: New Members