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I finished reading this book a few days ago. It was fascinating.


The importance of Stalingrad to victory for the Allies is explained well in this book. Much of Russia's food, fuel, weapons, and other crucial supplies
came through southern Russia, mostly by the Volga River at that particular time. The whole country was barely able to feed its soldiers and population during the entire "Battle of Stalingrad". Occupation by the Axis forces for a substantial amount of time in the southern region could have put Russia out the war. It could have allowed the Axis to get desparately needed Caucasus oil for the Nazi aspirations of conquest.

Adolf Hitler's obession with huge Stalingrad, even willing to take it house by house - contrary to sound military doctrine, is explained by Beevor. Another blunder
was dividing the strategic objectives, Stalingrad and the Caucasus, while weakening the forces sent to accomplish them. Meanwhile, the timeframe was
expected to still be met. There were delays caused by Hitler himself while he blamed his soldiers and mostly his generals. He could never admit his own mistakes or that
the enemy had far more reserves than he assumed. Antony Beevor explains how the decisions by Hitler drove the course of events to the unnecessary suffering of
soldiers and civilians of both sides. Everything was directly or remotely connected to the decisions of Adolf Hitler. The Fuhrer believed that an army could get everything it needs if it succeeds in advancing. In desperation of orders to stay on schedule and the realities of an army with a ravenous appetite, the Germans took everything that they needed or could use from civilians or those abandoned by Russian forces . Hitler counted on his Allies of Italy and Romania to guard his flanks and keep pace, even on crowded country roads. The German supply lines extended too far with a crippling winter coming to hinder Blitzkrieg, Hitler gambled everything on winning southern Russian before the onset of the worst weather.

Joseph Stalin had his own set of obsessions. Ironically, Stalin had nearly given victory to Hitler's blunder by believing that a German offensive was coming farther north - probably flanking the Moscow region from a southerly direction. Stalin hesitated for weeks; reasons are given by the author. It was nearly a catastrophy for Russia because of this. Advanced German troops were reaching the Volga River in several places on the east of Stalingrad, having crossed the city, as Russian reserve forces were only beginning to enter the fight on that same day. Orders to shoot anyone who retreated actually caused some to surrender to the German army. Lack of equipment and supplies forced surrender sometimes in mass to the Wehrmacht especially in areas surrounding Stalingrad in the region. Commands for frontal attack caused many Russian soldiers to die unnecessarily. The order to shoot retreaters and deserters also had the effect of making the common Russian soldier endure far beyond what was thought possible, which allowed the Russians to win many critical smaller battles or endure longer than the German troops, dying in masses on the path to ultimate victory. The irony is that the orders of Stalin which could have caused catastrophe were mitigated by Hitler's blunders.

Despite local Romanian commanders who tried to warn feverishly of a Russian build-up for offensive operations and the lack of containment ability in the thin Romanian line, no significant German reinforcements were sent to aid them. Even after an open break in the Romanian line to the north, after a brave but futile Romanian resistance, with Russian tanks and infantry in fast advance in open country, orders from Fuhrer headquarters were for German forces to continue pushing east. However, Hitler seldom viewed detailed descriptions of battlefield conditions, therefore the Russian trap was sprung without the Fuhrer's awareness. By the time the danger was clear to everyone with Russian armor cutting the path of retreat, still Hitler ordered advance! A relief operation by General Von Manstein came too little and too late.

The conditions of Russian and Axis forces were appalling as the arrival of a very hard Russian winter compounded all problems enormously. Commanders and officers on both sides struggled to keep control of the battles, their own troops, domestic and enemy prisoners, and deal with civilians. For many, the most difficult challenge was the winter itself with sub-zero temperatures, late or cut supplies, and often late, little or no medical attention. Common soldiers were thrown into the furnace of war with often little concern, awareness, or ability to improve their state of being. Russian forces entered this conflict already on meager food rations while German forces began fairly well but saw supplies in every category slowly slip into little or nothing by the end of the campaign.

In Stalingrad itself, the front lines were blurred with enemies often in the same block, trench, or building and the firing upon friendly troops being a constant risk. There were millions of cases of intrigue, disobedience, atrocities, and acts of compassion among units of all forces in the region, all grotesquely effecting the cruel outcome in Stalingrad. Added to these are the rivalries of commanders and officers, which Beevor cleverly uncovers with interesting insight. A number of civilians, perhaps in the tens of thousands from outside and inside Stalingrad, took shelter in the city during the battle. All the while, artillery and aircraft rained death from the sky.

The campaign took victims by starvation, disease, combat, and exposure to the weather. It must have seemed like one hellish mess to most people directly involved in the region. Uncertainty must have been among the worst things to endure.

It was a shock to Adolf Hitler that so many of his soldiers would disobey him and surrender. It was equally a shock to Joseph Stalin how many of his soldiers would wear German uniform and how common civilians would collaborate with the Axis forces, some being imagined or mistakingly reported as such. It is difficult given the amount of information in the book to determine which regime was more paranoid. Many innocent people-soldiers and civilians-were persecuted or suffered directly otherwise because of this.

Never the less, Adolf Hitler and his regime deteriorated, while Joseph Stalin learned from his mistakes and his regime would bring Russia to Super Power status after the war.

By the time of Axis collapse in the region, the end of the suffering was far from ended. Some of the costs, casualties, and consequences of the campaign
for Stalingrad are given with sophisticated insight by the author, Antony Beevor, in the final few chapters of the book. There is, the author seems to offer, justice of
various kinds in life - and in regard to Stalingrad.

Published in 1998 and possibly revised later, you may find your fine copy of "Stalingrad" by Antony Beevor in bookstores, public libraries, and the Internet.


Fireskull

Hsfx is out and ready for down loading.
http://www.242sqn.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3179

Hi all,

after some terrific work on integration and testing new HSFX v6.0 based on 4.11.1 official patch is released!

a big thanks to Team Daidalos for providing a continuous stream of improvements to our (it must be said) venerable game , thanks to all of the modders which work was included and who helped in creation of latest HSFX, thanks to all of the testers who ironed out multitude of bugs.....

thanks to all of our mirror providers for provided bandwidth

Quote:Installation Instructions for HSFX Version 6.0 released June, 2012

Whats in HSFX 6.0 ?

See this PDF file for the content in HSFX version 6.0 - http://242sqn.com/Temporary/HSFX_6_Readme.pdf

Installer

The HSFX 6.0 install package is an all-in-one installer, that includes all the content from previous HSFX releases with version 6.0. NO other patches are required.

Recommended Installation

We recommend that you should make a copy of an existing IL-2 folder and it's sub-directories to install Version 6.0 into, in case you have any problems. If you do have problems, you need a good version to copy from, to start again.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Filenames and Size

The installer for HSFX History Mod Version 6.0 consists of the following files ;

You need to download each file and place them all in one folder together.

- HSFX_Version_6_0.EXE - 650 Mb.
- HSFX_Version_6_0.W02 - 650 Mb.
- HSFX_Version_6_0.W03 - 650 Mb.
- HSFX_Version_6_0.W04 - 41 Mb.
- Part2_Ver_6.EXE ..........- 650 Mb.
- Part2_Ver_6.W02..........- 650 Mb.
- Part2_Ver_6.W03..........- 604 Mb.
- Part3_Ver_6.EXE..........- 650 Mb.
- Part3_Ver_6.W02..........- 85 Mb.
............................. total - 4,630 Mb. (4.6 Gb.)

This is a three part install, due to the size limitations of the installer software used. The part2_Ver_6.EXE file is the second part, and
Part3_Ver_6.EXE the third, both are executed automatically by the HSFX_Version_6_0.EXE. To start the installation run HSFX_Version_6_0.EXE

This is a very large release, because it contains all Mod content from the very beginning of HSFX History Mod.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HashCal sums

- HSFX_Version_6_0.EXE - MD5 - 904dbeeb475a013cdb4c3515e0803e97 CRC32 - 5ee05644
- HSFX_Version_6_0.W02 - MD5 - e87eee6c583f60d80d2fa19f47f63063 CRC32 - 76a3b7a3
- HSFX_Version_6_0.W03 - MD5 - 4768cdff942f04d1e0c4fccd4a74aad3 CRC32 - b7fd10c5
- HSFX_Version_6_0.W04 - MD5 - bce99b3283af68279c7b17bf9dceadc5 CRC32 - e924c1b2
- Part2_Ver_6.EXE............ - MD5 - fc3e53e15630b31c45743be4246b57af CRC32 - e77948e0
- Part2_Ver_6.W02........... - MD5 - fb2722dbe3318325dd39d034c9813943 CRC32 - e73760c8
- Part2_Ver_6.W03........... - MD5 - 9c2857d95cc0113079079084f2343f21 CRC32 - b14b5d67
- Part3_Ver_6.EXE............- MD5 - a23b9afa922139379d061e830e550bcd CRC32 - 3c2f5d73
- Part3_Ver_6.W02............- MD5 - 785146b0ff4f8869d9f1460bb2f9fff0 CRC32 - 811e3cdf

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Downloading

The HSFX History Mod is available to downloads via Torrents, much faster than via File Transfer Protocol.

First you need to download uTorrent, which is the software for downloading via Torrents.

1. To get the Torrent Software

First, the beginners guide ; http://www.utorrent.com/documentation/beginners-guide/

Second to download uTorrent itself ; http://www.utorrent.com/downloads

follow the instructions, easy and fast.


2. Download HSFX Version 6.0. Use this torrent.

-----------------------------------------------
From the 102nd Squadron.
torrent: http://161.53.204.25/TEST/HSFX_v60.torrent

Readme PDF.
http://161.53.204.25/TEST/HSFX_6_Readme.pdf
-----------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------
From JG 54.
File download - http://188.40.123.132/downloads/HSFX6/
-----------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------
File download - http://www.derrierloisirs.fr/il2/bdd2012/hsfx60vip.html
-----------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------
Danger Dogz
File download - http://mercurialme.com/HSFX/
-----------------------------------------------


The files will be mirrored on several other sites. As those sites go on-line I will update this readme with each of the mirror sites.

-----------------------------------------------


Steps required to install HSFX History Mod Version 6.0

You must follow the sequence below.

Step 1 : Use the jsgme switcher, and disable all installed mods, including the HSFX Mod.


Step 2 : Ensure that version of IL-2 that you are updating with HSFX 6.0, has already been updated to IL-2 Version 4.11.1, the Team Daidalos
patch. If you have just installed the 4.11.1 patch run it at least once to be sure it is working.

4.11.1 Available here - http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=29039

Step 3 : Install HSFX version 6.0 Run HSFX_Version_6_0.EXE and answer the questions displayed by the installer, Ensure that when the installer asks for which folder to install Version 6.0 into, that you point it at the folder for the Il2 Sturmovik 46 directory you want to update.

IMPORTANT : For users with previous versions of The History Mod and any other Mod packages installed, the Version 6.0 Installer will delete the previous versions Files and all files, and rename the Mods folders (jsgmemods), as they must be updated to work with the IL-2 Team Daedalus 4.11.1 patch to function. If you want to keep these folders, you should rename them, or move them before running the Installer.

Step 4 : Use the jsgme switcher, and enable the HSFX History mod.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is a detailed Read Me.doc with all the features included in Version 6.0 installed into your IL-2 Sturmovik root folder.

Any questions, problems should be posted in the IL-2 Mod Forum.

Hi guys,

Turn up the volume, and Pump It Up !!!!!!!!!!

:twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

Ted ;o)

Planes of Fame just uploaded a video of the 3 Zero's flying in formation during the annual airshow in May of this year. 8)
It's a very rare sight that will not likely happen again any time soon.

Japanese Zero formation flight (3 aircraft Extremely Rare)
Standard Definition: http://youtu.be/LM1nWi3t3N4

High Definition (720): http://youtu.be/LM1nWi3t3N4?hd=1

Quote:POFmuseum @ YouTube
Planes of Fame Air Show 2012 featured an extremely rare 3 ship formation flight of Mitsubishi A6M "Zeros". The first aircraft to take off and the aircraft leading the flight is ‎61-120, the Planes of Fame Air Museum's Zero, which is the only original Zero flying... the other 2 are replica's built in Russia in 1999.

This video will be one of the bonus tracks on the Planes of Fame 2012 Air Show DVD, available later this year.

Find more videos of rare planes being flown and shown at the Planes of Fame YouTube channel.
Planes of Fame's YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/POFmuseum


Wheels

Hi,

Here's a few images of a flight by me today in Deutschmark's Thunderbolt:










It is my first time in a jet with VSF - Vehicle Simulator for me here, though not my first ever. The images show my second take-off and landing of the day with the aircraft.


First image shows a good take-off made easier by a wonderful aircraft and effective cockpit.

In the second image, I had to use instruments more than usual because of fog in the area.

Last image: I made it alive!!!! :) Flying an unfamiliar aircraft is a challenge and pure bliss!

Hey Deutschmark: Nice cockpit organization and look! I really enjoy your airplane.


Fireskull

Hi!

This is my first post here, so let me intrudice myself. I´m Javier Fernandez and in the past I did some addons for Flight Simulator. I´ve converted one of them for VSF, the USS Nimitz. The model can be configured bay adding or deleting elements, so you can select what types of planes you want on the deck. Many interior comparments are also modeled. Hope you enjoy it!!

Download;
USS_NIMITZ

I'm getting always this error when campaign switches from Burma42 to Singapore43.

The error is exactly that reported in the subject, as copied from last row of DGenERROR file.

What happens is that when I click "Apply" right after having quit last mission of "Burma42" subcampaign, the internal speaker BEEPS and empty map and briefing windows appear, just with buttons below.

Game version is 4.11.1m only with EnjoyR for no Mods. Campaign is Ojcar's "Asia for the Asians!". Here follows complete text of DGenERROR I get.

I would learn a troubleshooting procedure to fix.

Thanks for any help,
GB

Does anyone have this somewhere I know where I can download a copy?

Just a little testing of some editing tools in Vegas and camera work in Cliffs of Dover.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m9672BW8co


Günther "Marmus" Von Marmusmann
Rank: Unteroffizier
Gruppe Position: Schwarmfuhrer, Rote 9
www.iijg53.com