What should I do while waiting for Iron Front to Download?....

I get ready!

My hardware is online locked and loaded!

But what about my personal knowledge?... Should I trust what I have learned from BF3?...Arma?...WOT?...Stalker?...Harpoon?...Silent Hunter?...VBS2?...Red Orchestra?...Counter Strike?...Medal of Honor?... Call of Duty?...Dancing with the Stars?...etc....May be a little tiny bit of it, or should I trust that I don't know everything, and that my experience of WWII combat is extremely limited, I would say the least!

I offer a list of books for those who trust themselves that some extra knowledge's or refreshing some perspectives known already, would help, hence make a difference while under virtual stress of virtual WWII combat.

First a computer game:

"Unity of command" from Matrix games. It is a good practice to understand maneuver, thrust and encirclement to create pockets. This is a maneuver warfare exercise. It needs new campaigns but still a good introduction to illustrate what worked in the German Army up to 1942. This game was awarded the Usenet's War-game of the Year Awards - Bronze. It is an hexed-turned-base. Operational
The Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=c1hjpHkJ9QY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=c1hjpHkJ9QY#t=38s
And the demo: http://unityofcommand.net/demo/

Then books and a lot of them:

Battle Ground The Greatest Tank Duel in History: it covers T-34 Vs Panther (sorry no Tiger) Ukraine 43, Tiger vs. Sherman Firefly Normandy 44, M26 Pershing vs. T 34-85 Korea 50, Centurion vs. T-55 Golan Heights 73, M1 Abrams vs. T-72 Desert Storms 91. The details, Tactics, side stories and history are worth the reading, yet not a fundamental read. Editor Steven J. Zaloga. Osprey Publishing ISBN# 978-1-84908-551-9


Spec OPS. Case Studies in Special Warfare: Theories and Practice. By William H. McRaven. Tactical. Theory of special operations, Eben Emael, Italian Manned Torpedo attack at Alexandria, British raid on Saint-Nazaire, Rescue of Benito Mussolini, etc....up to the Israeli Raid on Entebbe. All ops are studied, deconstructed, reconstructed, in brief you could recreate the ops up to the call signs and radio traffics. Again, a must for the no non-sense mission writers or wanna be no non-sense mission writers. William H. McRaven is a 4 star admiral who currently serves as ninth Commander of US Special Operations Command and is credited for organizing and executing operation Neptune Spear. published bt Ballantine books. ISBN# 0-89141-600-5

Soviet Armor Tactics in World War II by Charles C Sharp. Red Army Armor Tactics from individual Vehicle to Company from Combat regulations of 1944. It reads like field manual and will be of better use in the hands of advance players. Published by George Nafziger. ISBN# 1-58545-043-x

German Panzer Tactics in WWII. by Charles C Sharp. Combat Tactics of German Armored Units from section to regiment. It reads like a field manual of the times and will be of better use in the hands of advance players. Published by George Nafziger. No ISBN#

German Tank Platoon in WWII: Tactical. Its Training and employment in Battle. Compiled by the US Army from original German works. More accessible than the two formers, it is still for advanced players. Drawings, maps to illustrate tactics. Interesting read to those who are willing to go closer to the tactics of the times. Published by George Nafziger. ISBN# 978-1-58545-144-4

German Squad Tactics in WWII, by Matthew Gajkowski. More in depth understanding of the squad tactics of that era. it reads like a field manual with drawing for illustrations. For the more advanced players for in depth knowledge of the squad up to the hand signals delivered from the back of a Mittlerer Shutzenpanzerwagen in an armor column respecting radio silence. Published by George Nafziger. ISBN# 1-58454-029-4

American Tank Company Tactics (in WWII). FM 17-32 illustrated.For advanced players. Published by George Nafziger. ISBN# 1-58545-066-9

U.S. Armored Infantry Battalion Tactics in WWII. FM 17-42 Armored Infantry Battalion illustrated. For advance players. Published by George Nafziger. United States Government Printing Office Washington 1944. No ISBN #

And Finally, as some missions in Iron Front will be only Air Combat, an excellent guide illustrated in colors, especially created for the virtual aces:

Air Combat Manoeuvres. The technique and History of air fighting for flight simulation from J. Steve Thomson with Peter C Smith. Consultant : Major Lawrence J. Spinetta, USAF. Illustrated by Tim Brown. Tactical. That is a book that have been created exclusively for the virtual flyers. It is very interesting and a must for everyone wanting to increase or refresh virtual air combat knowledge. It covers WWI, WWII, to the modern Age, PC rigs, and a brief History of Flight Sims from the earlier ages to the cutting edge. www.ianallanpublishing.com. ISBN# 978-1-903223-98-7.

I have read all those books and know that they are available on Amazon for the most part.

If you have problems locating them, let me know.

Good Reading and see you on the LZ!

Awesome list, thanks for the tips.

Not a problem!...If you need more let me know!

Great post Gunny, thanks!

Really appreciate the enthusiasm Gunny.

Nice list. I gotta admit, it's been years since I looked at the East Front.

Nice list!


I took the approach of wasting my time trying to get into DayZ servers while I'm waiting. After Zombies, the Germans are going to be simple

Useful, thank you!

If I had to pick 2 of these books to get, what would you recommend first?

From the titles, I'm leaning towards:
German Squad Tactics in WWII
Stormtroop Tactics

My hope is to learn the Wehrmacht side of the war, since I've already got a few years into my study (gaming haha) of the LW.

It depends what part of your existing knowledge you want to complete and what you want to do with it?

Now if you lean toward Wehrmacht:

In the German Squad Tactics, they added some chapters about PanzerGrenadier, which is mechanized troops. Good but not as complete regarding Armor as the two I mentioned earler.

Stormtroop Tactics is the birth of Spec. Ops inspired by the Boers War and reworked and adapted by the German in relation to Trench warfare and WWI. It is a facsinating document, yet u need pre-existing knowledge of combat to be able to use it in Iron Front or Arma. This is not Navy Seal 101!

Now if you only want infantry tactics, then the ones you mentioned might be more adapted to your liking.

As a matter of fact I hope that they will list their sources for the development of the game, other than just the Munster Museum in Germany.