Cult Icon

21 hours ago, Cult Icon said:

Is there content pertaining to towns?

I think so, but I haven't played enough to tell you. There's one thing I had time to see: the horse can do a number two, which might seem to be a detail but it shows how much work they put in this shit! I think it's great, I'm really impressed by what this industry can do today!

3 hours ago, Cult Icon said:

 

^

Yes, the lecture talked about the book, which was organized by his sister and composed of his notes that she gathered up.  The experts also said that she also "made up"/wrote portions of the book.  To my understanding, the Nazis even contacted the sister in her later years.

 

You know, I heard of Hannah Arendt's analysis of Eichmann and the "banality of evil".  As a general statement I don't think it's entirely applicable.  Maybe they were right about Eichmann. Another powerful force that motivated the Nazis was ambition- to rise- as I said in the Deus Ex thread.  Does she mention this? 

Yes, the nazis used Nietsche's concept of the Übermensch/Will to power to motivate their troops, but these concept are really intricate and the Nazis used them in trivial misinterpretations. It may be close to the Hindus concept you mentionned in the other thread. Nietzsche really liked Indian culture (he mentions it in several books, like Twilight of the Idols, IIRC).

Hannah Arendt doesn't really focus on this. She mainly talks about the "banality of evil" as you mentionned. She says that Eichmann was just a mediocre man who obeyed the orders and abandonned freedom of thought just to follow the stream.

I think some men can be tricked into ideologies by making them think that they are "ascending", getting more power (even if they are not) and some other men are just followers who will follow the stream (whatever it is). In the end, it's not that complicated to fool these two bunches.

It's like political correctness, which is today's (very) "soft" form of totalitarianism: some people use it to get the feeling that they are ascending in society, and some others just use it because that's the norm.

Hannah Arendt talks about all forms of totalitarinism (nazis, communists, etc.) which is probably why she got quite a few ennemies. She has a very intersting text about the way totalitarianisms justify the sacrifice of people. She has a whole developpment of how the leaders will use the expression  "you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs" to justify today's sacrifice. It basically means: we are doing tough stuff today, but it's for a greater good and everything will be alright in the end. So, she has a chapter where the "eggs speak up". I don't remember all of it, but I do remember it helped me a lot in understanding how we can all get fooled sometimes.

On 10/28/2018 at 7:29 PM, Enrico_sw said:

 

Yes, the nazis used Nietsche's concept of the Übermensch/Will to power to motivate their troops, but these concept are really intricate and the Nazis used them in trivial misinterpretations. It may be close to the Hindus concept you mentionned in the other thread. Nietzsche really liked Indian culture (he mentions it in several books, like Twilight of the Idols, IIRC).

 

From listening to the course, the concept of Ubermensch seems pretty straightforward.  I also read the wiki article about it.  I didn't know that it was more intricate than this.

Napoleon is to have quipped that "morale is to the material as to 3 to 1" (referencing his army?).  The impact of morale to increase combat power was not nearly as great in WW2 but it was still a major factor.  The motivations and combat morale of German troops in WW2 was really something special and with complicated origins.  If they did not have the spiritual aspect down, I believe that the war would have been over far sooner- perhaps by 1943.  The Sovet Winter-counteroffensive 42-43 was so potent that an less determined army would have fallen apart like the Italians, Hungarians, and Rumanian Axis Allies did in Southern Russia.  The whole time period of August 1943-May 1944 was a ruthless struggle for survival from the German/Axis perspective.

The German military organization- massively outnumbered and out-teched- was as a consequence of their combat morale, was so robust that it routinely survived crises that would have fragmented and disintegrated any other army.  

On 11/22/2018 at 3:49 PM, Cult Icon said:

 

From listening to the course, the concept of Ubermensch seems pretty straightforward.  I also read the wiki article about it.  I didn't know that it was more intricate than this.

He wrote lots of pages on this concept. He links it to several other concepts, like the "will to power". This "will to power" doesn't mean the will to have power to impose things on others (that's what the nazis thought). It's the will to become someone better, become "more than what you are". The Ubermensch doesn't want to compare himself to others all the time, he has to become better than himself. Comparing oneself to others (like the nazis did), bragging of being better,  is an expression of resentment for Nietzche (and resentment is something that he really hates). For Nietzche, the antisemites are one of the worst form of resentful people.

The Ubermensch is someone who is confident about himself and this confidence helps him not to deny the truth anymore. He sees the world with his eyes and he is strong enough to accept the world as it is.

In addition, trying to be the Ubermensch is not the research of some ideal (so, ideologies like nazism, communism, etc. are something he would never recommand - to say the least). The Ubermensch should be in a state of eternal return ("live your life like you want it to repeat again and again"). It's some kind of equilibrium where you don't seek for a fantasy.

On 11/22/2018 at 3:49 PM, Cult Icon said:

Napoleon is to have quipped that "morale is to the material as to 3 to 1" (referencing his army?).  The impact of morale to increase combat power was not nearly as great in WW2 but it was still a major factor.  The motivations and combat morale of German troops in WW2 was really something special and with complicated origins.  If they did not have the spiritual aspect down, I believe that the war would have been over far sooner- perhaps by 1943.  The Sovet Winter-counteroffensive 42-43 was so potent that an less determined army would have fallen apart like the Italians, Hungarians, and Rumanian Axis Allies did in Southern Russia.  The whole time period of August 1943-May 1944 was a ruthless struggle for survival from the German/Axis perspective.

Napoleon crushed half of the European armies because he inspired his soldiers. They believed in something with him. Also, he was quite a good strategist, with some heterodox views. If his fleet had been better and if some wide alliances hadn't been made against him, people might be speaking French in large parts of North America right now.   Also, he made a big mistake when he invaded Russia... (the Germans made the same mistake in 1941...)

In 1939, the German soliders were motivated because they had a purpose: they had a revenge to take. I think one of the worst mistakes of 1918 was that the French army didn't invade Germany (mostly because our American & British allies didn't want us to.... they didn't want France to become too powerful in continental Europe). Anyway, it would have changed a lot of things, because not doing it made a lot of people feel that something wasn't finished. If France had occupied German territories (like Rhineland), in order to make a stronger point, the Germans wouldn't have questionned their leaders and the theory of the "stabbing in the back" would've been less heard by the population.

In 1939, people tend to forget about it, but France was considered to have one of the best armies in the world (and France had a wide territory with colonies on every continent). The biggest problem was that people were sick of the war (because of WW1) and pacifism was very high among the population and soldiers. They had lost all their will to fight (just like the British, before Churchill came to power).

In short, 1939 was the meeting of an army with revengeful guts and an army with peaceful souls. The outcome was logical, in a sense. France lost so quickly that the whole world was surprised of it; even the Germans didn't believe that it would be so easy. So, of course, it made them very very confident about themselves. They thought that they were blessed, that they were the superior ones. This arrogance made them make big mistakes afterwards, like attacking the Russians at the worst time...

@Enrico_sw  This is a huge topic and I could go on and on about it.

The rapid defeat of the French and BEF in 1940 surprised the German command and the international community immensely.  They had prepared for much longer war and there were voices internally that feared that it would turn into a repeat of WW1.  Internationally the viewpoint was even more negative on the German victory.  The French infantryman had held the center in the first world war.

The rapid collapse of the French (and subsequent poor performance of the British/CW in North Africa 41/42 )  had, among many factors, most to do with military doctrine and combat command.  The Western Allies and the United States followed variations of "methodical battle", which was based on attrition concepts (utilized the economic and numerical superiority and favoring the use of firepower over the operations of infantry and elite troops) and slow & carefully planned operations.  American combat doctrine was closely patterned after the French.  

This proved to be ineffective when fighting German doctrine and organization, which was a much more dynamic, well organized, and rapid way of fighting.

I have studied enough to know that the French were actually not "cowardly" in the battle.  I wouldn't call them fanatical but they put up a level of general resistance.  

I have largely concluded that the Western Democracies in WW2 fielded the most passive troops.  Even American and British troops in 1944 (with a vastly improved doctrine and organization) fought in a very cautious and slow way relative to what they were truly capable of.   Western Democracies are too humane and this was reflected in their militaries (USA, France, UK) .  Victory for the Allies required enormous numerical superiority and superiority in technology.   Ironically two of the losers and three totalitarians- the Japanese, Soviets, and the Germans had the bravest and most fanatical conduct- for a large number of reasons.  

The course on Nietzsche also  talked about the influence of the Greeks and greek philosophy/tragedy.  The Greeks had a much more warlike and action-oriented life philosophy.

I recently liked the audiobook for "The Ten Worlds".  It matches closely with the positive psychology discussed earlier

https://www.amazon.com/Ten-Worlds-New-Psychology-Happiness/dp/0757320414/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543497012&sr=8-1&keywords=the+ten+worlds

new installment of a retro game from my childhood:

On 9/27/2018 at 8:12 AM, Cult Icon said:

I received my copy of the history of the 21st Panzer Division!!  So I can now start on the West Front:

 

Normandy 1944

 

-Tigers in Normandy

--Didier Lodieu's 3 books on various topics

-Reynold's 4 x books 

-Memoirs: Grenadiers, Panzer Commander

 

-Unit Histories: 

 

21.Pz, 12.SS, 17.SS, Panzer Lehr

1.SS, 9.SS, 10.SS, Tiger 503

116.Pz 

 

 

West Front Sept 1944 -Jan 1945

 

Ardennes 1944, Bergstrom

 

-Unit Histories:

 

21.Pz, 12.SS, 2.SS,  Panzer Lehr, 1.SS, 9.SS, 10.SS, 116.Pz

 

- Victory was beyond their grasp, Hold the Westwall

 

-Reynold's 4 x books 

 

-Memoirs: Grenadiers, Panzer Commander

 

-To be released: Smashing Hitler's Panzers: the defeat of the 12.SS  

History of the 21st Panzer Division (already own): This division was one of the three most hard-fighting and involved German combat formations in the battle of Normandy .   The others being the Panzer Lehr division and the 12.SS "Hitler Youth" Division.  This book largely focuses on climatic the fighting in Normandy.  It was a  heavily equipped German formation that was built out of veterans from the 21st Panzer division in North Africa and mechanized a large quantity of converted French military equipment.

 

Panzergrenadiers to the Front! (already own): The last of the German special forces are merged together into a motorized division and are send to battle in the worst of conditions in late 1944 and 1945.  They fight astonishingly hard despite the fruitlessness of their situation.  On April 1945, they manage to achieve the last German operational victory of WW2 at Bautzen and inflict great damage on the Soviets- while being a few hours' drive away from surrendering to the Allies.

 

Oder Front Volume I/II (on delivery) : A ground breaking work on the defense of the Oder Front- the gateway to Berlin.  It was this fighting that shaped how the Third Reich would end its days.  The German army was now cannibalizing its training and replacement institutions and sending them to the front; two generations of men had been maimed or killed, so old men and children were mobilized.  

 

Smashing Hitler's Panzers (Nov 2nd release):  The 12.SS "Hitler Youth" division is assigned 1 of the 2 primary objectives for the Ardennes offensive and was fought down to a standstill by element of three US infantry divisions.  It looks like a good synthesis like Zaloga's previous book, Patton versus the Panzers. 

 

The Forgotten Battle of the Kursk Salient (already own):  The 7th Guards Army played a major role in frustrating the climatic offensive at Kursk- they severely impeded the progress of III Panzer Korps and Korps Raus to an extent that it reduced the chances of German success to zero.

 

Confronting Case Blue (on wish list):  The Axis launch their final great offensive of the war, Case Blue and shattered the 5th Tank Army.  General Chibisov's  operational group was hastily formed out of the depleted 2nd Tank Corps and a mixture of decimated and underdeveloped infantry divisions and ordered to make a decisive counterstrike against the German 9th Panzer division and numerous attacking infantry divisions.  The Germans execute a defense, supported by massed air power and the attack becomes a death ride for the Soviets.  2nd Tank Corps commander Liziukov attacks into the void and disappears; his brigade commanders fall in battle.

**other supporting material

Quoting this again- need to revise my list.  Got 95 % + of the material I need with only a handful of titles unpurchased.

 @17 Moments of Spring  I've started listening to "Games people play" and so far it seems excessively academic/structural- not sure if I should continue- does this information have any real use  to you?

@SympathysSilhouette

  @Enrico_sw

This guy shoots 43 different assault rifles/SMGs- you've probably seen most of them in games

20 hours ago, Cult Icon said:

@SympathysSilhouette

 

  @Enrico_sw

 

This guy shoots 43 different assault rifles/SMGs- you've probably seen most of them in games 

 

Regarding WW2's weapons, I really like the BAR and the Sten (simple, light, easy to transport - a lot of resistance fighters used it in France). They didn't try the Sten. Of course, the Thompson is also quite a nice one.

When I see a Uzi, it always reminds me of this