klasmalmstrom
Forum Guru
I was refering to the concept of "bouncing" light beams off the clouds.I don't think I'd count it as a use of the Searchlight rules, though.
I was refering to the concept of "bouncing" light beams off the clouds.I don't think I'd count it as a use of the Searchlight rules, though.
Appeal to historical accuracy all you want, Sherry will still refuse to publish USO scenarios just to spite you.If nothing else they can always use SL's for the purpose they were designed for: To illuminate a nighttime Bob Hope USO show. (BTW done until well into the late 1960's for sure).
It was widely used in Normandy, so wouldn't be surprising to read it used later.Maybe I am imagining it but I think I recall that searchlight bounce cloud illumination was used during the Battle of the Bulge when the Allies were re-conquering the lost territory from the Germans. Have to rack the brain a bit to see if I can trace the specific reference.
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-E-Ardennes/USA-E-Ardennes-25.htmlThe Ardennes: the Battle of the Bulge said:Searchlights had been used by the Allies to illuminate the battlefield during the North African and Italian campaigns. However, the six battalions of tank-mounted searchlights (Canal Defense Lights) which the Americans brought into Normandy had been reconverted in November for normal armored use on the grounds that no "operational requirement" for the Canal Defense Light existed. The Germans had produced a large number of searchlights for use with flak batteries in the defense of major target centers in the Reich. In early December OB WEST ran two tests of searchlights in a ground role, with and without troops. These tests showed that an accidented battlefield could be extensively illuminated in front of attacking infantry. As a result some two hundred searchlights were gathered immediately behind the assault front and, on the morning of 16 December, flicked on to guide the first waves of infantry and to point targets, by cloud reflection, during the artillery preparation. Although very successful in assisting the assault companies over the first one or two thousand yards, the 60-cm. lights (with a ground range of little more than three thousand yards) could not keep up with the attack, and a number of German detachments, supposed to guide on the searchlight beams, wandered away from their objectives. Some of these smaller lights were brought forward and appeared in attacks as late as 18 December, but the ponderous 150- and 200-cm. lights seem to have been left behind at the original line of departure.
I have read accounts that the Soviet tankers weren't all that happy, as they created nice silhouettes of their tanks for the Germans to aim at.Searlights were also used by Soviets when attacking the Seelow heights.
Canadian infantry on the Verrières Ridge had the same complaint, it was even depicted in that The Valour and the Horror miniseries.I have read accounts that the Soviet tankers weren't all that happy, as they created nice silhouettes of their tanks for the Germans to aim at.
This is what I have read in several accounts of the battle, too. Also from the German perspective that it helped to target the Russians.I have read accounts that the Soviet tankers weren't all that happy, as they created nice silhouettes of their tanks for the Germans to aim at.
Searchlights: 61-62, 82, 89, 96, 126, 156, 159, 195-96,
Also used by the Soviets during Saturn and several times after that, most notably for fighting in the Kuban area and along the Dnepr & Muis. Now all we need is direct fire illum to back light targets used by German StuGs & 88's during Opn Winter Storm at least.It was widely used in Normandy, so wouldn't be surprising to read it used later.
Was this due to the effective searchlight tactics the enemy wanted to inhibit or because they were just easy to make out during the night?Our research uncovered that searchlight tactics used against the Chinese were so effective that SL mounted M46 and Centurion Tanks became primary artillery targets...especially during the Battles for the Hook.
That is one of the beauties of ASL.There are a lot of rules I will probably never use or play...but knowing I can if I want to is pretty cool.
If I understand the question correctly, both. But mostly the first.Was this due to the effective searchlight tactics the enemy wanted to inhibit or because they were just easy to make out during the night?
von Marwitz