Update Notes for new beta build Apr 25th, 2024
Changelist: - Polder layer support added to MapMakerGIS; - new attributes dlat_m and dlon_m are now supported, allowing to shift layers arbitrarily in latitudinal and longitudinal directions, respectively; - minor documentation updates in the sample GIS XML. Steam build ID 141662
Changelist:
- Polder layer support added to MapMakerGIS;
- new attributes dlat_m and dlon_m are now supported, allowing to shift layers arbitrarily in latitudinal and longitudinal directions, respectively;
- minor documentation updates in the sample GIS XML.
Steam build ID 14166225.
Original post 
Another obscure battle portrayed by Khalkhin-Gol DLC will be the Battle of Lake Khasan, known also as Changkufeng Incident.
This short but fierce conflict happened Summer 1938; Japanese troops are presented with a single reinforced infantry brigade (of 19th Infantry Division), whereas Soviets have fully committed 32nd and 40th Rifle Divisions, 2nd Mechanized brigade and some Corps assets.
Overall, over 30 000 people and over 250 artillery pieces (both sides combined) took part in the conflict, supported with over one hundred of Soviet tanks, over one hundred of Soviet planes and one Japanese armored train.
Unlike the Battle of Khalkhin-Gol that lasted few months, the Khasan Battle was over in just two weeks. However, it was enough for over 1300 people to be killed and over 4000 to be wounded (from both sides). Also Soviets lost over 40 tanks, as well as two planes were shot down.
There will be two scenarios representing this bloody campaign:
Next patch will introduce certain new mechanics which we'd like to explain a little bit.
It is 02:30 now, so the bombardment will start in five minutes and it will hit precisely the designated point.
After the bombardment is over (at 02:45) you will be able to create another firing mission and it, again, will take only five minutes to start firing and the shells will land precisely on target.
Being able to fire valleys of fire continuously with 100% accuracy is the easiest way to stall en enemy attack or pinpoint their key defensive positions. This is why it is considered a kind of abuse by veteran players and is being often frowned upon.
Second topic is slightly more complicated. Being able to conduct FO means that your potential FO unit must:
But this is not over yet. After the actual firing starts at 02:58 we will see the following picture:
So, the shells are not falling where we've expected them to be! What's happening?
There is another kind of penalty introduced - the (im)precision. This penalty represents the errors in determining the range and the firing direction (from the firing unit to the target location), separately.
These are randomly sampled errors and, of course, the better firing unit's training and experience are, the smaller will be these errors.
The interesting thing is, that the range error is measured in percents of the actual firing range. Combined with direction error, this means long-range firing mission will suffer of a bigger (absolute value) error, than a short-range mission.
Of course, non-observed firing missions are penalized more than observed ones.
In the example above, the actual firing location is about 90 meters away of the original target point. This isn't very big difference (could be much more, actually, up to few hundreds of meters), but it is still big enough to deal less damage to an enemy unit if it is rather small (say, just a single company), because many shells will fall off target.
Of course, all these error values are configurable. So it is up to DLC (or custom scenario/Estab) creator to find the best values to represent that particular era, campaign and an armed force.
Soviet riflemen, Far Eastern region, 1938
Ok guys, here's the second part.
I've deliberately made it completely disconnected from the previous one trying not to break the immersion effect. There's no peeking into Japanese side here, the entire post is written from Soviet perspective.
Sorry if you find there some stylistic mistakes and typos, I don't have much time to proofread it this evening.
Small hint: Komdiv (division commander) is a Major General equivalent; Komkor (corps commander) is a Lieutenant General equivalent; Komandarm 1st rank (army commander 1st rank) is an equivalent to Colonel General, General of the Army, or Field Marshal in other nations.
Also, 
Komdiv Feklenko, CO 57th Special Corps
However, for four days May 11-15th HQ 57th Corps did not know anything about these events at all. The phone line from Tamtsag-Bulak (very small town 120 km from the border, actually the only town in the area and also the only Soviet-Mongolian garrison) was out of order quite often.
Only four days later, May 15th, Battlegroup Bykov - the only Soviet unit garrisoned in Tamtsag-Bulak, basically a reinforced motorized rifle battalion - got back online and reported Feklenko about the situation.
The problem was, that very same day Moscow has learned about the incident - not from Feklenko, but from Western newspapers!
So they have started calling Corps HQ and demanding answers. But Feklenko was not at his HQ that day, inspecting one of his units; that definitely didn't help to soothe Moscow's irritation.
Marshal of the Soviet Union Voroshilov, People's Commissar for Defense
Komandarm 1st Rank Shaposhnikov, Chief of General Staff
Next day morning Feklenko has arrived at his HQ and reported to Moscow that he has put 57th Corps on alert and ordered to reinforce border guards with two Mongolian cavalry squadrons and 4 MMGs.
He has also dispatched a Soviet recon detachment (armored car platoon, motor rifle platoon and 3 AT guns) from Battlegroup Bykov to scout the area east of the river and support Mongolian troops in case of hostilities.
Also, he have ordered some ground units redeployment: 9th Armored Car Brigade and 149th Motorized Rifle Regiment were ordered to move closer to the Khalkhyn-Gol sector (due to huge distances in Mongolia this would take few days).
Finally, he has asked Moscow then for the permission to conduct a limited counterattack and destroy the Japanese-Manchukuoan battelgroup, who has supposedly crossed the border, using the full strength of Mongolian 6th Cavalry Division.
Moscow refused this request and ordered Feklenko to perform thorough reconnaissance first, using his air assets and ground troops in order to understand what's going on there in general, who's in control of the border, and what is the size and intentions of enemy forces.
Mongolian cavalrymen, note the tiny stature of Mongolian horses
Feklenko understood border guards and several cavalry squadrons won't be able to take that territory back. So he again, like few days ago, has asked Moscow's to permit a limited attack with the full strength of Mongolian 6th Cavalry Division and Battlegroup Bykov and destroy the intruders.
Once again, Moscow refused and ordered Feklenko to perform more thorough reconnaissance to clarify what enemy forces may be located in the depth, if enemy artillery is present in the area, where are enemy flanks, and if there are other hostile troops along the border.
Moscow believed the incident could be a part of a larger Japanese scheme, so they were very unwilling to be lured into the escalation unless there was no other choice.
In the meantime, Feklenko has ordered Col Ivenkov, 57th Corps' Operations Officer, to dispatch for Tamtsag-Bulak by plane. This was an attempt to imrpove the co-ordination between Battlegroup Bykove, Mongolian troops and HQ 57th Coprs.
Also, some additional artillery and engineer elements of 11th Tank Brigade and 36th Motorized Rifle Division were dispatched for Tamtsag-Bulak to reinforce Battlegroup Bykov, still the only Soviet unit in the immediate vicinity of the incident.
R-5Sh similar to the one downed on May 21st
Next day five Japanese Ki-27 fighters attacked a group of 3 I-16 and 2 I-15 Soviet fighters (70th Fighter Air Regiment) conducting an air patrol over the river. One I-16 was shot down without any damages caused to Japanese.
An artistic rendering of an air fight between I-16 and Ki-27
Unfortunately, squadrons of the Corps' 100th Air Brigade were equipped with some really bad pilots then. Before the conflict the theater was considered to be an "Asshole of the World", for where young pilots, who've just finished flight schools, or some remarkably bad pilots from more prestigious military districts were transferred.
Additionally, many pilots in the Brigade were found unfit for flying by medical commission just before the incident and were transferred away, so squadrons also were lacking flying personnel.
Not only Soviet pilots in the area were often poor flyers, but they have been also lacking other vital skills. December 1938, merely a half-year before the incident, seven pilots of 3rd Squadron of 70th Fighter Air Regiment were assessed for navigational skill: not a single pilot was able pass the exam with "excellent" or "good" mark; three pilots were assessed for "satisfactory" and four for "bad" mark.
Untrained, often untalented, having little or no flight practice, many Soviet pilots would be just an easy prey for well-trained and experienced Japanese army pilots in the opening weeks of the conflict.
Needless to say, bad news from the air have angered Moscow quite a lot.
May 22nd, Voroshilov and Shaposhnikov together called Feklenko directly. They were asking him to explain why ten days after the escalation there is still no detailed reconnaissance about Japanese-Manchukuoan ground forces available, why Japanese are shooting down Soviet planes unopposed, why such a slow planes as R-5 are permitted to fly near the border unescorted, why Feklenko's Air Brigade is so low on flying personnel and so on.
Amidst of the call, irritated Voroshilov made a scornful remark, saying that: "Comrade Feklenko, had I not met you in person before, [from what you're telling me now] I would assume that you're a poshekhonets" (literally - a dweller of Poshehonye region in North-Western Russia, figurative - very stupid, unfit and ill-fated person).
Two days later, Komkor Zhukov was dispatched from Moscow for Mongolia with the mission of inspecting and assessing the combat readiness of 57th Special Corps HQ and its units. In particular, one of Zhukov's task was to investigate the reasons for unsatisfactory performance of Corps' command and staff.
Col Ivenkov, 57th Special Corps Operations Officer
The overall command is assumed by Col Ivenkov, but he has arrived by plane alone, without any aides, or staff or signal units. So he has to rely upon tiny Battlegroup Bykov C3I assets.
On paper, the biggest combat unit in the sector is Mongolian 6th Cavalry Division. However, in practice it is actually a rather small formation, equivalent to the reinforced Cavalry Regiment in other armies, as it only has two cavalry regiments (only two sabre squadrons and one MG squadron each) plus one reserve squadron.
Col Dandar, CO 17th Cav Rgt, assumed command of 6th Cav Div on May 28th
However, for its size it has some decent division-level support, consisting of two 76mm horse artillery batteries and an armored car battalion (one medium company with 9 BA-6 and one light company with 9 FAI).
The primary Soviet unit in the field is 175th Motorized Rifle-MG Battalion (three motorized mixed rilfe/machinegun companies and an 45mm AT battery) of 11th Tank Brigade.
Cpt Bykov, CO 175th Motorized Rifle-MG Bn, 11th Tank Brigade
It is reinforced with various units from 11th Tank Brigade and 36th Motorized Rifle Division:
SU-12 SPG (Moreland truck chassis)
1Lt Vakhtin, CO 2/354th Motorized Art Bn (SU-12)
BKhM-3 (OT-26) flamethrower tank
Bykov has decided to place his 2nd Coy and 3rd Coy at the flanks, while 6th Cav Division's goal was to defend the center of the position.
1st Coy, ATG Btry and other attached units comprised Group's reserve with the support from 122mm battery. 70th Sapper Coy was guarding the crossing itself.
The Corps reserve in Tamtsag-Bulak consisted of 149th Motorized Rifle Rgt (2nd and 3rd Battalions), reinforced with 2nd/175th Art Rgt (minus 6th Btry already at Bykov's disposal).
Also, some elements of 9th Armored Car Brigade may be engaged, if needed.
Maj Remizov, CO 149th Motorized Rifle Rgt
Cpt Ermakov, CO 2nd/149th Motorized Rifle Rgt
Cpt Zaijuliev, CO 3rd/149th Motorized Rifle Rgt
Maj Rybkin, CO 2nd/175th Artillery Rgt
Overall Soviet troops in the area possessed 16 BA-6, 5 FAI armored cars and 5 BKhM-3 tanks. 149th Rgt in Tamtsag-Bulak had another 8 FAI and 3 BA-3 armored cars. Even more armored cars of the whole 9th Armored Car Brigade, also in Tamtsag-Bulak, could be engaged, if needed.
Soviet artillery units had 4 122mm howitzers and 4 76mm SU-12 SPGs in the area, and another 6 76mm obr.1927 and 8 76mm obr.1902/30 guns in Tamtsag-Bulak.
Mongolian troops also had 9 BA-6 and 9 FAI armored cars, 4 76mm obr.1902 and 4 76mm obr.1927 guns.
With such a good mix of armor, motorized infantry, cavalry, engineers and artillery, as well as strong Corps reserves available in Tamtsag-Bulak, Soviet-Mongolian battlegroup should have felt confident in their ability to repulse the enemy.
1SG Kirin, 36th Mot Rifle Div, KIA 30.08.1939. Note the sturdy simplicity of Soviet uniform.
Japanese cavalrymen, Khalkhyn-Gol
First off, thank you very much for your contribution and comments regarding the next EF title. I've got the following variants (sorted by date) so far:
- Battle of Suomussalvi, 1939/40
- Crimea, 1941
- Battle of Rostov, 1941
- Stalingrad, 1942
- Kursk, 1943
- Korsun, 1944
- 11th Panzer Division, any battle
Some of them I actually had in my list of candidates, which means at least one of you will get your proposal fullfilled with next DLC.
Then, guys, as I've found I'd like to bring a bit more immersion and details than I planned originally, I've decided to split this devblog story into three pieces.
This chunk of lifeless steppe never played any actual strategical importance to either of sides, nor had it any natural resources.
But, given you have two militaristic expansionist regimes, whose geopolitical ambitions are too broad for their natural ethnic and political boundaries, when you put them at the ambiguously and poorly drawn thousands-kilometres-long border, then at some point what seemed to be yet-another-border-incident have to escalate into a full-scale border war.
LtGen Komatsubara, CO 23rd Infantry Division
Situation at the border was gradually deteriorating for last few months, and started getting even worse over past few weeks. The particularly troublesome incident happened on May 12th. Previous day, Manchukuoan horsemen after a seven-hour long battle have driven out yet another group of 30 Outer Mongolian intruders. But on May 12th, the affair was said to have become more serious. Presumably reinforced from neighboring garrison, Mongolians again crossed the border in sizeable numbers (100-200 horsemen with LMGs and HMS).
As the area defense commander, Komatsubara intended to destroy the intruders by committing the main body of his recon regiment under LtCol Azuma, reinforced with two infantry companies with some logistical and air support from Kwantung Army. The task force was preparing to leave on May 13th.
May 15th Azuma's battlegroup arrived to the area, just to find out that the enemy has already evacuated back to the western bank of the river. Finding no enemy to fight, Azuma had to pull off.
But just two days later scouts have reported Outer Mongolians crossed the river again.
Furthermore, few days later new intelligence revealed that Mongolian troops have built a bridge over the river, thus switching from occasional intrusions into establishing a solid foothold at the eastern bank. Enemy troops also started constructing a semicircle defensive positions at Manchukuoan territory.
This development was outraging and completely intolerable.
Considering this new data, Komatsubara has decided to conduct another retaliatory action, but with a bigger force and more ambitious task. Now, this time their goal would be not just to drive intruders back again, but rather to destroy the enemy's bridgehead completely and wipe out Mongolians from the eastern bank, inflicting as much damage to their troops and equipment as needed to prevent such kind of incidents in future.
37mm Type 94 AT gun
75mm Type 41 pack gun (regimental piece)
70mm Type 92 battalion gun
Since surprise was impossible on the steppes in daylight, the assault forces were to move forward stealthily during the night and jump off at dawn on the 28th of May.
It was expected to face ca. 200 enemy soldiers to the north of Khailastyn-Gol river and another 200 to the south of it. Together with reserves and may be some Soviet elements this would total ca. 700 horsemen and soldiers, who are far inferior to IJA units.
Also, 2-3 enemy armored cars and at least two artillery pieces were observed at the western bank near the crossing, but Japanese battlegroup had a battery of ATG and a battery of regimental artillery to deal with these.
No significant Soviet involvement was anticipated, due to the long distance to major Soviet garrisons; but Japanese did not think very high of Soviet combat worth either.
A close-up view of the crossing
Japanese counted 1600 men in total, supported with another half thousand of Manchukuoan horsemen, totalling more than 2000 people.
These were supported with a battery of 4 37mm AT guns, battery of 4 75mm regimental guns and a platoon of 2 70mm battalion guns.
Manchukuoan cavalry division possessed another regimental gun platoon.
Not only Japanese troops have 2-3 more people in the field, but also they surely are of a much greater combat worth than the enemy.
Despite the fact, that 23rd Division was a rather "green" formation created just about one year ago, still lacking equipment and training, everyone in the Division including Komatsubara believed firmly that it is already far superior to anything Mongolians or Soviets could muster.
As Coox nicely summarized it:
"On paper, Japanese plan looked beautiful: separate advance and joint attack, thereby catching the fleeing enemy in a sack by double envelopment. The regiment commander had only to strike with a battalion of IJA regulars and the foe would flee. The main concern was how to prevent the enemy from esaping; there was no anticipation that he would stand or counterattack. Azuma exuded particular confidence because he had reached the Halha without effort, in the face of motley Mongolian horsemen, less than two weeks earlier. When Maj Tsuji Masanobu arrived at division HQ for liaison duty on 28 May, he found Komatsubara waiting for good news from the front. No one seemed at all worried in Hailar."
Type 92 Jyu-Sokosha
So what is the truth, what is the correct answer? I must admit I don't know. You can decide it by your own what the "truth" is, but my considerations were as following:
Manchukuoan cavalry
It has been a while since we have posted a devblog about the East Front DLC. So now its probably a time to give you some status update, as well as to entertain you a bit in a historical sense.
This particular devblog will be about the development status, and the next one will be about the history.
Credits: colorized image made by 
Command Ops 2 Series is now on Sale with a 20% discount.
LnLP On Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/LnLP
Assess, Plan, Order, and React – The Decisions are Yours!
Command Ops 2 is a wargame engine that lets you assess, plan, order and react at the operational level just like a real Corps, Division and Brigade commander.
What sets Command Ops 2 apart from the competition is the most advanced and realistic model of command decision-making implemented to date in a commercial wargame. It is based on:
* Hi-fidelity modeling of continuous-time and space;
* Realistic command structure and process;
* Macro management; and
* Orders delay.
For that, Command Ops 2 is different than any other simulation wargame: no hexes, no turns, no micromanagement, no click fests. That is why it is in a way simpler and more fun to play but at the same time more challenging, because it makes you command as Commanders do.
Command Ops sports some of the most advanced and impressive AI ever devised in an operational-level wargame. It is your choice whether to manage every detail of your army or have the friendly AI manage the war on a lower level while you plan the larger scale maneuvers designed to make short work of your enemy. Just as a historical commander, you can choose where you need to step in and when you need to stand back and let your subordinates do their jobs.
The enemy AI will use its skill to launch well-timed and coordinated strikes as it probes your lines for weakness while realistically reacting to your movements! In addition, for the enthusiastic mod community awaiting Command Ops, powerful tools like MapMaker and ScenMaker allow for the creation of maps and scenarios further adding to already near-limitless replayability.
Command Ops 2 game application has a new user interface (UI) and enhanced artificial intelligence (AI). The smartest and most realistic operational level wargame just got a whole lot better. Command like a real commander in this pausable, continuous-time simulation of WW2 operational warfare, where the emphasis is on planning, anticipating and reacting to enemy developments. This is not a click-fest, and you don’t have to issue orders to every unit. The world’s smartest operational level AI can be trusted to do a reasonable job of managing your forces. Also included are the editors ( MapMaker, EstabMaker, EstabEditor, and ScenMaker ) for modifying or developing your own scenarios. The Core comes with three scenarios, including the tutorial Return to St Vith, Manhay Crossroads, and Greyhound Dash, all focussed on the Epic 1944 Battle of the Bulge.
Soviet BA-6 medium armored car and its crew, supposedly of 7th Armored Brigade, Khalkhin-Gol area, 1939.
This actually makes sense, right? Back at the time Norm couldn't possibly find any reliable references about the composition of these formations, and "Nomonhan" book (by Alvin Coox, the primary source of Norm's inspiration) was portraying these brigades as mechanized formations. So he have made some educated guess and designed them as if they were mech brigades in a WW2 sense, mixing some motorized infantry, infantry support tanks, and artillery.
This composition may make sense, but it is rather far from reality. These three formations weren't a mechanized infantry (in the WW2 meaning) at all, but rather an armored cavalry, having a very specific purpose and organization.
And this is where our story begins.
A column of BA-27 (leading) and BA-I armored cars
BA-I became a significant improvement over BA-27. Having the same armament (an additional bow machinegun was only a marginal improvement) as BA-27, it was featuring new 6x4 Timken chassis combined with Ford Model AA engine. The new chassis, known as GAZ-AAA in Soviet Union, allowed BA-I to reach 75 kph (which was nearly twice as much as 40 kph of BA-27) and increase armor thickness up to 8 mm. Over 100 of these armored cars were produced in 1932-1934.
BA-I at the Red Square
As the mobility of BA-I was improved, its armament became obsolete already. 37mm short-barreled gun may have been sufficient at the time of WWI and in 20s, but it was clearly an outdated design by 30s. The combination of BA-I hull with the light tank turret (designed same as that of T-26, but with a thinner armor of 8mm compared to 15mm of T-26), featuring new 45mm rapid-firing gun, was designated BA-3. About 200 these armored cars were produced in 1933-1935.
BA-6 was basically a minor improvement (featuring a thicker 9mm front plate and no escape door in the back) over a BA-3. It was produced in 1936-1938 with almost 400 cars built (twice as more as BA-3). Its performance and combat capabilities were identical to those of BA-3, though.
Turkish BA-3
BA-6
At the same time, several light armored car types were designed and produced. D-8 (and its improved version D-12) were build upon GAZ-A (license-built Ford Model A) chassis and featured one (D-8) or two (D-12) machineguns. These armored cars were light enough to be air-transportable. A total of 62 D-8/12 were produced in 1931-1932, until they were replaced in production by FAI.
FAI had worse armor (6mm vs 7mm of D-8/12) and the same 4x2 GAZ-A chassis, but its main feature was the MG turret that was a significant improvement over D-8 and its MG fixed either in the bow or in the rear firing position. FAI was produced in 1933-1935, and also in 1938-1939 there was also an improved version FAI-M produced, featuring new GAZ-M1 - a licensed Ford Model B - chassis with a more powerful 50 hp engine. About 700 FAI and FAI-M were produced in total.
D-8 (front) and D-12 (back) armored cars
D-8 is being installed under the belly of TB-3 heavy bomber
FAI armored car featuring railroad wheels
The latest and the most advanced Soviet mass-produced armored cars available by 1939 were medium BA-10 and light BA-20 armored cars.
The main improvements of BA-10 over BA-6 were thicker hull and turret armor (10 mm) and new conical turret design (featuring some sloping). The combat weight and max speed were nearly the same as of BA-6, however the 45mm gun ammo loadout was slightly reduced.
Being a relatively good design, BA-10 was produced in massive numbers, with a total of 3400 armored cars built in 1938-1941 (BA-10 and improved BA-10M combined).
BA-10 armored car
Like BA-10 was an improvement over BA-6, new light BA-20 armored car was an improvement over FAI. It had similar (to FAI) design, but a much better GAZ-M1 chassis. Its modified version BA-20M featured much thicker frontal armor (9mm against 6mm of BA-20). Over 2000 of these armored cars were produced in 1936-1942.
BA-20 armored cars, Khalkhin-Gol
Soviet armored cars of the interwar period may be qualified as very well armed. Their 45mm 20-K gun - combining good RoF with decent penetration and powerful fragmentation shell - was one of the most powerful weapons ever installed on a pre-WW2 armored car, but this was probably their only advantage.
All Soviet cars were lightly armored vehicles. 8-10mm armor would be good at the time of their appearance in early 30s, but there were already better protected designs by late 30s. But, most importantly, their 4x2 and 6x4 chassis, driven by their weak (50 hp at best) engines meant they are bound to the road network and rendered them inadequate for cross-country reconnaissance and liaison duties.
In general, Soviet armored cars were clearly superior to Polish, Japanese, US and British designs of the time, but at least Germany and France had some superior designs.
For example, German SdKfz.231 (6-rad) introduced yet in 1932 had the same 6x4 wheel scheme, same 8mm armor and weaker armament, but it also featured much better engine (75 hp vs 50 hp of BA-6/10).
But then there was also SdKfz.231 (8-rad) introduced in 1936 (same year as BA-6), featuring extremely powerful 150 hp engine, 15mm frontal armor and 8x8 drive. It was superior to Soviet armored cars in every aspect except (arguably) armament, and was generally a much better scout platform than any Soviet design.
Also French Panhard 178 had much better armor (18-13mm), much better engine (105 hp) and better full-drive 4x4 chassis than those of Soviet armored cars.
There was one aspect, however, where Soviet armored cars outclassed all their opponents. Not great, not terrible, but there were thousands of them produced, and that was the world's biggest arsenal of armored cars. Having only 58 light and 224 medium armored cars as of January 1st, 1934, seven years later the Red Army had already 4325 armored cars (light and medium combined) by December 1st, 1940.
Majority of them will be lost next year during Operation Barbarossa, where the whole regular Red Army was nearly annihilated together with all its armored vehicles. But at the time of Battle of Khalkhin-Gol, summer 1939, Soviet armored cars were still on the rise.
Soldiers of a rifle-machinegun battalion of 9th Armored Brigade near their GAZ-AA staff bus
Finally, in 1938 the new ToE was adopted for armored brigades (tables of organization #16/720-16/727), so all three armored car units in Mongolia - 7th Bde, Special Bde and Special Rgt - were reorganized to fit these new unified ToEs. Special Brigade became the 9th Armored Brigade, and the Special Armored Regiment was reorganized into 8th Armored Brigade. Next year all three units - 7th, 8th and 9th Armored Brigades - took part in Khalkhin-Gol conflict.
Each brigade consisted of:
Commanders of 7th, 8th and 9th Armored Bridages at Khalkhin-Gol (left to right, respectively): Maj A.Lesovoy, Maj V.Mishulin and Maj S.Oleynikov
All three brigades were actively engaged during the first period of Khalkhin-Gol conflict.
Armored cars of 9th Armored Brigade took an active part in repelling the first and the only major Japanese tank attack during the conflict (2nd - 3th July). Soviet rapid-firing 45mm guns were far superior to Japanese 37mm and 57mm tank guns, also Soviet crews have been firing from hull-down positions, so after two hours of intensive fight a single company of 12 BA-10s had destroyed 10 Japanese tanks without any casualties from their side. Another Japanese tank was trapped in the barbed wire and was captured by Soviet armored car crewmen.
At the same time, armored cars of 7th Armored Brigade were engaged in furious counter-attack at Bain-Tsagan Mountain on July 3rd. Here Soviet armored cars had to attack Japanese defensive positions without artillery or infantry support. Predictably, this didn't end well. As 1st Lt K.Petrov, an Aide of 247th Armored Car Battalion's Chief of Staff described:
As the battalion was approaching Bain-Tsagan Mountain, I saw 4-5 armored cars of 1st and 2nd Companies started to burn. More and more cars were catching fire, so the vehicles from rear lines started to turn around and retreat... 3rd Company lost just one armored car, because they saw burning vehicles of other companies in front of them, so they didn't go forth.
BA-6 of 9th Armored Brigade, captured by Japanese army in July.
During that attack Soviet troops (11th Tank Brigade and 7th Armored Brigade combined) have lost 37 armored cars out of 59 engaged that day (in other words, 2/3 of armored cars were either disabled or destroyed). There Soviet armored car crews have learned a deadly specifics of BA-6 and BA-10 designs: there was a fuel tank located in the upper part of the hull, above the heads of a driver and machinegunner. When penetrated and ignited, these fuel tanks poured liters of burning fuel, with a very little chance for those two crew members to survive the deadly napalm flow.
Overall, the combat performance of armored brigades was summarized in one Soviet document dated July 1939 like this:
"Armored units - 7th, 8th and 9th Armored Brigades - are just an armored cavalry, better suited for border patrols and internal security duties. They were not trained to fight as an infantry and they aren't able to do that. These units played important role during the early stages of the conflict. Now they have received a lot of conscripts and do require an extra time for training."
BA-10 armored car commanded by P.Moroz (first from the right), 9th Mechanized Brigade.
An authentic Soviet organizational chart for an Armored Brigade, tables of organization #16/720-16/727
Looking for answers, we went to Russian archives. After several months of research in Russian State Military Archive, Moscow, we have found plenty of organizational information, as well as a lot of actual documents concerning ToEs and equipment, losses and actions of Soviet units during the Khalkhin-Gol conflict.
An authentic Soviet report, describing the available equipment and combat vehicles of 9th and 8th Armored Brigades, June 1939
This information, together with a common historical literature, allowed us to model these units as precise as we would want them to be.
(Well, actually, to secure the future of East Front development, we have found and copied literally thousands of pages of Soviet organizational charts and authentic tables of organization, but most of that stuff will only be used in future DLCs).
A company of a Recon Battalion (table of organization #16/723). This one has BA-10 medium armored cars assigned, so it will be used to model the 240th Recon Battalion of 9th Armored Brigade
Another thing, which you may find unusual about Khalkhin-Gol DLC, is that now all small arms has anti-tank capability. We have introduced an armo-piercing firing type to all the small arms including bolt action rifles and LMGs. Of course, they are only marginally effective, as you can only penetrate like 6-7mm of armour at the point blank range of 100 meters. However, this is more than enough to kill a thinly armored Soviet FAI armored car or a SU-12 SP-gun, wandering too close to your position. Unlike other WW2 DLCs, Khalkhin-Gol will feature several such a lightly armored vehicle types.
That's all for now guys, because this devblog is already too big to be readable. Have a nice evening, sorry for my bad English and see you next time.
Soviet soldiers and tankers inspect captured Japanese equipment
Today is another post from dev blog series. This time we'll talk about weapons and vehicles available with Khalkhin-Gol DLC.
As usually, everything we mention or describe below is a work in progress. Any methods, numbers, figures and visuals posted in devblogs are not final and may change by the time DLC will be released officially.
Soviet arsenal is probably well-known to most of you military history fans, so there should be no surprises. Weapons there are ranging from old Mosin-Nagant bolt-action rifles to devastating M4 quad AAMGs.
Like Japanese, Soviet players will have to use both older and newer weapon systems alike. The backbone of Soviet artillery are 45mm AT guns and 76mm obr.1927 (regimental) and obr.1902/30 (divisional) guns.
One may miss notorious 122mm M-30 howitzers and 6-inch ML-20 gun-howitzers which will become a symbols of Soviet artillery in WW2, but there were none of these at Khalkin-Gol. Older 122mm obr.1910/30 howitzer and 152mm obr.1910/34 gun were used instead.
Last, but not least, are 122mm obr.1931 guns. Just one battery of these rare and valuable (at the time) guns was present at the Khalkhin-Gol. Soviets had to bring these from Transbaikal District to Mongolia later in conflict to counter deadly Japanese Type 92 105mm guns, whose range was far superior to any other Soviet artillery system available.
Most of the time Soviet players will enjoy their technical superiority over Japanese armor. That said, they also have inadequately armed systems (like BAI or BA-27 armored cars armed with short-barreled 37mm which is much worse than even Japanese guns) and the armor of all Soviet tanks and armored is no better than that of Japanese tanks. Some of Soviet tanks, e.g. T-37A or T-38, can even be penned using armor-piercing bullets and standard infantry rifles (this ability we will model in the Estab, too).
What may be immediately visible also from the picture is that Soviets will have many different armored car designs available. These were playing very important role at Khalkhin-Gol, but that I'll explain in the dedicated dev blog next time.
Soviet transport supremacy was one of the key reasons why they finally prevailed over Japanese. Not only they were able to quickly reinforce the conflict area with a lot of troops and armored vehicles, but also to effeciently supply them throughout the conflict as far as 1400 km away from Soviet bases (5 days one-way road). This was achieved thankfully to as much as 4 000 regular trucks and 375 tanker trucks amassed to supply Soviet forces.
Some of designs shown below were not used at Khalkhin-Gol, but we've nevertheless added them for future releases.
That's all for tonight, folks!
Ballistic coefficient is calculated from the form-factor (which is also rarely known for any non-US projectiles, but can be either assumed using US projectiles of similar shape and purpose, or considered to be equal to 1.0), projectile diameter and projectile weight.
One may think all these ballistic nitpicks are of only minor importance (compared to the range and velocity), but actually they are very important. Drag characteristics are exactly the reason why low caliber high velocity guns (like 37mm or 57mm) may have accuracy similar to 75-90mm guns at ranges up to 500-800 m, but become less accurate beyond that range. So drag characteristics are very important things to consider if we ever want our weapons to behave realistically.
Last, but not least is 
12-years-old boy operating milling cutter, USSR, 1943.
For interpolation within this multi-dimensional data we will be using free math package 
Guys,
We are happy to announce that we are resuming our Eastern Front scenario pack development.
The first one we plan to release later this year and it will be covering Soviet - Japanese border conflict in May - August 1939, known as Battle of Khalkhin-Gol or Nomonhan Incident.
Our Steam Workshop goes live this weekend, new functionality is already in place and the guide is up to date.
Please give us your feedback, also don't hesitate to send your bugreports and suggestions.
In the Workshop there is an excellent Caen scenario pack by Bie available for subscription.