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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Atridis" data-source="post: 1392338" data-attributes="member: 13919">I also recommend reading first-hand accounts of combat. I enjoyed Citizen Soldiers and Pegasus Bridge, also by Ambrose. Don't restrict yourself to WWII, either. I'm sure a WWII or Vietnam vet would recognize some of the people and events in books like Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles and Blackhawk Down.  If you have the chance, talk to a veteran: One of my grandfather's nephews was in the Ardennes when the Germans attacked. He was part of a mortar team, only a few hundred yards behind the front line, and they had NO idea what was going on. It was just chaos, for several days. They heard rumors of the German attack (rumors, mind you, are not required to have any relationship with reality), then they heard shooting, then the guys up ahead of them came running like rabbits from a forest fire. They didn't stick around to see what they were running from, they just took off. Keep in mind that you're running an rpg, not a wargame. You might be better off thinking of a large battle as a setting, rather than a plot in itself. As a GM describing such a battle, keep everything first-person; you should feel no responsibility to give the players any sense of the big picture. A small knot of infantry wouldn't always (or often) know who was where, who was doing what, or even who was who. "Friendly fire" was (and is) a serious concern for ground-pounders everywhere, especially when allied units of different nationalities are practically rubbing shoulders. And think about this: A common problem with the poorly-trained replacements that went to Europe was that they wouldn't shoot if they couldn't see the enemy. You can have fun putting the fear of God into your players: Bullets whiz past their heads, out of nowhere. Smoke-filled streets. The sounds of shooting and booted feet "over there, somewhere." Engine noises can carry quite a distance, and experienced men could hear the difference between a Sherman and a Panther. Remember also that Germans are not the only people American soldiers could interact with. There are French, Belgian, Dutch and German civilians and other American and Allied soldiers. You could have an adventure set entirely in Paris, while the men are on leave: The PCs have to scrounge up something illicit from French "entreprenuers" while evading the MPs and competing with other American soldiers from a rival unit.</blockquote>

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