Someone please explain this to me

[MGK(FGM)]

I think it is very realistic :) Russian commander after several years of war suffered mental breakdown or other kind of depression :). All men in this HQ are broken because there were no Prozac and their vodka bottle were just drooped down and broken every one will broke in that situation !!!

[GreenHornet]

two things-
one- are those units crawling in front of him from his unit(D company)? If so, I don't know if this works in game terms but, panic spreads. seeing part of his command routed already can effect his ability to remain calm and rally them too.
second- what year is it? if it is pre 43 then your "regular" HQ unit is actually more akin to a conscript HQ unit; and with the routing of afilliated subordinates nearby (and likely from the same machine gun) the panic of the HQ is not a surprise...

Time frame is June '44. The two other units are, in fact, part of the same D company. One of the units is pinned the other is shaken. Never thought of the possibility that low morale from nearby units may be a factor.

So there's quite a possibility that you had a LOT of negative modifiers to your boys' chances of making it across that open ground and they failed the morale checks because of them.
There's a good chance they failed multiple checks, and thus incurred multiple drops in status leaving you at the broken stage

Good points, as well as the sniper theory. I guess it's quite possible this unit is taking more fire than I'm aware of and that there are more negative modifiers affecting things than I realize.

I know I have a tendency to always want the expected result to happen, and to feel cheated if it doesn't (unless it goes in my favor, in which case I'm a brilliant tactician). My Tiger kills a Stuart, all is well. Stuart kills my Tiger, the game is broken. My Stuart kills a Tiger, I'm a great CM player.

Exactly. This is a huge weakness I have when it comes to playing CM. I love the game, and enjoy it's amazing re-playability but I tend to be a "by the numbers" kind of guy and when things go differently than I expect, then I start looking for rational reasons. I need to remember it doesn't always work that way with CM (nor should it).

Thanks for the good discussion guys.

[The Coil]

[bluehand]

in real life I think it would... but yeah, in the game, it probably doesn't matter. but you would think that there would be something about seeing fellow troops mowed down in the open making following troops more hesitant to advance though that area...

I think mostly it is being fired on from behind while in the open...

[kineas]

The main reason is the flanking/rear fire. CM seems to favor flanking shots very much. I remember losing 3 men from and advancing squad (open terrain) to a single burst of MG34 fire at about 900m distance. Basically you can multiply every effect of small arms fire by 2 (or more) if you receive it from the flanks.

The direction of the bullets zipping near your ear counts very much, maybe more than "real life". The broken state is the result of a dice roll. You can imagine a noncritical wound or a hat shot off if it makes it easier to accept :)