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@Maciej-Kamil it doesn't close Arctic Route, as ships can still go from Canada through GIUK gap. But it's good point anyway - control over GIUK should close this route. I'll add it.
@rwglaub if you have nuked London (it's necessary condition) you have 50% chance each 5 days, another nukes rise it by 10% up to 90%.
@rwglaub if you have nuked London (it's necessary condition) you have 50% chance each 5 days, another nukes rise it by 10% up to 90%.
Also: I think that British empire should collapse (colonies in Africa and India should rebel and become independent) if Britain falls before USA joins the war. That's because British simply wouldn't have the resourcess neccessary to kkep them in line. I'm sorry if this was asked before, but this question appeared in my head after the 'England surrenders' event fired when I took most of the island.
I disagree with full collapse of British Empire - in DH Full UK is completely toothless against Germany after fall of British Isles. It has no IC and no major provinces, so RN and RAF are useless without supplies and bases. I've changed this approach, as Canada was totally loyal in WW2 and there were plans (vague, but still) to withdraw to Canada.
British colonies in the Middle East switch sides even if UK still defends its core. Something similar I plan for India (maybe not a total switch, but anti-British uprisings). Colonies in Africa were far from gaining independence in 1940s, plus there were British, French etc. units there. I doubt that these countries would be able to emerge in the case of fall of British Isles, which doesn't mean fall of colonial administration.
And there is one final argument: the game has to be harder for Germany. Even if the Germans would be able to conquer British Island and Soviet Union and Middle East and North Africa and..., it shouldn't mean that Germany can happily sit in Europe, build carriers and prepare for easy landing in Canada.
British colonies in the Middle East switch sides even if UK still defends its core. Something similar I plan for India (maybe not a total switch, but anti-British uprisings). Colonies in Africa were far from gaining independence in 1940s, plus there were British, French etc. units there. I doubt that these countries would be able to emerge in the case of fall of British Isles, which doesn't mean fall of colonial administration.
And there is one final argument: the game has to be harder for Germany. Even if the Germans would be able to conquer British Island and Soviet Union and Middle East and North Africa and..., it shouldn't mean that Germany can happily sit in Europe, build carriers and prepare for easy landing in Canada.
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Some new things I've made during the break from working on DD on logistics. Three new MoAs:
Strasser is now also MoS:
Flags for new countries in western part of Soviet Union (Cossackia, Transcaucasia, Mountain Republic, Idel-Ural State, Turkestan, Reichsgau Volga):
Strasser is now also MoS:
Flags for new countries in western part of Soviet Union (Cossackia, Transcaucasia, Mountain Republic, Idel-Ural State, Turkestan, Reichsgau Volga):
Flags for Second Civil War in Russia 
Russian Reich led by Bronislav Kaminski
Russian Reich led by Pavel Bermondt-Avalov
Russian Reich led by Sergey Taboritsky (yes, this Sergey Taboritsky from HoI4 TNO, though I have a bit different idea for him than in TNO - and a bit different flag)
Russian Empire led by Vladimir I and white emigrees from Europe
Vlassov's Clique, military junta consisting of former POWs
Russian State led by Konstantin Rodzaevsky, country of white emigrees from Manchuria and China in Russian Far East supported by Japan
Russian Republic led by Alexander Kerensky (though other possible ruler is Anastasy Vonsiatsky) created by white emigrees from UK and USA (mostly)
Russian Reich led by Bronislav Kaminski
Russian Reich led by Pavel Bermondt-Avalov
Russian Reich led by Sergey Taboritsky (yes, this Sergey Taboritsky from HoI4 TNO, though I have a bit different idea for him than in TNO - and a bit different flag)
Russian Empire led by Vladimir I and white emigrees from Europe
Vlassov's Clique, military junta consisting of former POWs
Russian State led by Konstantin Rodzaevsky, country of white emigrees from Manchuria and China in Russian Far East supported by Japan
Russian Republic led by Alexander Kerensky (though other possible ruler is Anastasy Vonsiatsky) created by white emigrees from UK and USA (mostly)
Spoiler within spoiler - I also plan to use Dirlewanger Brigade as Nazi Night's Watch
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When you are making a mod about Germany, but decide to add second RCW because why not:
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Some new things I've made during the break from working on DD on logistics. Three new MoAs:
Strasser is now also MoS:
Flags for new countries in western part of Soviet Union (Cossackia, Transcaucasia, Mountain Republic, Idel-Ural State, Turkestan, Reichsgau Volga):
Flags for Second Civil War in Russia
Russian Reich led by Bronislav Kaminski
Russian Reich led by Pavel Bermondt-Avalov
Russian Reich led by Sergey Taboritsky (yes, this Sergey Taboritsky from HoI4 TNO, though I have a bit different idea for him than in TNO - and a bit different flag)
Russian Empire led by Vladimir I and white emigrees from Europe
Vlassov's Clique, military junta consisting of former POWs
Russian State led by Konstantin Rodzaevsky, country of white emigrees from Manchuria and China in Russian Far East supported by Japan
Russian Republic led by Alexander Kerensky (though other possible ruler is Anastasy Vonsiatsky) created by white emigrees from UK and USA (mostly)
Spoiler within spoiler - I also plan to use Dirlewanger Brigade as Nazi Night's Watch
This is awesome. I know the mod is meant for only Germany to be played, but I'll love playing as one of the RCW2 factions.
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@Maciej-Kamil well, it'll be vital for Germany to keep fire under this pot
@Pasha technically it would be possible to play as these countries - even if at the beginning of scenario you can choose only Germany, after loading save you can choose every country which got independence since start of the game.
@Pasha technically it would be possible to play as these countries - even if at the beginning of scenario you can choose only Germany, after loading save you can choose every country which got independence since start of the game.
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When could we see an update of the mod? or is this more of a mini-dev diary, either way, its awesome
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Welp, update is a matter of months. Even if I delay battlescenarios, it's still huge work.
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Some new things I've made during the break from working on DD on logistics. Three new MoAs:
Strasser is now also MoS:
Flags for new countries in western part of Soviet Union (Cossackia, Transcaucasia, Mountain Republic, Idel-Ural State, Turkestan, Reichsgau Volga):
Flags for Second Civil War in Russia
Russian Reich led by Sergey Taboritsky (yes, this Sergey Taboritsky from HoI4 TNO, though I have a bit different idea for him than in TNO - and a bit different flag)
finally the gamer clock arrives
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Ok, this time we will deal with Wehrmacht logistics and its impact on the first months of Barbarossa. Another long post ahead.
Pre-Barbarossa situation
In a simplified way, the supply route from the factory to the division in the case of the Wehrmacht was as follows. The equipment from the factories first went to warehouses in the territory of the Reich. Then it was transported by rail to transhipment points - at the rear of the front or just where the railway ended. Further transport was carried out on the shoulders of the so-called Grosstransportraum (GTR) - logistic units that transported the equipment from reloading points to warehouses along the front line. The Kleinkolonnenraum - the logistic units of each division - then transported the supplies directly to their divisions. As you can see, the most of supply route was based on two main modes of transport - Reichsbahn (trains) and GTR (trucks).
This system had two problems. First of all, rail transport itself struggled with various problems (which I described in previous DD). Secondly, the GTR units had too little load capacity for the size of the army they had to handle. This was the result of the expansion of the Wehrmacht, which involved increasing the number of tanks, artillery, planes, etc., while neglecting the expansion of logistics facilities. However, the German automotive industry itself has not been able to produce enough trucks to supply such a large army. The need to provide fuel, lubricants and spare parts - especially tires - only added to the problems.
Just at the beginning of the war, the GTR vehicles had a total capacity of about 20,000 tons and served about 100 divisions. However, it was too little for the needs of the Wehrmacht - this system began to fail during the war with Poland, despite the fact that the Germans attacked directly from their territory, and the area of hostilities itself was not large. In addition, the GTR lost about half of its capacity during this one campaign - which was mainly due to the poor quality of roads in Poland.
Before the attack on France, the GTR managed to restore the capacity of 20,000 tons, but not thanks to the achievements of the German automotive industry. In early 1940, half of the motorized vehicles in infantry divisions were replaced by horse-drawn carriages. The vehicles obtained in this way partly went to the new divisions, and partly supplemented the GTR losses incurred in 1939. In May 1940, the GTR again had a capacity of 20,000 tons, but now it had to serve over 150 divisions! As a result, after just over a week of the campaign in Benelux and France, thousands of civilian vehicles were incorporated into the Wehrmacht, increasing the capacity of the GTR by another 20,000 tons.
Before Barbarossa, the GTR reached a total capacity of 60,000 tons. This level was achieved mainly by two ways: French trucks, which accounted for 40% of all such vehicles in the Wehrmacht, and the deprivation of infantry of the remaining trucks. At that time, the GTR had to handle around 200 divisions. The use of foreign vehicles, of course, brought other problems - the main challenge was to assemble spare parts for hundreds of different types of vehicles.
In 1941, the Wehrmacht logistics had a relatively effective range of 500 km. Transport within longer distance would be uneconomical due to the ratio of fuel used to delivered. So it was able to serve more or less the areas between the Bug and the Dnieper. To cross this line, an operational pause was necessary, during which the reloading points could be moved closer to the front, and the advancing armies could build up a supply reserve for the next offensive.
The beginning of Barbarossa
The beginning of Barbarossa highlighted the problems of both modes of transport. Perhaps the most famous fact about the problems of the German railways in the East was the wider gauge of the rails in the USSR than in Central and Western Europe. The effect is not difficult to define: German rolling stock could not move on the Soviet railroad system. It would seem that it is enough to simply "narrow" the gauge of the rails. However, it soon turned out that both the rails and the railway sleepers were made of inferior quality, which made them unable to accept German trains loaded to the brim. As a result, the Germans simply had to rebuild at least the most important railway lines. The reconstruction of the Soviet railroads was to be done by the Eisenbahntruppen units, however, there were too few of them and they were too poorly equipped to quickly cope with their task.
One might ask: but why not use Soviet rolling stock? For a simple reason - the Soviets managed to evacuate most of the locomotives and wagons to the east. If, however, the Germans managed to get enough Soviet rolling stock, it would create another problem - bottlenecks on the old German-Soviet border, where supplies would have to be transferred from German to Soviet trains. In the end, the only sensible solution was to rebuild the Soviet railroads.
The trucks faced an even more difficult journey. The condition of roads in the USSR was very poor - only 7% of them were asphalt. On top of that, there were partisan activities and Soviet units that were "outrun" by the frontline. As a result, after the first three weeks of fighting, the Germans lost 25% of their trucks.
All of this lead to the maps below showing the Eastern Front line in early August, September and October (I took it from this video). Let's focus on the Army Group Center. At the turn of July and August, the Germans captured Smolensk. From the beginning of August to the beginning of October (the start of Operation Typhoon), the Army Group Center does not move further east in any significant way. The reason is simple - logistics that has reached its limit. HG Mitte had to wait for reloading points to be moved closer to the front and building a supply reserve for the next offensive. The situation was not improved by the Soviet counterattacks, which were not dangerous, but at the same time forced the Germans to use up their reserves of ammunition and fuel. In effect, HG Mitte was not able to move with all its mass to Moscow before October. The situation of Army Group North was similar. By mid-July, German troops had covered about 600 km and reached the Narva-Novgorod line. However, it took another couple of weeks to cover another 100 km and reach Leningrad. The conclusion is simple - Barbarossa was stopped long before the mud or frost started. Those two precious summer months weighed heavily on what came next.
At this point, of course, the question arises - if the Germans were able to encircle Kiev, why did they not attack Moscow? Well, Kiev was much closer to the German-Soviet border - HG Süd's supply lines were not as stretched as HG Mitte's. Wait, but some HG Mitte units took part in the encirclement of Kiev! True, but only 13 divisions (including 4 armored) were delegated from HG Mitte to this operation. This Heeresgruppe, however, didn't have enough supplies to move their entire mass to Moscow, and remember that Panzergruppe Hoepner from HG Nord was also used in Operation Typhoon. Of course, someone can say - let's throw these dozen divisions on Moscow, they'll handle it! However, these dozen or so divisions would have to travel about 350 km to Moscow, encricle or at least outflank the city, and finally capture it. As the experience with about three times smaller Stalingrad has shown - conquering Soviet cities was not so easy.
Catch Moscow before you drown in the mud
As you can see, not much could be done better before Barbarossa. Considering the problems faced by the Germans, the mere getting near Moscow was a great achievement. Regardless of the scale of the Wehrmacht's success, the Germans had to stop every 500 km, which naturally meant that there were operational pauses every few weeks. So, how to implement that in DH?
- One of the first things you can do is expansion of Eisenbahntruppen, which boosts repair modifier and the pace of reconstruction of railway lines in Soviet Union.
- You can seize trucks from your infantry divisions. It boosts TC, infantry need less fuel, but more supplies (as divisions have more horses).
- You can seize civilian trucks, which boosts TC, but lower IC.
- You can seize French trucks, which boosts TC, but also raise build time and cost of your divisions (to simulate higher costs of reinforcing and upgrading your units).
After the beginning of Barbarossa:
- And that's the most complicated part. There is no easy way to check if player reached this mythical 500 km. But there is a workaround. First 500 km from German-Soviet border respond to ~25% of Soviet national provinces. The next 500 km is another ~20%, the next is ~15%, and the next are ~5%. The explanation is simple - European provinces are much smaller than those near Ural Mountains or in Asia. Conquering each percentage of Soviet lands (25/20/15/5/5/etc) would shrink your TC to show that your logistics system is reaching its limits.
- The operational pause would epend on your investment in Eisenbahntruppen. After first 500 km you'll have to wait 45 or 30 days to restore your TC, after another 500 km you'll wait 60 or 45 days etc. (don't pay attention to description, I forgot to relaunch the game)
- There would be more ad hoc solution which restores a bit of TC - seizing panjewagen from Soviet peasants (for raise of dissent), seizing more horses from German peasants (for raise of dissent and reduction of supply industrial modifier) and seizing even more vehicles from infantry (this time it would lower its speed).
After that, all you have to do is finish the Soviets before Rasputitsa. But more on that in the next DD
In a simplified way, the supply route from the factory to the division in the case of the Wehrmacht was as follows. The equipment from the factories first went to warehouses in the territory of the Reich. Then it was transported by rail to transhipment points - at the rear of the front or just where the railway ended. Further transport was carried out on the shoulders of the so-called Grosstransportraum (GTR) - logistic units that transported the equipment from reloading points to warehouses along the front line. The Kleinkolonnenraum - the logistic units of each division - then transported the supplies directly to their divisions. As you can see, the most of supply route was based on two main modes of transport - Reichsbahn (trains) and GTR (trucks).
This system had two problems. First of all, rail transport itself struggled with various problems (which I described in previous DD). Secondly, the GTR units had too little load capacity for the size of the army they had to handle. This was the result of the expansion of the Wehrmacht, which involved increasing the number of tanks, artillery, planes, etc., while neglecting the expansion of logistics facilities. However, the German automotive industry itself has not been able to produce enough trucks to supply such a large army. The need to provide fuel, lubricants and spare parts - especially tires - only added to the problems.
Just at the beginning of the war, the GTR vehicles had a total capacity of about 20,000 tons and served about 100 divisions. However, it was too little for the needs of the Wehrmacht - this system began to fail during the war with Poland, despite the fact that the Germans attacked directly from their territory, and the area of hostilities itself was not large. In addition, the GTR lost about half of its capacity during this one campaign - which was mainly due to the poor quality of roads in Poland.
Before the attack on France, the GTR managed to restore the capacity of 20,000 tons, but not thanks to the achievements of the German automotive industry. In early 1940, half of the motorized vehicles in infantry divisions were replaced by horse-drawn carriages. The vehicles obtained in this way partly went to the new divisions, and partly supplemented the GTR losses incurred in 1939. In May 1940, the GTR again had a capacity of 20,000 tons, but now it had to serve over 150 divisions! As a result, after just over a week of the campaign in Benelux and France, thousands of civilian vehicles were incorporated into the Wehrmacht, increasing the capacity of the GTR by another 20,000 tons.
Before Barbarossa, the GTR reached a total capacity of 60,000 tons. This level was achieved mainly by two ways: French trucks, which accounted for 40% of all such vehicles in the Wehrmacht, and the deprivation of infantry of the remaining trucks. At that time, the GTR had to handle around 200 divisions. The use of foreign vehicles, of course, brought other problems - the main challenge was to assemble spare parts for hundreds of different types of vehicles.
In 1941, the Wehrmacht logistics had a relatively effective range of 500 km. Transport within longer distance would be uneconomical due to the ratio of fuel used to delivered. So it was able to serve more or less the areas between the Bug and the Dnieper. To cross this line, an operational pause was necessary, during which the reloading points could be moved closer to the front, and the advancing armies could build up a supply reserve for the next offensive.
The beginning of Barbarossa
The beginning of Barbarossa highlighted the problems of both modes of transport. Perhaps the most famous fact about the problems of the German railways in the East was the wider gauge of the rails in the USSR than in Central and Western Europe. The effect is not difficult to define: German rolling stock could not move on the Soviet railroad system. It would seem that it is enough to simply "narrow" the gauge of the rails. However, it soon turned out that both the rails and the railway sleepers were made of inferior quality, which made them unable to accept German trains loaded to the brim. As a result, the Germans simply had to rebuild at least the most important railway lines. The reconstruction of the Soviet railroads was to be done by the Eisenbahntruppen units, however, there were too few of them and they were too poorly equipped to quickly cope with their task.
One might ask: but why not use Soviet rolling stock? For a simple reason - the Soviets managed to evacuate most of the locomotives and wagons to the east. If, however, the Germans managed to get enough Soviet rolling stock, it would create another problem - bottlenecks on the old German-Soviet border, where supplies would have to be transferred from German to Soviet trains. In the end, the only sensible solution was to rebuild the Soviet railroads.
The trucks faced an even more difficult journey. The condition of roads in the USSR was very poor - only 7% of them were asphalt. On top of that, there were partisan activities and Soviet units that were "outrun" by the frontline. As a result, after the first three weeks of fighting, the Germans lost 25% of their trucks.
All of this lead to the maps below showing the Eastern Front line in early August, September and October (I took it from this video). Let's focus on the Army Group Center. At the turn of July and August, the Germans captured Smolensk. From the beginning of August to the beginning of October (the start of Operation Typhoon), the Army Group Center does not move further east in any significant way. The reason is simple - logistics that has reached its limit. HG Mitte had to wait for reloading points to be moved closer to the front and building a supply reserve for the next offensive. The situation was not improved by the Soviet counterattacks, which were not dangerous, but at the same time forced the Germans to use up their reserves of ammunition and fuel. In effect, HG Mitte was not able to move with all its mass to Moscow before October. The situation of Army Group North was similar. By mid-July, German troops had covered about 600 km and reached the Narva-Novgorod line. However, it took another couple of weeks to cover another 100 km and reach Leningrad. The conclusion is simple - Barbarossa was stopped long before the mud or frost started. Those two precious summer months weighed heavily on what came next.
At this point, of course, the question arises - if the Germans were able to encircle Kiev, why did they not attack Moscow? Well, Kiev was much closer to the German-Soviet border - HG Süd's supply lines were not as stretched as HG Mitte's. Wait, but some HG Mitte units took part in the encirclement of Kiev! True, but only 13 divisions (including 4 armored) were delegated from HG Mitte to this operation. This Heeresgruppe, however, didn't have enough supplies to move their entire mass to Moscow, and remember that Panzergruppe Hoepner from HG Nord was also used in Operation Typhoon. Of course, someone can say - let's throw these dozen divisions on Moscow, they'll handle it! However, these dozen or so divisions would have to travel about 350 km to Moscow, encricle or at least outflank the city, and finally capture it. As the experience with about three times smaller Stalingrad has shown - conquering Soviet cities was not so easy.
Catch Moscow before you drown in the mud
As you can see, not much could be done better before Barbarossa. Considering the problems faced by the Germans, the mere getting near Moscow was a great achievement. Regardless of the scale of the Wehrmacht's success, the Germans had to stop every 500 km, which naturally meant that there were operational pauses every few weeks. So, how to implement that in DH?
- One of the first things you can do is expansion of Eisenbahntruppen, which boosts repair modifier and the pace of reconstruction of railway lines in Soviet Union.
- You can seize trucks from your infantry divisions. It boosts TC, infantry need less fuel, but more supplies (as divisions have more horses).
- You can seize civilian trucks, which boosts TC, but lower IC.
- You can seize French trucks, which boosts TC, but also raise build time and cost of your divisions (to simulate higher costs of reinforcing and upgrading your units).
After the beginning of Barbarossa:
- And that's the most complicated part. There is no easy way to check if player reached this mythical 500 km. But there is a workaround. First 500 km from German-Soviet border respond to ~25% of Soviet national provinces. The next 500 km is another ~20%, the next is ~15%, and the next are ~5%. The explanation is simple - European provinces are much smaller than those near Ural Mountains or in Asia. Conquering each percentage of Soviet lands (25/20/15/5/5/etc) would shrink your TC to show that your logistics system is reaching its limits.
- The operational pause would epend on your investment in Eisenbahntruppen. After first 500 km you'll have to wait 45 or 30 days to restore your TC, after another 500 km you'll wait 60 or 45 days etc. (don't pay attention to description, I forgot to relaunch the game
)
- There would be more ad hoc solution which restores a bit of TC - seizing panjewagen from Soviet peasants (for raise of dissent), seizing more horses from German peasants (for raise of dissent and reduction of supply industrial modifier) and seizing even more vehicles from infantry (this time it would lower its speed).
After that, all you have to do is finish the Soviets before Rasputitsa. But more on that in the next DD
And I think I've finally came up with idea to handle logistics in North Africa
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Some new cabinets - unfortunately there will be many ministers without pics.
Reichsgau Volga
Dirlewanger's Clique
Russian Reich starting cabinet
Russian Reich under Bermondt-Avalov...
... or tsar Pavel II
Tabby's cabinet:
Not all Romanovs supported Vladimir Kirillovich:
Which Alexei are you today?
Dirlewanger's Clique
Russian Reich starting cabinet
Russian Reich under Bermondt-Avalov...
... or tsar Pavel II
Tabby's cabinet:
Not all Romanovs supported Vladimir Kirillovich:
Which Alexei are you today?
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@NukePL91
Alexander Gleim
Alexander Dotz
Andrey Naumov
Pavel Bogdanov
It's unclear who's Alexander Sobolev. I found a Russian collaborator from Estonia who went by that name, but why's he chief of airforce and chief of navy? Anyways, here he is:
Alexander Gleim
Alexander Dotz
Andrey Naumov
Pavel Bogdanov
It's unclear who's Alexander Sobolev. I found a Russian collaborator from Estonia who went by that name, but why's he chief of airforce and chief of navy? Anyways, here he is:
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@IllyaTokar thank you so much! Alexander Sobolev was Soviet naval officer who defected to Sweden in early 1930s and collaborated with Germany since 1941 (click, a bit more info is on Polish wiki).
Sadly, I couldn't find any photos of this man. Still, tell me if you need pics for any ministers.
This DD is sort of continuation of the previous one. We'll talk about two generals, which tormented Germans in Russia even more - General Mud and General Winter.
@IllyaTokar It would be a great help, thanks. I'll send you list of ministers without photos, though I feel most of them are a bit obscure persons from countries like Crimea or Idel-Ural, so it could be very hard to find a pic for them.
Just after a week of Operation Typhoon, light snow fell, turning Russia's already poor roads into rivers of mud. Soldiers lost their boots in the mud, horses and wagons collapsed in the mud, trucks got stuck in the mud, and only half-track and tracked vehicles were able to move (albeit much slower than normal) under these disastrous conditions. Rasputitsa, of course, hit German logistics hard and the confiscation of peasant carriages only slightly improved the situation. In the end, the German offensive had to stop until the first frost hit.
The first major frosts drove Rasputitsa away in mid-November. However, in late November and early December, it was extremely cold winter. The average temperature in Moscow in November 1941 was -5 degrees Celsius, and in the following month as much as -13 degrees. Of course, at times the temperature was even lower, reaching levels between -40 and -50 degrees. It was impossible to conduct military operations in such conditions without proper equipment. Of course, the Germans were aware of the conditions prevailing in winter in Russia. In January 1941, the average temperature in Moscow was -20 degrees, so another harsh winter shouldn't come as a surprise. The Germans had winter supplies for about 80-90 divisions, but at the end of 1941 the logistics services were unable to provide sufficient supplies of basic ammunition, fuel and food, let alone winter equipment.
Fighting in such conditions favored the defending side, especially in static positions, which provided protection against the cold, the possibility of warming up or drying clothes. On the other hand, the attacking side - deprived of winter equipment - must struggle in the cold through deep snow. Weapons and vehicles require special lubricants to work in such conditions - for the same reason motorised transport is limited. Even trains have problems operating at low temperature. As a result, German soldiers had to chase civilians to frost and take their houses (unless they were burned down by the retreating Red Army), seize any piece of clothes they could get, light fires under the vehicles to even start them etc.
Rasputitsa and severe winter are regular weather phenomena in Russia. Rasputitsa usually occurs in April-May and October-November, severe winter - in December-February. Countries participating in Barbarossa will receive maluses for combat in mud, snow and frost and transport capacity during their duration. While nothing can be done about Rasputitsa, the Germans can reduce the maluses a bit in the winter. First of all, Germany must have technologies for winter equipment before Barbarossa and produce enough reserves for the army (the cost will depend on the number of divisions). During the Barbarossa, Germany will have to sacrifice part of its transport capacity to bring winter supplies from the Reich to the front. And, well, that's it.
Since we are already waging the war in poor weather and terrain conditions, I should also mention the front in Libya & Egypt. I think we all know what the problem is - AI can place a million soldiers in one region, although it isn't possible to supply such a huge mass of troops in one place. While the British in Egypt had a railway line running near the Libyan border, the Axis troops hung on one poor Via Balbia, running from Tripoli to the Egyptian border. It's only 1700 km, what could go wrong?
Following Operation Compass, Afrika Korps was dispatched to Africa as a 'blocking force'. The 'blocking', a purely defensive unit intended simply to keep the Allies from taking over all of Libya. There was a very strong reason for this - the Italians were not able to supply very large forces, and certainly not at a distance of 1700 km from the main supply base with only two much smaller ports along the way (Benghazi and Tobruk). Italians knew it already in 1940. Rommel didn't, or he simply didn't consider logistics to be a binding factor We know what happened later - Rommel rushed to Egypt, and the logistics simply was not able to provide the right amount of supplies. That is, if he was ordered to stay in more or less central Libya or, at worst, on the border with Egypt, the Axis forces in Africa would be quite well equipped. Food, fuel and ammunition reached the port of Tripoli, but Italians and Germans didn't have sufficient means of transport. And no, Rommel's 'sEnD mOrE tRuCkS' wouldn't be enough. Because these trucks need more trucks with fuel and spare parts, and these in turn need more trucks with fuel and spare parts, and these in turn... etc., and at the same time, let's not forget that Via Balbia also had its capacity (in fact it was pretty narrow asphalt road where two vehicles would barely pass side by side) and was exposed to attacks by the Allied air force. The solution I came up with is simply a penalty to attack and move in the desert if Axis forces enter Egypt. This way, the Axis forces will be able to defend themselves effectively, but will not be able to attack. Unless they build a railway to Egypt
The first major frosts drove Rasputitsa away in mid-November. However, in late November and early December, it was extremely cold winter. The average temperature in Moscow in November 1941 was -5 degrees Celsius, and in the following month as much as -13 degrees. Of course, at times the temperature was even lower, reaching levels between -40 and -50 degrees. It was impossible to conduct military operations in such conditions without proper equipment. Of course, the Germans were aware of the conditions prevailing in winter in Russia. In January 1941, the average temperature in Moscow was -20 degrees, so another harsh winter shouldn't come as a surprise. The Germans had winter supplies for about 80-90 divisions, but at the end of 1941 the logistics services were unable to provide sufficient supplies of basic ammunition, fuel and food, let alone winter equipment.
Fighting in such conditions favored the defending side, especially in static positions, which provided protection against the cold, the possibility of warming up or drying clothes. On the other hand, the attacking side - deprived of winter equipment - must struggle in the cold through deep snow. Weapons and vehicles require special lubricants to work in such conditions - for the same reason motorised transport is limited. Even trains have problems operating at low temperature. As a result, German soldiers had to chase civilians to frost and take their houses (unless they were burned down by the retreating Red Army), seize any piece of clothes they could get, light fires under the vehicles to even start them etc.
Rasputitsa and severe winter are regular weather phenomena in Russia. Rasputitsa usually occurs in April-May and October-November, severe winter - in December-February. Countries participating in Barbarossa will receive maluses for combat in mud, snow and frost and transport capacity during their duration. While nothing can be done about Rasputitsa, the Germans can reduce the maluses a bit in the winter. First of all, Germany must have technologies for winter equipment before Barbarossa and produce enough reserves for the army (the cost will depend on the number of divisions). During the Barbarossa, Germany will have to sacrifice part of its transport capacity to bring winter supplies from the Reich to the front. And, well, that's it.
Since we are already waging the war in poor weather and terrain conditions, I should also mention the front in Libya & Egypt. I think we all know what the problem is - AI can place a million soldiers in one region, although it isn't possible to supply such a huge mass of troops in one place. While the British in Egypt had a railway line running near the Libyan border, the Axis troops hung on one poor Via Balbia, running from Tripoli to the Egyptian border. It's only 1700 km, what could go wrong?
Following Operation Compass, Afrika Korps was dispatched to Africa as a 'blocking force'. The 'blocking', a purely defensive unit intended simply to keep the Allies from taking over all of Libya. There was a very strong reason for this - the Italians were not able to supply very large forces, and certainly not at a distance of 1700 km from the main supply base with only two much smaller ports along the way (Benghazi and Tobruk). Italians knew it already in 1940. Rommel didn't, or he simply didn't consider logistics to be a binding factor
We know what happened later - Rommel rushed to Egypt, and the logistics simply was not able to provide the right amount of supplies. That is, if he was ordered to stay in more or less central Libya or, at worst, on the border with Egypt, the Axis forces in Africa would be quite well equipped. Food, fuel and ammunition reached the port of Tripoli, but Italians and Germans didn't have sufficient means of transport. And no, Rommel's 'sEnD mOrE tRuCkS' wouldn't be enough. Because these trucks need more trucks with fuel and spare parts, and these in turn need more trucks with fuel and spare parts, and these in turn... etc., and at the same time, let's not forget that Via Balbia also had its capacity (in fact it was pretty narrow asphalt road where two vehicles would barely pass side by side) and was exposed to attacks by the Allied air force. The solution I came up with is simply a penalty to attack and move in the desert if Axis forces enter Egypt. This way, the Axis forces will be able to defend themselves effectively, but will not be able to attack. Unless they build a railway to Egypt @IllyaTokar It would be a great help, thanks. I'll send you list of ministers without photos, though I feel most of them are a bit obscure persons from countries like Crimea or Idel-Ural, so it could be very hard to find a pic for them.
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Great idea with events about logistic. If I remember corectly Rommel want 8.000 truck to supply forces in Egypt. It will be possible to conquer Malta? Operation C3/Hercules? What about Arab Egyptian Revolt in Egypt and Axis plan to use Sonderverband 288? Did you plan to make events about this possibilities?
Regards, Lampka
Regards, Lampka
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