Mehring
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Joined: 1/25/2007
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quote:
ORIGINAL: morvael
Mehring, yes repair after move was introduced, but the radical change in numbers is mostly from including assault guns, tank destroyers, armored cars and sp weapons in that number. German variant of T-34 could be introduced, it's up to Denniss.
Quite aside from the enormous unofficial use of captured equipment the game currently can't represent, what I've found is-
Axis set up four commands for Barbarossa, to make use of captured tanks, one each for AGs N, C and S and one in Bucharest for the Romanians. They were expecting thousands of T26 and BT series types and overestimated both their ability to recover them and their usefulness. They were neither expecting nor prepared for KV and T-34 types.
However, they went to considerable lengths to make use of the obsolete types. Through 1941 many hundreds were recovered, sent to workshops and tested. Crews were to some extent trained in the use of these tanks, though the inadequacy of their training was a comment in at least one report. Initial breakdowns were fixed with cannibalised parts from other vehicles, which would justify a fairly low capture rate. By late 1941 and after significant evaluation, repair shops were producing improved systems, such as transmissions and piston rings but this could do no more than alleviate deficiencies of fundamentally bad designs.
Official use of these types was limited mostly to security units. A great many were also converted for use as ammunition carriers and prime movers.
Undoubtedly, a logistics system for these vehicles existed, capable of recovery, repair, significant modification and subsequent repair.
The Germans didn't distinguish between various models and I've suggested suffixes below, to differentiate them for game purposes. I'd suggest they be introduced into the Axis production system as-
T26A - Pz 737a(r)
T26B - Pz 737b(r)
BT 5 - Pz 742-5(r)
BT 7 - Pz 742-7(r)
BT 7A - Pz 742-7A(r)
If capture rates can be reduced for these types, I'd suggest giving them reliability rates comparable to Russian versions as shortage of spares was ofset by improvements. There's some rationale for adding a portion of these captured tanks to the vehicle pool.
T60s were mostly converted to prime movers and ammunition carriers, as were many T70s though the latter was also used extensively in infantry divisions in a support role. As above, a portion of these might be added to the Axis vehicle pool.
The T34s captured in summer 1941 were generally put into immediate use by their new owners, some being sent to Germany for testing. It was not until late in the year that some were sent to rear areas for modification. One source states May 1942 as the date these became available and featured commanders cupola, radio, German optics and an unspecified "later," German manufactured ammunition, as improvements. One can safely assume that, as with T26 and BT types the previous year, systems were up and running through 1942, to repair damaged T34s in Axis use and return them to their combat units.
I'd suggest that T34 M40 and M41 be used as currently, given the game doesn't allow use until October. In addition, from October a number could be converted from the pool each turn into-
T34 M40 - Pz 747-40(r)
T34 M41 - Pz 747-41(r)
These might be considered to have a superior AP round to the Russian version.
Similarly, the T34 M42 can be used as is. A significant number of T34 M42 were captured in spring 1943 and upgraded in a Kharkov factory with the same modifications as previous models as well as Schuerzen.
T34 M42 - Pz 747-42(r)
These should definitely have superior AP rounds to the Russian version.
In spring/summer 1944, three T34 were converted to an AA role with the turret removed and replaced with a quad 20mm.
Official use of the KV1 series only began in mid 1942. Prior to that it was used extensively, 1. Pz Div had an entire KV1 company. Captured KV1s were often converted for use in a recovery role in Tiger units, their use in the combat role apparently being virtually prohibited in 1943.
Estimates vary, but around 12 KV1s of unspecified type got the "Riga Arsenal" treatment and along with the modifications made to T34s above, were rearmed with a German 75mm L43 cannon.
I would suggest making all the above versions repairable, perhaps with slightly less reliability values to reflect the shortage of parts. The various armoured cars were also used extensively but I haven't found any evidence of repair facilities.
Clearly, in mid to late war the number of vehicles captured by the Axis declined greatly, but never stopped altogether. It's unlikely that such effort went to support the use of later Russian tanks simply because insufficient numbers were captured to make the investment worthwhile.
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