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KG Erwin -> RE: A Test "Winter War" Battle (1/23/2007 4:26:46 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Korpraali V
As you are not a Finn, there's no need for apologies [;)]
As you've already noted, there's huge difference in how you use your units and what's the base philosophy of defence/delay. Actually Finns had two different ones depending on the place you were. In Ishtmus of Karelia the philosophy was some WWI kind of - on both sides, Finns being defender and Soviets being attacker all the time excluding small counterattacks. The forestry area and long distances from north of lake Laatokka/Ladoga until Petsamo allowed more movage of troops. That was well used.
Soviets are suffering historically correct problems their combined arms tactics being in zero level. Artillery, tanks and infantry come separate masses that can't support each others.
One thing is to have reserves on skis. Other thing is that when outnumbered that badly keep only some spotters on flanks. Forests will form another battalion for you, use that well. Never stay in the open if you can avoid it. Strike their flanks.
How about my basic core force structure? Seem appropriate for the time period? I noted that AT rifles were rare in 1939, as were AT guns, so the tank-killers become the infantry themselves. No tanks at all, except maybe as dug-in static defenses.
With their superb rifles, the Finns are long-distance infantry killers, so that's not a problem. The old MGs are good, too.
I try to keep my forces historical, BUT, in this case I can see the need to augment this battlegroup with more mobile reserves (cavalry) and maybe a few more ATGs or ATRs.
The one thing I definitely see as a weakness in the '39 Finns is the platoons basically being just two rifle squads augmented by two LMG squads. I see that they need to be stacked together in most cases. So, in essence, the company is eight rifle squads backed up by eight LMG squads.
I have to wonder about the Jaeger platoon. I regard this as the battalion reserve, along with the engineer section. Now, if I add a platoon of cavalry, I see the nucleus of a mobile counterstrike force, a sort of raider group. Maybe later I could convert the cavalry into Ski Troops. The upgrade path isn't too problematic, as I can make the LMG squads full rifle squads. I will still have no armor, and a severe shortage of dedicated AT weapons.
Being spoiled by the Americans' use of trucks and jeeps, it seems so strange to have to rely on horse-drawn wagons for my mortars.
I'm gonna try it again, but it is indeed a challenge.
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