|
Mehring -> RE: West front done (9/20/2008 12:09:01 PM)
|
Historically, I don't think much survived from the frontier armies. This was for a number of reasons.
1. Germany, at this stage, had high quality operational leadership with little interference from their "great one." Russia had appalling operational leadership and any talents it might have had were compromised by orders from the other "great one," to not retreat, on pain of death.
2. German troops were relatively experienced, their combined arms/inter-sevice co-operation doctrines were well practiced and effective for the period. Russian troops hadn't a clue how to fight this type of war and would spend years learning.
3. The Russian army's dispositions were inappropriate and in spite of numerous warnings which generally earned a bullet to the head in the Lubyanka, surprise was total.
4. Obsessed by quantity at the expense of quality, the massive nominal numerical superiority enjoyed by Russia in many fields turned out to be illusiory as the products of Russian industry were of sub-standard manufacture. This contributed to and was exacerbated by a lack of spare parts. More vehicles were lost to breakdowns than to enemy action. The general level of culture in Russia was so low, there were not sufficient people educated to the necessary levels in maths, for example, to adopt artillery systems comparable to those of western armies.
How does this find expression in the game?
If you haven't played this before, your experience will be coloured by this one, but it is not the whole story. For the first 4 turns, (ie all the turns we've played plus 1) Germany enjoys movement and combat advantages. This is what has made the German advance possible and our losses so heavy. From turn five, Germans cease to be Aryan super-men or even enjoy the advantages they did have historically. They fight with the same qualities as us.
From a solo game I played, the loss of these advantages really turns the game around. If on top of this, Germans lose time and killing opportunities in this game from inexperienced handling of their forces in the first crucial weeks, I fear they will never get much past Smolensk.
The ways I can think of reflecting these historical conditions are-
1. Modify the game, giving the Germans research level advantages.
2. Ensure that Gemany has an advantage in commander experience.
3. Enforce a "no retreat" order on the Russians for a certain period to reflect our leader's great wisdom.
It's not my intention to push players out of our side, far from it. I'm just interested in evening up the sides and reflecting history.
I would also propose that until May 1942, the Germans are not allowed to use their rail capacity east of Estonia, Minsk and Ternapol, or some mechanism be developed to reflect their logistical problems due to rail gauges.
|
|
|
|
