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wwengr -> RE: Air-Drop Troops (8/12/2017 1:06:06 PM)
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There were only a few air transportable vehicles used in WWII, but they weren't any consequence. For instance, the 1/4-ton trucks like the Jeep. Little cargo capacity and little ability for sustained movement for long distances, these are probably abstracted as part of Support and Motorized Support Squads. Regardless, the vehicles of the motorized support of any consequence were 2-1/2 ton trucks and larger. They didn't fit on any aircraft.
The only air transportable vehicles were carried on gliders. Again small and of little consequence. No consequence at all for the Pacific theater. Gliders were only used a couple of times on the Game map. A landing near Appari (Phillipnes) on June 23rd, 1945. Six CG-4A (small 13 passenger) and one CG-13 (large glider) landed 19 troops, six jeeps, one trailer, some weapons, ammunition, radio, medical supplies. In game terms, maybe, two support squads with two supply points? A couple of times in Burma, C-47's towed gliders to land troops and equipment on damaged airfields. Small in number, each amounted to what would be a couple of Engineer squads. In game terms, they would be abstracted as a troop/supply transport mission by a small C-47 squadron.
The Engineer Vehicles in the game, think bulldozers, tractors, graders, dump trucks. None of these would fit on an airplane of the time. The tiny little bulldozers landed by glider really wouldn't count as much other than an abstraction of tools used by Engineer Squads. They could push enough dirt to fill in a bomb crater perhaps. Not enough earth moving capacity to create a runway.
The only air transportable tank built in WW2 was the M22 Locust. I believe the Brits landed 8 by glider in Operation Varsity in Germany and most were lost in the landing. One or two actually made it to their objective. They performed poorly and were never used again.
The 28th Airborne Tank Battalion was formed in 1943. It never saw airborne service. The Army never figured out how to employ it. In 1944, it was changed to Stuarts & halftracks, as equipped in the game. It was airborne in name only.
Gliders in the East
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