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HardLuckYetAgain -> RE: Is Romanian/Axis Minor national morale slightly too low? (12/10/2021 9:41:45 PM)
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ORIGINAL: DesertedFox
quote:
ORIGINAL: panzer51
quote:
ORIGINAL: Denniss
Please remember this "national morale" is a somewhat misleading name as it consists of multiple factors. Soldier/Officer training and combat tactics/organization also play a certain role.
IMHO training should be part of experience not morale.
I disagree. I believe training contributes to both experience and morale.
If troops have good training they will feel more confident (morale) when they go into battle.
If troops are pulled from the farm, given an old rifle (the current game doesn't reflect that the reserve Romanian units were issued with old rifles, but I digress) shown how to fire it with 3 or 4 practice rounds and then sent straight to the front, their confidence (morale) in entering a warzone would be quite low.
quote:
ORIGINAL: panzer51
I still fail to see any justification for low Romanian morale. People bring up 3rd Army at Stalingrad but it's a known fact that they only had about 30% of their cannon ammo supply available . I don't know, I assume people think Romanians were supposed to stop the Soviet armor rush with bare hands or something. Then of course German 22nd Panzer was right behind the 3rd Army in reserve and Soviets destroyed them with ease. I guess those Germans need to have their morale set to 45 too.
Reference#1
Third Axis Fourth Ally Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941-1945 by Mark Axworthy, Cornel Scafeș, Cristian Crăciunoiu (z-lib.org)
With its objectives achieved, AG Antonescu was dissolved. 4th Army temporarily halted on the Dnestr to regroup pending the political decision to invade the Soviet Union proper.
The motivation of its largely reservist infantry had been high during the liberation of Bassarabia, but its operational results in a series of frontal assaults were meager, and its casualties of 4,112 dead, 12,120 wounded and 5,506 missing sinc3e June 22 were heavy.
The initial German planning for the invasion of the USSR had discounted any possibility of the weak Romanian Army mounting independent offensive operations. However, on 27 July the already overstretched Germans 'urgently desired' Antonescu to use his unengaged 4th Army to capture the important port and rail center of Odessa.
The recovery of Basarabia had been welcomed by every Romanian, but national consensus began to break down at the prospect of the army continuing into the Soviet Union proper.
Accordingly, on 30 July, Antonescu agreed to Hitler's request, and on 3 August 4th Army began to cross the River Dnestr.
Odessa revealed that the average Romanian infantry division had very little offensive potential because of inadequate training, armament and leadership.
Reference #2
The Romanian Army of World War 2 by Mark Axworthy (z-lib.org)
Although they came close to a decisive victory, Odessa was only a partial and expensive success for the Romanians. Some divisions lost more than their original strength, and total losses of 17, 729 dead, 63, 345 wounded and 11, 471 missing largely negated any sense of triumph and prevented much of the line infantry from ever gaining a moral ascendancy over the soviets.
It also exposed the infantry's POOER LEADERSHIP, TRAINING AND EQUIPMENT, AND MOST OF THE 4TH ARMY WAS WITHDRAWN TO ITS, DEPOTS FOR REORGANISATION OVER THE WINTER.
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The devs have been very generous in allowing the Romanians to cross the Dnestr before August 3rd, and not applying the same political yardstick that Finland is shackled with.
Romania was enthusiastic to regain the territories annexed by Russian in 1940 ( Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina) but little else. The continuation of the war into proper was at the behest of Antonescu and not a popular decision with the rest of the Romanian political elite.
Thus there is ample evidence as quoted above of initial high morale for Romanian troops, but after some nasty blood letting and experiencing serious losses, their stomach for continuing wasn't there.
I look forward to references being given to argue that the Romanian National Morale currently in the game is flawed.
I have to parrot the remarks "The devs have been very generous in allowing the Romanians to cross the Dnestr before August 3rd, and not applying the same political yardstick that Finland is shackled with.".
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