Before fighting the third battle of my mini-campaign, I wanted to produce a brief recap of the effect of the fighting to date. I also wanted to try out an SP equivalence idea that Archduke Piccolo has used in his recent Blacklands War Campaign. He chose to equate 1 SP to 1,000 men, but I felt that for my mini-campaign, 1 SP = 500 men was more appropriate.
At the start of the campaign, the two sides fielded the following forces:
GERMANY
- 1st Infantry Division:
- General von Tarlenheim (Average; 6 SPs)
- 1st Divisional HQ (Average; 2 SPs)
- 1st Infantry Regiment (Average; 4 SPs)
- 2nd Infantry Regiment (Average; 4 SPs)
- 3rd Infantry Regiment (Average; 4 SPs)
- 1st Artillery Regiment (Average; 2 SPs + 2 SPs)
- 1st Anti-tank Battalion (Average; 2 SPs + 2 SPs)
- Total strength: 28 SPs (Equivalent to 14,000 men)
- Exhaustion Point: 10 SPs
- 2nd Infantry Division:
- General Sapt (Average; 6 SPs)
- 2nd Divisional HQ (Average; 2 SPs)
- 4th Infantry Regiment (Average; 4 SPs)
- 5th Infantry Regiment (Average; 4 SPs)
- 6th Infantry Regiment (Average; 4 SPs)
- 2nd Artillery Regiment (Average; 2 SPs + 2 SPs)
- 2nd Anti-tank Battalion (Average; 2 SPs + 2 SPs)
- Total strength: 28 SPs (Equivalent to 14,000 men)
- Exhaustion Point: 10 SPs
- 1st Panzer Division:
- General Hentzau (Above average; 6 SPs)
- 4th Divisional HQ (Average; 2 SPs)
- 1st Armoured Car Battalion (Average; 2 SPs)
- 1st Panzer Regiment (Average; 3 SPs)
- 2nd Panzer Regiment (Average; 3 SPs)
- 7th Motorised Infantry Regiment (Average; 4 SPs + 3 SPs)
- 4th Artillery Regiment (Average; 2 SPs)
- 4th Panzerjager Battalion (Average; 2 SPs)
- Total strength: 27 SPs (Equivalent to 13,500 men)
- Exhaustion Point: 9 SPs
RUSSIA
- 1st Rifle Division:
- DivCom Renko (Average; 6 SPs)
- 1st Divisional Reconnaissance Unit (Average; 1 SP)
- 1st Rifle Regiment (Average; 4 SPs)
- 2nd Rifle Regiment (Average; 4 SPs)
- 3rd Rifle Regiment (Average; 4 SPs)
- 1st Artillery Regiment (Average; 2 SPs + 2 SPs)
- 1st Anti-tank Battalion (Average; 2 SPs + 2 SPs)
- Total strength: 27 SPs (Equivalent to 13,500 men)
- Exhaustion Point: 9 SPs
- 2nd Rifle Division:
- DivCom Pribluda (Below average; 6 SPs)
- 2nd Divisional Reconnaissance Unit (Average; 1 SP)
- 4th Rifle Regiment (Average; 4 SPs)
- 5th Rifle Regiment (Average; 4 SPs)
- 6th Rifle Regiment (Average; 4 SPs)
- 2nd Artillery Regiment (Average; 2 SPs + 2 SPs)
- 2nd Anti-tank Battalion (Average; 2 SPs + 2 SPs)
- Total strength: 27 SPs (Equivalent to 13,500 men)
- Exhaustion Point: 9 SPs
- 1st Tank Corps:
- DivCom Borodin (Below average; 6 SPs)
- 1st Armoured Car Regiment (Average; 2 SPs)
- 1st Tank Brigade (Average; 3 SPs)
- 2nd Tank Brigade (Average; 3 SPs)
- 3rd Tank Brigade (Average; 3 SPs)
- 10th Motor Rifle Regiment (Average; 4 SPs + 2 SPs)
- Total strength: 23 SPs (Equivalent to 11,500 men)
- Exhaustion Point: 8 SPs
As a result of the fighting during the first two battles of the campaign, the relative strengths of both sides are as follows:
GERMANY
- 1st Infantry Division:
- General von Tarlenheim (Average; 6 SPs)
- 1st Divisional HQ (Average; 2 SPs)
- 1st Infantry Regiment (Average; 3 SPs)
- 2nd Infantry Regiment (Average; 3 SPs)
- 3rd Infantry Regiment (Average; 4 SPs)
- 1st Artillery Regiment (Average; 2 SPs + 2 SPs)
- 1st Anti-tank Battalion (Average; 2 SPs + 2SPs)
- Total strength: 26 SPs (Equivalent to 13,000 men)
- Exhaustion Point: 9 SPs
- 2nd Infantry Division:
- General Sapt (Average; 6 SPs)
- 2nd Divisional HQ (Average; 2 SPs)
- 4th Infantry Regiment (Average; 4 SPs)
- 5th Infantry Regiment (Average; 4 SPs)
- 6th Infantry Regiment (Average; 4 SPs)
- 2nd Artillery Regiment (Average; 2 SPs + 2 SPs)
- 2nd Anti-tank Battalion (Average; 2 SPs + 2 SPs)
- Total strength: 28 SPs (Equivalent to 14,000 men)
- Exhaustion Point: 10 SPs
- 1st Panzer Division:
- General Hentzau (Above average; 6 SPs)
- 4th Divisional HQ (Average; 2 SPs)
- 1st Armoured Car Battalion (Average; 2 SPs)
- 1st Panzer Regiment (Average; 3 SPs)
- 2nd Panzer Regiment (Average; 2 SPs)
- 7th Motorised Infantry Regiment (Average; 4 SPs + 3 SPs)
- 4th Artillery Regiment (Average; 2 SPs)
- 4th Panzerjager Battalion (Average; 2 SPs)
- Total strength: 26 SPs (Equivalent to 13,000 men)
- Exhaustion Point: 9 SPs
RUSSIA
- 1st Rifle Division:
- DivCom Renko (Average; 6 SPs)
- 1st Divisional Reconnaissance Unit (Average; 1 SP)
- 1st Rifle Regiment (Average; 4 SPs)
- 2nd Rifle Regiment (Average; 4 SPs)
- 3rd Rifle Regiment (Average; 4 SPs)
- 1st Artillery Regiment (Average; 2 SPs + 2 SPs)
- 1st Anti-tank Battalion (Average; 2 SPs + 2 SPs)
- Total strength: 27 SPs (Equivalent to 13,500 men)
- Exhaustion Point: 9 SPs
- 2nd Rifle Division:
- 5th Rifle Regiment (Average; 1 SPs)
- 6th Rifle Regiment (Average; 3 SPs)
- 2nd Artillery Regiment (Average; 2 SPs + 1 SP)
- 2nd Anti-tank Battalion (Average; 2 SPs + 2 SPs)
- Total strength: 11 SPs (Equivalent to 5,500 men)
- Exhaustion Point: 4 SPs
- 1st Tank Corps:
- 1st Armoured Car Regiment (Average; 2 SPs)
- 1st Tank Brigade (Average; 3 SPs)
- Total strength: 5 SPs (Equivalent to 2,500 men)
- Exhaustion Point: 2 SPs
Hi Bob -
ReplyDeleteHaven't the Russians been taking a shellacking, though! Especially the Tank Corps.
I think your 1SP to 500men seems about right for this campaign and your Divisional TO+E. Possibly the personnel associated with the tanks and guns have to include the support and rear echelon types for the numbers to make sense, but that is how I justify my 6SP = 6000 for command elements; they represent Army troops, personal escorts, protective formations, line of comms troops, hangers-on, cheerleaders and the entourage of the Court of King Caractacus, et al...
Of course the numbers are really there for narrative purposes - they have no real significance.
I've begun typing up the action in East Thrace - pictures all uploaded and OOBs done - but it might be a further day or two before I can get the battle narrative done.
Incidentally, your terrain generating system - slightly tweaked for my slightly larger table than it was designed for - has thrown up some very interesting battlefields to fight over. The fields, by the way, I've treated as open terrain, rather than, say, enclosures.
Cheers,
Ion
DeleteArchduke Piccolo (Ion),
It wasn’t until I wrote this recap that I realised just how badly the Russians had fared overall. I like the concept of allocating SPs a numerical value as it seems to make the casualty returns feel more realistic. It also seems to make the Exhaustion Point have great validity. For example, a Rifle Division becomes exhausted after losing 9 SPs ... which equates to 4,500 men. In truth, any formation that had lost that number of men would no longer be able to function very effectively.
I’m looking forward to reading your next battle report, as I suspect that the fighting will have a significant impact on the outcome of the war.
The work I put into developing the terrain generation system has proven to have been well worth it. Like you, quite a few people have tweaked it to suit their particular needs and requirements, and I have yet to generate a really unrealistic battlefield. Regarding fields, I’d treat them as open terrain unless there were good reasons not to. For example, in parts of Denmark field boundaries are often like the bocage found in Normandy, and provide excellent cover to defenders and restrict movement.
All the best,
Bob
Well I think that's a great idea to allocate SP's to units, as it gives you an idea of how both sides are faring overall during the campaign. Afterall the Germans bled themselves almost to death with their advances during Operation Barbarossa. I found Kershaw's 'War Without Garlands' gave an excellent view of the attritional nature of this campaign.
ReplyDeleteSteve J.,
DeleteTo date, the Germans have suffered very few casualties ... mainly because they caught the Russians unprepared. I suspect that the next battle will see far more German casualties than they have hitherto suffered.
The sheer number of casualties suffered by both sides during the war with Russia is mind boggling. They were on a scale that the Western Allies would not and could not have sustained.
All the best,
Bob