Unit Descriptions: Air, Naval, Land

[warspite1]

PM sent.

[mldtchdog]

The German Marines.

[2511] [Mar div]
.T This unit could represent the 1st Marine Infantry Division.
.P In November 1944 the Kriegsmarine formed the Marine-schützen-brigade Nord to guard the German coast between Denmark and the Netherlands.
.P Due to the desperate need for troops to face the advancing Soviets, the brigade was increased to in size in January 1945 and designated as the 1st Marine Infantry Division. Although not highly regarded by the Wehrmacht, the Marines were rushed east to face the Soviet juggernaut. Near Stettin, the 1st Marine Infantry Division dug-in along the Oder River. The breadth of the river did not help them any as they were practically obliterated in the final assault.
.P The survivors escaped to the west and surrendered to the Americans.

[2512] [Marine]
.T Unlike other major powers, the German military of the World War II era did not have an elite fighting force that specialized in amphibious landings. However, the Kriegsmarine did have a land force.
.P Although labeled marines these soldiers were naval personnel who, in large part, served in costal defensive forces for the majority of the war. Initially battalion sized formations, as the war progressed the marines were gradually increased in strength to division sized units.
.P In 1945 the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Marine Infantry Divisions were formed. The 1st and 3rd divisions battled the Soviets while the 2nd division was in combat against the British. Also formed were the 8th, 11th and 16th Marine Infantry Divisions but these units may have been nothing more than decoy formations.

[Extraneous]

Original: Shannon V. Okeets

Brazil :
2135 - Infantry .................. - I Inf - ...
2136 - Cavalry ................... - Cav - ...
2137 - Militia ................... - Rio de Janeiro - ...
2138 - Motorized ................. - II Mot - ...
2139 - Mechanized ................ - III Arm - ...

You’re going to have trouble with the write-ups for these units because…

The Brazilian Army

Todays Structure of the Brazilian Army

Brazilian Expeditionary Force (Forca Expedicionária Brasileira, or FEB 1944 - 1945)

Preparations
Soon after Brazil declared war, it began to mobilize an expeditionary force to fight in Europe. Being that time, a country with a population by largely rural and illiterate, with an economy focused in the exportation of commodities, a traditionally isolationist foreign policy interspersed with sporadic automatic alignments against "disturbing elements of peace and international trade", without an infrastructure in industry, health and educational systems that could serve as material and human support to the war effort that a conflict of that dimension required; Brazil not only was precluded from pursuing a line of autonomous action in the conflict, but also found it difficult to take even a modest role on it. It took almost two years to gather a force of one Army Division with 25,000 men (replacements included), compared with an initial goal of a whole Army Corps of 100,000, to join the Allies in the Italian Campaign.

Original: Shannon V. Okeets
Spanish Nationalists :
2991 - Infantry .................. - Gd Inf - ...
2992 - Infantry .................. - IV Inf - ...
2993 - Infantry .................. - V inf - ...
2994 - Infantry .................. - VIII Inf - ...
2995 - Cavalry ................... - Cav - ...
2997 - Militia ................... - Cartagena - ...
2998 - Militia ................... - Seville - ...
2999 - Garrison .................. - VI Garr - ...
3000 - Garrison .................. - VII Garr - ...
3001 - Motorized ................. - III Mot - ...
3002 - Mechanized ................ - II Mech - ...
3003 - Armor ..................... - I Arm - ...

Spanish Republic :
2897 - Infantry .................. - Gd Inf - ...
2898 - Infantry .................. - IV Inf - ...
2899 - Infantry (d)................ - Red Inf Div - ...
2900 - Infantry .................. - V inf - ...
2901 - Cavalry ................... - Cav - ...
2903 - Militia ................... - Barcelona - ...
2904 - Militia ................... - Bilbao - ...
2905 - Militia ................... - Madrid - ...
2906 - Garrison .................. - VI Garr - ...
2907 - Garrison .................. - VII Garr - ...
2908 - Motorized ................. - III Mot - ...
2909 - Mechanized ................ - II Mech - ...
2910 - Armor ..................... - I Arm - ...

Orbat’s Spanish Armed Forces

[Extraneous]

oops

[warspite1]

Wrong thread me thinks [;)]

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Here is a new writeup by Adam - thanks!
===

[paulderynck]

Penultimate paragraph: "The survivors that did escaped" - should be: "The survivors that did escape"

Also midway, "are commanded by Army Group B" probably should be: "were commanded by Army Group B"

[mldtchdog]

No matter how many times I edit these something always slips through. Augh!! Corections made.
Thanks,
Adam

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

Here is a new writeup by Adam - thanks!
===

Warspite1

Midtchdog - nice one. One point, in the second paragraph Yugoslavia and Belgium? Assume that's Bulgaria.

[paulderynck]

Hmm, Wikipedia seems to think there can be numerous signatories beyond 3. Yugo did sign, but I doubt Bulgaria did - at least not then?

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: paulderynck

Hmm, Wikipedia seems to think there can be numerous signatories beyond 3. Yugo did sign, but I doubt Bulgaria did - at least not then?

Warspite1

November 1940 - Romania and Hungary sign the tripartite pact (Germany, Italy, Japan). Yugoslavia and Bulgaria invited to join at this time.
February 1941 - Bulgaria join late (wary of the Soviet Union).
March 1941 - After delaying as long as possible, Yugoslavia reluctantly sign on March 25th. There was a coup in Yugoslavia two days later which led to Hitler ordering Operation Punishment.


Edited - Italics added to invited for obvious reasons [;)]

[warspite1]

Please see attached the first draft of the introduction for the US ASW Counters. Not worried about grammar and style at this stage, but I would be grateful for any help re the facts (particularly surrounding the Neutrality Patrol). Thanks.

.P These ASW counters are only used if playing with the Convoy In Flames optional
rule. The counters do not represent any specific individual convoy or any
particular ships, but are designed to represent convoy escort groups. They have
mixed values reflecting the fact that the make-up of an escort group could differ
from one convoy to the next. Examples of escort vessels used during the Second
World War were: escort carriers, destroyers, destroyer escorts, corvettes,
sloops, trawlers etc - in other words a wide variety of ship type was used in the
defence of merchant vessels.
.P In the years following the end of the First World War, the United States Navy
(USN) was to neglect the subject of trade protection. As a continental power, the
need for defending merchant shipping was perhaps not seen as being as important
as the ability to field a strong surface fleet that would sweep the oceans clear
of any enemy fleet.
.P As a result, at the time that the United States was thrust into World War II,
courtesy of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and Hitler's subsequent
declaration of war in December 1941, the USN was unprepared for large scale trade
protection operations.
.P This was despite President Roosevelt's decision to set up a "Neutrality
Patrol" from the 4th September 1939. USN ships employed in this operation were
ordered to track and report the movements of belligerent naval vessels in the
Atlantic. As time went on however, and with the USA still neutral, USN ships took
part in convoy escort operations as far east as Iceland.
.P The escorts were ostensibly to protect American shipping, but in actual fact,
stretched US neutrality to the limit, and indeed led to the loss of the destroyer
Reuben James in October 1941.
.P Fortunately for the Americans, when war came in the Pacific, the Japanese were
not in any position to take advantage of the USN's unpreparedness. The IJN
submarine service proved a largely impotent force, and in any case, the Japanese
did not seem to realise the value of attacking the Allied shipping that took
troops and supplies from the US to Australia and the various Pacific islands;
from where the comeback against the Japanese would be launched.
.P But in the North Atlantic, the USN were punished more severely. German U-boats
inflicted many months of pain on Allied merchant shipping sailing along the US
East Coast, before the USN got on top of the situation.
.P During this second "Happy Time" the German U-boats were able to take advantage
of the US decision not to mount convoys in those waters. However, a combination
of US industrial strength and capable administrators and naval personnel, meant
that before long the Germans were on the back foot.
.P During 1942/43, wave after wave of escort carriers, destroyers escorts and
patrol frigates were built in US shipyards. Merchant shipping not only benefited
from an ever increasing number of escorts, but also the effectiveness of those
escorts - through better anti-aircraft (AA) and anti-submarine (ASW) capability -
also increased.
.P Convoy protection work was extremely tough, hazardous work but had none of the
glamour that was associated with the carriers and battleships of the fleet. But
the work was vital, and thanks to the bravery and sacrifice of those sailors and
airmen that undertook these operations, thousands of essential troop and supply
movements were completed, enabling the Allies to take the war to the enemy.
.P Note, the date on the back of these ASW and ASW Carrier counters do not relate
in any meaningful way to actual build dates for the ships that took undertook the
convoy escort role during World War II. The counter date should therefore be
ignored. Because these smaller ships do not have their own counter, some of the
more important non-convoy related episodes of the war that involved these ship
types, are also told within some of these write-ups.

[Extraneous]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Please see attached the first draft of the introduction for the US ASW Counters. Not worried about grammar and style at this stage, but I would be grateful for any help re the facts (particularly surrounding the Neutrality Patrol). Thanks.

.P These ASW counters are only used if playing with the Convoy In Flames optional
rule. The counters do not represent any specific individual convoy or any
particular ships, but are designed to represent convoy escort groups. They have
mixed values reflecting the fact that the make-up of an escort group could differ
from one convoy to the next. Examples of escort vessels used during the Second
World War were: escort carriers, destroyers, destroyer escorts, corvettes,
sloops, trawlers etc - in other words a wide variety of ship type was used in the
defence of merchant vessels.
.P In the years following the end of the First World War, the United States Navy
(USN) was to neglect the subject of trade protection. As a continental power, the
need for defending merchant shipping was perhaps not seen as being as important
as the ability to field a strong surface fleet that would sweep the oceans clear
of any enemy fleet.
.P As a result, at the time that the United States was thrust into World War II,
courtesy of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and Hitler's subsequent
declaration of war in December 1941, the USN was unprepared for large scale trade
protection operations.
.P This was despite President Roosevelt's decision to set up a "Neutrality
Patrol" from the 4th September 1939. USN ships employed in this operation were
ordered to track and report the movements of belligerent naval vessels in the
Atlantic. As time went on however, and with the USA still neutral, USN ships took
part in convoy escort operations as far east as Iceland.
.P The escorts were ostensibly to protect American shipping, but in actual fact,
stretched US neutrality to the limit, and indeed led to the loss of the destroyer
Reuben James in October 1941.
.P Fortunately for the Americans, when war came in the Pacific, the Japanese were
not in any position to take advantage of the USN's unpreparedness. The IJN
submarine service proved a largely impotent force, and in any case, the Japanese
did not seem to realise the value of attacking the Allied shipping that took
troops and supplies from the US to Australia and the various Pacific islands;
from where the comeback against the Japanese would be launched.
.P But in the North Atlantic, the USN were punished more severely. German U-boats
inflicted many months of pain on Allied merchant shipping sailing along the US
East Coast, before the USN got on top of the situation.
.P During this second "Happy Time" the German U-boats were able to take advantage
of the US decision not to mount convoys in those waters. However, a combination
of US industrial strength and capable administrators and naval personnel, meant
that before long the Germans were on the back foot.
.P During 1942/43, wave after wave of escort carriers, destroyers escorts and
patrol frigates were built in US shipyards. Merchant shipping not only benefited
from an ever increasing number of escorts, but also the effectiveness of those
escorts - through better anti-aircraft (AA) and anti-submarine (ASW) capability -
also increased.
.P Convoy protection work was extremely tough, hazardous work but had none of the
glamour that was associated with the carriers and battleships of the fleet. But
the work was vital, and thanks to the bravery and sacrifice of those sailors and
airmen that undertook these operations, thousands of essential troop and supply
movements were completed, enabling the Allies to take the war to the enemy.
.P Note, the date on the back of these ASW and ASW Carrier counters do not relate
in any meaningful way to actual build dates for the ships that took undertook the
convoy escort role during World War II. The counter date should therefore be
ignored. Because these smaller ships do not have their own counter, some of the
more important non-convoy related episodes of the war that involved these ship
types, are also told within some of these write-ups.

Nothing major wrong.

If you wanted to change something you might change:

As time went on however, and with the USA still neutral, USN ships took
part in convoy escort operations as far east as Iceland.


To:

As time went on however, and with the USA still neutral, USN ships provided convoy
escort operations as far eastward as Iceland.

[warspite1]

Thanks - will do.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Adam has been very busy filling in the missing land unit writeups. Here are some of his recent additions.

Post #1 in a series of 4.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

#2 in a series of 4.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

#3 in a series of 4.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

4th and last in a series of 4.

Thanks Adam![&o]

[Red Prince]

This is absolutely brilliant work! [&o] I love the depth this kind of historical information gives to any game. For those interested only in the war and politics of war, it can be skimmed, but for those of us who love history, it is a much appreciated prize, indeed! I remember the original Sid Meier The Blue & the Gray from the early '90s came with a 200(ish) page printed book about the actual politics and campaigns of the American Civil War. It had no direct use in terms of the game, but it was so interesting that I still have it today, rereading it every few years.

Am I correct in thinking that every unit is going to have a similar summary? Thousands of units in all? The research and knowledge base required to do that deserves some major award, I'd say. I'd be happy to lend a hand once I'm more familiar with individual units, but I suspect my research skills are rusty in comparison.

Again, this level of detail is brilliant!

I noticed a few minor errors in grammar, plus a few typos, and I was about to offer my services as a proofreader (which I have done professionally in the past for a business journal), and then I noticed errors in my own post (thus the edit). Offer still on the table, though.

[composer99]

It reads like some of Bulgaria's most notable wartime achievements actually took place after they switched sides.

Makes it something of a pity that the armistices & alliance changes performed by the Axis minors vis-à-vis the USSR/Allies by the later part of the war are not modelled in WiF.