Finnish Replacement Infantry Bttns

[chasman]

What do you do with these things? Treat them as support units? (That's how they arrive.) Disband them and add their personel to the pool?

[ComradeP]

I'd suggest disbanding those that you can disband. Decentralizing combat power when you already have a heavily over-mobilized army like the Finns only dilutes the strength of the divisional units, which already suffer from low replacement rates.

[chasman]

Thanks. That was my feeling, but I wondered what unseen use I might have missed.

[Tarhunnas]

I'd assume the same goes for the other Finnish infantry battalions? There are lots of them, and I suspect they are not really contributing much as support units?

[Q-Ball]

Without commenting on my game with Tarhunnas, [:D], I think the Finns are a big manpower problem for the Axis. Aside from the pitifully low replacements, they also have little in the way of excess units to disband, unlike the Romanians, who have extra Airbases and an HQ or two they can scavenge for replacements.

Disbanding Infantry Bns is cutting into flesh a bit, but I think you have no choice, because that is preferable to having depleted on-map units.

I wonder if re-organizing the Finnish Airforce would free up an airbase unit or two. The Finns have alot of air units, which on the surfaces require all the Airbase units. But those air units get depleted and small over time, as the Finns don't seem to have replacements for aircraft either. Rotating units to/from National Reserve may be necessary, which would free-up an airbase unit or two for replacements. Not much, but every 5,000 helps.

[ComradeP]

Q-Ball: In my opinion, the Finns only get serious manpower problems if you keep pushing them as the Axis or allow them to be clobbered when they have low morale because you moved them across the no attack line for the blizzard. With Leningrad either in Axis hands or with no way Leningrad is going to end up in Axis hands, there's little reason to move the Finns beyond the 3 hexes at Janisjarvi at the edge of the map and even if you absolutely want to hold the Svir line, as long as the Leningrad is in Axis hands you have enough forces to rotate the troops around.

The Finnish divisions lose a regiments worth of Rifle squads each starting in February 1942 in any case, which makes maintaining their manpower levels easier.

Tarhunnas: yes, I disband the infantry battalions too and also the light AA units I can disband. You probably also won't need every brigades or commando unit.

[Q-Ball]

There is a great temptation to use them during the Blizzard, and in fact I think it's a good idea for the Axis no matter how far from Finland. It costs in terms of morale, but you gain so much in terms of extra Germans, who you desperately need elsewhere.

After Blizzard, though, it's probably a good idea to pull them back toward Finland, and save them for 1944, when they will have to fight on their own more than likely, without German support.