Withdrawal of Ground Units

[Yakkface]

What happens to the elements (squads, artillery, AFV's etc) of ground units that are withdrawn? Do they disappear or are they returned to the pool?

Does it make a difference if the units are in an unrestricted command (and if that does make a difference, does transferring a unit to an unrestricted command from a restricted one mean I keep the unit's elements?)

I am considering whether to turn on replacements for some understrength Australian units. If everything will disappear then I am going to direct the replacements to units without a withdrawal date

[btd64]

What happens to the elements (squads, artillery, AFV's etc) of ground units that are withdrawn? Do they disappear or are they returned to the pool?

Does it make a difference if the units are in an unrestricted command (and if that does make a difference, does transferring a unit to an unrestricted command from a restricted one mean I keep the unit's elements?)

I am considering whether to turn on replacements for some understrength Australian units. If everything will disappear then I am going to direct the replacements to units without a withdrawal date

As a rule of thumb. I don't turn on replacements or upgrade any unit, ground, naval or air, that is withdrawing. There are exceptions to that rule. I set up the preferences that way. And as the game goes I turn on units that are in need and are permanently on the map. Now there's some units that when you combined them with others of the same parent lose their withdraw date. Such as the 1st Burma division. Hope this helps....GP

[RangerJoe]

What happens to the elements (squads, artillery, AFV's etc) of ground units that are withdrawn? Do they disappear or are they returned to the pool?

Does it make a difference if the units are in an unrestricted command (and if that does make a difference, does transferring a unit to an unrestricted command from a restricted one mean I keep the unit's elements?)

I am considering whether to turn on replacements for some understrength Australian units. If everything will disappear then I am going to direct the replacements to units without a withdrawal date

Withdrawn Aussie units were disbanded due to the need to strengthen other units during the actual war. Give them replacements since they will go into the pools. That is how this is handled in the game. Also, give them the upgrades since the upgraded devices will then be in the pools.

Withdrawn Burmese units will have their devices go into the pools as well.

Check your upgrades for the various Commonwealth infantry devices, you should find that some if not all of them become Indian squads at some point in the game.

Before giving Dutch units regular infantry replacements, upgrade the militia units into regular infantry otherwise you will have insufficient infantry devices to upgrade the larger militia units.

[Yakkface]

Thanks for the responses guys

I also did a little research in the editor. Thought I would post it here in case anyone was wondering the same thing. From the editor manual:

Withdraw and Type of Withdraw is the date when the unit will be auto-withdrawn from the game.
This is a 6 digit number where the first two digits represent the year, the middle two the month, and the
last two the day. Type 1 is no devices are returned to pool and type 2 is where all devices are returned
to pool.

Tested it out and it works. Most Ozzie units are Type 2 (with a few pioneer battalions being type 1)

[Chris21wen]

Thanks for the responses guys

I also did a little research in the editor. Thought I would post it here in case anyone was wondering the same thing. From the editor manual:

Withdraw and Type of Withdraw is the date when the unit will be auto-withdrawn from the game.
This is a 6 digit number where the first two digits represent the year, the middle two the month, and the
last two the day. Type 1 is no devices are returned to pool and type 2 is where all devices are returned
to pool.

Tested it out and it works. Most Ozzie units are Type 2 (with a few pioneer battalions being type 1)

First all dates are like that in the editor year, month, day.

There is nothing in the manual on ground unit withdrawal other than they do.

I've tested it and like many things in the game it depends. All this is down to observation.

If you look at the Operations report it gives two type,
198th Field Artillery Battalion withdraws out of theatre
4th Assam Rifles Battalion disbands

If they withdraw out of theatre all the device go with the unit.
If they disband it dpend on side

There are not many Japaneses ground unit that withdrawal but for those that do;

If they are Thai, they withdraw out of theartre, The devices are gone.

All the rest go to the manpower pool! when they disband. Initial test showed no devices going to the pool. Much scratching of head and retest before I found this in section 16.4.1. Ground Unit Weapon Upgrades

'When production is turned On for the Japanese player, any infantry and/or engineer squads that are upgraded will not be
returned to the pool. Instead, a number of points equal to the load costs of the units replaced will be added to the manpower
pool.'

So I looked, and yes, for units that disband that is exactly what happens.

For the Allies, some units withdraw out of theartre but unlike the Japanese those that disband go to the respective pools and NOT manpower.

There's one unanswered question for the Allies. What determines a withdrawal and what determines a disband. I withdrew 5 units. in all one Indian, one British, 1 USA, 1USAAF, 1 USMC all but the Indian withdrew out of theatre.

Answer on a post card please.

[Yakkface]

Thanks for the responses guys

I also did a little research in the editor. Thought I would post it here in case anyone was wondering the same thing. From the editor manual:

Withdraw and Type of Withdraw is the date when the unit will be auto-withdrawn from the game.
This is a 6 digit number where the first two digits represent the year, the middle two the month, and the
last two the day. Type 1 is no devices are returned to pool and type 2 is where all devices are returned
to pool.

Tested it out and it works. Most Ozzie units are Type 2 (with a few pioneer battalions being type 1)

First all dates are like that in the editor year, month, day.

There is nothing in the manual on ground unit withdrawal other than they do.

I've tested it and like many things in the game it depends. All this is down to observation.

If you look at the Operations report it gives two type,
198th Field Artillery Battalion withdraws out of theatre
4th Assam Rifles Battalion disbands

If they withdraw out of theatre all the device go with the unit.
If they disband it dpend on side

There are not many Japaneses ground unit that withdrawal but for those that do;

If they are Thai, they withdraw out of theartre, The devices are gone.

All the rest go to the manpower pool! when they disband. Initial test showed no devices going to the pool. Much scratching of head and retest before I found this in section 16.4.1. Ground Unit Weapon Upgrades

'When production is turned On for the Japanese player, any infantry and/or engineer squads that are upgraded will not be
returned to the pool. Instead, a number of points equal to the load costs of the units replaced will be added to the manpower
pool.'

So I looked, and yes, for units that disband that is exactly what happens.

For the Allies, some units withdraw out of theartre but unlike the Japanese those that disband go to the respective pools and NOT manpower.

There's one unanswered question for the Allies. What determines a withdrawal and what determines a disband. I withdrew 5 units. in all one Indian, one British, 1 USA, 1USAAF, 1 USMC all but the Indian withdrew out of theatre.

Answer on a post card please.

OK - so seeing how a unit withdraws in the ops report doesn't help much........because it is already gone at that point. You can't decide whether or not to allow it to take replacements (on the basis that you will be getting them back when it withdraws).

I think you misunderstood the text I posted - that is not me writing. Really - I do understand the date format The quote is from the editor manual (maybe I should have put it in italics) and it directly answers your 'postcard' question. Each unit should have the '1' or '2' box checked in the scenario to indicate which type of withdrawal will take place (bonus points for anyone who can tell me what happens to the US 752nd tank battalion - unit ID 6800 scenario 2......which has neither)

It is that It is the '1' or '2' code in the scenario files that determines if they disband (to pool) or withdraw (with all their equipment) from theatre

All the above applies to scheduled withdrawal. If you are voluntarily disbanding a unit and not getting the equipment......I would check the restricted status of the units as a first step

[Chris21wen]

I think we have slight confusion due to language.

First an apology, I forgot about the two button 1 & 2, 1 does set it to leave, 2 set it to disband to pool. If neither are set, leave the default.

You can see which one. Open Intel/ground withdrawals click on any unit then look right hand side it tell you if it out of theatre or not if nothing.

Doesn't matter not who a unit is attached to you cannot prevent it. If a ground unit is set to withdraw it will. If in the front line at the time you could have a problem.

As to replacement. Depends on the status of the game and which nation of the unit. The US and Japan are unlikely to be ever short of replacements, not so the rest. Replace units at the fron line then those likely to be.

[Skyros]

Units being withdrawn out of theater also have an asterisk next to their name.

Screenshot 2026-05-04 154504.png (311.56 KiB) Viewed 152 times

[Yakkface]

Units being withdrawn out of theater also have an asterisk next to their name.
Screenshot 2026-05-04 154504.png

Hey - that's perfect. Exactly what I was after. TYVM