ORIGINAL: loki100
ORIGINAL: morvael
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Now let's look an impact of a brigade defending 30 miles of terrain (hex + 2 in ZOC) vs advancing panzer division. With less than 1 men per meter of frontline, the brigade would never be able to achieve "prepared/fortified defense" and only "hasty defense/delay" would be possible (this may not be present in the article, but it's in the literature ("Numbers, Predictions and War"). As we know from WitE a brigade would have 1 CV or less, compared to 15 CV or more of a panzer division, so that would result in a ratio greater than 6.0. It turns out the brigade has no impact on the speed of advance... maximum advance of 60km/day is still possible, but of course less will be achieved due to terrain and roads. And for those protesting that a brigade surely has bigger impact than a void in its place on the speed of advance, then yes, it will have an indirect impact for the following days, since a combat will occur, losses will be taken, and fatigue gained. But at the core there is not much a weak brigade on too long front can do against a strong armored force coming its way.
I don't think that anyone is suggesting that a brigade strung out over a long front can do anything meaningful to hold a Pzr division.
The debate (to me at least) is if the zoc cost is a realistic if imperfect rendering of the defenders ability to react (something lacking in igougo engines).
Lets assume you are part of an airborne corps and you've been told to delay/detect any German advance. No doubt your orders are expressed with usual Stalinist subtlety and concern for your well being. In your favour, if it really is an airborne brigade, you have a unit trained in small level actions and for sabotage. So I'd spread out a picket line, make sure the obvious roads were well boobytrapped etc. Once you'd detected where the enemy was moving through, I'd let the tanks go and look for ambushes on the HQ elements and other support units.
What you are describing is the operation of partisans or a unit being dissolved to create partisans.
Conventional large units do not and can not operate this way.
ORIGINAL: loki100
So the zoc cost is a sort of imperfect way to reflect that the defending side is not just going to sit static - you could see the counter as a sort of indication of centre of gravity for the unit but with some tactical capacity to shift as the situation develops. You're not going to stop the enemy, but if you do it right you could well annoy and frustrate them.
I agree this is the best case for some kind of ZOC existing, however this IMO must be tied to the units potential to actually influence the area you want to give them ZOC for. Foot mobile, smallish units (compared to geographical scale) will find this impossible to do. They can't shoot far enough, they can't move far enough and once they get there they are almost irrevocably committed, so must be subject to attack/losses.
