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Rail bridge near Kherson over the Dnieper river as it's shown in War in the East 2 map was built in the 1950's. There wasn't direct rail connection between Kherson and Crimea during WW2.

That could be. IIRC, there are other similar situations on the map. I think Saratov may also be lacking a bridge. This is another area where we felt it was better to include something that isn't exactly right because we are missing the impact of ferries and the impact of river movement in the game (which was a major method of shipping in some areas). Unfortunately we can only do so much.

Checked some sources. Conclusion that can be drawn is that it's really not clear if there was a railroad (and a rail bridge over the Dnieper) or not. A Ukrainian website says that the rail bridge (Antonovsky railbridge) was constructed Iin 1954. But it just could refer to a rebuilt existing bridge after the war. Russian made railway maps do include this railway in 1943, bridge included (no ferries). As the site is in Russian it can't be known if those were projected lines or actually functioning railroads. A German map dated in December 1940 does not include the railway.. So maybe no inaccuracy after all.

Last thing I researched is that there was a rail bridge under construction since 1939 but was stopped because of the start of Barbarossa. This also proves that there was a railway between Kherson and Crimea in construction or in project. Furthermore, Germans built a railway bridge in Kherson during the war which, in turn, ended destroyed.
So therefore, the addition in the game of the railway Kherson-Crimea makes sense.

The railway way to Stalingrad from the East did not exist either. In general, there were no railway lines to the East of Stalingrad, and they were laid already during the Battle of Stalingrad.

The Soviet railway network is not an accurate representation of the real situation, and there are no game tools for the player to build railway tracks in an open field.

Maps show railway ends in Armyansk just short of Perekop. I believe germans started the build a small railway towards Kherson or a small industrial line existed there.
I can live with some errors of this kind as long as we don't have a major river transport system. Major rivers shouldered a lot of transport at the front and at home. consider this a trade-off.

Agree, for the most part, with all assertions made in this thread. Particularly, it's likely that a railway bridge in Kherson (and the railway between that city and Armiansk) was still being built when Barbarossa started and therefore wasn't open to traffic yet. Also, if some bridge structures were already raised by the Soviets when the Axis invaded, they must have been demolished by the retreating Red Army in 1941. It's a historical fact that Germans built a rail bridge near the spot where Russians were building one. Doing so Germans got direct rail connection with Crimea from the stategically important Odessa-Nikolaev-Kherson sector. Seemingly, this railway bridge was in turn destroyed by the retreating Wehrmacht in 1943-44. And finally, it wasn't until 1954 when a new bridge (Antonovsky rail bridge) was built .

The railway net is of course a simplification. In general it reflects the situation middle-42.
For example it has rails at start that didnt exist at that time. Examples are the Cherson-
Armjansk railway ( no bridge over Dnjepr was built during the war)., the oil transporting line up to Astrachan from the south, rail from Stalingrad against Saratow and rail from about Sluzk to Baranowitsche. Best solution would be to have these rails at least "destroyed" at start and allowed to be repaired at historical time by the player.
Goran

Do you have a good online source/map of the railway net of Europe in 1939-1945?

Thanks

ncc1701e wrote: Sun Mar 26, 2023 4:16 pm Do you have a good online source/map of the railway net of Europe in 1939-1945?

Thanks

Interesting and difficult question. Not easy because of the great time span and some other aspects.
First there is to separate maps with reality from maps with plans. Ex many soviet 5 year plan maps.
Next thing is to realize the actual situation with recent war destructions from the maps given.
Its important to see the time for map construction and its updates. An easy answer is to direct to
a good map source. The best is mapster and in this case the more direct link http://igrek.amzp.pl/mapindex.php?cat=GERGENERALNAZI. Perhaps you already know this. Many times via mapywig.org.
At mapster you could find ex. german road/rail maps from different years.
An easy way to time judge rail maps is to see the rails from Armjansk to Cherson. If existing spring-summer 42.
Rail from south up to Astrachan summer-autumn 42. Stalingrad- Saratow 42-43. No rail Slutzk- Baranowitsche.
Also judge the rail Smolensk- up against Andreapol/Peno. Of course there are many more detailed maps if you ask for a special localisation and time. A good overview map is a german rail map from-41. You see plans for rail to Cherson,Astrachan,Saratow and Peno. The best book on the subject is " The Eisenbahnen in zweitem Weltkrieg" by Eugen Kreidler.
Goran

Thanks a lot.