Originally posted by George aka 2f:
Gas is a slightly different matter, so I doubt that it would have that hard impact. Assuming that all units carry their gasmasks (as they should and I do not discuss wether there were enough or not, like the Soviet forces) what would happen appart from reduced visability? Not much I simply assume.
I agree with you that chemical warfare in SPWAW would most likely a be a disadvantage for the Game.
However, there would be some more effects than reduced visibility:
Protective clothing is cumbersome, and infantry wearing it would exhaust more quickly than without it.
Even if you wear only a gas mask, you won't be able to run as fast as without mask (apart from maybe the first seconds after sarting running).
And the effects depend on the place you are fighting in.
Wearing a protective suit in winter isn't as troublesome as wearing it in the desert.
So it would be necessary to give foot troops in the desert wearing protective suits serious penalties in form of severvely reduced mobility.
Another interesting point would be the use of smoke: Drop one or two rounds of smoke on the enemy to force them putting on their masks and possibly create a panic....
The easiest way to simulate the use of gas would (in my opinion) be achieved by giving the troops a reduced mobility.
Historically, the use of gas was (according to
Wright, Derrick:
The battle for Iwo Jima, p.22;
another hint can be found in
Dunnigan, James F. and Nofi, Albert S.:
The pacific war encyclopedia, p. 297)
considered by the US for the battle of Iwo Jima. They thought about the possibility to use gas shells during the pre-invasion bombardment.
This could be simulated by placing less foot troops during the scenario design.
For the invasion of Japan, the US considered the tactical use of gas or mustard against caves and bunkers. Some tests were done by the chemical warfare service at dugway proving ground in Utah (Skates, John Ray: The Invasion of Japan, p.94).
For SPWAW, this could be simulated by a new kind of ammo (chemical round?) fired by a CS-Tank at short distance into a cave. If the mouth of the cave would be hit, there should be a high likelyhood that the cave is destroyed).
However, I think that the efforts to realise these things in SPWAW are simply to big and the results would affect only a few possible scenarios, so it is (in my opinon) not worth to realize these things.
And there is one final point related to the possible use of gas in WWII:
The Wehrmacht (and the red army) were only partial motorized, i.e. most of the non-rail land transportation was done by horse or by foot, while the western allies were mostly motorized. Therefore, the german forces would be much more vulnerable to chemical warfare than the western allies (Try to put a horse into a protective suit: I think (but I am not sure) that there were such suits, but it is simply inpractical).
Kind regards,
Roland
