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Hello all

I've been reading The German Army 1933-1945 by Matthew Cooper and came across something intresting. In mid 1943 there was a conversation between Adolf Hitler and Albert Speer concerning aircraft and tank production. I beleive this was before the Kursk offensive. Hitler wanted all Pz-IV and any other tank production to all be converted to Tiger and Panther production. Also bomber and fighter production scaled down to a few types. Albert Speer pointed out that the time it would take to retool all the set factories Germany would loose the war by the end of the year,do to attrition and only a trickle of tanks and aircraft making it to the front while other factories are retooling.

I was wondering if Wir's factory delay on changing factories to a different type isn't harsh enough? Changing a He-111h to a Ju-88 or even a Fw-190 etc should take a long time. It also explains why even the He-111 was in production so long because of the cost of retooling it's factories to another type. Course that could've been political for all I know. =)Pz-III and IV were pretty easy to convert to Stug production with only minor retooling.

I'd like to know what you all think. =)

Its a subjective view based on Speers thoughts at the time. I think it also depends on the timing of the discussion. If Kursk was truely just around the corner then a major change in Panzer production would be a mistake.

As for the game hhmmmm.

Maybe a rise in the cost structure could be answer, not so much retooling time. If it cost X amount to produce a Tiger or Panther then this could effect the production rates.
If the German economy at the time had trouble justifying the expense then maybe we have to as well. Thus solving the problems involved in creating only a limited variety in Panzers and Aircraft.

That discussion did take place. Hitler, taken aback after the disaster with Stalingrad, was terribly shaken. At the time both the PZ III and PZ IV were in "regular" production (averaging 33 PZ III and 250 PZ IV a month, with the PZ III no longer being produced after Q2 1943). He "decided" that all future tank production should be only Tiger and Panther tanks. Tiger production was running at 25 per month while at that time (Mar-Apr 1943) the Panther was not yet into series production. This would leave the German tank production at 25 per month (Tiger Is only) until the necessary re-toolong could be accomplished.

Fortunately Guderian and Speer managed to talk him into allowing the PZ IV to remain in production.

Note that during this time the russians were building over 1000 T43s per month (with lesser amounts of KV and SU AFVs)