Quote:
Originally Posted by Panther Al
I broke out going home, and started up with the pencil and paper to run the numbers.
The units that basically said to hell with it, and went off on their own amounts to only 2700 troops and 14 AFV's, in three units. The largest being made up of 2000/6 setting up a little pocket duchy in the Austrian Alps.
The units that remained in the chain of command, that elected to stay behind - and considering where over half of them are, (We are not talking about 11th Corp here, this is 4th Army, 3 Corp, and 13th Corp) Germany Proper, with the largest single unit being 1Cav with 2400/43 located right in the middle of organised (Well, TW2k sense of organised) Germany. Admittedly, a small portion of 1600 men and 14 AFV's fall under German Command being that they are co-located and assigned as a NATO unit to a German Higher Headquarters. Those two units could be argued either way as if they are running from the Chain of Command, or abiding by it since technically, they don't fall under the Omega Authority. The total staying behind in the chain amounts to 13,000 Men, and 121 AFV's. This amounts to roughly a third of US forces in Europe - and that many wouldn't stay behind without Official Sanction. Now those in my first Para - yeah. They fall into what you said about mutinous units and all.
Of course, that leaves 37,300 men heading out, and 231 AFV's being handed over to the German Army (Which I can just see the German High Command jumping for joy over - thats enough AFV's to bring a Panzer Division up from nothing to full strength and then some!). Which brings up a interesting point: If you have to choose who your guys belonged to that headed to the RDF, 5 Corp is the way to go. According to Going Home 5 Corp not only seems to have its shit together much better than a lot of the others, they do amount to a total of 7000 troops. Subtract those that are in no condition to stay in the army, this is a perfect formation to get seconded to the middle east.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Targan
You're right, that's a good fit.
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So, if we go with this - which makes sense on sooo many levels, here is the units scheduled to go to the RDF:
Bear in mind these units are the ones already in Bremerhaven, so they have had time to get everything back in order.
3rd Armoured, 5000 men, 54 AFV's.
4th Infantry, 1000 men, 16 AFV's.
28th Infantry, 1000 men, 4 AFV's.
11th ACR - When they are not blowing up their own motor pool, 500 men, 4 AFV's.
It would make sense to use the manpower tucked into the 11th ACR to cover losses in the other three units for the aforementioned loss of those unable to stay in the service. I would also suggest, though this is un-cannon, that the US MilGov would make a play to keep at least the heavy vehicles already present in these units (If only the 3d Armoured) to allow them to function in the Middle East. 3AD in particular was one of the very first units to arrive in Europe before it got really started, and has taken part according to the books, in *every* offensive of the war, and still has a very large strength of armoured vehicles and manpower. That still leaves over 150ish (Or 175ish) AFV's to be handed over to the Germans.
*edit*
Also, having the 3AD retain its Tanks and other heavy equipment does make sense in a canon way if you think about it. From what I read, the RDF is spread out over a wide area, with a very european reduction in combat power. In the RDF source book, it points out that the Soviets was getting ready to make a very large total offensive in 2001. If all the RDF got was leg infantry, I don't think that even with Airpower, the RDF could stop them. Reading the T2300 storyline, it sounds as if they did. Having the 3AD arrive in theatre, with its 54 Tanks, would give the RDF enough strength to beat back the offensive in such a way as to allow the US to get what they did out of the region as per the T2300 story line.