Quote:
Originally Posted by Legbreaker
Combat vehicles, besides a few units retained for intel, SF units, etc, are almost sure to be destroyed as there is no guarenteed logistical support for them and the risk of them being recaptured by their original owners (with intact and hopefully effective supply train) tends to outweigh the benefits.
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Yes, there is support. East Germany had its own modest arms industry and could undoubtedly keep former GDR units supplied with PACT ammo and probably spare parts. They manufactured their own AKM clone for Pete's sake!
There's way more historical precedents for keeping captured heavy gear than destroying it. If you're using the two Iraq wars as evidence for the assertion that captured enemy gear would be "almost sure to be destroyed", those are exceptions that prove the rule. Most of the Iraqi captured Iraqi stuff that was destroyed in place was either...
a.) Already damaged
b.) A piece of crap (i.e. Chinese APCs and copies of T-54/55s)
c.) Feared to be re-manned by Fedayeen fighters
d.) Shot up by coalition gunners keen to try out their big guns in action
A lot of Iraqi stuff was kept for intel purposes or to be used as OPFOR vehicles at the NTC or given over to the reconstructed Iraqi army. I've seen Soviet AFVs that I presume were nicked from the Iraqi army (in desert cammo) on flatbed truck trailers on the highway here in Tucson, AZ! Aside from those that were captured and exported to and used by Syria, there are hundreds of WWII German AFVs in Museums all over the U.S., UK, Russia, and elsewhere. And this from an army that was chronically understrength in armor.
In all of my reading, the only evidence of any kind of order to systematically destroy captured material, especially big-ticket items like AFVs, is when it was feared that an enemy counterattack could retake it.
If you can find evidence of a policy of destroying captured vehicles (aside from the standing order in the afore mentioned case of the Fedayeen scare), then I'll accept your assertion. On many levels, it makes no sense to destroy perfectly good PACT gear given the arguments already presented here by myself and others. Honestly, in the absense of hard evidence, it seems like you're arguing this point just to be contrarian.