Continuing with what Jason has pointed, I think that morale status should be added when looking to the state of any army. I’m very interested in your opinions of the fellow posters about this and I think it will help to complete the picture presented by Raellus.
Given my current campaign I’m most interested about the battered US units fighting in Europe. They are far away from home and possibly without clear news about their relatives... Any place near my home has been nuked? The news about the political situation in their home country would be confusing and, perhaps, deliberately filtered or manipulated. Anyway, rumors of all colors will be circulating and evolving with astonishing speed. Any poster who have been served in any army know this. The idea that the war in Europe is in a firm stalemate and that the continuous lost of lives in a foreign country is useless would have gained followers. Some of them will be convinced that the military in high echelons are aware of this and rumors about a possible evacuation will be in the mouth of everyone long before operation Omega will become a reality. Perhaps this hope would act as a cohesive fact and will prevent a good number of desertions.
As an example, in our pre-Kalisz campaign and following my own personal criteria, I considered that the announcement of the new offensive in northern Poland is a strong strike to the morale of some of the soldiers of the units implied. “One more time...? They are asking us to do it one more time… “This could be the dominating thought in the mind of these soldiers before this last military effort. Letting apart the reasons behind the offensive, the individual soldier thinks in their own personal micro-world. He/she has managed to stay alive all these years in the worst conditions. Now, when that situation seemed somewhat stable, with only minor skirmishes and when all the efforts must be directed towards the day to day fight to obtain food… now with all these rumors about returning home…”they are asking us to do it one more time”.
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