US 8th Infantry Division

[therantingsavant]

Which supplement has details of this unit - I recall seeing a short adventure involving this unit somewhere in the Baltic?

[Legbreaker]

East Europe Sourcebook.
There's a few small issues with the unit's OOB - namely the number of M2 Bradley's. Not an unexplainable problem if you accept they were always intended to travel further than any other sub-unit of XI Corps though and capture (and hold) the oil shale production of the area.
Personally I think that objective is a plausible one, if somewhat a bit of a reach. If true, it means the 8th ID were probably the only unit out of the entire German III Army offensive (which XI Corps was only one small part) to have come close to achieving their objective.
https://forum.juhlin.com/showpost.ph...5&postcount=14

[therantingsavant]

Thanks that's the one

[Olefin]

the 8th was written up in the East European Sourcebook - but that book has all kinds of issues that people have debated before as to the composition of the units and what kinds of vehicles and how many they had

[Legbreaker]

In the authors defence, the book does detail the situation very late in the war when units have been shuffled, and reshuffled many times with equipment moved around, reassigned, destroyed and "creatively acquired".
The 8th's vehicle list however does look a little like just plain sloppy work, but their relatively high vehicle strength is plausible given they were effectively the spearhead and needed the armoured firepower and mobility.

[Olefin]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

In the authors defence, the book does detail the situation very late in the war when units have been shuffled, and reshuffled many times with equipment moved around, reassigned, destroyed and "creatively acquired".
The 8th's vehicle list however does look a little like just plain sloppy work, but their relatively high vehicle strength is plausible given they were effectively the spearhead and needed the armoured firepower and mobility.

Oh heck yes I agree with you as to units "creatively acquiring" vehicles - look at the Marines for instance in Poland - nice little mix of vehicles there - course that is standard Marine practice to five finger discount anything they can get their hands on even today let along during the apocalypse

[therantingsavant]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

In the authors defence, the book does detail the situation very late in the war when units have been shuffled, and reshuffled many times with equipment moved around, reassigned, destroyed and "creatively acquired".

So I'm thinking this would be common enough - what would be surprising in some ways is units late in the war that aren't using captured/repaired vehicles (esp support vehicles like trucks I'm thinking) and maintain either all US/German/NATO or all Soviet/Pact vehicles. Sure mechanics may be more familiar with their own side's technology etc, but the rules really don't make a distinction and the "ptachwork" nature of vehicles and groups is something that the "broke back" nature of central Poland would tend to encourage IMO.

I know they're arguably a later development, but I'd consider that "technicals" with light autocannon turrets etc would be more common than in the canon written a few decades ago as all the "soft-skinned" vehicles have much better Fuel Con values and actual tanks would be a relative rarity even after all the RPGs have been used up...

Just some idle thoughts while delirious at home with some virus LOL