ChalkLine's Desiderata

[ChalkLine]

The following is for discussion. It's not a hate-on against GDW and as it's for discussion "it's just a game" is not a valid answer. The point is at the end of the post that we might have something to think about the demise of the 5th Infantry, Mechanised (US) that may not have occurred to other GMs.

Over the decades (sigh, I'm old) I've constantly wondered about aspects of the game. One that's been bothering me a bit lately is the 5th Infantry Division's doomed ride into Poland in what became an unsupported attack that couldn't possibly be sustained.

There are a few main problems. Warfare runs on the trinity of Strategy, Tactics and Logistics and it fails on this basic level in at least two of the points.

The first is that supply-wise it's just not doable and even 17 year old me suspected this back in the old days.

"A typical US armoured division was composed of 350 tanks, 200 Bradley fighting vehicles and 16,000 soldiers. Together their daily supply requirement could amount to 5,000 tons (4,350+ tonnes) of ammunition, 555,000 gallons (2,081,976 litres) of fuel, 300,000 gallons (1,135,624 litres) of water, and 80,000 meals".

Now, obviously the 5th Infantry Division is a shadow of its former self but it's still going to consume a torrent of supplies that people underestimate by orders of magnitude. Remember that the divisions' logistical base will probably have a maximum of five 83 ton stills and all the gathering, monitoring, storage, forage, guarding and so on that takes to maintain all the while the division is actively using that fuel while making it. That goes for all the other stuff as well. Yes, the division was hoarding its supplies but it still looks impossible even then.

Secondly it just looks like they can't hold what they take. Reading up on The Red Ball Express, the logistics of the western allied push into continental Europe, it becomes apparent that your logistical train even using brand new vehicles with fresh lubricants and proper fuel suffer horrific wastage. Fatigue alone killed many drivers and their vehicles before you take into account bad roads and infrastructure and that's before the enemy takes an interest. Just one blown bridge or ambush means this lifeline clogs up. A single division pushing into Indian Country can't secure this line and it probably would have ground to a halt long before the soviets hit it.

Thirdly we have to think for a minute in the context of the situation. That tank ammunition will never be replenished and the troops knew it. Same with the artillery fuzes in the ammo and so on and so on. Driving into a largely static enemy country where the soviets and Poles seem generally happy to stick to their side of the Oder and expending these precious resources seems to make no strategic sense when they should be eliminating Marauders in Germany and rebuilding their side of Europe.

Okay, I've argued why it wouldn't work. But actually in the game it doesn't.

Maybe it was planned that way.

What on earth would make the NATO forces lurch into Poland in an unsustained and unsustainable attack?

Perhaps NATO knew that the soviets were coming with a mobile, well-equipped force that could locally overmatch any units in Germany? If a single division could be placed forwards in its path it's possible that they could knock the momentum out of it and stall it long enough to allow for interior forces to be deployed where it could strike from there. If you think this is insane it actually happened in the Korean War when the US 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division was forward deployed to buy time to allow the US forces and this unit was utterly was destroyed at the Battle of Pyongtaek, although the heroic men of the 34th went in knowing full well what was about to happen. Reading Death of a Division it's obvious that the 5th didn't know they'd end up unsupported and floundering around in Poland without a vital logistical lifeline.

Or maybe some MilGov/CivGov bastardry is involved? Could the preparations for Operation Omega be underway and CivGov is worried that MilGov is about to return several heavily armed, well equipped and battle hardened divisions from Europe? Those units could well decide the whole question in one campaign season. Regardless of that's not actually what Operation Omega was it could easily and probably would be perceived that way. Did some local CivGov supporters organise for at least one division to get so mired in Poland that it couldn't get out?

Did the Soviets pull off an espionage coup? Have they managed to suborn some general somewhere to pull that logistical tail out from under the 5th?
Or did NATO simply panic and cut the 5th loose? Was some higher-up overpromoted past his or her ability and when the 5th wandered off they lost their bottle and drew everyone back over the Oder leaving them out there without support and logistics?

You can bet your PCs are going to suspect just a few of these things.