Where would of the Soviet Offensive would have hit...

[Webstral]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

Commanders around the world HATE idle soldiers.

Ain't that the truth. It seems everyone E-7 and above has a pathological reaction to seeing a soldier sleeping or resting or doing anything that doesn't involve work. It's sad, really, given how sleep deprivation degraded everything a soldier does and is supposed to be doing to the best of his ability.

Webstral

[Targan]

Originally Posted by Cdnwolf

As for converting... ummm aren't they carrying fuel to power the engines of these river crafts?

In many cases, but not necessarily always. I wouldn't be surprised if some were steam powered (and burning wood, coal or or biomass for fuel).

[Abbott Shaull]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

The 5th also appear to have been focused fairly heavily on taking Lodz in the days before the 4th GTA showed up.
Anyone got any suggestions why this might be so?

There are two theories.

Lodz is/was one of the few larger Cities that the war had forgotten/ignored. In effect it had many things similar to Krakow in this regard. The entire area from memory of disposition of Pact units, was very thin at best. There were other areas of 'wealth' that if you move a Corps size unit or fairly decent outfitted Division in 2000 would be able to control.

A. The Division Commander had realized when units of the 22nd Cavalry Division had show up to the north, that a north hook to relink back to the XI Corps would of been impossible without heavy losses and Lodz looked to be an area rip for the picking that he could take and then reasonable defend.

B. There was a clear plan by NATO with two objectives. One was to clear the Baltic Coast and to insert a sizable military force around the Lodz area. It was hoped that US XI Corps could handle both jobs with limited support from the Third German Army. The situation around the 2nd Marine Division causing the rest of the Corps to lag, including both the 8th and 5th breaking through relatively easy. The 22nd Cavalry Army prevented the 8th make a south turn to link up to support the 5th. The 5th was carrying out it part of the plan as advance guard. Without reliable radio contact, the Commander didn't realize he was more or less on his own.

Just some thoughts.

[Slappy]

As for ideas on why the 5th was focused on Lodz:

1. I agree with the sentiment that Lodz would present a fair prize as the largest in tact city in Poland at that point. It was lightly defended and could provide large stocks of food and other supplies.

2. Takink it would allow control over a large amount of the transport lanes still feeding the Soviet divisions around Berlin. This could have forced the Soviets to commit a large force to dislodge them.

3. If the 5th were able to dig in there they could have had a good chance to blunt the counteroffensive of the 4thGTA or a similar formation sent to dislodge them from either the East or West.

3. If you believe the designers, taking the University and the Reset papers there would be a major goal in itself.