WesWorld

A first structure for the Chosen army....just want to hear some opinions before I put it to the encyclopedia. Unfortunately I was unable to make it look prettier.

Unless the size of the individual divisions is unusually small, or the formations are hollow, I don't think you'd have enough people to grow crops, work in factories or teach schoolchildren. They'd all be in the Army.

Yes, you could attempt to justify such a large military on the basis of the current North Korean regime; but look at their other problems, and you will see how short-sighted that can be.

Well, most of the Rifle Divisions are supposed to be both, hollow and ill-equipped. In a state of war at least the first problem could be solved with recruits.

The rifledivisions should have around 10.000 - 12.000 Soldiers at full strength. I will work on Division-Structures later.

I was figuring that a peacetime army with a strength of about 600.000 men should be accepable for a country with 20.000.000 inhabitants.

With the considerable amount of divisions I wanted to take the deterrent potential into account. Countries who want to be superpowers (or at least regional powers) tend to 'show-off' to cover up that they are in fact third world countries (for example, see the Italian military reform of the late 30ies, they had Infantry Divisions with just 4 battalions). A small, well equipped professional army would not be realistic for a country like Chosen (and the timeframe)

I know, military wise it would be sane to reduce the number of divisions and give them some quality. But megalomanic dicators obessessed with numbers and their army aren't always makeing the sanest choices.

Just for reference: in 1940 the Koreas boasted a population of 24,730,000. I definitely think the number of troops is high. The cost of training and equipping would be a difficult burden on the state.

Out of curiosity, I'd be interested to learn more about the order of battle for the alleged armoured divisions. How many tanks and what types do you imagine? What's the doctrine? I could certainly see two or three armoured brigades - after all, in OTL the Norks raised four brigades once the Russians donated them some equipment.

I could perhaps see this as a list of what units Chosen wants...

Incidentally, I'd also be eager to see a justification for how Chosen has so dramatically broken with China as their ally. No offense, but until you started playing Chosen, the two countries were basically allies. Now we get "news" (propaganda) that would imply to a foreign observer that the two countries are teetering on the brink of war - and I don't recall a single IC or OOC statement explaining why.

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and I don't recall a single IC or OOC statement explaining why.

I guess 'because the great and beloved leader said so' is not a satisfying answer?

Seriously, I know that China and Chosen were allies, but that's the problem.....there are allies everywhere. I don't see any necessity to create order of battles and fictional military hardware if there are friends all around. Historically the relationships between those countries in east asia were much more affected by rivalry than by friendship. Generally spoken, Wesworld is much too peacefull.

Anyway, you should take into account that most of the news I posted untill are insights into Chosens leadership and descriptions of semi-private meetings.
While officially Chosen "values the long lasting and important friendship between the admirable nation of China and the tiny country of Chosen", there are anti-chinese tendencies within the Chosen leadership ("I just hate their yellow guts" Jong Un).

In the future though, I will try to write entries in the newssection more frequently to make political and economical changes more plausible.

Concerning the tanks....I bought around 80 CET-2B from South Africa last year....and an old Quartermaster told me yesterday he found five Type 95 Ha-Go standing in some garage....they just need a new paint finish.

I will write something about the general doctrine later. Though there will be nothing specific concerning tanks. They will serve mostly as infantry and fire support. Especially northern Chosen isn't the ideal terrain for mobile warfare.

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Originally posted by Daidalos
While officially Chosen "values the long lasting and important friendship between the admirable nation of China and the tiny country of Chosen", there are anti-chinese tendencies within the Chosen leadership ("I just hate their yellow guts" Jong Un).

Okay, that makes sense to me.

I don't have any countries that care over-much about Chosen's particular corner of the world, so in all honesty I probably shan't comment in-character all that much on your news. "Huh, what? Chosen's rattling sabers with China? Um, why should we care about it all the way over here in Paris?"

Concerning the order of battle... You convinced me there are probably too many divisions at the moment, at least for peace time.... Would it be sufficient to relinquish the entire 5th army and both tank divisions?

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Originally posted by Daidalos
Concerning the order of battle... You convinced me there are probably too many divisions at the moment, at least for peace time.... Would it be sufficient to relinquish the entire 5th army and both tank divisions?

I think that could be workable. It still gives you an army with some quantitative 'oomph', while preserving resources for other units.

As for deleting the armoured divisions. From what you've been saying about your armoured forces, I have a bit of a feeling that Chosen might find a full armoured division to be tactically unwieldy along the mountainous northern border; whereas your armoured brigades might actually have more versatility and usefulness.

Particularly in close country, you might try to emulate the Swedes in using bicycle-mounted infantry as the support units for the armour. It could be a good way to mobilize infantry without the expense of more trucks. In close terrain, bicyclists might even be able to move more quickly across country than their truck-mounted counterparts. (This is actually something my Indochinese will start dealing with, soon, since they're trying to set up some sort of armoured unit before 1944.)

A picture of Swedish bicycle infantery