May 8, 1935 - Berlin
Motorization was the topic on the table at the meeting of the Heer's commander, General von Rundestedt, and the Generalstab. The Panzer Corps, currently being formed, was intending to be entirely motorized, even if that goal wouldn't be reached immediately, but the question on the table was what other units of the Heer should be as well. Around Europe and even outside of Europe, armies were replacing their horses with trucks and purchasing trucks to replace boot leather and allow infantry to move more rapidly along roads. Yugoslavia, for instance, was buying trucks from Germany for exactly that purpose.
"There are, effectively, two ways we can begin motorizing the Heer. That is, we can either begin motorizing by unit, whether that unit is regiment, division, or corps doesn't really matter except in degree and cost, or we can motorize by branch, ie, motorize the artillery, the infantry, the support, and so on."
"The former method gets the whole unit ready to move more rapidly, but it also means that it is held back by any portions of the larger unit it is a part of in any large scale maneuvers. A motorized regiment that's part of a division that hasn't completed motorization cannot make use of all it's capabilities, lest it get ahead of it's fellows and be defeated in detail."
"The latter method, probably to be applied first to the artillery, then to the support and supply troops, then lastly to the infantry themselves, would speed up the units that support the infantry first, allowing the infantry to advance as rapidly as the men can, rather than hurrying to advance then having to wait for their support units to catch up to them. Historically this has been a pattern that causes advances to run out of steam: even if the infantry could advance as fast as the men could march, because the enemy was flying before them, their supporting forces could not keep up, the horse-drawn wagons and guns simply could not move that rapidly."
"So which method do we have the budget to support?"
"Either, actually. If we choose to spend money on motorization, then we have sufficient funds to begin to motorize a corps, or to begin to motorize the artillery. We've already begun motorizing the artillery, of course, the prospect of towing 21cm howitzers or 15cm guns with horses was rejected years ago and the artillery has been buying half-tracks to tow those guns, but if the decision was made to motorize the artillery, then we'd be buying more half-tracks or trucks to motorize the 15cm and 10.5cm howitzers. If we were motorizing the infantry, the money would still be spent on half-tracks or trucks. The differences come in when we look at how many units can be motorized: we can motorize 1 to 2 artillery regiments for the cost of motorizing a single infantry regiment."
"So what are the advantages of the half-tracks over trucks?"
"The half-tracks offer better off-road mobility, for the disadvantages of higher cost and lower on-road speed. For the artillery, half-tracks are a clear win for the larger guns, since the size of truck needed to pull them is very limited off-road when they are pulling a large cannon or howitzer. For smaller guns, like field howitzers or flak guns, medium trucks are an option, since the smaller guns don't weigh so much."
"Hmmmm. Let's start with the artillery, then. Meanwhile, while we're buying trucks or half-tracks for the artillery, let's look into how well those same vehicles can be used by to replace the supply and support wagons, and for carrying infantry. I'm sure someone will say we should use those armored half-tracks the panzer infantry are getting, but those are too expensive and the production line is slow, at the rate Guderian's been getting them we'd still be waiting in 1950. Now, what's this about a rocket weapon?"
"Well, we've heard rumors of something the Dutch have been working on, something that involves, essentially, a number of spigot mortars mounted on a single mounting. Relatively light, covers an area reliably, but terribly short ranged. So, someone thought of using rockets instead of spigot mortars. A series of prototype 15cm rockets have been built, along with some launch tubes, and we think it's got potential, both as an assault weapon and as a means of launching smoke or gas shells. For now, it's being called the 15cm Nebelwerfer as a means of camouflage. The prototype rockets have a range of about 7 km, and the launcher, with 6 tubes, weighs less than 600 kilos. All six tubes can be fired within a 10 second period. The projectiles, because they're rocket-propelled, are quite lightly constructed, so a relatively large amount of payload can be carried."
"What's the artillery's thought on these?"
"They're not overly impressed, except by the amount of payload. Too short ranged, in the artillery's opinion, and the smoke trails from the black powder propellant are an issue."
"What about the infantry, and the panzers I suppose?"
"The infantry is much more interested than the artillery: they see the light weight as a large advantage, along with the rate of fire and the ability to lay down a heavy barrage easily. The panzer troops.... haven't actually seen a demonstration yet, it hasn't gone to Grafenwohr."
"Is the infantry willing to pay for some of these Nebelwerfers?"
"Yes, they feel that they would be a useful supplement to the mortars they already have."
"In that case, we can order some for the infantry, and perhaps spend some more money on additional research."
This post has been edited 1 times, last edit by "Hrolf Hakonson" (Oct 27th 2007, 12:38pm)