Horses for the GV fans!

[Wreked]

FYI for those who might be interested :

As much as the movies/news clips imply, the WWII Wehrmacht was actually mainly horse powered. Yes there were the Armoured/Motorized divisions that were almost 100% powered vehicles but by far the majority of their close to 200 Division army was horse drawn. Many had no more than 3-5% motorized transport. As much as 80% horse drawn from figures I've seen:

When Hitler invaded Russia on June 22, 1941, the German Army had over 750,000 “hippotrain” (horse-drawn) guns and other vehicles, in contrast to only about 600,000 motor vehicles, including some 3,500 armored fighting vehicles. Aside from the operational limitations that the use of horses and mules imposed on the German Army, they also proved an enormous logistical burden. On average, to feed three horses doing useful work hauling howitzers and such required the services of two more horses to haul their weekly rations of feed and fodder. And since horses and mules are not as sturdy as cars and trucks, during the war on the Eastern front the German Army lost an average of 1,000 horses a day. About 75 percent of these losses were due to combat, 17 percent to heart failure brought on by overwork, and the balance, 8 percent, to diseases, exposure, and starvation. Replacing horses was a major problem. Nevertheless, since the Germans had an inadequate supply of motor vehicles, they continued to rely on horseflesh through the entire war. The total number of horses used by the German armed forces during the war is unknown, but losses appear to have totaled about 2.7 million, nearly double the 1.4 million that were lost in World War I. This includes animals killed for food: Unlike wrecked trucks, dead horses could be eaten, and this was done regularly by Germans and Russians alike.


Heavy artillary on the move.


Waking up and getting ready  to start another morning route march.

So .......  we could have AH work up a few horse powered flak wagons and if you get surrounded you could eat your horses and stay in supply awhile longer.

Give anyone some lip on 200 and you'll get a week of mucking out the stalls eh!




BTW - I'm not really serious about this - just something of interest eh!

[texastc316]

They shoot horses don't they?

[RufusLeaking]

Jim Dunnigan wrote a great book:  Dirty Little Secrets of World War II: Military Information No One Told You About the Greatest, Most Terrible War in History, William Morrow, 1994. ISBN 0-688-12235-3.

He has a section on the reality of the German Army’s low level of mechanization. 

He also describes how there were several US divisions that came out of the war with more vehicles than when they started, due to the proliferation of shade tree mechanics in early 20th century America.  G.I.s would salvage vehicles given up for dead.  No one in the US Army walked.

The book is a little heavy on statistics due to the fact that Dunnigan was a paper counter war game designer for Avalon Hill, SPI and Strategy & Tactics.  Still an interesting read.

[Lusche]

The use of horses still had some advantages at some points during the war:

During the mud period in Russia, horses were often able to move, where most vehicles were not. And when the fuel production was disrupted, German divisions were only able to continue movement thanks to their "horse"powers. A fully motorised army would had broken down much earlier.

[caldera]

"I thought you said there were blanks in that gun!"

  - " There were blanks in that gun!"

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

[Wreked]

Jim Dunnigan - now there's a blast from the past - I must still have just about every issue of his Strategy & Tactics kicking around down in the basement somwhere.  lol Also his classic "The Complete Wargames Handbook" - well thumb eared!

The Germans took a few notes from the Russians about winter sleds too - and you're right - horses actually kept them "in the game" on the Eastern Front so to speak when the roads turned to liquid jelly - swallowing powered vehicles.