Allied/German equipment during Fall Gelb

[Rocko]

Hi all I'm new here, I hope this post is in the proper forum...

At the moment I'm making a map for the PC strategygame Blitzkrieg. The map is set to June 1940 when the Germans invaded France.

Why am I posting here you say? Well I gotta make it as realistic as possible which means I can't put any units on the map that didn't take part in the invasion. This is where all your knowledge comes in.
I know these units existed by this time but I might be wrong...and some of the units maybe existed but didn't take part in the battles.

So far the equipment is:

Axis: Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf.J, Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.D, StuG.III Ausf.A & FlaK30 20mm

Allies: S-35 Somua, Matilda Mk.II & Bofors 40mm AA.

[Frank Heukemes]

Hi Rocko,

Post this in the "Achtung Panzer" Forum in here. You will be more successful there.

Cheers, Frank

[Lars11thpz]

Hi Rocko,

Post this in the "Achtung Panzer" Forum in here. You will be more successful there.

Cheers, Frank

I'm not an expert, but I can definetly say almost all of your german armor will be Panzer I's II's and III's, mostly III's. IV's were still the exception, rather than the rule in early-mid war russia. And even then, IV's werent all that great against armor until the F-J variants.
Lars

[Rocko]

I'm not an expert, but I can definetly say almost all of your german armor will be Panzer I's II's and III's, mostly III's. IV's were still the exception, rather than the rule in early-mid war russia. And even then, IV's werent all that great against armor until the F-J variants.
Lars

Thanks for you reply, so IV's where present in a small volume? The thing is that it will be more fun to control different pieces of units than just Pz. III's.

I still need those Matildas confirmed too.. I'm going to the library tomorrow to borrow some books about this.

[Lars11thpz]

I dont know if the game has them, but P35(t) and P38(t) (Czech tanks manufactured by Skoda for the germans)were mainstays in the Panzer Divisions in poland and France, and were used in russia as well. When they were hopelessly outclassed as tanks, the chassis were used to mount AT guns, and became the Marder, one model having the Russian "ratchbum" 76.2mm gun (So the only thing german about this german tank-destroyer was its crew )


As far as the StuG goes... (credit goes to www.achtungpanzer.com)
First 24 Stug III Ausf A assault guns out of 30 produced equipped Sturmartillerie Batteries 640, 659, 660 and 665 and first saw service during the French Campaign. Each battery according to organization scheme from November of 1939 had 6 assault guns in three platoons (with 2 assault guns each). Sturmartillerie Battery 640 became organic to Infantry Regiment Grossdeutschland and was renamed to 16th Sturmartillerie. Last 6 assault guns were issued to SS Sturmartillerie battery of Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler division. Two more batteries were formed - 666th and 667th but didn't see combat in France.


So you would be hard pressed to find a StuG in France.

the PzIV (same source):
First Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf A was built in October of 1937 by Krupp-Gruson and its production ended in March of 1938 with total of 35 produced. Ausf As were production / development prototypes and 5 were used for further testing while 30 saw combat service until 1941. In April of 1938, Ausf B was produced by Krupp-Gruson and until September of 1938, 42 were produced. Ausf Bs entered service in 1938 and served until late 1943.

The D model started production in Oct of 39, and so there were probably even less of them. Rather sobering thought eh? The Great Panzer Divisions were equipped mostly with outdated or foreign tanks by 1940. The french tanks were more than a match for anything the wehrmacht had at the time, but made the mistake of splitting them up for infantry support, and no matter how thick your armor is, if you have 8 Pz III's blasting away at you from all sides, you are gonna go down.

Same problem was encountered in russia. the PzIII's 50mm couldn't pierce a T34 anywhere but the sides and back, and I know of at least 1 instance of a platoon of PzIII's firing dozens of AP shells at a KVI, to no effect. They finally, with some spectacular aiming, shot a round through its main gun, and rendered it harmless. The PzIV's and StuG's they had didnt do much good either with their short 75mm's. low muzzle velocities kept their penetration down, and not until the StuGIIIG and the PzIVF with the long-barrelled 75's did they have even a quasi-even playing field.

Lars

[Rocko]

I dont know if the game has them, but P35(t) and P38(t) (Czech tanks manufactured by Skoda for the germans)were mainstays in the Panzer Divisions in poland and France, and were used in russia as well. When they were hopelessly outclassed as tanks, the chassis were used to mount AT guns, and became the Marder, one model having the Russian "ratchbum" 76.2mm gun (So the only thing german about this german tank-destroyer was its crew )


As far as the StuG goes... (credit goes to www.achtungpanzer.com)
First 24 Stug III Ausf A assault guns out of 30 produced equipped Sturmartillerie Batteries 640, 659, 660 and 665 and first saw service during the French Campaign. Each battery according to organization scheme from November of 1939 had 6 assault guns in three platoons (with 2 assault guns each). Sturmartillerie Battery 640 became organic to Infantry Regiment Grossdeutschland and was renamed to 16th Sturmartillerie. Last 6 assault guns were issued to SS Sturmartillerie battery of Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler division. Two more batteries were formed - 666th and 667th but didn't see combat in France.


So you would be hard pressed to find a StuG in France.

the PzIV (same source):
First Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf A was built in October of 1937 by Krupp-Gruson and its production ended in March of 1938 with total of 35 produced. Ausf As were production / development prototypes and 5 were used for further testing while 30 saw combat service until 1941. In April of 1938, Ausf B was produced by Krupp-Gruson and until September of 1938, 42 were produced. Ausf Bs entered service in 1938 and served until late 1943.

The D model started production in Oct of 39, and so there were probably even less of them. Rather sobering thought eh? The Great Panzer Divisions were equipped mostly with outdated or foreign tanks by 1940. The french tanks were more than a match for anything the wehrmacht had at the time, but made the mistake of splitting them up for infantry support, and no matter how thick your armor is, if you have 8 Pz III's blasting away at you from all sides, you are gonna go down.

Same problem was encountered in russia. the PzIII's 50mm couldn't pierce a T34 anywhere but the sides and back, and I know of at least 1 instance of a platoon of PzIII's firing dozens of AP shells at a KVI, to no effect. They finally, with some spectacular aiming, shot a round through its main gun, and rendered it harmless. The PzIV's and StuG's they had didnt do much good either with their short 75mm's. low muzzle velocities kept their penetration down, and not until the StuGIIIG and the PzIVF with the long-barrelled 75's did they have even a quasi-even playing field.

Lars

Oki, that's about what I sorted out too, but you mentioned a few things I didn't know. Thanks for your effort mate, if there is something else you want to add, don't hesitate.

[Rocko]

Right, I was at the library yesterday and found some books about this. It seems I was correct about the equipment already posted but I also read that the majority of german tanks were the Pz. II. Dunno how many of those I will put on the map because they literally suck in game. Unfortunatley the S-35 Somua Tank and the Matilda Mk. II are the only allied tanks available ingame that existed in this campaign...

Germany had initial plans to introduce the Pz. III and Pz. IV full scale in this campaign but they failed due to production problems...even though some units were produced in time.