Hi guys,
Part I is published here.
I will post links to subsequent parts as comments in this thread.
Questions: I wonder about 3 aspects:
1) Supply before and during the Battles of Khalkhin Gol was quite challenging for the Russians (big understatement):
Supply trucks had to be used for the last leg (600-700 km) to the staging areas/FUPs. The unfavorable terrain (steppe that appeared almost like desert terain, dusty, high temperatures) didn't just test the mechanical equipment, the temperature and the arid landscape also forced the Russians to either create water depots along the last leg (to refill the trucks' cooling systems) or to even send water tankers with them.
I am not sure about the range of Russian trucks in 1939, but I could imagine that they also had to be refueled several times along the way to the FUP/field supply drop point (given the high fuel consumption of pre-war car and truck engines), then at the FUP and then again several times on the return trip halfway between the FUP and the supply base. The round-trip must have taken 4-5 days.
If spare parts were needed but not available in the Baikal region, then they had to be shipped from central depots, 7,000 - 8,000 km away. Firewood (field kitchens) had to be hauled to the region.
Technically, the tanker columns brought fuel to the FUP but they also had to take away quite some fuel again, when they refueled at the FUP for the turnaround. Some authors insist that last bit of the railway line (to the supply base) was a (very) low capacity line, means it did not support heavily loaded train cars, which must have created another bottleneck.
Is that ...
- correct?
- If so, did it have an effect on the supply situation of the involved combat units?
- If so, is this considered for the supply regime in the Khalkhin scenarios?
2) Since the Japanese (completely?) lacked AT equipment, they resorted to the use of gasoline bottles and formed "tank killer squads" equipped with that early version of a Molotov cocktail, but also equipped with satchel packs. In the hot environment, the Russian BT-5 was prone to catching fire when operating in hot environments (+38°C -and higher- locally, in the Mongolian plains) and being attacked with Molotovs. The Japanese exploited that.
- Are these makeshift weapons rendered/included?
- Are these squads rendered (say as AT platoons/squads)?
3) ADD employed long-range bombers (I am guessing Ilyushin Il-4) to bombard Japanese positions/units. While the results were quite frustrating (in the main, the raids proved to be ineffective, as far as I know), aerial missions were still conducted (for a while?). The Russians then learned that their artillery was their only effective bombardment branch against the Japanese.
- Were those aerial raids really ineffective?
- Do the Russians have aerial support in the Khalkhin scenarios?
- If so, does their effectiveness ingame match your research/conclusions?
- Is it possible to alter the effectiveness of air strikes in the scenario editor, at all?
- If not, this would be a neat addition for a feature request.