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Refuelling

TMO

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Currently in the game refuelling units for the Allies are represented by 2 and a half ton tankers (bowsers). I'm struggling to find evidence that bowsers were used in this capacity and for the British distribution of petrol was carried out using 3t lorries whilst the US used the 2 and a half ton lorry. Any thoughts? I'd be particularly interested in how German forces supplied fuel to forward units.

Regards

Tim
 

Daz

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Which scenario are you referring to TMO because I have found its quite rare to find a scenario with any bulk fuel capacity at all.
In most of the scenarios refueling is done using the organic transport i.e. 3 ton and 2 1/2 ton lorries as you already mentioned?

Edit: Actually disregard that as I have noticed that most of the Westwall scenarios have tanker trucks for the Allies.
 
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Daz

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There is an excellent article on POL here Tim:

https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-E-Logistics2/USA-E-Logistics2-7.html

It looks like the vast majority of refueling in the latter war periods by the Allies on the Western front at least, was done by 5 gallon Jerry can, that were filled at decanting stations from overland 6 inch pipelines, or trains, then distributed by truck.
Its interesting to read that it was a shortage of these simple pieces of equipment that almost brought a halt to operations.
decanting-area,-Belgium,-December-1944.jpg
 
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TMO

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Good find Daz! As you say the article really emphasises the importance of the use of the Jerry can.

Regards

Tim
 

TMO

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Historically a British Inf Bn only had one(!) 3t Lorry dedicated to carrying petrol. If I replicate that in the game I obviously run the risk that if that truck is taken out no fuel gets supplied to forward units. Question for Dave: how easy would it be to code for carrying fuel and/or ammo/basics on a single truck?

Regards

Tim
 
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Dave 'Arjuna' O'Connor

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Historically a British Inf Bn only had one(!) 3t Lorry dedicated to carrying petrol. If I replicate that in the game I obviously run the risk that if that truck is taken out no fuel gets supplied to forward units. Question for Dave: how easy would it be to code for carrying fuel and/or ammo/basics on a single truck?

Regards

Tim
Please elaborate.
 

GoodGuy

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Any thoughts? I'd be particularly interested in how German forces supplied fuel to forward units.

Regards

Tim

In the main, the German Army did not use bowsers to supply troops or depots. The available bowsers were used by Luftwaffe units, almost exclusively. In particular, they were used to refuel planes and support vehicles on airports and major airfields. Emergency airstrips and frontline airstrips usually used the standardized 200-liter barrels (with manually operated pumps) for refueling duties. As bowsers were employed in rather low numbers, lorries with barrels had to be used, as well:

German personnel using a British lorrie to refuel a German plane stationed on one of the occupied Channel Islands, but I am not sure whether it's a small motor pump or a hand pump that's mounted on that barrel:
Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-014A-0656-05A,_Englische_Kanalinseln,_Betanken_eines_Flugzeuges.jpg

German bowser refueling a Ju 52 in Russia, 1943:

Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-330-3017-15A,_Russland,_Betanken_einer_Ju_52-X2.jpg
Fuel being transfered from barrels (on a truck) to canisters (on a halftrack), in the Russian winter (March 1944):
Note: the truck's tire-chained.

Betankung-März-1944.jpg


In maintenance stations and supply depots, motorized units were often refueled by using those barrels (with hand pumps), but units were usually refueled with 20-liters canisters, but sometimes even those barrels were brought forward to units right behind the frontline, to speed up the refueling process and to get say an armored unit back to the front asap. On quite a few occasions, trucks with canisters were brought right to the front, where German tanks had just pulled behind houses (out of view of the enemy) in order to get refueled - enabling them to attempt another push. The canisters were usually ferried with truck columns that could either carry a total of 30 tons (medium column) or 60 tons (heavy column), the standard vehicles with offroad capabilities were the Opel, Ford, Mercedes, Borgward, KHD und NAG Büssing 3-ton trucks.
Horse-drawn columns could carry/move 30 tons.

During the Ardennes offensive, a few bowsers had been sent out from depots to units behind the push, in a desperate attempt to make up for the messed up supply situation where sufficient supplies (especially motor engine fuel) for vital parts of the offensive were still sitting in depots on the right bank of the River Rhine, instead of being stored in the Eiffel region. Most of these bowsers were lost at an early stage already, as they broke down on the rough terrain in the Ardennes (mud and rocks on unpaved roads damaged or broke axles - until the temperature drop made the roads passable for such vehicles again). Prior to the Ardennes offensive, bowsers were used to collect idle fuel residing in closed gas stations all over Germany, in an attempt to use each and every reserve for the build-up of the fuel stocks for the Ardennes offensive. Interestingly, large fuel reserves stored in and around Berlin, reserved for Luftwaffe units and for the German government, were not touched.

There are pictures showing thousands and thousands of German barrels "dumped" on a field in Russia, in the open - way behind the frontlines. IIRC, vital numbers were captured Russian barrels, but there were also barrels with fuel from German refineries, as well as some captured French barrels. If Russian air units would have known that they were just sitting there, they could have carried out a bold strike that would have left a vital part of the German advance units without fuel. Too bad, I can't find the pictures/the background details of that incident right now.
 

TMO

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In reply to Dave, what I mean is that in the SM I can set limits for bulk fuel and/or bulk capacity for a lorry but these don't change during the game. So at present when a lorry is doing a supply run it might deliver 3t of supplies but, at present, the same lorry can't in its next supply run deliver 3t of fuel. Is that clearer?

Regards

Tim
 

GoodGuy

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I'd be particularly interested in how German forces supplied fuel to forward units.

Regards

Tim

I forgot to add 2 pictures ...

A picture showing the divisional fuel depot of the 7. SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division "Prinz Eugen" (Freiwilligen = "volunteer(s)", Gebirgs = "mountain"), the pic was taken in Yugoslavia, most likely:

7-SS-Geb-Division.jpg

The main job rested with the railroad, the backbone of the German supply system, though.
Soldiers filling 20-liter cannisters in Russia (1941), but there are barrels in the background, too:

Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-186-0166-02A,_Russland,_Treibstoff-Nachschub.jpg
 
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