Tipps for playing Battlefield Europe mod v2.2

[faos333]

This is a very interesting discussion, thanks Uhu for starting it!

100%

[JimmyC]

I realised a very economical way to get a minor victory if you are content with simply defeating the Soviet forces.

At the beginning of the scenario, extract the Africa Corps from around Tobruk and back to mainland Europe. I managed to do this with losing only 1 Italian infantry division – all others could make it back. These troops can then be used to assist in defeating the Soviets (some of them are quite good actually). You can then totally ignore this front as nothing will happen in the Med for a long time.

In ’43 the Allies will enact Operation Torch (invasion of Vicky France held north Africa). Let it happen and don’t contend it (I actually sent a couple of Italian infantry to hold Tunis as long as possible for the extra prestige – but realise these will be annihilated, so just use the 0 star Italians). It bought me around 3 extra turns @ 50 prestige per turn, so was worth it IMO.

Important thing is to have the Regina Marina massed north of Sicily and to have some troops stationed in Sicily ready for Operation Husky (invasion of Sicily). I had mostly 2nd tier Italian troops and a couple of AA, but also a hard hitting 2 star panzer division and a 2 star Gebirgsjäger. You also need to have a decent airforce. I had 3 Fw’s (later increased to 4), 2 strat bombers (later increased to 3) and a tactical bomber.

At first you should interdict the Allied airforce and reduce them. Then, at the time of Torch, use the Luftwaffe to attack the Allied capital ships and destroyers. When Husky starts, the bombers should switch to attacking the landing craft and the Regia Marina should also be attacking landing craft next to the beaches (ie. those that can land next turn). You should aim to reduce the landing craft to just a few strength. In such case, its ok if they land next turn as you can just annihilate them with your ground forces. Any high strength landing craft should be blocked from landing by moving your cheap Italian troops to occupy the landing hex (they will suffer 3 damage from barrage, but its worth it).

I found this to be a very economical way to deal with the med. The Regia Marina will be mostly annihilated, but you don’t need them anyway. Also, when Husky starts you get gifted some more troops (a couple of understrength artillery, Fallschirmjäger 44 and a dinky Italian tank) which you can then use for later. I didn’t lose any ground forces, although I did lose a couple of aircraft.

They actually don’t send that many landing forces, although you just have to be careful to block off the landing points where the landing craft cannot be reduced to low strength.

Now you can redirect those troops back to the eastern front and not have to worry about this theatre again.

[faos333]

Starting heroes BE Mod 2.2

Below is a list of Barbarossa scenario starting units with heroes in June 1941 turn 1.
My advice is to watch out for these units during the scenario so to get the latest equipment.
Also, where possible always give elite replacements and maybe one point of over strength, the damage they inflict is worth it.

Infantry heroes:
Gebirgsjäger Pein A2
Fallschirmjägers Student D1 Spotting 2
Slovak infantry D1

Panzers heroes:
12. Panzer IVE Knipsel A2 Ini2
3. Panzer IVF Kerscher A2 D1
8. Panzer 38t Bolter A1 D2
21. Panzer IIIG Trop in N. Afrika Erwin Rommel

Airforce heroes:
JG 2 Me 109 F-4 Oesau A1
JG 51 Me 109 F-2 Bar D2 Ini1, needs upgrade to F-4
JG 52 Me 109 F-2 a unit with 3 heroes (Barkhorn) A2 D3 Ini2, needs upgrade to F-4
JG 54 Me 109 E-7 Nowotny A1 D1 Ini2, needs upgrade to F-4
JG 77 Me 109 F-4 Hackl A1 D1 in Bucharest needs elite replacements
MC 200 fighter D1 in Sicily
Romanian Me 109 E-3 Ini2
Buffalo fighter A2 D3 in Finland
STG 2 Ju 87R Stukas A3 D3 Rudel
NJG 1 Me 110 A2 Ini3 Lent, in Germany, in my opinion a good candidate for Stukas

U-Boats heroes:
I/7 U-Boat A1 Ini1 Erich Topp, close to St. Nazaire needs repairs and refueling
II/7 U-Boat Willenbrock A1 D1 Movement +1, in the Atlantic
III/7 U-Boat A1 Ini1 Endrass, in the Atlantic
29 Flotille Guggenberger A2, in the Mediterranean
Italian sub flotilla in Mediterranean Crete A2 Ini2

New heroes during play
One of the beauties of the Mod is the ability to earn new heroes through play.
At 30 kills you get a new hero
Then at 100 kills a second one
This way we can build a stronger force during the game

[faos333]

Tips June 41 starting infantry analysis

There are numerous infantry units, among them 34 Wehrmacht infantry, 6 Romanian, one Cavalry with various exp levels. The player has to decide which attack direction they will follow. Most of the time this means, creating at the beginning three Army Groups: North, Center and South. My advice is to make sure that once you are there you have the right troops with you, hence the following tips:

1 Pioneer facing east -> you need a total of three, one in each army group. Candidates to upgrade are two infantries in France
5 Pz Grenadiers one France -> need to divide them among the three Army Groups and possibly upgrade an infantry so to have 6, two in each army group
3 bridge engineers -> to be divided among the three army groups
3 Gebirgsjägers one in east front, one in Wien, one in Crete -> all of them to fight to the South, final target Caucasus, Grozny and Baku
1 Romanian mountain infantry south -> final target Caucasus
1 Alpini Greece -> final target Caucasus
1 Romanian Cav south -> final target Caucasus
4 Italian infantry in Italy -> move to east front
3 Croatian Yugo -> stay to fight Balkan partisans
1 Bulgaria Yugo -> stay to fight Balkan partisans
3 Romanian reserves -> stay to fight Balkan partisans
1 Slovak south -> follows Army Group South
5 Finnish infantry, of which one Jäger -> receives elite replacements, one unit to be upgraded to Jäger

Of special interest the appearance of Brandenburgers paratroopers in turn 4, with their special ops characteristics!
Also, the Fallschirmjägers in Crete is vital to receive replacements preferably elite, and redeploy for drops according to plans

Among the Italian infantry, there is only one Bersaglieri in N. Afrika, I advice to upgrade few more to this type, because of much better stats
Finally, it pays off to upgrade two or three infantry to Cavalry, they move fast, provide vision and they are cheap to sustain

[faos333]

Tips June 41 starting Panzer formations analysis

The armor compartment offers to basic choices. One is to invest for Pz IV series, so you have the Pz IVG type, a very tough unit.
The second is to go for to Pz III series (especially the long burrel version available from turn 17), so you can be able to upgrade to IIIL, IIIM and then Panthers at a reduced price.
The choice is yours.

2x Pz IB one in Germany the other with Army Group north-> possible upgrade to better Panzer
2x Pz IIC -> possible upgrade to better Panzer
1x Pz 35t -> it can be used in the battle opening, later on becomes obsolete and better use it against partisans
1x Pz 38t C -> possible upgrade to better panzer
2x Pz 38t E -> one has hero and it should upgraded for sure to Pz IV or Pz III series
2x Pz IIIE -> upgrade to Pz III L and then to Panther
3x Pz IIIJ -> upgrade to Pz III L from turn 27 and then to Panther D from turn 49, or G from turn 73
1x Pz IIIH -> upgrade to Pz III L from turn 27 and then to Panther
2x Pz IV series -> future upgrade to IVF/2 from turn 23 and then to Pz IVG (late) from turn 39
1x Pz Flamm -> needs replacements

One Hotchkiss and one Somua in France -> do not bring in the east, better stay there

Finally, there are various other armor units Italian, Romanian, Italian etc which except in 1941, should be used in finishing off targets, instead of frontal attacks.

Note: Every player has its own style and strategic plan and victory can be achieved in many different ways, so the above tips are according to my style of play.

[faos333]

Tips June 41 starting Recon and Aufklarung units analysis

In total there six German recon units, very useful because they of the recon move.

Two of them are II F recon, the rest are various types. My advice is during summer 1941 three of them to be upgraded to Kradschutzen
Also, Italians have one recon in N. Afrika, which can be very helpful.
Later on a Sahariana unit becomes available, which a very interesting a useful recon unit.

Note: Every player has its own style and strategic plan and victory can be achieved in many different ways, so the above tips are according to my style of play.

[faos333]

Tips anti tank starting units:

There are lots of AT units. My advice is after 1942 pick the top performers in kills and exp. and covert them to StuGs.
The version StuG IIIF/8 is available from turn 33 and the III G from turn 38.

There is only one Panzerjäger, so protect it, since is very useful against soviet armor.

There is also, one 88 gun in the east and one in N. Afrika, keep it safe at all costs.
My advice is to upgrade at least three AA in France to 88’s and send two to the East and one more in N. Afrika, the British armor is tough

There are nine AT Pak 36, gradually they should be converted to Pak 38 and Pak 40
One Pak 38 later to Pak 40
Axis allies have also AT guns of which one in N. Afrika
Finally, there is one mobile Renault AT

Note: Every player has its own style and strategic plan and victory can be achieved in many different ways, so the above tips are according to my style of play.

[faos333]

Tips AA starting units:

17 light AA west -> for better results against allied airforce, upgrade some of them to 88 flak 18 without transport, to reduce the cost.
Always consider the high cost of 88s in prestige.

2 Flak 18 to be given transport- > so you gain some flexibility in movement

1 88 with east front

Axis, allies have AA units, very useful in the initial battles, the Italians especially can be upgraded to an equivalent German 88 AA

Finally, there two SdKfz mobile 10/4 anti air in the east, of limited results in air protection in my opinion, soon transfer them to Germany and upgrade to SdKfz 7/1 for much better performance

Note: Every player has its own style and strategic plan and victory can be achieved in many different ways, so the above tips are according to my style of play.

[faos333]

The artillery Be Mod puzzle:

Obviously, the whole game depends heavily on artillery performance and there are lots of artillery types to be used, hence the question about their best usage. In total twenty artillery units are available at the start. All facing east except two in N. Afrika and one in Greece.

Special care should be given to the horse drawn artillery, since has less movement capabilities, at some point it’s inevitable to upgrade their trucks. The Karl Gerat, should be used along the rail road line network, otherwise suffers from limited movement. Also, their best use is to fire on important and heavy protected targets such as Sevastopol, Leningrad etc. Of special interest is the 10. Mot Art, with a range of four!!!, very handy in all major battles like Moscow, Leningrad, Stalingrad, Baku etc.

Scenario offers two units 15 cm artillery, one of them has a SdKfz transport the other is horse drawn, this should be upgraded to a truck transport later on.
There is only one 21 cm artillery with limited strength, protect it all costs since requires lots of prestige to be repaired.

Among my favorite types of artillery, is the Nebelwerfer with range two, can prove invaluable against infantry and soft targets, one point of over strength is a good choice.
Two StuG artillery, also deserve one point of over strength, since they are the only one mobile artillery.

As for the Italian artillery Semovente is a very good choice for mobile artillery upgrade and the 149mm Art I believe available from turn 29.

In my playthroughs, I upgrade one 10.5 to a Wurfrahmen mobile artillery, although in the Mod has a range of one hex, I manage to get numerous kills and its one of my best kills ratio unit of the whole game. To do it I always protect it with artillery and fire it against infantry. You can try the same with the 21. Art located in Paris.

Costal Batteries, they can be very devastating against sea transports, keep that in mind either on attack or defense.

My general advice regarding artillery is to try to protect at all costs, from air or ground attacks.

Finally, during the first winter 41, move some expensive units to Germany to avoid the minus one point strength penalty in Russia. The -1 WINTER strengths to all units in the east start at the end of turn 12 and last for three turns, till the end of turn 14.

Edit: Winter penalty does not effect the Karl Gerat, so there is no need to pull it back during the first winter. Also Finnish troops and all air units are not effected by this penalty.

Note: Every player has its own style and strategic plan and victory can be achieved in many different ways, so the above tips are according to my style of play.

[faos333]

I realised a very economical way to get a minor victory if you are content with simply defeating the Soviet forces.

At the beginning of the scenario, extract the Africa Corps from around Tobruk and back to mainland Europe. .............. Now you can redirect those troops back to the eastern front and not have to worry about this theatre again.

Actually, this is a good idea and it goes well with historical outcome. DAK as lot of historians argue, TIK among them, that N. Afrika proved to be an opportunistic, not sufficiently thought, unsuccessful endeavour. Axis, should have never go there in the first place. Lots of precious resources lost, instead of committing to the Easter front. In any case N. Afrika without invading Malta, is mission impossible.

[guille1434]

Very interesting and well thought comments about this wonderful mod! Thanks for sharing!

[PeteMitchell]

Tips June 41 starting Recon and Aufklarung units analysis

In total there six German recon units, very useful because they of the recon move.

Two of them are II F recon, the rest are various types. My advice is during summer 1941 three of them to be upgraded to Kradschutzen
Also, Italians have one recon in N. Afrika, which can be very helpful.
Later on a Sahariana unit becomes available, which a very interesting a useful recon unit.

goose_2 upgraded the recons to a late model with stronger values... they seemed very helpful and versatile then!

[faos333]

Tips June 41 starting Recon and Aufklarung units analysis

In total there six German recon units, very useful because they of the recon move.

Two of them are II F recon, the rest are various types. My advice is during summer 1941 three of them to be upgraded to Kradschutzen
Also, Italians have one recon in N. Afrika, which can be very helpful.
Later on a Sahariana unit becomes available, which a very interesting a useful recon unit.

goose_2 upgraded the recons to a late model with stonger values... they seemed very helpful and versatile then!

very good point, I will add it

[PeteMitchell]

Tips June 41 starting infantry analysis

There are numerous infantry units, among them 34 Wehrmacht infantry, 6 Romanian, one Cavalry with various exp levels. The player has to decide which attack direction they will follow. Most of the time this means, creating at the beginning three Army Groups: North, Center and South. My advice is to make sure that once you are there you have the right troops with you, hence the following tips:

1 Pioneer facing east -> you need a total of three, one in each army group. Candidates to upgrade are two infantries in France
5 Pz Grenadiers one France -> need to divide them among the three Army Groups and possibly upgrade an infantry so to have 6, two in each army group
3 bridge engineers -> to be divided among the three army groups
3 Gebirgsjägers one in east front, one in Wien, one in Crete -> all of them to fight to the South, final target Caucasus, Grozny and Baku
1 Romanian mountain infantry south -> final target Caucasus
1 Alpini Greece -> final target Caucasus
1 Romanian Cav south -> final target Caucasus
4 Italian infantry in Italy -> move to east front
3 Croatian Yugo -> stay to fight Balkan partisans
1 Bulgaria Yugo -> stay to fight Balkan partisans
3 Romanian reserves -> stay to fight Balkan partisans
1 Slovak south -> follows Army Group South
5 Finnish infantry, of which one Jäger -> receives elite replacements, one unit to be upgraded to Jäger
Of special interest the appearance of Brandenburgers paratroopers in turn 4, with their special ops characteristics!

Among the Italian infantry, there is only one Bersaglieri in N. Afrika, I advice to upgrade few more to this type, because of much better stats
Finally, it pays off to upgrade two or three infantry to Cavalry, they move fast, provide vision and they are cheap to sustain

On the regular Italian infantry units: I use them mostly for occupation duties, e.g. in Norway, West Balkans, Greece, Crete, France...

Croatian and regular Bulgarian units are possibly stronger/more effective than regular Italian in my opinion.

Romanian reserves, yes I agree or then later around Pripet Marshes.

[faos333]

On the regular Italian infantry units: I use them mostly for occupation duties, e.g. in Norway, West Balkans, Greece, Crete, France...
Croatian and regular Bulgarian units are possibly stronger/more effective than regular Italian in my opinion.
Romanian reserves, yes I agree or then later around Pripet Marshes.

Croatian and other, not bad also, I have not compared them in the past, but I will do next time

[faos333]

The never enough syndrome... Luftwaffe in numbers

Historically artillery and airforce played a huge role in WW2 battles.
Actually the former had a bigger impact, but the airforce played a bigger role.

Fighters were in constant need in all fronts to cover for bombers, to attack enemy planes, to recon etc tactical support was also in high demand to destroy tanks, artillery, annihilate supplies etc. Especially for the Germans in the beginning of the war were combined arms were exercised to a great extent.
Hence, the need for air support and local air superiority, resulted in the constant feeling of never enough Luftwaffe operations.

In the Mod number of air forces available at the opening of Barbarossa are realistically represented.
But what is their best use?

Let’s see the numbers first:
The mod Battlefield Europe starts in June 1941 with the following:

Starting air units:
Total Me 109 fighters 9 in these historical formations: JG 2, JG 77, JG 53, JG 52, JG 51, JG 1, JG 3, JG 54, Romanian Me 109 E-3

Total other types of axis fighters 5
Tactical bombers: 4 of which 2x Stukas, 2x Me 110
Total strategic Bombers: 8
Total Recons various types: 5
Atlantic force: 2
For best use of axis airforce see my previous post in page 2 about “Starting heroes BE Mod 2.2”

It is evident that every army group needs its air support units.
But how to advance fast east in 1941? Defend west? Support DAK?
My advice is to divide the air force in groups Luftlotte as follows: east north, east south, air defense west, DAK and a small force for Atlantic operations.
Then start to think creatively in combined arms tactics with ground forces.


At the beginning Turn 1, destroy as much as you can of the grounded Soviet air forces, since next will become airborne and you have to shoot them down. This is very historical since thousands of soviet aircrafts were destroyed on the ground in the open phase of Barbarossa.

More specifically in 1941 you can try to switch forces among Luftlotte temporarily.

For example, if you aim for total victory you need to switch early some air units to attack Malta, when completed the units can re join their original groups.

Another idea is to switch from west to the east and vice versa. This can be done easily in 1941 since there is no real threat in the west and when there is, there are there lots of light AA to inflict at least some damages. So, an idea is to transfer temporarily all fighters to support operations in the east. It can be done easily as long as you switch to transfer mode and be able to fly long distances.

For more fighters you can train few strategic bombers to fighters.

How about unit development?
Me 109 F-4 is a great variant so after upgrading all Me fighters to this type. Keep them operational until a later Me 109 G6 variant appears, which has more air attack but less initiative, so think it over.

In the west use only FW 190 (turn 11 they become available), although they are very expensive, since all other types suffer higher damages. In turn 5 you are going to offered a free A2 with a good hero, keep it for a while near Berlin, since there Soviet strategic bombers coming in. If they stay above + target at the end of the turn you lose 100 prestige!

The best “A” version fighter is the A6 due to its 11 initiative. The Fw 190 A-8 has lower initiative but higher attack so better used it against bombers. Then upgrade to Dora version when it comes to effect. Me 262 is the best fighter of the war, but prestige is always an issue.

There is also an upgrade possibility for three Me 109's to become Fw 190's in 1942 turn 25.

Fighters if possible must receive elite replacements, especially because of the oil crisis in 44 and 45 they lose precious exp points in every turn. Towards the end of the war a single star fighter is most likely a permanent casualty.

In the desert always upgrade to the Trop versions, otherwise you suffer movement penalties
During winter months always regroup, repair and upgrade your air units.


Few basic air tactics:

To gain local air superiority take down as your first priority the enemy fighters. Your AA elements can protect your ground forces. You can also control their vision to create traps.

Tactical bombers Stuka is the king of the battlefield escort them always and upgrade to newer versions, occasionally can be over strengthened for maximum effects. Fly them over targets during bad weather and when weather improves hit and run away. Me 110 I am not a great fun, but they are good multi taskers and can attack bombers. In the west later on they appear with their night versions, very effective in the Reich defense.

Level bombers, better work in pairs so can be protected by a single experienced fighter or occasionally two. They can have devastating results in bombing sea units, thus raising their exp and kills.

Recons besides the obvious, can offer passive cover to valuable targets denying the enemy opportunity to hit.

Finally, avoid fighter losses at all costs, like artillery losses cannot be replaced. If you are not a veteran “ace” in the skies, better fly them in pairs, so protect each other. Also, when attacking use at least a pair of fighters to make use of the mass attack bonus. Before engaging enemy fighters were possible try to soften them up with your AA assets.

Of course there are numerous other tips for air units in this Mod but in this topic I tried to cover few basic ideas.

Feel free to add your tips so I can incorporate to this section later.

For detailed events about unit reinforcements, type availability, Oil crisis, etc from turn 1 till turn 99, see Uhu post at the first page of this topic

Note: Every player has its own style and strategic plan and victory can be achieved in many different ways, so the above tips are according to my style of play.

[JimmyC]

Among my favorite types of artillery, is the Nebelwerfer with range two, can prove invaluable against infantry and soft targets, one point of over strength is a good choice.

Nebelwerfer is very good against infantry, however be careful of its ammo as it can run out quickly (especially the 30cm one which has ammo of 4). My favourite is the 21cm variant which has the best balance of damage to ammo IMO.

1 Pioneer facing east -> you need a total of three, one in each army group. Candidates to upgrade are two infantries in France

I find Grenadier can fill the same role as Pioneer, so I’m not sure I would bother upgrading more infantry to Pioneers. Only thing Pioneer does demonstratively better is taking out minefields.

Two StuG artillery[/b], also deserve one point of over strength, since they are the only one mobile artillery.

I really like the Stug IIIB. Early on it has similar stats as the Pz III/IV tanks when in direct fire mode which can be very useful as you lack decent armour early on. And later in the war you can upgrade it to the Stug IIIF AT variant if you move it to Berlin, or alternatively upgrade it to the StuH 42 variant for a cheap price to get a range of 2.

during the first winter 41[/b], move some expensive units like Carl Great to Germany to avoid the minus one point strength penalty in Russia. The -1 WINTER strengths to all units in the east start at the end of turn 12 and last for three turns, till the end of turn 14.

Winter penalty does not effect the super guns like Karl Gerat, so there is no need to pull it back during the first winter. Also Finnish troops and all air units are not effected by this penalty.

2x Pz IIC -> possible upgrade to better Panzer
1x Pz 38t C -> possible upgrade to better panzer
2x Pz 38t E -> one has hero and it should upgraded for sure to Pz IV or Pz III series

One each of the PzII and Pz 38tC can be upgraded to the Marder series if you move them to Berlin in mid ‘42. The other ones I recommend upgrading to Pz IVF/2 in mid ’42 (especially the hero one).

The never enough syndrome... Luftwaffe in numbers

I also recommend to transfer all Italian fighters to the eastern front. They perform decently against the Soviet air forces, but just cannot hold up against Commonwealth air forces. And try your best to keep them alive as the fighter arm are the most important arm of your air forces IMO. Special care needs to be taken in nursing the dinky Italian fighters until they can upgrade to the Folgore and later versions. I generally use the Luftwaffe fighters for air interdiction and the Minor Axis nation fighters for bomber protection. This helps keep them alive.

Some of the later Italian fighters are actually really good and can outperform the Messerschmitt's, such as the Italian Centauro fighter. I also recommend to take some extra fighters into Barbarossa if you are playing the earlier missions (per Uhu's original post).

[faos333]

.............

Very good points were made.
I make the edit for Carl Gerat and rethink the Italian air units uses

[PeteMitchell]

Tips June 41 starting Panzer formations analysis

The armor compartment offers to basic choices. One is to invest for Pz IV series, so you have the Pz IVG type, a very tough unit. The second is to upgrade to Pz III series, so you can be able to buy Panthers at a reduced price. The choice is yours.

2x Pz IB one in Germany the other with Army Group north-> possible upgrade to better Panzer
2x Pz IIC -> possible upgrade to better Panzer
1x Pz 35t -> it can be used in the battle opening, later on becomes obsolete and better use it against partisans
1x Pz 38t C -> possible upgrade to better panzer
2x Pz 38t E -> one has hero and it should upgraded for sure to Pz IV or Pz III series
2x Pz IIIE -> upgrade to Pz III L and then to Panther
3x Pz IIIJ -> upgrade to Pz III L from turn 27 and then to Panther D from turn 49, or G from turn 73
1x Pz IIIH -> upgrade to Pz III L from turn 27 and then to Panther
2x Pz IV series -> future upgrade to IVF/2 from turn 23 and then to Pz IVG (late) from turn 39
1x Pz Flamm -> needs replacements

One Hotchkiss and one Somua in France -> do not bring in the east, better stay there

Finally, there are various other armor units Italian, Romanian, Italian etc which except in 1941, should be used in finishing off targets, instead of frontal attacks.

Personally, I mostly used Pz IIIs (as Pz IV is a dead end to me) and I also upgraded the Pz I and Pz II as well as later the Pz 35 and 38 to Pz III. You also don't need to upgrade to all Pz III models, most important is the change to the long barrel...

I would still bring the tanks in France to the east, they for sure help in finishing off units, the faster you can defeat the SU, the better...

[PeteMitchell]

Tips AA starting units:

17 light AA located west -> for better results against the allied airforce, upgrade lots of them to 88 flak 18 without transport, to avoid the transport high cost in prestige
2 Flak 18 to be given transport- > so you gain some flexibility in movement
1 88 with east front
Axis, allies have AA units, very useful in the initial battles, the Italians especially can be upgraded to an equivalent German 88 AA

Finally, there two SdKfz mobile 10/4 anti air in the east, of limited results in air protection in my opinion, soon transfer them to Germany and upgrade to SdKfz 7/1 for much better performance

Upgrading many flaks to 88 can be very costly, IMHO