Slitherine

Admiral_Horthy wrote: ↑Fri Oct 12, 2018 8:33 pm I wonder if someone has tried the NKVD specific infantries...

terminator wrote: ↑Fri Oct 19, 2018 4:25 am What it looks like when the cyclists attack ?

Horst wrote: ↑Fri Oct 19, 2018 11:37 am Speed: bicyclists are on average faster (12 km/7.5 mi per h) than mounted troops on trotting horses (10 km/6 mi per h), but rather only on roads.

Admiral_Horthy wrote: ↑Thu Oct 11, 2018 9:20 pm and make scenarios

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Speed of Horse drawn trains

Expected speed and daily range of field units
Speed (Km/h) Range per day (Km)
Infantry 4 15-20
Combat patrol 5 25-30
Cavalry 8 40-50
Cavalry patrol 10 100
Bicycles 10-12 60-80
Trucks 10-12 100-120
Horse-drawn carriage 6-8 40-50

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Germany

No matter Germany put heavy effort in the motorization of a major part of it's combat units the resources for it's logistical structure was insufficient. According to the studies of Field Marshal Dr. Ferenc Vegh,
"No matter how developed was the German industry it was unable to supply the growing military machine. The auto industry was not capable to produce enough vehicles for a full motorization in the entire army. Also there was a lack of highly trained technical personnel among the population that prevented the motorization and mechanization of the military forces."
Therefore the army units were partially equipped with horse-drawn field vehicles.
The lack of available fuel alone forced the partial employment of horse-drawn transportation. "The lack of mineral oil reserves did not cover the needs of a motorized army, therefore Germany was unable to create a modern, fully mechanized army. The insufficient mobility was complemented with the mass employment of horses. At the beginning of the war in spite of forced motorization the German armed forces consisted of a multitude of horse-drawn units and masses of infantry besides it's armored and motorized units. With the successes of the mobile armored divisions inspired the German leadership to cease horse transportation. A sharp contradiction was, however that from 1942 the German forces increased the number horse mounted and transported units. The reason was - just like in the case of Poland - the lack of industrial capacity and within the territory of the USSR and Eastern Europe the lack of roads, muddy conditions on the field and forests forced them to do so. Every Infantry Division had several thousands of horses and thousands who taken care of the horses."
Since the speed of foot (rifle) infantry was already low, there was not exceptional to use horse transportation supporting these units. From 1939 the size of the army constantly increased and even the remaining trucks were withdrawn from infantry units to create new motorized divisions. The number of fielded horse carriages and wagons therefore constantly increased throughout the Second World War.
"Germany had entered the war with 514000 horses in 1939. On the 22th of July 1941 at the beginning of the attack on the USSR they had 750000 horse-drawn wagons and artillery pieces. The harsh winter conditions and the consequent lack of care decimated their numbers. During December 1941 and the January of 1942 more than 179000 horses died... the Germans lost 1000 horses per day. Percentage of the losses were 75% due to combat action, 17% due to heart failures from over-stress, 8% from diseases, suffering and starvation. The halt in resupply and the disability to move artillery meant no mobility and sealed the fate of the attackers. Germany fielded 1.100.000 horses in average throughout the entire war. They were used mainly in Infantry Divisions and Horse Artillery units. Also a high number of horses were taken as booty and via confiscations from the occupied areas. As the war progressed from 1941 the number of cavalry units were also increased.
"In 1944, from all the 264 divisions only 42 were mechanized or motorized. The level of motorization was less than 20%. Infantry divisions entered battle on foot, 70% of the transportation was horse-drawn. An 1944 Infantry Division order of battle included 4600 horses, 1400 horse-drawn vehicles, 600 truck and 150 motorcycles... In the entire Second World War Germany lost 2.700.000 horses. The dual structure of transportation remained to the end of the war. All the military experience of Germany proved that despite mechanization the usage of horses was indispensable.."

Soviet Union

Compared to Germany, the Red Army had to supply a force three times larger. Also with the lack of armored half-tracked combat vehicles, even the motorized troops had to be transported by trucks. "Hence, all the supply transportation has been done by 76 horse-transport battalions with 500 horses each. In every Rifle Division were 3000 horses."
The ratio of horse transportation was overwhelming, the usage of truck was extremely rare. In spite of it's size, the Red Army had considerably smaller ratio of supply units in it's structure compared to other contemporary armies. The Soviet armed force had smaller size of supply, support and transportation units altogether. The horses available on soviet territories while extremely rugged were small and strong enough to pull small carts only. "Russian Pan'ye horses were resistant to cold, tough and indefatigable - yet too weak to move large cargoes. A 4ton artillery piece needed six strong horses to be moved effectively. Hence the soviet reduced the sizes of the cargo loads and build lighter carriages." With all that, the Soviet army - including 82 Cavalry Divisions and large numbers of artillery units mostly horse-drawn - owned more than 1 million horses in 1941-42.
In the second part of the war, the number of horses increased to 1.7 to 2 million. To feed all these horses 25.000 tons of forage was not enough. The same time horse losses of front-line troops were 40-70% of their numbers." Even though the severe lack of provisions and serious losses of horses the Red Army did reach Berlin that proves the horse-drawn transportation did perform adequately after all.