Free Wehrmacht '47 Supplement is here!

[GHQ]

Our Wehrmacht '47 supplement is now on our website. This is loaded with background information on the line, data for the equipment, a reading list, painting guide, rules variations, TO & E's, and many scenarios. You can find this free download here on our website:

http://www.ghqmodels.com/pages/military/freerules.asp

If you click on the top choice in the Wehrmacht '47 section you will get the complete supplement. If you have a slower internet conenction, you may want to use the bottom three choices. We have broken the supplement up into three sections so that your computer will not be bogged down as long.

Thank you for your support,
GHQ

[Luca]

Very nice job, and interesting scenarios. I'm just having a fast look trought the book before going to sleep.

I've just one question. Why the infantry now is moving 4F instead of the usual 3F as on the main rules set? Improved training and rations perhaps?

[CBoy3]

Wow, this looks great! Initially I didn't know how I felt about this line, but I have followed the progress over the last few months, and I think that I am going to have to give this a try. I am going to read through the supplement some more, but on first perusial it looks like the quality is really nice.

I know that this is a bit of the "give them the razors, and then they will buy the blades", but it's nice to see a company who will at least "give them the razors". This is really true now when people may be more apprehensive about discretionary spending. thanks

[Sven]

Very nice job, and interesting scenarios. I'm just having a fast look trought the book before going to sleep.

I've just one question. Why the infantry now is moving 4F instead of the usual 3F as on the main rules set? Improved training and rations perhaps?

Thank you very much - as a minor contributor to the supplement, I was very honored & found it was a pleasure to work with the other folks on this project. John Fernandes is truly a gentleman of high calibre. It is nice to hear your kind words.

As to why infantry now moves 4F (other than the obvious pun to us old-timers), it is much like the experience of troops in the ACW (American Civil War). Initially, troops on both sides were so burdened with gear, supply trains, inexperience that they moved very slowly. So forced marches such as Jackson's had a major impact on a campaign or battle when hey arrived unexpectedly. However as the war progressed, troops started ditching their extra gear, first tents & they would just roll up in their great coats or blankets, then packs, etc & learning to live rougher & leaner. Experience taught them how to march faster & longer, so that by the end of the war the march times & distances that were amazing at the beginning were now commonplace.

If I may quote John from one of his emails:
"Six years of war had wrought remarkable physical and technological changes.

Every army in 1939 put men into the field generally equipped almost EXACTLY as they were in 1918. Footwear ranged from flimsy shoes to cumbersome 'Jack Boots'. All this was gone by 1944-45. Nearly every army was issuing high laced boots or robust shoes featuring arch and ankle support.

Over the course of six years, the men became inured to hardships they would have never thought of overcoming in 1939. By 1944, the men could live on 'garbage', sleep in the pouring rain or blinding snow, enduring sub-zero temperatures or searing heat. They thought little of marching for days on end.

Other gear became lighter and more efficient as the war went on as well. In addition, the men (with ruthless practicality) threw away anything and everything they did not absolutely need. Armies traveled 'light' in 1945, and (especially in Western armies) made use of motor transport as much as possible.

Heavy field packs were usually kept in central depots while the men made due with light 'marching' packs on a day-to-day basis.

By 1945, every army was lean hard and wolfish, sleeping and eating when it could, finding shelter when and where it could, and, if necessary, could make itself practically invisible!

So, YES. Infantry units should be able to cover about 25% more ground in a turn in 1945 than in 1939.

John F. "


I hope that answers your question & please enjoy the supplement.
Skal,
Sven

[bishnak]

Wow!! That is a fantastic Free supplement!

In fact it'd be a fantastic supplement even if I had to pay for it. I'm really keen now to start using the info and scenarios it contains.

cheers,

bish

[Schwerepunkt]

...was a footmarching army (little or no truck transport for the motorized divisions) and the Panzer Grenadiers had the monopoly of vehicles to ride in. Blitzkrieg had such a reputation for mechanized warfare that I am not sure the allies realized how close to 1918 the Germans were in transport (at least in 1939-40).
Wehrmacht '47 is a terrific idea and I cannot wait to receive my vehicles.

[dnichols]

Very nice job, and interesting scenarios. I'm just having a fast look trought the book before going to sleep.

I've just one question. Why the infantry now is moving 4F instead of the usual 3F as on the main rules set? Improved training and rations perhaps?

As infantrymen become more experienced they are able to move faster. Hand and arm signals are better understood, everybody in the unit knows their job and where they should be in the formation, who is to their left and right etc. I know this from experience (4 years active duty as an infantrymen)

If WWII goes into 47 or later there are going to be plenty of experienced soldiers that have been together for a long period of time.

That's my theory.

[groundlber]

I remember a conversation I had witth one of my college professors (an armored cavalryman in World War Two) : "Those guys ( the American infantry caught in the initial German attacks in the Battle of the Bulge) were so green they still had their gas masks".
Groundlber.