[freeciv-data] Re: Fascism units and techs-only patch

["Per I. Mathisen" <Per.Inge.Mathisen@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 3 Aug 2000, Mathias Hasselmann wrote:
> BTW - I'm not the history guru - but weren't velocity and the point
> that the victims had no tanks the reason for the German tank's
> superiority? (And not that they were heavily armored?)

No, before Barbarossa (German attack on Russia), the Russians had better
tanks if you compare tank-per-tank. What made the German tanks much better
was the overall strategy, how they used them, and the fact that they were
equipped with radios. The Russians (on strict orders from Stalin) placed
one tank per so-and-so mile on the border. The Germans, however,
concentrated their tanks and other mobile units and relied on fast speed,
pincher maneouvers, and decisive victories.

History would have been much different had the Russian army been commanded
by those experienced officers who had assimilated the experiences of
Hitler's war in Poland and proxy war in Spain. However, most of these
officers were either shot or imprisoned during the Great Purges, and the
remaining kept their mouth shut. After Hitler's attack, many of these 
officers were dragged right from prison and into top positions in the
army...

"Heavy armour", as a specific class of tanks, was, as far as I am aware,
no great success during the war. I do not think they should be a separate
unit. Neither is there any reason to make a separate "panzer" unit. There
was nothing special about German tanks as such that would warrant this.

All this is IANAH :)

Yours,
Per