Treebursts and you

[The Coil]

Commented on this in another thread, would be interested to see other's opinions:

I've heard the 'mortars against troops in trees shreds them b/c of the treebursts' claim many times, began to wonder how true this really is. I ran a few tests: Ten American 81mm mortars, each shelling one rifle platoon of Germans sitting on a TRP. Each platoon was on its own 3x3 'pedestal' to prevent it from retreating out of the mortar fire. Ran ten trials (so 100 mortars firing) with the Germans in foxholes in each of 3 terrains - open ground, brush, and scattered trees. Results as follows:

Open Ground: 210 total casualties
Brush: 218 total casualties
Scattered Trees: 196 total casualties

Seems like maybe mortars aren't any deadlier on troops in trees than troops out of them. Maybe they are more effective in the sense that they don't lose killing power between open and cover the way small arms fire does, but they don't seem to be any more effective in trees than in open/brush...