German firepower

[Herr Straße Laufer]

No matter how much esprit de corp and elan these 17 year olds must have had, the fact is they had not seen the elephant, and were not likely to stand against veteran troops. No matter how many hurrahs and patches you attach to their shiny new uniforms, you cannot seriously consider them the equal of the early war Fallschirmjägers. With an 8 morale you are.

Dan, thanks for taking time to respond.

I thought the same for a long time, but research shows otherwise.

The game provides veteran FJ (P01225) and late war FJ (P01207). We filled most of the ranks with late war (which have lower attack/assault and defense values and are thus not equal to early war /veteran FJ) However setting morale high can be perfectly justified.
I can give tons of examples from both Allied and German literature. (Bleijenbeek, Hassum, Weeze, Moyland, Hochwald, Xanten, Bonninghardt, Bienen, Edewecht )They did stand, and held against veteran Allied troops hugely outnumbering them in men and equipment, often to the last man. These are historical facts. Ofcourse as they bled and bled in 1945 they got worse but still there were hardly any defections among the FJ right until the end in northern Germany in May 1945. In Holland the 6th FJD held the line right until surrender on May 5.
By the way these FJ did not fight in Italy or Russia. These were Students divisions of the 1st Fallschirm Armee that were formed in Holland and fought mainly in Holland and Germany. (Market Garden, Overloon, Venlo, Meijel, Kapelsche Veer, Wanssum and finally Rheinland and Germany).

Coming back to playability, I might ask David to drop FJ morale here and there, despite historical evidence.

I'm in agreement with Dan on this one.
I understand your research is thorough. I am not too sure that the conclusion you have drawn from it is as accurate.
Based on the historical record up to this period the Germans can be said to have "fought better". At least, in that, Patton agreed.
But, if the ground favored the defenders, along with the famously effective Mg42, the Germans should have given the Brits a very rough go?
Yet, your research showed that; *"Historically however the British managed to get through the Reichswald with less losses than the Germans, even if their losses were high."* Would that not beg the thought that maybe, this day, this battle, this moment, was not their day to warrant a high morale rating?

Usually the less the losses for the attacker, the better fought the battle or, the lesser resistance of the defender?

Somewhere there is balance to be had. It may be in the initial thoughts of the high morale for the FJ units based on their "previous" history of performance?



RR