Melchior Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 (edited) They would have been fine in a defensive or garrison role to be sure. That sort of thinking just didn't fit the German military though. I know the Luftwaffe Field Divisions started pretty much just as bad but they molded them into something at least near functional when they started putting Heer officers into the ranks. By the time the Kriegsmarine started forming combat units i'm sure the Army didn't have any officers to spare. Edited January 16, 2015 by CaptHawkeye 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexUK Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Kriegsmarine scenario - still haven't gotten anywhere near beating it - would love to see a video AAR of someone doing this as I really think it is impossible - and as other posters said, frustrating. I had another several gos today and failed repeatedly. The mortars don't seem to have any effect on the larger buildings Anymore detailed hints anyone?? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rinaldi Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 (edited) I'm not sure how many of the Kriegsmarine who took part in the Market-Garden fighting would have been fit for " sailing on the high seas". None. Most of the men in the 14.Schiffstammabteilung were approaching middle age, or were well above it. Much akin to the French reservist formations that the Germans themselves ran right over in 1940. Forgive me if I'm not particular sympathetic to the Germans, though... There were obviously some officers, and guard detachments, who were happy to "see action", but I suspect that most of the fighting was done by relative youngsters who wished that their training was happening back in Kiel, Wilhelmshaven, or wherever, back in Germany. The 14 in particular was acting as triple duty; coast watching, training and occupation. The fighting was all hands; Market Garden likes to get disparaged in hindsight as a bad plan but the attack at the time was powerful enough to cause some raised eyebrows from German command. The entire 6.Kompanie of the 14.Schiffstamabteilung got hurled into fighting at Arnhem and Oosterbeek; freeing up Kampfwert I and II formations for the actual counteroffensives. Oldtimers and youngsters together were expected to fight, and the 14. conducted some local counteroffensives with naturally mixed results. The 6. was apart of KG Tettau if memory serves me correctly. Here's an evaluation of the 6/14's combat effectiveness from the Ia of the 9.SS; I won't encourage you to draw wider conclusions about Kriegsmarine performance in MarketGarden off it, but its valuable for understanding, I think, just why they're so painful to play as: "14.Schiffstammabteilung...was in the area from the first day of the enemy airborne landings on 17 September and was deployed as an infantry unit with defensive and security tasks. The unit possessed a sufficient quantity of infantry weapons (686 rifles, 84 pistols, 27 machine pistols, 21 light machine guns and 5 heavy machine guns) plus 2 captured Russian anti-tank guns. Regarding leadership, the unit was not really suitable for use as infantry because the Officers and NCOs did not have the necessary training for such operations. The men's weapon control is adequate. Their battle capability is satisfactory. To sum up the unit was not suitable for offensive action...." Now I think its safe to assume that the general definition of the 14.Schiffstamm's organzation can be applied to all the others in Holland broadly -such as the 10.Schiffstamm; moderately equipped, unfit, poorly led, and Kampfwert III at best. Edited January 16, 2015 by Rinaldi 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostRider3/3 Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Kriegsmarine scenario - still haven't gotten anywhere near beating it - would love to see a video AAR of someone doing this as I really think it is impossible - and as other posters said, frustrating. I had another several gos today and failed repeatedly. The mortars don't seem to have any effect on the larger buildings Anymore detailed hints anyone?? Yeah the "mortars" you get the 50mm are nothing more then glorified grenade throwers. Its a frustrating campaign.. well its really not even a true campaign as your fighting from Arnhem to Eindhoven. I would have rather seen maybe 2 German Campaigns, one around the Arnhem bridge entirely and the other of the counter-attack and defense of Nijmegen bridge. I do like the new material and the patch updates so making my own scenarios will be very fun. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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