Holien Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 Just a call out to any of you who might know the sort of communication ranges for early war German radios. I am researching how well connected German units were and how quickly messages between say Companies could be sent. (This is for an early war game I am running) My Google Fuu is failing me and I wonder if anyone has any info. I guess even late war would be useful as a benchmark to say at that it would be no better as this... So radio ranges, how well supplied to units and what sort of level down to... Thanks in advance. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 21 minutes ago, Holien said: Just a call out to any of you who might know the sort of communication ranges for early war German radios. I am researching how well connected German units were and how quickly messages between say Companies could be sent. (This is for an early war game I am running) My Google Fuu is failing me and I wonder if anyone has any info. I guess even late war would be useful as a benchmark to say at that it would be no better as this... So radio ranges, how well supplied to units and what sort of level down to... Thanks in advance. Doubt ranges would be very long but I don't have the information handy. Comms between Companies... are you sure that was even possible? I am not sure how the different radio nets were set up, but I don't know if that is a common link. They may only be able to communicate with Battalion during the early war, and then have communications relayed.. but I wonder how coordinated different Companies were, regardless of the nationality in the early war. Bil 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holien Posted April 21, 2020 Author Share Posted April 21, 2020 Thanks Bil, It was an open question on communication and I am guessing it was not been companies. What I have read is that the Germans were ahead of the game but no specifics. This relates to how well they could co ordinate their formations and for that you need great comms. I have just checked the 222 Armoured car used for recon and the early war ones had no radio, so how good is that in getting the information back to the HQ! As you know I am running the Sealion game which was designed by me 11 years ago so I had less research and made some general assumptions. I thought I would do a trawl to double check my views and for the Brits I have it right. The Germans are making me re think. I still might have made the right assumptions but nothing jumps out on radios. Lots of technical details of German radios but no detail on range of operation or what level radios issued to in units. So anything any one has even late war would be an interesting read / discussion. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 4 minutes ago, Holien said: Thanks Bil, It was an open question on communication and I am guessing it was not been companies. What I have read is that the Germans were ahead of the game but no specifics. This relates to how well they could co ordinate their formations and for that you need great comms. I have just checked the 222 Armoured car used for recon and the early war ones had no radio, so how good is that in getting the information back to the HQ! As you know I am running the Sealion game which was designed by me 11 years ago so I had less research and made some general assumptions. I thought I would do a trawl to double check my views and for the Brits I have it right. The Germans are making me re think. I still might have made the right assumptions but nothing jumps out on radios. Lots of technical details of German radios but no detail on range of operation or what level radios issued to in units. So anything any one has even late war would be an interesting read / discussion. I think the main German advantage was the fact that they had radios in every tank..(or most tanks) so tank platoons and tank companies were far more flexible then their counterparts. However I still think comms between companies would probably have been a no-no. German (leg) infantry "might" have a radio at the rifle platoon level, but early war? Maybe not... I wouldn't bet on it. They seemed to be mainly well equipped re: radios in mobile formations. That being said, even the radios they did have may have been receive only below the tank leader's tank/AC, etc. I don't know for sure, but early war all of this was new, so I am sure it wasn't as prevalent as you may think. I would bet there is a US Army study available somewhere that lays this all out. By the way the Handbook on German Military Forces has great detail on German radio sets. I'm sure it's available online.. even tells you which sets were used at what echelon. Bil 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holien Posted April 21, 2020 Author Share Posted April 21, 2020 Thanks I will see what I can find just need the right words and I will see what google throws up. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holien Posted April 21, 2020 Author Share Posted April 21, 2020 37 minutes ago, Bil Hardenberger said: By the way the Handbook on German Military Forces has great detail on German radio sets. I'm sure it's available online.. even tells you which sets were used at what echelon. Bingo, found a copy, wow never seen it before what a document! Thanks for the nudge in the right direction. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 By the way @Holien Figure 50 of that document includes the ranges for each radio type in kilometers. Have fun. Bil 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holien Posted April 21, 2020 Author Share Posted April 21, 2020 Yes found that and it is a great basis to work from, at least a baseline for say the end of war... Thanks H 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George MC Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 Here you go @Holien https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x8wchv7v7dfyv8a/AABJ-1mHKIuVuaU8ouI7Bx0Da?dl=0 Has stuff on call signs, types of radio etc. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holien Posted April 21, 2020 Author Share Posted April 21, 2020 Thanks George will have a proper looksee in the morning, initial skim looks interesting... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holien Posted April 29, 2020 Author Share Posted April 29, 2020 (edited) If Anyone fancies an interesting read on German Equipment I found the PDF here: - http://efilms.assets.ushmm.org/_media/movies_wm/_img/Originals/War-Department_Technical-Manual_Handbook-on-German Military-Forces.pdf That was the 1943 version This is the 1945 Version https://openlibrary.org/books/OL18004993M/Handbook_On_German_Military_Forces Edited April 29, 2020 by Holien Two Versions 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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