WWII Q&A thread: Ask us anything!

[Gerrit 'Lord Rommel' G.]

A german helmet with bulletproof glas is fiction.
Germans had bulletproof glas. They used them for the tank driver optics but this glas was quiet thick and to heavy to mount it on a infantry helmet.

One note about the red army and new weapons.
During the war the red army tried to not introduces new weapons.
Soviet army was "simple structured". Soviet commanders were afraid that new weapons could inflict problems with training, supplies and combat
efficiencies. They know their weapons and their potentials and they know that most of this weapons can fight against enemy's arsenal.
So they dont see any advantage in introducing new weapons. Thats for example the reason why red army didnt introduce the T-44 tank or
jet fighters or new infantry weapons like the RPD.
Soviet wanted to wait till the end of war to start the implementing of a number of new weapon systems.

[Jeff 'Robotnik' W.]

^ thats one of the things that probably helped with the germans defeat. The germans were constantly making new tanks, and making new upgrades for existing tanks. This definitely did not help with logistics or production. if you look at most soviet tanks mid to late war, barely any of them received any upgrades at all.

[Sommarkatze]

Well not bulletproof perhaps, but glas shields? The only ¨proof¨ I have is this picture.



As you can see. They sure have something over their faces XD
Thanks for the ansvers otherwise! Where there any other countrys who had body armours?

I know Both the Japanese, British and Americans had but these were pretty much prototypes compared to the Soviets.

[Walentin 'Walki' L.]

That's just a heat shield I think at least :p

[Sommarkatze]

heat or glass, whatever . Face shields nontheless XD

[Gerrit 'Lord Rommel' G.]

That's just a heat shield I think at least :p

And i think this "heat shield" is out of synthetic. Glass would broken too easy and this would be dangerous to the soldier.

[Jeff 'Robotnik' W.]

not only that, bust that much bulletproof glass would be extremely heavy, and much more thicker than that

[Sommarkatze]

Damn you guys really hooked up on that bulletproof part XD
Alright, but somekind of plastic piece I guess. It seems like its only like a rubber band around the helmet holding it in place?


Edit:

Is it okey to ask questions about the spanish civil war here? XD

[saprize21]

I have some new information about MKb 42 (H) that i asked about earlier if it was in Stalingrad, and apparently it was there.

A certain Hauptsturmfuhrer Heinz was drunk on schnapps while on leave in November of 1942, staggered around the streets of Suhl, Germany, and stumbled across a truck parked outside the United Suhl-Zella Mehlis Armament Makers plant and guarded by six sentries. The sentries, catching sight of Heinz's pitiful state, made disparaging comments about his ability to hold his liquor, enraging him. An accomplished veteran of the Eastern Front, Heinz found little difficulty in beating up all six guards, the truck's driver, a hapless passing auto mechanic, and the weapons engineer overseeing the delivery. Suddenly tired after the physical exertion of the fight, he stole the truck rather than walk back to the city center.

Coming to his senses the next day, Heinz suddenly realized the implications of his actions. Opening the crates within the truck, he found no less than forty futuristic-looking combat rifles along with forty MP40 prototypes with side-by-side magazines. With remarkable clarity of planning despite his hungover state, Heinz admirable combined his two desires of removing the evidence of his theft while putting what he had found to good use. Using the top-level papers mandating priority transport for the truck's contents that he found inside the truck's cabin, Heinz drove straight to a rail yard shipping weapons to the East and ordered the rail personnel to transport them directly to his division near the Don. He emphasized to the old reservists manning the rail yard that due to the top-secret nature of the shipment, absolutely no records of the weapons' transport were to be created at any point.

At every rail station and during every cargo transfer along the way, the rail personnel carried out Heinz's instructions to the letter. In fact, at each stop, the crew of each successive train added details about the secretive officer who had delivered the weapons until, in Rostov, it was said that Albert Speer himself, accompanied by a platoon of Hitler's personal guard, had personally handed over the truck's contents.

By this time, Heinz's division was engaged in ferocious combat in the ruins of Stalingrad. They welcomed the secret weapons with open arms, and Heinz's grateful commander promptly issued them to the most outstanding fighters in the division. Upon Heinz's return several days behind the weapons he had sent, he was feted and lauded by his fellow soldiers, among whom the legend of Hauptsturmfuhrer Heinz's resourcefulness circulated orally even after his death in December until the division's final destruction in the Kessel several months later.

Since the truck driver, the six guards, the scientest, and the passing civilian had all been shot for failing to overcome a single completely drunk attacker, no written record of the incident remained.

Tripwire was told this story by an old Russian veteran who served at one of the POW camps for German soldiers from Stalingrad. He had heard it from the last surviving member of Heinz's company in 1944. I in turn peiced the details together from the diary of Heinz's landlady in Suhl as well as the journal of a Hiwi rail worker in Rostov.



Apparently this is why Tripwire choose to have the weapon in the game.

[Gerrit 'Lord Rommel' G.]

And we should believe this story?
An Ostfront veteran had stolen a truck with all this new guns and transport this weapons for his Division?
But honestly - when an officer would have notice the stolen weapons he would have shot the thief.
This story is too unreal to be true 
Nice try Tripwire - but it is a nice fail xDDD

And one small notice:
Hauptsturmfuhrer Heinz -> So with this rank Heinz was a soldier of the Waffen-SS but no Waffen-SS units fought in Stalingrad.

[saprize21]

Here is were i read about it

http://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/showthread.php?t=54578

notice the Tripwire staff member posting under the guys post saying nothing about the story, that it would be incorrect or anything.

[Killar]

At the start of Operation Bagration, where there any armys of Heeresgruppe MItte equipped with Panzer38T? Which versions of this tank were used by Heeresgruppe MItte at this time?
Thx for answer

[Gerrit 'Lord Rommel' G.]

When Operation Begration started Heeresgruppe Mitte had no armor troops (just 20. Panzer-Division in Reserve and some StuG-batteries).
So Heeresgruppe Mitte had no Pz38t in service.
When german armored troops reinforced Hrg. Mitte during the russian offensive there is a small chance that 2-3 Panzerbefehlswagen 38t were
attached to german tank formations.

[Killar]

There were no other Panzer38 versions at that time at the eastern front? (Grille, Hetzer, Berge...)

[Gerrit 'Lord Rommel' G.]

There were no other Panzer38 versions at that time at the eastern front? (Grille, Hetzer, Berge...)

Jeah. Panzer38t versions - but i thought you asked for the tank "Pz38t" and not the JgPz38t or the Grille self propelled gun.
But there was no JgPz38t on Hrg. Mitte in Juni 1944. First JgPz38t were send to frontlines in July 1944.

Ah. Made a mistake. 20. PzDiv had 6 Pz38t Befehlspanzer or 6 Grille spg in Mai 1944.