Axis Powers
The major Axis Powers,
Germany, was the most deadly army to march across Europe. No other
could match tactical expertise or vehicle quality of Germany, they
produced nearly 80.000 armored vehicles, but Russia built some 70.000
T-34 tanks alone, and Allied tanks came from all fronts to defeat
Germany. From 1939 to 1940 (Pz-II, Pz-III, and Pz-38's) lightly
armored was enough for beating Polen or Holland. From 1941 to 1943
(Pz-IV's) were better armor and armament, dealing with T-34's and
Shermans, but were still vulnerable to most Allied tanks. From 1943 the
Panthers and Tigers gives Germans a technical edge over the Allies,
but they were outnumbered by the growing numbers of Allied tanks.
German infantry well-equipped could stand up to almost anything the
Allies throw at them. From 1943 to end 1944 skill level as a whole
declines. The German Army throughout the war has adequate support from
its artillery, the changing roles of the Luftwaffe from ground support
to that of fighter defense against air raids over Germany, slowly
declines German artillery.
Italy, A combination of over-eagerness and bad timing had Italy join
the Axis. Poor military leadership and equipment handicapped Italy's
efforts in the war, but the Italian Army made valuable contributions
to the Axis. From the desert of North Africa to the snow-covered
plains of Russia. The Italian infantry soldier was a man with no morale
and lackluster. The whole Italian tank production during WW II was
nearly 3.500 tanks, under gunned with poor armor. The artillery was
perhaps the best troops fielded in the war, well-trained, using 100+
guns, most 75mm field gun or 80mm mortar.
Japan, The Japanese Army in WW II was most part an infantry-based army. Mid 1930's the Japanese began to expand their tank program. They
built about 6.000 armored vehicles of all types. There was a wasteful
rivalry (hate) in the army between the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA)
and the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), so that the war industry
produced separate models planes, tanks and ships for each branch. With
limited industrial resources and capacity, the Japanese had to win
the war quickly, or not at all.
The Japanese were the best light infantrymen in the war, with an
incredible devotion to duty, high morale, absolute refusal to
surrender and for all deadly enemies. They believed in the all-out
charge attack with bayonets and taking positions by pure force. The
infantry had not enough automatic weapons (and anti-tank weapons),
only armed with rifles and grenades, so they began to field suicide.
The Japanese tanks fought mostly in dense, heavily wooded terrain.
Japanese opponents in the Pacific and Asian had little or no armor, so
Japanese tanks being lightly armored and under gunned in the war.
The Japanese artillery had an odd mix of guns calibers and limited
available, few recent designs guns, some from WW I and old guns from
the early 1900's.No self-propelled artillery, most horse-drawn or
towed by truck. Japanese some use the massive bombardment, so as the
Allies did, due to doctrine and limited ammunition.
FSDSxTweak v2.0
