obat36 East Germany

[Shan]

OK great to have an inside account on this as well - so now, however, we can finally agree that they never had T-62s. Again, AFAIK the only WP country that actually got T-62s was Bulgaria.

If you look at the (real) East German OOB at various times then you see (with sources such as the book I mentioned) then you see how big the difference of, say, theoretically available equipmnt to the Soviets was, when compared to what was made available to WP countries and how long it took to equip their units with any relevant numbers. In the late 60s/early 70s, MMR divisions still had a fair share of upgraded T-34/85s, and in the late 70s/early 80s these were exchanged for T-54s, and so on. But even at that time, a lot of T-34s were still in storage as a emergency reserve... and would have shown up on the battlefield - in an extreme case, imagine a t-34/80 unit against the very first M-1s or Leo2s... but it could have happened.

[Smersh]

yeah, thats definetly confirmed no T-62s in E. German service.

[mr_clark]

Shan said:
If you look at the (real) East German OOB at various times then you see (with sources such as the book I mentioned) then you see how big the difference of, say, theoretically available equipmnt to the Soviets was, when compared to what was made available to WP countries and how long it took to equip their units with any relevant numbers. In the late 60s/early 70s, MMR divisions still had a fair share of upgraded T-34/85s, and in the late 70s/early 80s these were exchanged for T-54s, and so on. But even at that time, a lot of T-34s were still in storage as a emergency reserve... and would have shown up on the battlefield - in an extreme case, imagine a t-34/80 unit against the very first M-1s or Leo2s... but it could have happened.

Well, the T34s weren't kept maintenanced in the 80s anymore At least not in Potsdam military district...

It's always good to remember that the T-55 was "the" MBT, with an emphasis on main, in the NVA, and many upgrades were produced in country. Better sights, range finders (my father told me a friend of him in a tank batallion said they even got laser range finders for them in 1988...) Mostly all the stuff we could produce that the soviets couldn't do as good. .. Unfortunately it'S nearly impossible to find actual written documents on all that as its not publicly available, as nobody bothers to make it so...

[Smersh]

Upgraded and modernized T-55s could still knock out the bulk of NATO armor.

[mr_clark]

I think so to especially with the improved HEAT warheads coming online in the mid 80s Leo A1, Challengers and M60s would be well within reach of them.
As I said it's a pity I couldn't find any real info, so we can't have it in the game...

[Shan]

mr_clark: I assume you speak german, so get the book I mentioned above, and if you're mostly into tanks, there's another one by Mr. Spielberger on NVA's tanks with even more details, I havent seen it though.

[narwan]

Found an interesting link with info on the NVA structure and equipment:
http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=5528

This part lists the different divisions and the basic AFV's:
http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=5529

Check out the 6th MSD, its got T34's and JSII's as late as 1987. Anyone has more on this?

Narwan

[Smersh]

hah, on axishistory.com

the info on the 6th MSD says as of 1957 not 87.

[narwan]

Smersh said:
hah, on axishistory.com

the info on the 6th MSD says as of 1957 not 87.

You're right. The other division OB's are of 1987 and I jumped the gun assuming they all were.

Narwan

[mr_clark]

Shan said:
mr_clark: I assume you speak german, so get the book I mentioned above, and if you're mostly into tanks, there's another one by Mr. Spielberger on NVA's tanks with even more details, I havent seen it though.

Hmm I'll to get a look at it. Though I personally don't really like Motorbuch, they're quite biased sometimes. (IV'e got a horrible book on Green Berets from 'em...)