WW2 German Mod

[Marcello]

Originally Posted by troopie

You chrome the insides of the engines and short your ground forces. Your gun barrels wear out faster. Then the Sovs eat you alive on the ground.

Dunno about that. Chromium is used to extend barrel life, which is obviously a bonus in peacetime when weapons have to last as long as possible to cope with training needs without needing frequent expensive replacements. But wartime attrition make that less of an issue: how long was the average life of a PAK gun or a Hetzer at the front before being destroyed anyway ?
I am not saying that it weasn't a factor but no worse than Tungsten shortage (which basically made high end AP rounds such as APCR or APCNR impossible to produce during late war) or Molybdenum shortage (which made armor plates in tanks more prone to spalling). Petrol shortage was really critial.