WinSP MBT: Das Reich

[RecruitMonty]

I'll keep that in mind. I guess they are moving over to the Iphone business model.

[RecruitMonty]

Originally Posted by MarkSheppard

To elaborate, an average 1.5% failure rate of components out the box doesn't sound so bad (98.5% Chance of each component working out of the box), but because your average PC needs about 6 to 7 major parts to work (CPU, Graphics Card (if discrete), Motherboard, CPU, RAM Stick 1, RAM stick 2, HDD/SSD, Power Supply), the probability of initial failure adds up quick, reducing your crude odds of everything working out of the box to about 89% or so.

That's...not really good odds to be honest.

Agreed.

[MarkSheppard]

Originally Posted by RecruitMonty

I'll keep that in mind. I guess they are moving over to the Iphone business model.

It's not the iPhone business model -- it's just that the market is demanding ever smaller, ever lighter laptops and that means user serviceability is no longer a prime concern -- it's a lot easier to design something really lightweight and small if you assume it operates as a (mostly) sealed unit for life.

[IronDuke99]

Sorry, but exactly how many early helicopters does Germany have to make this heliborne invasion of Switzerland possible and how are these troops organised? What heavy weapons do they have?

I ask since I don't think even the USA in the mid-late 1960's (certainly then the leading helicopter army in the world) would have dreamed of using them to invade a first world nation, minus massive other more conventional support.

I'm curious?

[MarkSheppard]

Originally Posted by IronDuke99

Sorry, but exactly how many early helicopters does Germany have to make this heliborne invasion of Switzerland possible and how are these troops organised? What heavy weapons do they have?

I was thinking of using Gebirgsjaegers -- the 1st through 7th Mountain Divisions -- in operations against Switzerland, using a mixture of conventional foot/motorized infantry, and vertical envelopement.

Essentially the Fa 223 Drache in both the conventional and Zwilling form would be used.

The Fa223 could transport 1,000~ kg of cargo up to altitudes of around 2,400~ meters, and heavy experiments were done using the early Fa223 prototypes for mountain war:

In early 1944, a Dornier Do 217 crashed high up on the Vehner moor in Lower Saxony, between Osnabrück and Oldenburg, and it was decided to send the V11 to recover the wreckage. Unfortunately the V11 ended up crashing nearby before it could attempt to lift the Do 217's remains. It was then decided to attempt to recover both using the V14. Flown by Karl Bode and Luftwaffe helicopter pilot Helmut Gerstenhauer, the operation was begun on 11 May 1944. A small team of Focke-Achgelis men and a Luftwaffe recovery company had already dismantled the V11, and the V14 made 10 flights carrying loads beneath it in a cargo net and setting them down where they could be loaded on to road vehicles. All the major parts of the V11 and the Do 217 were retrieved and much useful experience was gained.

Following this, the Air Ministry decided to evaluate the helicopter's potential as a transport in mountainous regions, and the V16 was assigned to the Mountain Warfare School at Mittenwald, near Innsbruck, with the V14 as a backup. The objective of the tests was to see how the Drache would perform as a general-purpose all-weather transport, and numerous landings were made at altitudes of over 1,600 m (5,200 ft) above sea level, plus experimental transportation of artillery guns to mountain troops. When the trials ended in October 1944, a total of 83 flights had been made, with a total flying time of 20 hours.

The highest town in Switzerland -- Juf, is at 2,160 metres.

I've been reading a bit (okay I started months ago, and never finished), on Switzerland's war plans. Essentially, they planned to abandon the majority of the low-lands if Germany invaded, and hold out from high altitude strongholds.

What happens if helicopter envelopment makes that strategy infeasible?

[troopie]

The Swiss need to buy some Samhara SAMs and some Lohanastra gun missile systems.

troopie

[MarkSheppard]

Originally Posted by troopie

The Swiss need to buy some Samhara SAMs and some Lohanastra gun missile systems.

That actually does raise an interesting question. How did swiss defense plans change with the advent of mass helicopter assaults in the 1960s onwards?

Suddenly, you can't count on mountain altitudes as an insta-win anymore and the armaments of alpine redoubts has to change somewhat.

[MarkSheppard]

For Recruit Monty, perhaps this could be the US tank of the late 1960s, early 1970s in the DR-verse?

[RecruitMonty]

Sitrep:

I'm still searching for a replacement machine. The search was put off due to flu. Now I'm feeling better so hopefully I'll be the happy owner of a new Laptop within the week - or so.

[RecruitMonty]

Originally Posted by MarkSheppard

That actually does raise an interesting question. How did swiss defense plans change with the advent of mass helicopter assaults in the 1960s onwards?

Suddenly, you can't count on mountain altitudes as an insta-win anymore and the armaments of alpine redoubts has to change somewhat.

My Father did his National Service in the Gebirgsgrenadiere in the 70s. Among other things he learnt how to hold up a Btln. with a few good men and their Sturmgewehrs (etc). If you know your mountains you will always have an advantage over the enemy because you are playing on your home turf. The over all strategy remained the same. Resist as long as possible and if the enemy break through then continue the fight as guerillas.