Re: [Epic] Re: [EPIC] Epic 40k stats/pre-sale

From: <oki_at_...>
Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 08:43:26 +0800

At 09:35 AM 3/4/97 -0600, you wrote:
>At 08:41 AM 3/4/97 +0800, you wrote:
>>> The German shocktroops in WWI
>>>were one of the few effective troops in trench warfare, they were just too
>>>little, too late. A year earlier in their development, and they might have
>>>turned the tide.
>>>
>>>Temp
>>>
>>
>>OK, I would like to find out more of these shocktroops. What did they do ?
>>And how did they do it ?
>>
>>Regards
>>Oki
>
>Roughly speaking (very roughly - it's been years since I took Western Civ),
>Trench warfare went something like this:
>Charge across no man's land in the face of automatic firepower, taking
>massive casualties. Then, when you got close, the enemy fell back to the
>trench they had behind their current position. The next day they did the
>same in return. Eventually, trench systems were many layers deep.
>
>The German Shock troops simply kept going. They concentrated on a small
>area, attacking as a column instead of as a broad front. Instead of taking
>the first trench and allowing the enemy to fall back, they would press
>through. They would capture gun emplacements in the rear trenches that the
>enemy thought were relatively safe, and turn them down the
>as-yet-un-evacuated trenches, or if the more advanced units started falling
>back, catch them in a cross fire. They took much more territory (several
>trench rows instead of one), and caused considerably more casualties. If I
>remember correctly, they were the original German Storm Troopers (as opposed
>to the SS). An amazingly simple tactic, but extremely effective because of
>1) the stagnant thinking of military minds at the time, and 2) the extreme
>violence with which it was carried out.
>
>Anyway, I'm sure one or more of the amateur historians on this list will
>correct some portion of this, but that's the basic idea.
>
>Temp
>
>
Thanks. Much appreciated. So it is more of the application of strategy and
tactics rather than superior training, equipment, morale... (am I right in
thinking this ?)

Regards
Oki
p.s. Something like Thunderhawk landing behind your main forces and then
wrecking havoc in the backlines. Make sense, I cannot imagine SM charging
forward together with IG against Orks. Drop Pods, ThunderHawks seems more to
cut it.
Received on Wed Mar 05 1997 - 00:43:26 UTC