[WarInEur] On partisan recruitment

[Kent & Sue Haunschild]

Hansen Wrote:
>I would tend towards the maximum number of partisans being equal to the 
>short fall.

> Note that this interpretation would greatly limit partisans in places such 
> as Denmark or the low countries as they have a small garrison. But this 
> also  makes sense. Small country, small garrison, smaller pool to recruit.

Kent continues:
It also reflects history as well.  Europeans didn't do urban guerillas very 
well.  The Yugoslavians tended to get themselves organized in the mountains, 
before trying to contest control of small towns etcetera.  The French used 
the marquis region which gave them their name.  Holland, Belgium, and 
Denmark all lacked remote areas in which the resistance could organize and 
train into semi-military bands.  Poland was so far away from support that it 
was next to impossible to perform meaningfully resistance activity.  In 
point of fact with the exception of Yugoslavia there was no "militarily" 
significant resistance activity in Western Europe during WWII for most of 
the War.  Belief in the contrary is to buy into war time propaganda which 
greatly dramatized the amount of resistance activity as a way of bolstering 
home town moral.  In actuality for every resistance member there were two 
collaborators.  The vast majority of the population was just trying to keep 
their heads down and not come to the notice of the authorities.

Most resistance activity was really at the level of a criminal enterprise 
and the German reaction to the Partisan threat was to  form Security 
divisions, which were in fact nothing more than HQ units for military police 
type light infantry.  They also used units that were being rebuilt after 
prolonged fighting or even basic training companies.   Not really a military 
reaction.

What the resistance did do was provide a very valuable intelligence 
gathering network and some small scale sabotage.   Just prior to the Allied 
invasion they did step up their efforts to damage the rail infrastructure. 
Were they useful? Yes! Did they have an impact on the war and shorten the 
length of the conflict by even a day?  It's doubtful.

SPI "knew" all of this and in their own words included the partisans to 
provide some historic flavor.  They also skewed the rules to require a more 
than historic effort if the Axis player wanted to completely shut down the 
partisan activity.  They did this by setting the Axis Garrison requirements 
at about 50% above the war time commitments.  So instead of 10 divisions in 
Poland, the Axis player has to immediately send five divisions into Poland 
or find it swarming with Partisan units in the middle of the 1940 campaign. 
The same is true of Norway and Denmark which also require increased 
garrisons on the first turn of the game or risk seeing more Allied Partisan 
Cadre gone wild.  SPI limited the Partisan Units capabilities to blocking 
rail movement period.  They did not convert hexes to allied control, cut 
rail, or capture ports.

Partisan Divisions are regular military units and they can do all these 
things.  However, partisan divisions are easier to destroy than a regular 
army division.  So once they come out into the open they can cut rail 
capture ports and convert hexes but they are also easier to destroy.

What I would like to see in CWIE2 is a return to SPI's partisans.  Total 
Partisan Cadre would be limited to the difference between the garrison 
required by the rules and that actually deployed. Partisan Units can block 
rail movement but not cut the rails and thus block supply.  Partisan units 
do not convert hexes.  Partisan units cannot capture ports.

All of these limitations follow from the partisan units ZOC type, which is 
similiar to that of a paratroop unit on the turn it lands.  It doesn't 
actually control the hex it can block enemy movement though the hex in the 
event of combat retreats and rail traffic and maybe block debarking of NTP 
in an ungarrisoned port.

Once this basic game is coded then add the following Options:

Partisan Normal ZOC Option- This gives the Partisan a normal ZOC, which 
allows it to cut rail, convert hexes, capture ports,and block supply.

Partisan placement per turn- This gives the player the ability to place 
partisan cadre equal to the garrison shortfall per turn.

Partisan historical deployment option- This option would prevent the Allies 
from placing any Partisan Cadre prior to the fall of France, but also allow 
the Allied player to place two Partisan Cadre per cycle regardless of 
Garrison levels after Italy surrenders.

Kent