Should there be a 'captured equipment' system?

[Kinghillard]

How much of this really happened during the war?

The invasion of france 44 stole thousands of tons of ammo and artillery pieces from the germans.

 

[Gamer_1745]

.....

Yep, That is where I found the information. My research is not of original documents with 2 confirming sources. It is only web research and the books I own and my German is poor and I often use google translate. I found this information while researching for Vorwärts Panzers! in making event images . I did not know if the number was at one time (like at the creation of the Panzer-Abteilung 116 or over a given time (like over a year) and could not find a clear answer. The number was high (the largest tank type used) so I went with the image I did.

It is clear that some German Panzer units training up in France only had French tanks until being sent to the Eastern Front. Only when being made ready to go east did they get other tanks. You can often see photos of Rommel inspecting units in France that had converted French tanks leading up to D-Day Some Divisions like Prinz Eugen had French tanks their whole career.

 

[Meglok]

If we can avoid micromanagement hell, a mechanism to allow captured armor, aircraft, and ships especially should be included in HOI4. The Germans equipped many formations with captured equipment to make up for manufacturing shortfalls, and passed down a lot of it to their allies when it was obsolescent to their ToE. Czech 35t and 38t tanks made up a lot of the front line armored units in Poland, France, and early Russia. The 38t was so good Germany kept the production line going until 1942 and when the tank itself was obsolescent it continued to manufacture the chassis for Marder and Hetzer SP guns. Captured French S-35 and R-35 tanks were used by Germany and it's allies. Germany also used captured Russian artillery in abundance, particularly the 76mm M1939 USV and the 76mm M1942 ZIS-3, both of which were excellent multi-purpose weapons. Everyone should know the lengths that the UK went to prevent the French navy from being turned over to the Germans. However, both Germany and Italy did manage to incorporate French naval units into their fleets, and could have gotten many more powerful naval units with better diplomacy and/or effort. And of course every country commandeered opponents transport vehicles whenever able.