Transporting Paratroopers

[diziziz]

What I don't understand is why transport planes cannot transports paratroopers from one province to another, they can only drop them into combat.

I had to move paratroopers to India from Greece. Instead of just flying them there on a transport plane, I had to redeploy them, which took a month.

It would make perfect sense to be able to fly paratroopers around.

 

[Draigh]

Well, you actually can... Do an airdrop on the airfield of your choice, then rebase the planes there. It's a bit of a hassle, but it should work.

 

[unmerged(92686)]

But that's not very realistic. At all.... what a waste of Resources

 

[diziziz]

Well, thanks for telling me, now I do that.

The problem is after I drop them on one of my provinces and rebase there, it takes a long time for my aircraft's organization to reload.

A good enhancement would be landing with the paratroopers in the plane, so organization isn't lost.

 

[Alex_brunius]

A good enhancement would be to be able to transport all infantry divisions with planes as long as they dont got any "heavy" brigades. Even bombers should be able to do this but at reduced efficiency (perhaps a full squad of 4 to transport a single division). The most common kind of transport planes were actually outdated bombers refitted for transport duty.

 

[unmerged(93128)]

I think the idea of flying paratroopers and infantry in transport planes and landing at an airfield is a good idea and also is realistic. There are times during WWII where this was done. I also think the idea of transporting infantry as long as they don't have a brigade attached is good too, transport planes could transport light infantry, but not infantry with heavy equipment.

 

[blue emu]

A good enhancement would be to be able to transport all infantry divisions with planes as long as they dont got any "heavy" brigades.

The problem there is that even a normal, unbrigaded Infantry Division has many heavy weapons and vehicles... 105mm Artillery, prime movers for the Artillery, staff cars, supply trucks, etc. One could argue that Mountain Divisions (only) should be air-transportable, since they had far less heavy equipment than a regular Infantry Division.

Even bombers should be able to do this but at reduced efficiency (perhaps a full squad of 4 to transport a single division). The most common kind of transport planes were actually outdated bombers refitted for transport duty.

One Air Transport unit represents about 600 aircraft... that's why they are so expensive. One Bomber unit represents about 100 aircraft, and they would be far less efficient at transporting troops... to say nothing of manhandling a Division's heavy equipment in and out through hatches only one meter wide! Perhaps you mean that TWENTY-FOUR Bomber units should be able to transport a single Mountain Division (your 4x multiplier, adjusted for the 600 vs 100 difference in the number of aircraft per unit).

I think the idea of flying paratroopers and infantry in transport planes and landing at an airfield is a good idea and also is realistic. There are times during WWII where this was done. I also think the idea of transporting infantry as long as they don't have a brigade attached is good too, transport planes could transport light infantry, but not infantry with heavy equipment.

But unbrigaded Infantry Divisions are not in any sense "Light Infantry". Mountain Divisions are. As for "there are times during WWII where this was done"... would you care to list the occasions when Division-sized units were moved by air? The invasions of Holland and Crete involved air-transport of Regiment-sized forces... and these were MAJOR operations. I'm sure that it did happen... but I'm also sure that you could number the occasions on the fingers of one hand.

HOI-2 is an operational-level game... it tries to simulate typical events and situations. If it included provisions for all rare or unique events... why can't Transport Ships sink warships? Anyone ever heard of the Cruiser HMS Curacao?... rammed and cut in two by a Transport, it sank with the loss of hundreds of lives.

 

[unmerged(93128)]

Interesting observations, I see you know your history. Operation Mercury is exactly what I was thinking of. When I referred to light infantry, I probably should have specified mountain troops. The reinforcements flown into Crete were mountain troops. I do not know if an entire division was flown in, probably not. I think that the ability of a transport wing to carry a regular infantry division still exists, depending upon the technology level of the aircraft. Transport aircraft of a basic or improved level would not have the ability to carry a regular infantry division. However, a wing of advanced level transport planes, such as the German ME-323D, probably would have had the ability to transport an infantry division. There would be no historical example of this since Germany did not build these planes in large numbers. I believe it would be realistic for advanced level transport aircraft to carry an infantry division, as long as no brigades are attached. But not so for basic or improved level aircraft.

 

[Alex_brunius]

Yes ofcourse the heaviest pieces in even a infantery division would be 10-15tons. So transporting them in old 30's civilan planes would be somewhat troublesome...

Ofcourse your both right. But I would like to add that even if there are no historical examples of this beeing done, what are the limitations that prevented it from happening? If there were no technical or practical limits, but only in doctrine and organisation, then perhaps we should allow it to be done anyway to provide for possible alternative historical outcomes?

Using some creative limits It could just like combat drops require full org and reduce it to make its strategic use more limited an realistic.

But I also want you to remember that if you build a air transport division from scratch with 40' tech research you should get pretty up to date ones, and not old civilian planes from long before the war that was used for most of the time.

 

[humancalculator]

Why don't they let players air transport "Air Cavalry".

 

[Draigh]

Why don't they let players air transport "Air Cavalry".

Helicopters aren't supposed to move units over very long distances, and an air cavalry division definately doesn't have enough to airlift a whole division at one time. That's why transport divisions are so expensive: it's enough airplanes to transport about 10,000 men and accompanying material in one time. Air cavalry divisions were transported in bits, say, one regiment at a time.