Build the Best WWII era Military

[Jim Smitty]

Ok this is just me talking but I was wondering what would AH.commers use if for whatever reason they were tasked with building a WWII military (1945) force. I'm working on my own ideas at the moment and should have at least the Army done fairly shortly (I.e. a day or two). You can pull from what ever nation you want, Allied, Neutral, or Axis. Only catch is it had to be fielded by 45 here. No prototypes that showed promised.

Here is what I got so far.

Small Arms
Rifle: StG 44, first assault rifle and gives the infantry a major leg up over everyone
Submachine Gun: Carl Gustav m/45, I like it what can I say
Pistol: Colt M1911A1, raw stopping power
Machine Gun: MG42 and M2 Browning

Armor
Light Tank: M24 Chaffee
Medium Tank: T-34-85
Heavy Tank: IS-2

Artillery
Pack 75, M101 Howitzer, M114 Howitzer, M2 Mortar, M1 Mortar, Type 89 Grenade Discharger

Thoughts?

 

[Blue cat]

Ok this is just me talking but I was wondering what would AH.commers use if for whatever reason they were tasked with building a WWII military (1945) force. I'm working on my own ideas at the moment and should have at least the Army done fairly shortly (I.e. a day or two). You can pull from what ever nation you want, Allied, Neutral, or Axis. Only catch is it had to be fielded by 45 here. No prototypes that showed promised.

Here is what I got so far.

Small Arms
Rifle: StG 44, first assault rifle and gives the infantry a major leg up over everyone
Submachine Gun: Carl Gustav m/45, I like it what can I say
Pistol: Colt M1911A1, raw stopping power
Machine Gun: MG42 and M2 Browning

Armor
Light Tank: M24 Chaffee
Medium Tank: T-34-85
Heavy Tank: IS-2

Artillery
Pack 75, M101 Howitzer, M114 Howitzer, M2 Mortar, M1 Mortar, Type 89 Grenade Discharger

Thoughts?

Merge the historical WW2 Red Army with the historical U.S. WW2 armed forces. Have the Red Army focus on ground combat, have the historical U.S. army backstop the Red Army for combat support and logistics. Have the historical USN provide the navy. Merge the U.S. Army air core and the air elements of the Red Army.

Backstop all the combat forces with the natural resources and industrial capacity of the USA and the USSR.

 

[galveston bay]

an infantry squad with one MG42, one Type 89 grenade launcher, and a mix of SG44 and PPSH41 is basically a Vietnam War infantry squad in fire power

 

[Panica]

Ok this is just me talking but I was wondering what would AH.commers use if for whatever reason they were tasked with building a WWII military (1945) force. I'm working on my own ideas at the moment and should have at least the Army done fairly shortly (I.e. a day or two). You can pull from what ever nation you want, Allied, Neutral, or Axis. Only catch is it had to be fielded by 45 here. No prototypes that showed promised.

Here is what I got so far.

Small Arms
Rifle: StG 44, first assault rifle and gives the infantry a major leg up over everyone
Submachine Gun: Carl Gustav m/45, I like it what can I say
Pistol: Colt M1911A1, raw stopping power
Machine Gun: MG42 and M2 Browning

Armor
Light Tank: M24 Chaffee
Medium Tank: T-34-85
Heavy Tank: IS-2

Artillery
Pack 75, M101 Howitzer, M114 Howitzer, M2 Mortar, M1 Mortar, Type 89 Grenade Discharger

Thoughts?

Air
late Mustang
Mosquito
Me 262
B 29

 

[AJE]

I think everyone has got the best equipment set here, though I would use the T-44 instead of the T-34-85, if that's allowed.

 

[FBKampfer]

Assuming that production is a non-issue, or the United States is just going to build whatever the hell it wants?

Stg 44, FG-42 in limited standard.
M1 in 7.92x57mm as DMR (w/ a German scope, obviously!)
Karabiner 98K as my sniper rifle. God damn those things are beautiful. And that match grade ammunition.....
SMG: forego in place of M2 carbines as a PDW
GPMG: Mg 42, no heavy machine guns below the battalion level.

Infantry support weapons: Panzerschreck, PAW 800

Light tank: M18 Hellcat (with KwK 40), and SdKfz 234/2
Medium/MBT: I'm going to be a bit unpopular with this one and say the Panther. Properly manufactured, it didn't appear to have any inherent flaws, and offered a very good platform for transition into an MBT on the heavier end of the spectrum.
Heavy Tank: none

Artillery: 25Lber, leFH 18/40, M114, and the sK18 105mm as my field gun.


Airforce would be the
B-29
Bf 109K
P-51
Me 262

 

[Riain]

All the cool guns in the world aren't much chop with shit commanders and an incohesive units. So I would use German systems of training and selection of commanders and the front and matching ersatz army that made them the best tactically and operationally. I would then match this to a liberal democracy for political and strategy prowess.

A highly trained and well led army wouldn't do well with shitty Russian tanks, it would need good stuff like centurion, m26 or panther, preferably the cent.

 

[Hammerbolt]

Replace the T-34 with the Panther G, imho. And add the Panzerschreck and Panzerfaust 150 to the list of infantry weapons and Katyusha rocket launchers to the artillery.

For the airforce, use the Typhoon and Mosquito for air support, the P-51D and Me-262 for air superiority and the B-29 for the bomber slot.

 

[Archibald]

Single engine fighter: P-51 Mustang
Twin engine fighter: P-38 Lightning
Night fighter: P-61 Black Widow
Naval fighter: F-4U Corsair
Jet fighter - hard to tell. Vampire and P-80 were excellent but too late. Meteor and Me-262: the former is more reliable, the second has better aerodynamics but unrelaible engines)
Fighter-bomber: P-47 (Typhoon not too far behind)

Ground attack: Il-2 Shturmovik
Fast bomber: Mosquito
Medium-bomber: B-25
(falling in between: the A-26 Invader was also formidable)

First generation heavy bomber: Lancaster
Second generation heavy bomber: B-29

Transport aircraft: C-46 Commando
Flying boat: H-8K Emily

The Il-2 can be discussed. It is interesting to note how very different aircrafts tackled the tank-busting issue.
Hs-129, Breguet 693, Typhoon (with rockets), Il-2, Ju-87 - they have little in common.

 

[jsb]

If you can have anything from 39-45 with no limits on date and cost why do you need so many types?

Single engine fighter: P-51 Mustang or F4U ?
Twin engine fighter: P-38 Lightning P51/F4U or Mosquito
Night fighter: P-61 Black Widow Mosquito
Naval fighter: F-4U Corsair
Jet fighter - hard to tell. Vampire and P-80 were excellent but too late. Meteor and Me-262: the former is more reliable, the second has better aerodynamics but unrelaible engines)
Fighter-bomber: P-47 (Typhoon not too far behind) F4U

Ground attack: Il-2 Shturmovik F4U
Fast bomber: Mosquito
Medium-bomber: B-25
(falling in between: the A-26 Invader was also formidable)

First generation heavy bomber: Lancaster
Second generation heavy bomber: B-29

Transport aircraft: C-46 Commando, would C47 be better ? (as well as C97 that can be sneaked in as just modified B29s?)
Flying boat: H-8K Emily
I might add a light transport/observation type?

 

[BobTheBarbarian]

Uniform and Rations:

Standard issue US with the exception of the helmet, in which case use the Stalhelm 42​

Small Arms:

Rifle: StG-44
Pistol: Colt M1911
LMG: Type 99/Bren
GPMG: MG-42
HMG: Browning M2
SMG: Thompson
​

AFVs:

Light tank: M24
Medium tank: T-44
Heavy tank: IS-3
Armored Car: M-8 Greyhound
Half-Track: M3
Tank Destroyer: Ho-Ri
Amphibious tank: LVT A-4
​

Artillery:

Towed, light: 105mm M2
Towed, medium: 152mm ML-20
Towed, heavy: 240mm M1
Self-propelled, light: 105mm M7 "Priest"
Self-propelled, medium: 155mm M40
Self-propelled, heavy: 240mm T92
MLRS: Studebaker "Katyusha"
Anti-aircraft, light: 20mm Oerlikon
Anti-aircraft, medium: 40mm Bofors
Anti-aircraft, dual-purpose: 3"/50 mk. 22
Anti-aircraft, heavy: 15 cm Type 5
Light mortar: 50mm Type 89
Medium mortar: 81mm M1
Heavy mortar: 107mm (4.2 inch) M2
Anti-tank: 17 pdr
​

Aircraft:

Single-engine fighter: Ki-84 "Hayate"
Single-engine naval fighter: F8F "Bearcat"
Twin-engined fighter/light bomber: De Havilland Mosquito
Ground attack: P-47 Thunderbolt or Hawker Typhoon
Dive-bomber: SB2C "Helldiver"
Torpedo Bomber: TBM Avenger
Flying boat: H8K "Emily"
Heavy Bomber: B-29 "Superfortress"
Transport: C-47 "Dakota"
Reconnaissance: Piper Cub
Reconnaissance (high-speed): Ki-46 "Dinah"
Glider: Waco CG-4
​

Logistics:

Truck: "Deuce and a Half" series
Light scout: Willys "Jeep"
Light multipurpose: Universal carrier
Heavy artillery tractor: M4/M6
Bulldozer: Caterpillar D-8
​

Shipping:

Cargo: Kaiser "Liberty Ship"
Submarine: I-201 class
Destroyer: Gearing class
Light Cruiser: Cleveland class
Heavy Cruiser: Atago class
Battleship: Iowa class
Fleet carrier: Essex class
Escort carrier: Bogue class
Patrol craft: Elco 80'
Minelayer: Terror class
Large Amphibious: LST
Light Amphibious: Higgins barge, DUKW
​

Personnel:

Officer corps: German
Doctrine: Soviet (1944-45)
Enlisted: Japanese
Recruitment and conscription method: German or Japanese
Pilot training: American​

 

[Hammerbolt]

Uniform and Rations:
*snip big list*

I'm curious: why not the PPSh-41? It did have a much higher ROF.

Afaik, the T-44 never saw combat, the IS-3 barelly came out in time for the Berlin victory parade and the Ho-Ri never made it past prototype. So... not sure they should be in these lists...

 

[Archibald]

Dive-bomber: SB2C "Helldiver"

Seriously ?it was hated by pilots because he was such a bitch to fly. The Dauntless was 100X times better.

SB2C: Son-of-a-Bitch 2nd Class

 

[Rubicon]

Why do so many people insist on US mortars? They were at best average.

Best heavy mortar: Finnish 120 Krh/40 Mortar
Best medium mortar: Italian Mortaio da 81/14 Modello 35

 

[Not James Stockdale]

Pistol: Colt M1911A1, raw stopping power

Pistol: Colt M1911

The M1911 was a distinctly difficult pistol to master. The reasons the M1 carbine became popular was because soldiers had trouble with the 1911's recoil and small magazines. A better option might be the Browning Hi-Power, which was popular with SOE, OSS, and SAS in the European theater. Personally, I would take the StG 45 over the StG 44 for the roller-delayed blowback system, which was eventually developed into the CEAM M50, the CETME, and finally the G3.

SMG: forego in place of M2 carbines as a PDW

M2 carbines are useful as PDWs but they have too much recoil to serve as true SMGs.

Single-engine naval fighter: F8F "Bearcat"

The Bearcat was fast but was too light to compete with other fighters, which was why they began to leave the Navy in 1949 (gone by 1952) while Corsairs stayed in service after the Korean War.

 

[Archibald]

Also, the Bearcat did not entered service before 1945 or even the end of WWII.

 

[BobTheBarbarian]

I'm curious: why not the PPSh-41? It did have a much higher ROF.

It fired a much smaller round.

Afaik, the T-44 never saw combat, the IS-3 barelly came out in time for the Berlin victory parade and the Ho-Ri never made it past prototype. So... not sure they should be in these lists...

I thought the requirements were merely that the tank or aircraft had to have been built prior to the end of the war, which all of the above were. In the case they aren't allowed, substitute the T-44 with Sherman Firefly, IS-3 with IS-2 mod. 1944, and Ho-Ri with anything mounting a 17-pdr.

Seriously ?it was hated by pilots because he was such a bitch to fly. The Dauntless was 100X times better.

SB2C: Son-of-a-Bitch 2nd Class

The Helldiver was better than the Dauntless: it carried a heavier bomb load, was faster, and had a 20mm cannon armament in the wings. People complained about the Corsair, too, but that didn't stop it from being a great fighter.

 

[wietze]

Ok this is just me talking but I was wondering what would AH.commers use if for whatever reason they were tasked with building a WWII military (1945) force. I'm working on my own ideas at the moment and should have at least the Army done fairly shortly (I.e. a day or two). You can pull from what ever nation you want, Allied, Neutral, or Axis. Only catch is it had to be fielded by 45 here. No prototypes that showed promised.

Small Arms
Rifle: StG 45
for selfloading rifle : 6,5x55mm Ljungman Ag m/42
Pistol: FN 9mm HP
LMG: ZGB33 in 7,92mm (or even better a belt fed 7,92mm version)
Heavy Machine Gun: MG42 and M2 Browning
AT: panzerfaust 150, M20 super bazooka (or panzerschreck)

Armour
Light Tank: M24 Chaffee
Main battle tank: Centurion (manufacture started jan 45)
armoured car: Staghound MkIII with 75mm crusader turret

SP artillery: 155mm M40, 203mm M43, 105mm Wespe

Mortar:
81mm Brandt mle 27/31
120mm Brandt mle1935
160mm M1943

submarine: Dutch O 21 class

 

[Richter von Manthofen]

German doctrine (the pure non nazi influenced one)
US production capacity
Russian Manpower
French girls
Winston Churchill

 

[Richter von Manthofen]

for specific weapons, I largely agree with much was said earlier

Some exceptions:

Submarine: Type XXI
Torpedo: Long-Lance
Tank Destroyer: Jagdpanther (maybe the Hetzer for sentimental reasons - in games I have the most sucess with this one )
Medium Tank: Panther Ausf. G

In addition there are several designs that had flaws otl, but with some simple additions would have made great weapon systems (A Yamato with US-Radar and a better aa suite is a wet dream of mine)