Where there Airdrops and Paratroops in Stalingrad?

[6./ZG26_Klaus_Mann]

The title says it all.

I'm asking this for the simple reason of more complex missions like airdrop supplies, ambulance and paratroop missions which would at some point justify the implementation of ariplances such as the Ju-52 or Lissunov Li-2 and lighter airplanes for evacuation of wounded officers etc. (Ambulance).

These would especially make sense for the type of mission we have on the Syndicate Server right now. Once a "wave system" is introduced in which a wave of transports and escorts take off at Kamishyn and Lipovskiy every 20-30 minutes.

This would also enable far more concentrated combat for the fighters and stop the spontaneus, unorganized, chaotic Stalingrad Arena fights we have right now. I would like actually having a historical mission for fighters, like escorting or destroying heavy aircraft in support of the Ground Forces.

[LLv44_Mprhead]

No paratroops. Airdrops of supplies, yes, but mainly after Germans had lost all the airfields inside the pocket.

[oneeyeddog]

The title says it all.

I'm asking this for the simple reason of more complex missions like airdrop supplies, ambulance and paratroop missions which would at some point justify the implementation of ariplances such as the Ju-52 or Lissunov Li-2 and lighter airplanes for evacuation of wounded officers etc. (Ambulance).

These would especially make sense for the type of mission we have on the Syndicate Server right now. Once a "wave system" is introduced in which a wave of transports and escorts take off at Kamishyn and Lipovskiy every 20-30 minutes.

This would also enable far more concentrated combat for the fighters and stop the spontaneus, unorganized, chaotic Stalingrad Arena fights we have right now. I would like actually having a historical mission for fighters, like escorting or destroying heavy aircraft in support of the Ground Forces.

myfab, if you fly on the Syndicate or Eagles Nest  MP servers among others you can fly escort or attack missions now. It just takes some coordination thru Teamspeak. 

[Finkeren]

The Germans had more or less ceased to use paratroopers in their entended role after the near disaster at Crete in 1941. The Red Army would do one more attempt at a large scale paratroop drop during the Lower Dniepr Offensive in the summer of 1943 which would end in a complete debacle. Paratroopers are always dependent on the rapid advance of the regular army to relieve them quickly, since they never have the strength to stand up to regular army units, much less armoured ones. They are prone to miss their drop zones and become isolated and are in general not effective when deployed in larger numbers.

[Sparrer]

Historically or not historically frequent in real combat this feature would be very interesting for MP purposes.

In old il2 46 in virtual wars, the city air supply were made by turning smoke on when flying over the city, which must be made because there wasn't any feature like that . Unfortunately it was the only trigger for cities air supply being complete (landing the plane in near field also did, but not every city had it available). For reconnaissance, it was the same

If dev's wants some innovation on the MP, it could be a very interesting option, otherwise, the "wars makers" will need to find more crazy solutions again

[Finkeren]

Well, it will certainly make chute-shooting rampant (though also "legal")

[Sparrer]

S!

 

I personally don't think it's a relevant question. We kill soldiers, people and even robotnick all these years in games. Every movie we saw, at least one is killed. If there were any honor on 2WW pilots, players will reproduce if they have it too, otherwise we just can't force them to have a honor they don't have by turning chute kills impossible.

[Sim]

Airdrop supplies came in effect late in the airlift. There are plenty of historical evidence that the supplies were air dropped (documented in Pickert, Fiebig and Milch diaries and records).

 

The first phase of air supply drops came when Pitomnik fell. The Ju 52 and He 111 air crews would fly to Gumrak only to find the air strip too hostile for landing (for example, it was reported that thirteen aircraft wrecks littered the field on Gumrak in January 19th). Essentially the result was that only a couple of brave crews would attempt landings during the daytime and the rest would drop the supplies near the airfield flying low and slow (probably with cargo not even rigged for proper parachute drops). At first, the Gumrak didn't had runway lights and night missions were even more dangerous for landing which meant that almost all supplies were air dropped at night. Couple of days later Milch sent flarepath equipment to Gumrak in attempt to make night landing possible - but it was too late as Gumrak soon fell to Soviets.

 

Once Gumrak fell the transport fleet attempted to use a newly and hastily prepared airfield (Stalingradskiy) - which, as reported at that time, was of condition that could only allow the planes to land and not take off (I am assuming air drops would be used at this time period as well).

 

During the remaining days of the battle after the Stalingradskiy fell - the 6th Army was pushed back to Stalingrad and split up. Drop zones were established in the pockets with criss-crossed lorry lights marking the drop zones at night.

 

As for the paratroopers - I am not aware of any being used in the battle.

Edited September 23, 2014 by Sim