What if Germany had the gas?

T.R.Searle · Post by **T.R.Searle** » 01 Sep 2002 14:42

What if Germany had sufficent gas in the Ardennes offensive?How far would Kampfgruppe Peiper get? How far would they go before allied airpower took its toll,would they succede in cutting the lines.

T.R.Searle

Zachary · Post by **Zachary** » 01 Sep 2002 23:17

I think it would have given Germnay another few months time instead of the one month it really did. They may have taken Antwerp but would have given it up a week later at maximum.
Regards,
Zachary

Gwynn Compton · Post by **Gwynn Compton** » 02 Sep 2002 03:53

The Ardenne's offensive, from memory, only have some 100,000 soldiers alloted to it. Even with taking Antwerp, I'm not convinced that the next phase of the plan could be realised, in crushing each Allied army seperately. As soon as Allied air power began usable again, it would have been a relatively simple matter to cut the German Antwerp corridor, and turn a defeat into a victory.

Gwynn

b_c_ries · Post by **b_c_ries** » 02 Sep 2002 04:08

The real problem was how to get the fuel to the front, The 101st supported by US tank destroyers would not leave Bastogne and most of the major roads in the area went through Bastogne. The Nazis also chose to use overweight behemoths for their spearhead which further slowed things down. US tanks and tank-destroyers had better mobility and could get to where they needed to be faster than King-Tigers could. Things may have been different if Panthers had been used to lead the attack.

Logan Hartke · Post by **Logan Hartke** » 02 Sep 2002 05:12

The problem that you stated is a myth. The King Tigers werre put mcuh farther in the back (by Peiper himself) so that they wouldn't block the roads. The Panthers weren't a whole lot better since they had as many mechanical failures in the battle as actual combat losses. Also, once the skies cleared, the attack, no matter where it would've been, would've been pushed back in a very short period of time. With Patton's 3rd Army already charging into their midst, defeating every Germangroup that they came across, there would be no continuing the attack or supplying the frontline units with gas. In other words, if they had the gas, it wouldn't have made much of a difference.

Logan Hartke

HJ Division Grenadier · Post by **HJ Division Grenadier** » 03 Sep 2002 18:56

I dont think it would have made a great deal of difference in the long run.
Maybe the initial shock would have knocked the allies a bit more than it allready did, but like said previously, the German economy was ruined by this stage and could not have continued supporting the gains. They after all had virtually no fuel, no air power, the men were of lower quality than a few years earlier.

kchuah · Post by **kchuah** » 14 Sep 2002 05:52

What if Germany had sufficent gas in the Ardennes offensive?How far would Kampfgruppe Peiper get? How far would they go before allied airpower took its toll,would they succede in cutting the lines.
T.R.Searle

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If you really want to know the answer ... try the following methods.

1) get a Panzer 3D PC game from bestbuy (I hope they still selling it)
2) set the Axis with unlimited fuel supply (use the cheat code).
3) you pick the allies side.

the answers are there....