As I build my force - what's more likely?

[korvessa]

As mentioned in other posts, I am building my forces based upon 507/82 v. 91st Airlanding.
I am currently building my infantry squads. What I need to decide now is what support units should I get?

Based upon my reading of Blood upon the Risers, not ot mention what looks cool and would be fun to build, I came up with four possible support units.
As near as I can tell, this is the order of most likely to appear:
Pak 38 ATG
Halftrack
Panzer III
Stug III


For reasons of economy (both financial and space availability - I have zillions of miniatures) I need to limit my choice to two at present.
Most likely going with the ATG as it is in Table A - and thus seems most likely to appear
Halftracks are next, but kind of boring. (and I wonder how many halftracks the 91st had anyway)
So just  curious which ones others would recommend?

Kind of leaning towards the StuG or PzIII.

Anyone know which vehicle was present most often fighting 507/82?
Thanks

[atomicfloozy]

If it will help, the PzIII was withdrawn from service in 1943. Don't know if any were left in the field when D-Day occurred. The StuG, which was built on the PzIII frame was in service until the end of the war. Also, the ATG the allies would have faced on D-Day would have been the PaK38 or PaK40 as the Pak36 was withdrawn from service in 1942.

[korvessa]

Dec 9, 2023 0:36:00 GMT atomicfloozy said:

If it will help, the PzIII was withdrawn from service in 1943. Don't know if any were left in the field when D-Day occurred. The StuG, which was built on the PzIII frame was in service until the end of the war. Also, the ATG the allies would have faced on D-Day would have been the PaK38 or PaK40 as the Pak36 was withdrawn from service in 1942.

 One of those weird tank training units was in the neighborhood. Pz 101 maybe?
The command tank was a Pz III  and the rest were old junk captured from the French in 1940 (Somuas and the like)
So whichever way I go, it would proxy fo rother things.

[atomicfloozy]

Yeah, but you asked which was "present most often", encountering a training unit with obsolete equipment isn't going to happen very often. The vehicles the infantry is going to most often encounter are going to be the boring half-tracks & StuGs, which were most often assigned to support German infantry at this time with Panzer IVs occasionally in the mix. The Panthers & Tigers were being allotted to elite units.

I don't know much of the detail of the 82nd - all of my WWII games have been on the Eastern front in 1942, particularly the Rzehv Meat-
Grinder.

[korvessa]

Thank you for your response. I am one of those guys who know a lot about a bunch of different things/periods, but not an expert in any of them! LOL
I continued to search after posting this. You're right about the Pz III and the captured French tanks not lasting long, just a few days I think.
But it looks like they faced StuG throughout the campaign - at least until early/mid JUly when my dad's outfit was withdrawn to England.
So Stugs it is.

[atomicfloozy]

I've always been kind of a history buff. Like you, I know a lot about different periods and not much of an expert except for a few things that have been pounded into me. My dad was a turret gunner on a B-29 so late in the war that his unit never saw any combat. As a kid, watched a lot of WWII documentaries on TV, even a few hosted by Walter Cronkite. Later, I had Marine Corps history pounded into me by some zealous D.I.s. (I hope none of them read this as I've forgotten the muzzle velocity of the M-16 & M-14.)

[korvessa]

Very cool.
I wasn't tough enough for either the paras or the USMC. So I went ROTC reserves!
My maternal uncle was a Marine in Okinowa. My dad (the tall one on my avatar) was a paratrooper with the 507th.
They were assigned to the 82nd for Normandy and the 17th for The Bulge and the jump on the Rhine.
If you permit a brief brag, he is mentioned in 3 books that I know of (two of which are the same story):