That's especially funny because Germany tried to take Leningrad immediately and failed with appaling casualties, that's why they decided to siege. And Germany tried to zerg rush Stalingrad, but also failed, because supply routes were complete shit and they literally couldn't bring enough men to replace their losses, even forgetting about things like "getting enough artillery shells there to not get wrecked by Soviet artillery" and "bringing your soldiers winter clothes so they don't freeze to death as soon as temperature falls below zero".
Plus, German training regarding fighting in dense urban areas ranged from horrific to nearly non-existant. The German army was never designed nor trained to fight in cities, which is why they would consistently get their shit absolutely rocked whenever they fought the Soviets inside cities after Barbarossa.
There was also a question of armaments: German infantry squad had a machinegun as its primary weapon, while soldiers with carbines were to support it. It allowed them great effectiveness in open areas, but they weren't of much use in cities. Soviet infantry squad was planned to be rearmed with automatic/semiautomatic rifles like SVT/AVT/AVS or SMGs like PPD or PPSh (plus PPS later in war), and they were much better in close combat while underperforming in open areaa. Rearmament was completed only partially, and later Red Army focused on SMGs, even creating dedicated "automatic weapons companies/battalions", plus providing additional SMGs for soldiers going into urban battles.
Also Red Army divisions had more mortars then German and that also contributed to their relative effectiveness in urban battles.
I didn't even know the germans did much urban warfare outside of Stalingrad and Berlin tbh (on the eastern front, I know in the west they had a punchup with us Americans and the brits a few times in towns and cities)
That's especially funny because Germany tried to take Leningrad immediately and failed with appaling casualties, that's why they decided to siege. And Germany tried to zerg rush Stalingrad, but also failed, because supply routes were complete shit and they literally couldn't bring enough men to replace their losses, even forgetting about things like "getting enough artillery shells there to not get wrecked by Soviet artillery" and "bringing your soldiers winter clothes so they don't freeze to death as soon as temperature falls below zero".
Plus, German training regarding fighting in dense urban areas ranged from horrific to nearly non-existant. The German army was never designed nor trained to fight in cities, which is why they would consistently get their shit absolutely rocked whenever they fought the Soviets inside cities after Barbarossa.
There was also a question of armaments: German infantry squad had a machinegun as its primary weapon, while soldiers with carbines were to support it. It allowed them great effectiveness in open areas, but they weren't of much use in cities. Soviet infantry squad was planned to be rearmed with automatic/semiautomatic rifles like SVT/AVT/AVS or SMGs like PPD or PPSh (plus PPS later in war), and they were much better in close combat while underperforming in open areaa. Rearmament was completed only partially, and later Red Army focused on SMGs, even creating dedicated "automatic weapons companies/battalions", plus providing additional SMGs for soldiers going into urban battles.
Also Red Army divisions had more mortars then German and that also contributed to their relative effectiveness in urban battles.
I didn't even know the germans did much urban warfare outside of Stalingrad and Berlin tbh (on the eastern front, I know in the west they had a punchup with us Americans and the brits a few times in towns and cities)
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:picard-annoyed: how can someone think anyone who is doing a siege has not thought of storming the place?