A Little Divisional Love
Hello commander,
We hope you are well! The Eugen team is never idle. While busy getting even more Operations in tip-top shape and working on the upcoming Army General campaigns, we always keep an eye out for our existing features and how to improve them.
We love all things historical, especially when they are accurate. That’s why some of our Divisions are getting a bit of Eugen-branded attention in making them even more realistic.
In today’s DevBlog, let’s look at some changes and new units coming to some of the new divisions.
[h2]Battle for Berlin Revisited[/h2]
We are never afraid to go back and improve our older work. It was brought to our attention - with our never-ending gratitude to our passionate and knowledgeable community - that our “Berlin” battlegroups (from the OUDINOT milestone) needed a bit of care. In our latest patch, courtesy of the SOULT, both NATO and Warsaw Pact already received some missing units, transferred from existing divisions.
But there is more!
[h2]Berlin Command[/h2]
First up is NATO’s Berlin Command. The biggest change to this division is the federal border police of the Bundesgrenzschutz, or the BGS. By 1989, these troops were demilitarized, but not in the eyes of the international treaties governing the presence of military forces in West Berlin. And since West Germany was banned from having any such troops, BGS did not serve in the enclave city. Rather, frontier security and border portal were left to NATO military police or the regular West German polizei units.
As such, we will remove the BGS as a deployable unit from Berlin Command. They will find another lease on life in the Territorialkommando Süd division, since in the case of war, light frontier troops would have been withdrawn from the border and used in the rear as security units instead.
In Berlin Command, the BGS will be replaced by the SEK (for Spezialeinsatzkommandos), a West German SWAT counterpart. Or, the civilian version of the more famous GSG 9 (which, being part of the BGS, is considered military police, much like the GIGN in France).
Used in a recon role, as more experienced 6-man teams, the SEK will field MP-5s and a PGS-1 (a police sniper rifle, which we replaced in other military squads by the G3A3ZF). The SEK specialized in tactical urban operations, including assault, which gives them the Shock trait.
Some more changes
As a side note, the SEK trained with the U.S. Green Berets’ Detachment “A”, with whom they had close ties. The latter unit was disbanded in 1987, likely to disrupt Soviet surveillance, and a similar unit (possibly the same) was recreated. This new outfit was the rather unusually named Physical Security Support Element - Berlin, a supposed military police unit. Considering all this, we renamed Detachment “A” to PSSE-B.
Another minor change, related to some chromed firepower, concerns the French AML-60 from the local West Berlin garrison. These older armored cars were actually from the Gendarmerie (French military police), which didn’t use the same models as the army. The West Berlin AML-60 featured two 7,62mm coaxial guns instead of a single 12,7mm machine gun. We also took the opportunity to reskin the existing AML-60 in 3-tone Army camouflage, while the new AML-60 Gendarmerie keeps the military police’s green paint job with specific markings.
Regarding the U.S. Light Infantry battalion in West Berlin, even though they will retain their M67 RCL (recoilless rifles), they weren’t only equipped with this weapon. That’s why we created a separate Light Rifles (LAW) unit, dividing the current load-out of the RCL between the existing units and the new variant.
[h2]Berliner Gruppierung[/h2]
As you surely have noticed by now, the Warsaw Pact’s battlegroup has been renamed from Unternehmen Zentrum to the new Berliner Gruppierung. The reason was that the East German NVA (Nationale Volksarmee) had several divisions, including two “special groups”: Besonderen Gruppierung I (Berlin) and Besondere Gruppierung II (Rügen). Simply said: Berliner Gruppierung and Rügen Gruppierung.
The former regroups all the forces already described in taking part in Unternehmen Zentrum, the Warsaw Pact’s assault on West Berlin during the opening days of our World War III conflict. Hence Berliner Gruppierung, which was the correct name for the division. The latter formation was a much smaller, brigade-size battlegroup tasked with defending the Volksmarine’s strategic naval infrastructure on Rügen island in the Baltic sea.
In the last patch, we already added quite a few missing units to Berliner Gruppierung, especially artillery. But there was one unit that wasn’t ready, but we can add now. The Grenztruppen surrounding West Berlin covered the flanks during Unternehmen Zentrum, as well as mobbing up any remaining NATO pockets. These forces had a special unit for these missions, equipped with flamethrowers. One of the unit cards of Grenzer will be converted to Grenzer (Flam.). These will be the first recon troops fielding flamethrowers!
[h2]K.d.A Bezirk Erfurt[/h2]
As mentioned in the Warsaw Pact’s K.d.A Bezirk Erfurt description back with the release of the MASSENA milestone, one of the Kampfgruppe der Arbeiterklasse’s (K.D.A.) missions was to screen the regrouping area of reservist mobilized divisions, which we represented by some Mot.Schützen in the division. However, that left the East German battlegroups with no reserve troops, an oversight compared to other nations. That’s why we replaced some of the division’s Mot.Schützen with the new but lesser experienced Reservisten.
Since one of East Germany’s defining features in WARNO is to have the Resolute trait in-game (thanks to the severe drilling and political conditioning), and we already have the K.D.A. troops with the Reservist trait, this new unit will be neither one nor the other - just plain ‘ol regular infantry with more soldiers but wielding the older AK-47.
Another change is the removal of BTR-50 as transport options for the Mot.Schützen (and Reservisten), which will now only be able to choose between BTR-60 and BTR-152.
[h2]Some other new units[/h2]
The fun doesn’t end here. We have also added some other new units to other divisions. These include the new Soviet Afgansky elite paratroopers, to be found with the 35th Guards Air Assault Brigade. A nickname given to Afghanistan War veterans (which still happened in our timeline), one additional card of these hardened soldiers has been added to the VDV battlegroup. They come equipped without any AT weapons but carry two light machine guns and a sniper rifle, as well as sporting the Resolute trait.
Another new unit are Sicherung troops. These are the NVA counterpart to the Bundeswehr namesakes and fill the same role as security troops. Patrolling the rear and guarding key infrastructure, these soldiers lack AT weapons but feature the Security trait and are transported in the SPW-60PB. One card of this new unit is added to both the East German 4. Motorisierte Schützendivision and 7. Panzerdivision.
And finally, a new NATO unit, to be homed with the British 2nd Infantry Division. The HSF (Home Service Force) are “true” reservists, pretty much like “Dad’s Army.” While the British TA - Territorials - or Terriers in-game are army reserves or former servicemen recalled to active duty, the HSF are closer to civilians with a few weeks training under their belt. Some were attached to Territorial brigades to act as security troops. In-game, they’ll field Sterling SMG, L1A1 SLR and receive the Security as well as Reservist trait.
[h2]See you on the battlefield[/h2]
That’s all for this little round of divisional updates. Let us know what you think!
Don’t forget to join the passionate WARNO community. Check the latest news on the Steam News page or visit the Steam Forums. Get together with other players on either the excellent Discord server, Reddit page, YouTube or our Instagram.
See you on the battlefield, commander!
We hope you are well! The Eugen team is never idle. While busy getting even more Operations in tip-top shape and working on the upcoming Army General campaigns, we always keep an eye out for our existing features and how to improve them.
We love all things historical, especially when they are accurate. That’s why some of our Divisions are getting a bit of Eugen-branded attention in making them even more realistic.
In today’s DevBlog, let’s look at some changes and new units coming to some of the new divisions.
[h2]Battle for Berlin Revisited[/h2]
We are never afraid to go back and improve our older work. It was brought to our attention - with our never-ending gratitude to our passionate and knowledgeable community - that our “Berlin” battlegroups (from the OUDINOT milestone) needed a bit of care. In our latest patch, courtesy of the SOULT, both NATO and Warsaw Pact already received some missing units, transferred from existing divisions.
But there is more!
[h2]Berlin Command[/h2]
First up is NATO’s Berlin Command. The biggest change to this division is the federal border police of the Bundesgrenzschutz, or the BGS. By 1989, these troops were demilitarized, but not in the eyes of the international treaties governing the presence of military forces in West Berlin. And since West Germany was banned from having any such troops, BGS did not serve in the enclave city. Rather, frontier security and border portal were left to NATO military police or the regular West German polizei units.
As such, we will remove the BGS as a deployable unit from Berlin Command. They will find another lease on life in the Territorialkommando Süd division, since in the case of war, light frontier troops would have been withdrawn from the border and used in the rear as security units instead.
In Berlin Command, the BGS will be replaced by the SEK (for Spezialeinsatzkommandos), a West German SWAT counterpart. Or, the civilian version of the more famous GSG 9 (which, being part of the BGS, is considered military police, much like the GIGN in France).
Used in a recon role, as more experienced 6-man teams, the SEK will field MP-5s and a PGS-1 (a police sniper rifle, which we replaced in other military squads by the G3A3ZF). The SEK specialized in tactical urban operations, including assault, which gives them the Shock trait.
Some more changes
As a side note, the SEK trained with the U.S. Green Berets’ Detachment “A”, with whom they had close ties. The latter unit was disbanded in 1987, likely to disrupt Soviet surveillance, and a similar unit (possibly the same) was recreated. This new outfit was the rather unusually named Physical Security Support Element - Berlin, a supposed military police unit. Considering all this, we renamed Detachment “A” to PSSE-B.
Another minor change, related to some chromed firepower, concerns the French AML-60 from the local West Berlin garrison. These older armored cars were actually from the Gendarmerie (French military police), which didn’t use the same models as the army. The West Berlin AML-60 featured two 7,62mm coaxial guns instead of a single 12,7mm machine gun. We also took the opportunity to reskin the existing AML-60 in 3-tone Army camouflage, while the new AML-60 Gendarmerie keeps the military police’s green paint job with specific markings.
Regarding the U.S. Light Infantry battalion in West Berlin, even though they will retain their M67 RCL (recoilless rifles), they weren’t only equipped with this weapon. That’s why we created a separate Light Rifles (LAW) unit, dividing the current load-out of the RCL between the existing units and the new variant.
[h2]Berliner Gruppierung[/h2]
As you surely have noticed by now, the Warsaw Pact’s battlegroup has been renamed from Unternehmen Zentrum to the new Berliner Gruppierung. The reason was that the East German NVA (Nationale Volksarmee) had several divisions, including two “special groups”: Besonderen Gruppierung I (Berlin) and Besondere Gruppierung II (Rügen). Simply said: Berliner Gruppierung and Rügen Gruppierung.
The former regroups all the forces already described in taking part in Unternehmen Zentrum, the Warsaw Pact’s assault on West Berlin during the opening days of our World War III conflict. Hence Berliner Gruppierung, which was the correct name for the division. The latter formation was a much smaller, brigade-size battlegroup tasked with defending the Volksmarine’s strategic naval infrastructure on Rügen island in the Baltic sea.
In the last patch, we already added quite a few missing units to Berliner Gruppierung, especially artillery. But there was one unit that wasn’t ready, but we can add now. The Grenztruppen surrounding West Berlin covered the flanks during Unternehmen Zentrum, as well as mobbing up any remaining NATO pockets. These forces had a special unit for these missions, equipped with flamethrowers. One of the unit cards of Grenzer will be converted to Grenzer (Flam.). These will be the first recon troops fielding flamethrowers!
[h2]K.d.A Bezirk Erfurt[/h2]
As mentioned in the Warsaw Pact’s K.d.A Bezirk Erfurt description back with the release of the MASSENA milestone, one of the Kampfgruppe der Arbeiterklasse’s (K.D.A.) missions was to screen the regrouping area of reservist mobilized divisions, which we represented by some Mot.Schützen in the division. However, that left the East German battlegroups with no reserve troops, an oversight compared to other nations. That’s why we replaced some of the division’s Mot.Schützen with the new but lesser experienced Reservisten.
Since one of East Germany’s defining features in WARNO is to have the Resolute trait in-game (thanks to the severe drilling and political conditioning), and we already have the K.D.A. troops with the Reservist trait, this new unit will be neither one nor the other - just plain ‘ol regular infantry with more soldiers but wielding the older AK-47.
Another change is the removal of BTR-50 as transport options for the Mot.Schützen (and Reservisten), which will now only be able to choose between BTR-60 and BTR-152.
[h2]Some other new units[/h2]
The fun doesn’t end here. We have also added some other new units to other divisions. These include the new Soviet Afgansky elite paratroopers, to be found with the 35th Guards Air Assault Brigade. A nickname given to Afghanistan War veterans (which still happened in our timeline), one additional card of these hardened soldiers has been added to the VDV battlegroup. They come equipped without any AT weapons but carry two light machine guns and a sniper rifle, as well as sporting the Resolute trait.
Another new unit are Sicherung troops. These are the NVA counterpart to the Bundeswehr namesakes and fill the same role as security troops. Patrolling the rear and guarding key infrastructure, these soldiers lack AT weapons but feature the Security trait and are transported in the SPW-60PB. One card of this new unit is added to both the East German 4. Motorisierte Schützendivision and 7. Panzerdivision.
And finally, a new NATO unit, to be homed with the British 2nd Infantry Division. The HSF (Home Service Force) are “true” reservists, pretty much like “Dad’s Army.” While the British TA - Territorials - or Terriers in-game are army reserves or former servicemen recalled to active duty, the HSF are closer to civilians with a few weeks training under their belt. Some were attached to Territorial brigades to act as security troops. In-game, they’ll field Sterling SMG, L1A1 SLR and receive the Security as well as Reservist trait.
[h2]See you on the battlefield[/h2]
That’s all for this little round of divisional updates. Let us know what you think!
Don’t forget to join the passionate WARNO community. Check the latest news on the Steam News page or visit the Steam Forums. Get together with other players on either the excellent Discord server, Reddit page, YouTube or our Instagram.
See you on the battlefield, commander!