All the Hornets and Tiger (Mark VI)tanks had been shipped out to the Russian front, and the stock of assault guns was considerably decreased. Its chief was Colonel General Keitel. In the second of this series on the men behind the counters I look at the workhorse of the German army, the infantry platoon.. Joseph E. Schaefer, Company I, 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, led a squad of the 2nd platoon in the vicinity of Stolberg, Germany, when two enemy companies supported by machine guns launched an attack to seize control of an important crossroads being defended by his platoon. The 6th Parachute Regiment, for instance, had only seventy trucks, and these comprised fifty different models. The chief weakness of the parachute troops was one they shared with the rest of Rundstedt’s army-their lack of motor transport. They lacked the füsilier battalion and had three instead of four artillery battalions. George Nafziger. Soviet Infantry Tactics in WWII: Red Army Infantry Tactics from Squad to Rifle Company from the Combat Regulations. It should be noted that this would have been the nominal organization. Nebelwerfer. Entirely formed from volunteers, they were composed principally of young men whose fighting morale was excellent. On the first of the month, Guderian estimated that the tanks and assault guns awaiting repair equaled about nine months’ new production. "The secret of all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious. They were to be an elite arm and were put on an equal status with the SS units in recruiting, armament, equipment, and training. K.St.N.131V "Grenadierkompanie" published 1 November 1944. Owing to Allied deception measures, some German armored units failed to engage the Anglo-Americans until after D-Day. guns. In late 1943, therefore, Guderian proposed and Hitler approved a scheme to form a ten-division strategic armored reserve while at the same time trying to bring all armored divisions up to strength in equipment. Germany had ten panzer divisions in Normandy, including five from the Waffen SS. The army was led by the Army High Command Oberkommando des Heeres – OKH for short – with its general staff. The parachute units were also much better armed than corresponding army units. Of the new parachute units created during the early months of 1944, OB WEST received the 3rd and 5th Divisions and the 6th Parachute Regiment (from the 2nd Parachute Division). 17th SS Panzer Grenadier Division (Goetz von Berlichingen). The infantry regiments of the Infantry Division, Old Type, may be considered the basic type of German infantry regiments, as their organization remained for all practical purposes unchanged from the beginning of 1940 until the end of 1943. mortars and 105-mm. guns as well as guns of smaller caliber, but lacked almost a fifth of its personnel. This is based upon the organization laid out in KStN 131n published 1 May 1944. The four armies were the First holding the Atlantic coast of France, the Seventh occupying Brittany and most of Normandy, the Fifteenth along the Kanalküste, and the Nineteenth defending the French Mediterranean coast. In practice, the Füsilier battalion came to be reckoned as a seventh rifle battalion. The type of organizational tables for both army and SS divisions called for a tank regiment with one battalion of Mark IV and one battalion of Mark V tanks. of all German armed forces. At the end of 1937 the German Army introduced the organization that would take its Infantry Divisions into the coming war. An order of 12 May 1944 to substitute an artillery regiment with two light battalions and one medium was not carried out before the division entered combat. Both were thus considerably larger than the normal corresponding infantry units. Most were experienced in the West and Russia. As long as the Russian front was the main theater of war and the west was not immediately threatened, it was natural to ship the bulk of the best material to the east and arm the west as well as possible with what was left. On the other hand, like so many west divisions, its combat strength in fact was much less than it appeared on paper. However, the average panzer division along the Atlantic Wall possessed merely seventy-five tanks. The term Abwehr (German for "defense", here referring to counter-intelligence) had been created just after World War I as an ostensible concession to Allied demands that Germany's intelligence activities be for defensive purposes only. It was also substantially larger than could be supported by the dwindling supply of manpower after four years of war. The “tank” battalion had thirty-seven assault guns, five less than authorized. Author. Actually, by the end of 1943, most of the divisions had lost their third regiments. In reality, most likely less than half of Grenadierkompanie were equipped in this manner. Company Troop (19 Enlisted) Russian armies were destroying existing tanks while Allied bombers were making it increasingly difficult to produce new ones. Dr. Niehorster’s previously published works include the “The Royal Hungarian Army, 1920–1945”, which was acclaimed as one of the Top Ten Books of 1999, and is considered by many experts to be the single most important English language history on the … Army planners rejected this sleight of hand as impossible and contented themselves with a further cut from 13,656 to 12,769. Each of the infantry regiments had, besides its twelve rifle and heavy weapons companies, a 13th (infantry howitzer) and 14th (antitank) company. The only such division in the west during the invasion period was the 17th SS Panzer Grenadier Division (Goetz von Berlichingen). The heavy weapons companies with twelve heavy machine guns and six medium mortars each were also superior in firepower to army units. On the other hand, they all had fewer tanks. This is based upon the organization laid out in K.St.N.131V published 1 November 1944. In theory, the two Sturmgewehr equipped platoons would be the line platoons, while the third platoon would be in reserve and used for replacements and training. * In the defense, the 2 ammunition bearers in the Fire Squad would form a third machine gun team with the reserve light machine gun held at the platoon headquarters. The need, in short, was for new tanks in large numbers. German Organization for Combat, 1944 Between 1939 and 1943 the German standard infantry division contained three regiments with a total of nine rifle battalions. To meet the invasion in June, OB WEST had six army and three SS Panzer divisions. In June 1943 the Germans had 2,569 operational tanks with 463 in process of repair. Soviet Infantry Company - April 1941 Special Rules: All elements are Poorly Drilled Company Headquarters: A notably sparse unit which comprised no more than the Company Commander and his staff offic-ers. Theoretically, about on a par with the parachute divisions were the Panzergrenadier divisions which, by American standards, were infantry divisions with organic tank battalions, some armored personnel carriers, and some self-propelled artillery. Deception, German-Style • The Firefight & Actions in Combat • Instructions in case of capture • Working Forward • German Infantry Fieldworks • What the Germans Thought : Commands: Organization: • … Each Infantry Division was built around three Infantry Regiments, each with three Infantry Battalions, an Infantry Gun Company and an Infantry Anti -tank Company. At the end of April, OB WEST had 1,608 German-made tanks and assault guns of which 674 were Mark IV tanks and 514 Mark V’s. The ubiquitous German infantry platoon was the backbone of the German military machine. The KStN lists self-loading rifles with telescopic sights as the standard. They included 13 infantry divisions, 2 parachute divisions, 5 army panzer divisions, and 4 SS panzer and panzer grenadier divisions. 1× Company HQ Section Leader (Kompanietruppführer), 1× ​Administrative First Sergeant (Hauptfeldwebel), , armed with 1 StG44 rifle and issued 1 bicycle each, Each company troop was allotted one light draft horse that drew 2 infantry carts (infanteriekarren). The Abwehr was the army intelligence organization from 1921 to 1944. Vehicles which were initially used to plough through mud at the same pace as infantry men, soon became faster and more manoeuvrable and therefore left the infantry behind, which called for the motorisation of infantry … "A German Company in the Defense," Intelligence Bulletin Vol.II, No.7, Section III. Between 1939 and 1943 the German standard infantry division contained three regiments with a total of nine rifle battalions. Like all SS divisions, it was substantially stronger than the corresponding army division. The 91st Division went into combat with an attached parachute regiment. Organic artillery consisted of one regiment of one medium (150-mm. SS divisions had an additional towed light battalion. The 1944 infantry division was set up as the basic type for new divisions as well as for the reorganization of certain old formations, as for instance, the Luftwaffe field divisions. German Organisation in WW2. The east continued to enjoy priority on new equipment until the end of 1943, and although German-made tanks and assault guns were shipped to OB WEST during that time the deliveries were often more than outweighed by the transfer of armored units. The result was the so-called 1944-type infantry division. mortars which the tables of an organization called for, but in the 3rd Parachute Division, weaponing was miscellaneous, including 100-mm. The new year brought a change. At that time Goering proposed and Hitler approved a program intended to produce by the end of 1944 two parachute armies with a total strength of about 100,000 men. During April and May, the division was able to constitute its antiaircraft battalion which had, besides light antiaircraft artillery, twelve 88-mm. The large command unit size was indicative of the German Army’s top heavy command structure for much of the war. Grenadier (OR-1) to Obergefreiter (OR-3), armed with 1 MP40 submachine gun each, 1× Deputy Group Leader (Stellvertretender Gruppenführer). These sections were commanded by a corporal and were numbered 1-12 throughout the Company. Certain divisions (notably the 77th and 91st in Seventh Army area) organized their six rifle battalions in two regiments. The average age of the enlisted men of the 6th Parachute Regiment was 17l/2. (March 1944); 3 pages Price .50 {Item No.5790}[On German WWII Forces] War Department, Military Intelligence Division. 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