of the Heer's Volksgrenadiers. At the end of October 1943, for instance, there were in the west 703 tanks, assault guns, and self-propelled 88-mm. The KStN lists self-loading rifles with telescopic sights as the standard. 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 Men Behind the Counters The German Infantry Platoon By Dave Murray January 2013. Although the static divisions were expressly designed as permanent garrison troops for the west, they were by no means safe from the periodic troop collection for the east. The total ration strength of the division as of 22 May was 17,420. howitzers). A still more important by-product of concentrating on tank manufacture at the expense of a balanced production program was the increasingly serious lack of spare parts. Author. At the end of March, the situation had not improved; the number of operational tanks was still decreasing despite accelerated deliveries of new machines. In 1939, the German army not only had five different kinds of divisions (infantry, motorized infantry, armored, mountain, and light), there were five different kinds of infantry division. The smallest subdivision of the German Army was the 9 man Squad, including its squad leader (a lance-corporal), two of which made up the Section. German Rifle Company (May 1944) By Brendan Matsuyama, Editor The following was the organization of the Schützenkompanie, or Rifle Company, the German Army's standard rifle company, from May 1944 to the end of World War II. Reductions were made chiefly in supply and overhead, and the proportion of combat to service troops was thereby raised to 75-80 percent. U.S. War Department. The result was the so-called 1944-type infantry division. But the combined pressure of the Allied air offensive and Russian ground attack was rapidly creating an economic quagmire in which the harder the enemy struggled the deeper he sank. The Abwehr was the army intelligence organization from 1921 to 1944. ", The following was the organization of the. When studying World War 2, a common question that arises is what exactly each army group or unit name means? Personnel strength of the army divisions ranged from 12,768 (9th Panzer) to 16,466 (2nd Panzer). Russian armies were destroying existing tanks while Allied bombers were making it increasingly difficult to produce new ones. Infantry Company An infantry company generally contained three Rifle and/or SMG platoons, plus a fire group of heavy weapons (mortars, machine guns, anti-tank weapons, and accompanying guns). (1995). Owing to Allied deception measures, some German armored units failed to engage the Anglo-Americans until after D-Day. mortars which the tables of an organization called for, but in the 3rd Parachute Division, weaponing was miscellaneous, including 100-mm. Company Troop (19 Enlisted) The 3rd Parachute Division comprised three regiments of three battalions each and in addition had in each regiment a 13th (mortar) company, 14th(antitank) company, and 15th (engineer) company. On the morning of Sept. 24, 1944, Staff Sgt. War Department, Military Intelligence Division. guns as well as guns of smaller caliber, but lacked almost a fifth of its personnel. The need, in short, was for new tanks in large numbers. There were basically 2 Panzergrenadier Division layouts in World War 2 the Pan… The German infantry was also known as the Wehrmacht with a strength estimated at 10 million soldiers at the time. Hitler was commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht, i.e. (March 1944); 3 pages Price .50 {Item No.5790}[On German WWII Forces] War Department, Military Intelligence Division. Other units like those found in Cavalry, Airborne, Marines raiders and Marine companies had a slightly different structure as those in the infantry. They were superior not only in numbers but in quality. The two-regiment infantry division, therefore, did not operate in T/O form in the invasion area, and for the German Army as a whole, it may be regarded as experimental and eccentric, designed further to conserve manpower but not accepted as a generally satisfactory solution. In total strength and number and variety of combat units, the static divisions bore little resemblance to one another. Although not generally a part of the standard TO&E, sub-machine guns like the Thompson, were found at company HQ's and could be issued to troops on patrol duty. The planned total for the end of May was 1,994. Second, the main source for this is the US Manual “German Squad in Combat” from the Military Intelligence Service released in January 1943. However, the average panzer division along the Atlantic Wall possessed merely seventy-five tanks. antitank guns (called “Hornets”). Known as the Infantry Division 1944, this new formation had a strength of 12,772 men as opposed to the 17,734 soldiers of a division in 1939, although its firepower had actually increased. 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. The strength of the 6th Parachute Regiment with fifteen companies was 3,457. The same order called for the formation of a heavy mortar battalion (with thirty-six 120-mm. 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 … It had in fact the full complement of assault guns but only 88 tanks in all, including 50 IVs and 38 Vs. 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. In October 1943, the division was drastically overhauled to reduce its size while maintaining its firepower. "How Infantry Battalions Develop for the Attack," Intelligence Bulletin Vol.II, No.5, Section II. howitzer or gun) battalions with a total armament of forty-eight pieces. mortars and 105-mm. The 91st Division went into combat with an attached parachute regiment. This made German platoons considerably larger than their British equivalent, over twice their size. Only the separate regiment and the 3rd Division were encountered during the fighting described in this volume. 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 … The only such division in the west during the invasion period was the 17th SS Panzer Grenadier Division (Goetz von Berlichingen). mortars) but this, too, was apparently not complied with. Two important points, first a squad rarely acted alone on the battlefield, it was used in coordination with other squads of its platoon and/or company. Between October and December 1943, 979 Mark III and IV tanks and 444 assault guns were lost, in large part because they had to be abandoned in retreat. The largest infantry division had 17,700 men organized in 3 regiments each with 3 battalions. howitzer) and three light (105-mm. German Infantry Company - 1939-1942 Company HQ: The Command Squad was normally led by a Captain, although the fluid nature of German Command structure means the company commander may be of greater or lesser rank. Organization charts of the new-style division (with 13,656 men)comprising three regiments of two battalions each had only just been published when further slashes were ordered. 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. In the case of the 77th Division, this organic lack was partly made up by the attachment of an 0st battery and a Volga-Tatar rifle battalion. World War II Armed Forces — Orders of Battle and Organizations: Last Updated 28.09.2011: German Army. The best infantry units in the 1944 German Army were the parachute divisions, administratively under the Luftwaffe but tactically always subordinated to Army command. All the infantry divisions were committed on or directly behind the coast under the command of one of the four armies or the German Armed Forces Commander Netherlands. They were to be an elite arm and were put on an equal status with the SS units in recruiting, armament, equipment, and training. Each of the infantry regiments had, besides its twelve rifle and heavy weapons companies, a 13th (infantry howitzer) and 14th (antitank) company. In February 1944, only 1,519 tanks remained operational while 1,534 were under repair. They lacked the reconnaissance battalion and had only three battalions of artillery. On the first of the month, Guderian estimated that the tanks and assault guns awaiting repair equaled about nine months’ new production. 17th SS Panzer Grenadier Division (Goetz von Berlichingen). Each of the divisions had a separate and slightly different organization which in no case conformed to the type. One panzer division (the 21st), being still equipped in part with captured materiel, was not considered suitable for service in Russia, although in other respects it was ready for offensive use, and in fact had exceptional strength in heavy weapons. The basic unit, the Rifle Company, was cut to 140 enlisted men and 2 officers, as compared with the U.S. Company of 187 enlisted men and 6 officers. The rifle companies of the 6th Parachute Regiment had twice as many light machine guns as the infantry division rifle companies. General Guderian, at last, pointed out that there was little sense in producing more tanks and guns if they were to be thus recklessly sacrificed. Actually, by the end of 1943, most of the divisions had lost their third regiments. George Nafziger. Each Infantry Division was built around three Infantry Regiments, each with three Infantry Battalions, an Infantry Gun Company and an Infantry Anti -tank Company. About equal in artillery, the German division enjoyed a slight preponderance in infantry howitzers and a heavy superiority in automatic weapons. Russian Rifle companies attacked on a frontage 350 wide, less at night or in woods, but up to 1 km in rugged mountains (Sharp, 1998). 2× Storm Platoons (0-1 Officers and 32-33 Enlisted), 3× Rifle Grenadiers (Schützen für Gewehrgranatgerät), , armed with 1 Kar98k and rifle grenade launcher each, , Grenadier (OR-1) to Obergefreiter (OR-3), armed with 1 StG44 rifle, 2× Assistant Machine Gunners (M.G.-Schütze 2), 2× Ammunition Bearers (Munitions-Schützen)*. The fact was quite different. 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. Intended personnel strength was 18,354, of which on 1 June the division actually mustered 17,321. While the 716th Division, for instance, had six battalions and only one regimental headquarters under its control on D Day, the 709th, occupying two and a half times as long coastline, had eleven battalions under three regiments. In practice, this would have likely also included Kar98k rifles with telescopic sights as well. Each platoon had a wagon for carrying rucks and munitions drawn by 2 light draft horses and 2 infantry carts drawn by 1 draft horse. In practice, the Füsilier battalion came to be reckoned as a seventh rifle battalion. Certain divisions (notably the 77th and 91st in Seventh Army area) organized their six rifle battalions in two regiments. German division artillery was thus roughly equal to that of a U.S. division. Their strength and organization varied so widely that it is impossible to talk of a type. 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