osiris
Posts: 217
Joined: 1/5/2007
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Hi All
Ive been sort of busy with life..mostly doing high performance tennis coaching but in between I found some time to do some research and some of you may find this fun
One of the most over looked aspects of the German defeat in WW2 was duplicity of formations. Let me give you an example
Divisional Sized Armor
SS Panzer Division
Panzer Division
HG Panzer Division
Panzer Grenadier Division
SS Panzer Grenadier Division
Small Armor Units
Tiger Battalions
Assault Gun battalions (for political purposes under command of artillery and not armor)
Heavy Tank Destroyer Battalions
so there we have 5 armored formations with different TOES all be it some what similar. If anything these complicated the coordination of resources by OKW. If you think armor was bad then look at infantry
Army Infantry Division
SS Infantry Division
Luftwaffe Infantry Division
Volkgs Grenadier Division (listed as a seperate entity because for political purposes they were not put under regular army command till later in the war)
Luftwaffe
Any Flak unit larger then a battalion again for political purposes is under command of the Luftwaffe. There is a reason why a SS Officer during the Operation Goodwood had to pull his gun out to get the 88mm guns to fire on British tanks!!!
Guderians View on the situtation
Too many small divisions running about played havoc on the logistics system on a limited road network especially in Russia. It would have been better to have larger but fewer divsions running around which could be supplied properly due to the limited road network and availability of transport
The 1944 Panzer Divison Myth
Actually the 1943 Panzer Division is the 1944 Panzer Division! The TOE is the same but logistics at company and battalion level were changed.
The New 10th Panzer Division
1943 Panzer Division is built on a premise that the Germans did not attack at Kursk as was advised when it was clear it was too late but instead the Germans focused on rebuilding their armies and Panzer force. What I have done is taken out the excesses in the German system in WW2 and created a economy efficient unit which meets Guderians view.......
1943-10th Panzer Division.org file is available if you would like to have it please let me know
OKH Order July 1943:
Due to sever manpower shortages and officer shortages (officer shortage since 1940) there will be a immediate cease of offensive actions! Units are to reorganize according to the new TOES
All Panzer Grenadier Divisions including SSPzGd Divisions will be disbanded.
1 of every 4 Panzer Divisions will disband
All SS units will confirm to Heer TOES
This will allow for the full out fitting of 1 SS Panzer Division and 3 Army Panzer Divisions for every 1 Panzer Division and 1 Panzer Grenadier division disbanded. Excess personnel/equipment from each SS Panzer Division which confirms to Heers TOES will be reassigned. All other excees personal will be reassigned to desginated formations
All Assault Guns will come under Panzer command and all battlion units will disband
All Independent Anti-Tank Battalions including Heavy Anti-tank battalions will disband
1943 Panzer Division had saner heads prevailed----lucky for us they didnt!!
HQ Staff
1x Divisional Escort Company
1x Divisional Heavy Tank Company (14x Panzer VIE)
1x Panzer Regiment
1x HQ Staff
1x HQ Company
1x Heavy Panzer Battalion: 1x HQ Staff, 1x HQ Coy 3x Panzer V Coy (17 each)
2x Medium Panzer Battalion: 1x HQ Staff, 1x HQ Coy 1x Panzer V Coy (17 AFV), 2x Panzer Company (17 PzIV-H each)
1x Light Armored Car Company (x9 AFV)
1x Panzer Flak Company
1x Panzer Pioneer Company
1x Panzer Gun Battery (6x Grille)
2x Panzer Grenadier Regiment
1x HQ Staff
1x HQ Company
1x Panzer Grenadier Battalion (SPW): 1x HQ Staff, 1x HQ Coy 3x Panzer Grenadier Coy, 1x Heavy Company
2x Panzer Grenadier Battalion (Mot): 1x HQ Staff, 1x HQ Coy 3x Panzer Grenadier Coy, 1x Heavy Company
1x Light Armored Car Company (x9 AFV)
1x Mobile Flak Company
1x Motorized Pioneer Company
1x Motorized Gun Battery (6x 150mm IG)
1x Panzer Artillery Regiment
1x HQ Staff
1x HQ Company
1x Panzer Artillery Battalion (SPW): 1x HQ Staff, 1x HQ Coy 2x Wespe Bty, 1x Hummel Bty
3x Motorized Medium Artillery Battalion (Mot): 1x HQ Staff, 1x HQ Coy 2x 105mm Bty 1x 150mm Bty
1x Motorized Medium Rocket Artillery Battalion (Mot): 1x HQ Staff, 1x HQ Coy 3x 150mm Bty
1x Panzer Anti Tank Battlion
1x HQ Staff
1x HQ Company
1x Heavy Anti-Tank Company: 2x JgPanzer IV, 1x Jagd Panther V platoon (14 AFV total)
2x Medium Anti-Tank Company: 2x SGIII, 1x StuH 42 (14 AFV total)
1x Panzer Recon Battlion
1x HQ Staff
1x HQ Company
1x Heavy Armored Car Company (9 AFV)
3x Panzer Grenadier Recon Company (SPW)
1x Heavy Company
1x Army Flak Battlion
1x HQ Staff
1x HQ Company
1x Mobile Medium Flak Company (37mm SPW)
1x Motorized Light Flak Company (20mm)
2x Heavy Flak Company (88mm)
1x Motorized Engineer Battalion
1x HQ Staff
1x HQ Company
3x Motorized Engineer Company
2x Bridge/Construction Engineer Company
Final Notes
My estimates not including command staff at least 2.5 regiments worth of infantry and their equipment would have been saved and could then have been allocated elsewhere. Keep in mind this does not include excess personal from Engineer, Flak and Recon Battalions. Whether this could have worked in 1943 is a big question since German manpower shortages were rather bad by then.
However in 1943 a lot of German formations were brought up to strenght but thanks to sheer stupidty, duplicity and above all political infighting and egos of magnitudex10 totally screwed up Germany's limited manpower and industrial resources. Clearly a complete house cleaning and re-organization might of had a dramatic effect on Germany's ability to fight the war past 1945.
In 1944 a US Army intelligence concluded the German Army was better equipped then before. After looking for the data through books, files and online resources to confirm this I can only agree with the US Army assessment. For example in my research I found the that the common held belief of rundown German infantry formations fighting off Russian hordes during 1944 Operation Bagration is a complete load of bullshit. In fact a majority of Army Group Centres infantry formations were within 80%-90% of established TOES and even a few were well above 100%!
I dont think the out come would have changed in the East but this excess manpower might of had a dramatic effect on the Western Front in 1944 and the war could have continued well into 1946.
In the end what killed the German Army, Navy and Airforce was the lack of fuel and no amount of reorganization could do anything about that! After the war OKH staff did not understand why the Allies waited till mid 1944 to bomb German fuel industries. Had they done so earlier the war might of ended in 1944.
< Message edited by osiris -- 12/4/2012 9:24:48 PM >
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