Appendix II

German Infantry

The German Heer, or army, was formed in May 1935 following the reintroduction of military conscription. Within three years of the carefully controlled conscription programme the Army had built up a formidable fighting force, both in men and formations. In the German Army the arm of service consisted of heavy infantry, light (Schützen) units, security (Sicherungs) or police detachments, and various other types of light infantry (Jäger) formations.

For the coming war the German army was trained to play a very specific role on the battlefield, and was well tailored to carry out that role quickly and decisively. It was considered by its commanders to be the paramount arm of the service and for this reason it grew rapidly in strength, so much in fact that during the Second World War the German Army fielded some 700 infantry divisions. These divisions were numbered serially from 1 to 719, but were made more complicated by the inclusion of some divisions that were named instead of numbered, by deliberate gaps left in sequence, and by other types of infantry units that had their own numbering system. Later during the war certain divisions were retitled as Volksgrenadier, which was a description given by the Nazi Party in their belief that by bestowing distinctive names to a division, that would imbue the soldiers of that division to fight on to the bitter end.

Although many formations were included in the infantry divisions or under Army command, divisions like the Jäger and the mountain troops (Gebirgsjäger) were outside the numbering system of the standard infantry divisions, as were the Luftwaffe and the Waffen-SS. The Panzer Divisions, which were commanded by the Army, also had their own separate numbering system.

At the start of the war the battle line thus included the standard infantry divisions, and these men had first been conscripted in ‘waves’ or ‘classes’ of men. Initially the infantry divisions were numbered 1 to 36 and 44 to 46 and were the regular divisions. The second wave consisted of divisions numbered 50 to 100; the third wave composed of waves 200 to 250; and the fourth wave 251 to 300. The series 501 to 600 was left open without filling them with divisions in order to raise new formations. Late in the war these empty numbers were filled with Volksgrenadier units and the infantry numbering system was well over 700. During the last years of the war there had been a massive influx of other units accepted into the infantry divisional serial numbering system, which included the Panzergrenadier, Panzerjäger, fortress, field training, static motorized, Gebirgsjäger and Luftwaffe divisions.

Standard German Infantry Division

With the onset of war in 1939 the German infantry division had changed little from the assault divisions of 1918. The bulk of its supply and transport units were still by animal draught. The standard infantry rifle had basically not been changed since the war in the trenches, but its machine guns, notably the MG34 and mortars, were far superior to anything the enemy could muster. The artillery had changed little except that of the 10.5cm field howitzer, which had replaced the 7.7cm 18 infantry gun. Communication too was vastly superior to that of the enemy.

The Infantry division in 1939–41 averaged 16,860 men. This was made up of the following:

Officers	518
NCOs	2,573
Other Ranks	13,667
Officials	102

Of the total standard infantry division, only about 65 per cent consisted of combat troops, the remainder were support elements of the division.

Three infantry regiments comprised:

Officers	75
NCOs	493
Other Ranks	2,474
Officials	7
(Also included were staff and intelligence units)

Reconnaissance (Aufkiärungs) Battalion	623	officers and men
Anti-tank (Panzerjäger) Battalion	550	officers and men
Engineer (Pionier) Battalion	520	officers and men
Artillery (Artillerie) Regiment	2,872	officers and men
Light (Leichte) infantry ‘column’	30	men
Signal (Nachrichten) Battalion	474	officers and men
Supply services (Versrgungsdienste)	226	officers and men
Logistics column/supply train (3 motorized, 3 horse drawn)	180	officers and men
Petrol, oil and lubricants column	35	officers and men
Workshop Company	102	officers and men
Transport Company	245	officers and men
Veterinary company	235	officers and men, and 890 horses
2 Medical companies (1 Field Hospital and 2 medical transport platoons)	616	Officers and men

The infantry divisions also included the rations platoon, Bakery Company, butcher platoon, Military Police, and feldpost.

Typical German Infantry Division Prior to 1943

	Motor Vehicles	Horse Drawn Vehicles
Divisional headquarters (including administration, supply, medical, police, postal, and veterinary units)	253	245
Signal Battalion	103	7
Reconnaissance Battalion	30	3
Artillery Regiment	105	229
Anti-Tank Battalion	114	0
Engineer Battalion	87	19
Three infantry regiments: 3,250 men each, and each with 683 horses, 6 small infantry guns, 2 large infantry guns, and 12 anti-tank guns	75 (× 3)	210 (× 3)
Total Strength	911 (17,000 men)	1,133 (5,375 horses)