German Grenadierdivision and Regiments by Phil Yates The German Grenadierdivision, or infantry division, is a very conventional formation. Perhaps the most interesting thing about it is how little it changed throughout the war and how close most other armies came to the German model by the end of the war. In 1939, the German Infanteriedivision (renamed as Grenadierdivision in 1942 to honour the hard-fighting German Landsers) was a well-balanced force of three infantry regiments, an artillery regiment, and supporting reconnaissance, anti-tank, and pioneer battalions. Each infantry regiment was almost a miniature division with its own artillery, reconnaissance, anti-tank, and pioneer units. Discover the tactics behind using a Grenadierkompanie in Late War...

As the war progressed, the biggest changes to the division were caused by a growing shortage of manpower. Germany’s casualties on the Eastern Front drained it of reserves and divisions shrunk dramatically in strength over the winter of 1941-42. Those in the active sectors were rebuilt in 1942, but by 1943, even strong infantry divisions were down to two regiments of infantry.

A side effect of this was that the concentration of support weapons backing up German infantry was the highest anywhere. Their lack of manpower was offset to a large degree in defensive fighting by the sheer firepower available. Of course, in attacks the shortage of manpower was crippling, but by the end of 1943, Germany was on the defensive everywhere.

The Grenadierregiment Each Grenadierregiment, or infantry regiment, is almost a miniature division allowing its Oberst or Colonel considerable freedom of action in achieving their objectives. It has the usual three infantry battalions plus an infantry gun company, an anti-tank company, a pioneer platoon, and a reconnaissance platoon.

The infantry gun company has three platoons each of two light 7.5cm leIG18 infantry guns and one platoon of heavy 15cm sIG33 infantry guns. These weapons give the regimental commander his own artillery, even when the divisional weapons are unavailable. Because they operate well forward with the infantry, the infantry guns are also useful for direct fire at fortified positions.

The anti-tank company started the war with four platoons of three 3.7cm PaK36 guns apiece. Experience in France had already revealed the limitations of this small gun, so by 1942 most regiments were supposed to have one platoon equipped with heavier guns. Although these were supposed to be the 5cm PaK38 anti-tank gun, there was a serious shortage of these weapons so many divisions found themselves issued the 7.5cm PaK38/97 instead. These guns were an improvised amalgamation of captured French 1897 model field guns mounted on the PaK38 chassis. Although it bucked when fired, this unusual hybrid worked quite well.

The Grenadierbataillon Each Grenadierbataillon, or infantry battalion, had the usual three infantry companies, plus a heavy weapons company. The schwere Kompanie or heavy weapons company has three machine-gun platoons each with four sMG34 heavy tripod-mounted machine-guns, and a mortar platoon of six 8cm GW34 medium mortars. In action the heavy company is either used as a schwerepunkt or centre of gravity for the attack, or split up amongst the companies as needed. As the war progressed, many Grenadier battalions captured Soviet 12cm mortars and used them in place of their lighter 8cm mortars. As a result, the 8cm mortars were parcelled out to the infantry companies with a pair attached to each company headquarters.

The Grenadierkompanie Each Grenadierkompanie or infantry company had three Grenadierzüge or infantry platoons. In theory each platoon had four sections of ten men with one MG34 bipod-mounted light machine-gun and a mortar squad with a small 5cm GW36 light mortar. In practice, this level of manning wasn’t authorised until 1941. Prior to this, each platoon had only three sections.

Once casualties started mounting on the Eastern Front, most platoons quickly went back to the old three-section structure, as even in the best times there were never enough soldiers. The light 5cm mortar was eventually dropped as well as its function was superseded by the 8cm mortars at one end and rifle grenades at the other.

The Schnellbataillon Although in theory each division had a reconnaissance battalion and an anti-tank battalion, most divisions combined these functions into a single Schnellbataillon or fast battalion. Although joining the role of anti-tank battalion (which also contained the division’s only anti-aircraft assets) with that of the reconnaissance battalion seems odd at first, it makes sense when you realise that these were the only parts of the division capable of marching faster than walking pace! This force was comparatively mobile and packed a considerable punch making it the first choice for the divisional reserve.

A typical Schnellbataillon had one or two companies of infantry mounted on bicycles, one to three anti-tank companies, often a heavy company with a light infantry gun platoon and a trio of machine-gun-armed armoured cars, and if fortunate, a company of light anti-aircraft guns. Surprisingly, the Schnellbataillon often lacked any heavy anti-tank guns, which were allocated to the Grenadier regiments first. Instead, the Schnellbataillon had to make do with the old 3.7cm Door Knocker until larger quantities of the bigger guns came along.

The Artillerieregiment The Artillerieregiment or artillery regiment of a Grenadierdivision was considerably heavier than any other army apart from the identically-equipped US Army. The regiment fielded three battalions of light howitzers and one of heavy howitzers. Each battalion had three batteries of four guns apiece. The light howitzer batteries were armed with the 10.5cm leFH18 light field howitzer. Only the US M2A1 105mm howitzer matched this weapon for throw weight, but, like this weapon, lacked the range of the lighter British and Soviet field guns.

The heavy howitzer batteries were issued the 15cm sFH18 heavy field howitzer with a similar range but a much heavier shell. They were used to reinforce the fire of the light howitzers at critical points.

Like most of the rest of the division, these were all horse-drawn in 1941. The Soviet Army’s practice of attacking in the worst weather to avoid the German Panzers’ attentions meant that many guns were lost in mud and snow too deep for the horse teams to pull them out of. In response, the German Army began to field the RSO, or Raupen Schlepper Ost —Crawler Carrier East, a cheap fully-tracked truck. Although far too slow for the mechanised divisions, these met the infantry’s needs. The only problem was simply that even the 14,000 produced in 1943 couldn’t meet the demand. As a result, most German artillery remained horse-drawn until the end of the war.

Quality Over Quantity Although it isn’t mechanised, the Grenadierdivision is a well-armed, high quality formation. You will always be outnumbered fielding a Grenadierkompanie, but your troops will be, team for team, as good as any in the game barring the special elite units like paratroopers. You’ll have plenty of firepower, even if you never have enough heads to take serious casualties.

Your firepower makes you strong on the defence where you can dig in to minimise casualties. If you are smart, you can be deadly on the attack too. You have plenty of firepower to whittle the enemy down and the ability to out manoeuvre most infantry to get your troops into assault positions with minimal casualties. Once the enemy is weakened and pinned down, your well-trained troops can assault them with minimal casualties. To Victory! ~ Phil.