German Units

Wild Boar Plan

Air Warfare German Units 16 Min Read

The radar-based German fighter defense system was always oversaturated and nearly invalidated by the bomber streams and by the new electronic countermeasures systems, including Window (chaff). On 27 June 1943, Major Hajo Hermann proposed to the commander in chief of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Goering, that night-fighter defense tactics be modified to a radical new scheme. This was the so-called Wild…

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Doctrine German Units 9 Min Read

24th Panzer Division -Tactical Lessons in Stalingrad 11 October 1942

A fascinating glimpse on the German view of fighting in built up areas in Stalingrad (p.52) German Panzer Tactics by Charles C. Sharp Tactical Lessons Street Fighting with Tanks in Stalingrad (Report from the 24th Panzer Division Dated 11 October 1942 The employment of an armored assault group consisting of…

German Units 22 Min Read

‘The Most Ruthless Force?’ Reassessing the role of the Waffen SS 1933-45. Part I

By Matthew Thomas National Maritime Museum, London In March 1942 a secret report by the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) commented on the German public’s perception of the Waffen SS: ‘by its achievements the Waffen SS has won its place in the popular esteem. Particular reference is made to the good comradeship between…

German Units 16 Min Read

‘The Most Ruthless Force?’ Reassessing the role of the Waffen SS 1933-45. Part II

II. Training and ethos. The training that Waffen SS recruits received also ensured that the armed SS remained part of Himmler’s police empire. The Reichsführer was adamant that the Waffen SS, under the military inspectorate, would not drift towards a position where it was indistinguishable from the army. Accordingly, only…

German Units Waffen-SS 16 Min Read

‘The Most Ruthless Force?’ Reassessing the role of the Waffen SS 1933-45. Part III

Men of 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian) III. Combat Effectiveness. In our previous discussion we documented how a potent mixture of politics and military training produced a highly effective force which was ready to carry out the Führer’s aims. A new quality emerged called ‘Härte’.…

German Units Waffen-SS 23 Min Read

‘The Most Ruthless Force?’ Reassessing the role of the Waffen SS 1933-45. Part IV

SS-men of SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger IV. ‘Normal Soldiers’? It has been suggested that as it expanded in the latter years of the war the Waffen SS grew to become more like the army that it fought beside. During the second half of the war, every third SS General and every fifth…

German Units Waffen-SS 8 Min Read

German Units identified at the Battle of Berlin. April-May 1945.

56th Panzer Corps:20th Panzer Grenadier Division18th Panzer Grenadier Division9th Fallschirmjager DivisionMuncheberg Panzer Division11th SS Panzer Grenadier Division ’Nordland’15th SS Grenadier Division’Latvian No 1’ (SS Volunteers)33rd SS Grenadier Division’Charlemagne’? (SS Volunteers)Sturmgeshultz Brigades; 249, 243, Stug-Lehr-Brig.I, II, III.Guard Regiment’Grossdeutschland’ (2 Battalions)SS Chancellery Guard Battalion-this unit designated either Wachtbattalion (mot) ‘Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler’…

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116th Panzer in Normandy

The following information is from the excellent book by Niklas Zetterling entitled ‘NORMANDY 1944’. The…

Tigers – The Heavy Punch II

German commanders kept them back as a reserve to counterattack against Soviet breakthroughs, and only…

THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE ARMIES 1000-1300

Medieval Prints by Graham Turner Although firmly rooted and fairly well developed in the Rhineland,…

Romanian Waffen-SS

The “SS Division Prinz Eugen” was the only military unit ever assembled with men from…