Of the
armies under the command of Oberbefehlshaber West
(Commander-in-Chief West or
OB West) two were
to be closely involved in the Battle of Normandy. For the
defense of the Channel coast, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’s Heeresgruppe B
controlled some ten corps and 45 divisions in the 7. Armee (Normandy) and the
15. Armee (Pas de Calais). If
this total seems impressive, it must be borne in mind that
the German divisions were variable in quality. Nor did
divisions of the same type all have an identical
organization.
When the
war began, the German
infantry division was similar in
structure to its American and British counterparts,
consisting of three infantry regiments with three battalions
each: the so-called triangular organization. But faced with
an increasingly acute manpower crisis as the war dragged on,
the Army found itself compelled to reduce the size of the
infantry division. Usually one battalion was removed from
each infantry regiment, leaving the division with a total of
six (plus a so-called fusilier battalion with heavy
weapons). This reorganization, carried out in late
1943-early 1944, produced the Type 1944 Infanterie-Division.
The loss of manpower was partly offset by increasing the
division’s firepower with more machine guns, mortars and
infantry antitank weapons. The 352. Infanterie-Division,
defending Omaha Beach on D-Day, was organized in this manner.
Many of
the divisions assigned to HG B were so-called static
(bodenständig) infantry divisions. Of the fourteen
7. Armee infantry divisions, half were
bodenständig types. As the designation implies, these
divisions were configured for static defense. Generally they
received lower-quality manpower, were armed with captured
weapons and lacked sufficient transport to move as a unit.
The 709. Infanterie-Division (bo), defending Utah Beach, was a
unit of this type, its
artillery regiment being
equipped with captured French and Russian artillery. The
bodenständig divisions
were structured like the Type 1944 division,
with three two-battalion infantry regiments. Many, however, had
additional units attached.
A number
of HG B's
bodenständig divisions were former Luftwaffe field
divisions, formed from surplus Air Force personnel. By 1944
these divisions had been transferred to the Army, albeit
retaining their original numbers with the designation (L). There were also two Luftwaffe
parachute divisions and a separate parachute regiment in the
7. Armee sector. Neither of these divisions was up to strength at
the time of D-Day but organizationally they were similar to
the prewar Army infantry division.
150mm self-propelled
howitzers of the 12th SS Panzer division in action (World
War Photos)
Some of the German divisions
present in France on D-Day had been raised specifically for
the defense of the West but most were divisions that had
been redeployed from other fronts, often after suffering
high losses in combat. In France they were reorganized and
rebuilt with fresh drafts. Essentially these were new
divisions, though they bore the numbers of preexisting
formations. Their combat effectiveness was variable,
depending mostly on the size and experience of the surviving
cadres.
The
Army’s panzer divisions had been been cut down in size
since 1939, partly because of the manpower crisis and partly
because their original organization had proved too unwieldy.
The 1944 panzer division consisted of a panzer
regiment of two battalions with about 150 tanks, two panzer
grenadier regiments each with two motorized infantry
battalions, an artillery regiment with one
self-propelled and two motorized battalions, an armored reconnaissance
battalion, and various supporting units. But no two were
exactly alike, being equipped with whatever happened to be
available at the time they were raised or rebuilt. The
panzer divisions of the Waffen-SS were similar
to the Army panzer divisions but larger,
and they usually had the latest equipment. In all there were nine
Army and Waffen-SS panzer divisions and one Waffen-SS panzer
grenadier division assigned to OB West, with six panzer
divisions in the HG B zone.
The 21. Panzer- Division,
which bore the identity of the Afrika Korps division
lost in North Africa, was reformed in France with a few
veterans of the old division and a large contingent of
conscripts. But despite its famous identity it was a new and
largely inexperienced unit. The division was equipped with captured French
vehicles, this thanks to the work of an innovative officer,
Major Alfred Becker, a Great War veteran recalled to active
duty in 1939. In 1942 he set up three workshops near Paris
for the conversion of captured armored tractors, halftracks
and other equipment for service with the German Army. Thus
by 1944 the self-propelled artillery, infantry guns, assault
guns and tank destroyers of 21. Panzer-Division consisted of
German weapons mounted on modified French vehicles, while the
panzer grenadier battalions and the reconnaissance battalion were equipped with French
halftracks. During the Battle of Normandy Becker himself commanded
the division's assault gun battalion, which was equipped
with 75mm guns and 105mm howitzers mounted on the chassis of
French H35 and H38 light tanks.
Major Alfred Becker
(left) with Rommel and the commander of the 21st Panzer
Division, Major-General
Edgar Feuchtinger (Bundesarchiv)
Most divisions were
under a corps headquarters, but some were held as reserves
under army or army group command.
The
91. Luftlande-Infanterie-Division,
for instance, was one of two reserve divisions of the 7.
Armee. The other was the 21. Panzer-Division,
which though it remained under XXXXVII Panzer Corps,
was earmarked for 7. Armee. XXXXVII Panzercorps
with its three divisions was itself the HG B reserve.
Corps were variable in strength, with from two to four
divisions plus assorted nondivisional combat units under
command.
HG B had a large number
of such separate brigades, battalions and static coast artillery
batteries. Among them were the so-called Ost
battalions, whose personnel were drawn from various ethnic
groups in occupied Russia: Ukrainians, Georgians,
Lithuanians, Cossacks, etc. Their officers and most NCOs
were German. Overall the Ost battalions were lightly
armed, sketchily trained and of low combat value. Most of
them were attached to the bodenständig
divisions in the coastal zone. As for the coast
artillery, both the Army and the Navy contributed units,
many of them armed with captured weapons. For example,
Marine-Artillerie-Abteilung (Naval Artillery Battalion)
608 had four batteries armed with a miscellany of German,
French, Belgian and Russian guns.
Thus the German forces defending
Normandy in June and July 1944 ranged from elite units like
the 12.
SS-Panzer-Division
Hitlerjugend to
bodenständig
divisions of indifferent quality and
Ost
battalions of doubtful reliability. Despite this, the
Germans put up a stout defense, and it was only the Allies'
overwhelming material superiority, particularly in the air,
that brought them victory.
(See Dr. Leo
Niehorster's outstanding website, World War II Armed
Forces, for detailed D-Day orders of battle, both
German
and
Allied.)
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