Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. The Germans made excellent use of all artillery systems at their disposal - from World War 1 designs to captured pieces from their enemies. In peacetime the headquarters staff of a field artillery regiment included seven artillery officers, three medical officers, three veterinary officers, three paymasters and their assistants, a bandmaster, an armourer, three NCOs, and three regimental tradesmen. The 18. Staff and Signal Company 1st Panzer Division, in Oldenburg; 325th Artillery Demonstration Battalion (Artillerielehrbataillon 325), in Munster with 40x PzH 2000 155mm self-propelled howitzers, 8x M270 MLRS multiple rocket launch systems, KZO drones and 2x Euro-Art COBRA counter-battery radars These Feldartillerie-Brigaden bore the number of the division they supported. The remaining 5600 were assigned to supply, recon, engineering, anti-tank, signaling and staff units. The demise of the field artillery brigade soon followed the adoption by divisions of a single field artillery regiment from 1916 in place of the two-regiment organization that had existed from 1914. However, these units and the Nahkampf-Batterien that succeeded them from 1917 – by that stage armed with a 7.7-centimetre gun – were never able to counter the Allied tanks decisively. In 1914, a German corps provided either 32 150mm howitzers or 16 210mm howitzers for the support of its two divisions. By early 1918, the army had no fewer than 2,900 field artillery batteries in service. ( Log Out /  An artillery commander replaced the artillery brigade headquarters, the cavalry was further reduced, the engineer contingent was increased and a divisional signals command was created. However, the average panzer division along the Atlantic Wall possessed merely seventy-five tanks. These personnel manned 3,732 guns and light field howitzers, with a further 54 guns designated for training use. The division fought at the Eastern Front, suffered heavy losses and was disbanded in 1944. The organization of the IIIrd battalions varied; some battalions had two batteries of 150mm heavy field howitzers plus one battery of 105mm guns, while others had three batteries of heavy field howitzers only. Artillery is often described as weak point of the Wehrmacht, Why is this so. They included artillery observation groups (Artillerie-Meßtrupps) of about six officers and 100 other ranks, which could deploy up to five flash-spotting sections (Licht-Meßstellen) as well as four or five sound-ranging sections (Schall-Meßtrupps). By May 1940, the number of divisions in the German army was A titanic quantity was lost, even in 1945. The division was part of the XXXVIII Army Corps in the 1st Panzer Army. The Suomen Ilmavoimat (Finnish Air Force). Personnel for the observation groups were trained at an artillery observation training school (Artillerie-Meßschule) at Wahn in Germany. They were under the operational command of the artillery commander of the division in which area they were deployed, with one Artillerie-Meßtrupp and one Schall-Meßtrupp usually assigned to a division sector. As at 1 October 1913 there were 642 batteries of field and horse artillery, including nine batteries at the field artillery school of gunnery (Feldartillerie-Schieß-Schule). A single observation or sound-ranging post might cover a frontage of five to sixteen kilometres, the actual distance depending upon the type of terrain and the prevailing meteorological conditions. The 18th Artillery Division was formed by combining the staff and some of the remaining corps troops from the 18th Panzer Division, being disbanded on October 1, with other stray units. This division was the first unit planned as an independent and mobile artillery force; and the planned strength for the division was never achieved. The tower was raised and lowered by a cable winch, with three guy ropes fitted to stabilize the equipment when the tower was fully extended. Its also better to have 50% of your divisions as arty templates, than to have all of your templates at … ( Log Out /  This is a wonderful and relatively compact book containing all the essential information about the organization of every Panzer division, motorized infantry (or panzergrenadier) division, and every independent artillery formation fielded by the German army during the war. However, in peacetime the Bavarian ministry of war retained a measure of responsibility for the efficiency and preparation of the Bavarian artillery regiments for war. Being the first independent mobile artillery force it never raised to its planned strength. Artillerie-Division) was a German artillery division formed during World War II in 1943. 3000 of them were assigned to the Tank Brigade, 3200 to the motorized infantry brigade and 1200 to the artillery regiment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_German_divisions_in_World_War_II A German Tank division in 1939 consisted of about 12000 men. Artillerie-Division) was a German artillery division formed during World War II in 1943. The headquarters staff of the eleven horse artillery regiments had five medical officers and four veterinary officers. Издательство «Изографус» Москва, 2002, p. 688. In light of battlefield experience and the pressing need to form ever more artillery units to support newly-formed formations during 1916, the two-regiment divisional field artillery brigade had been completely displaced by a new organization by 1917. As such I used mostly primary sources for this video. The artillery regiment therefore had two Abteilungen(sections) with eight 7.5 cm guns each, … The 18th Artillery Division (German: 18. All field artillery training and development was the responsibility of an inspector of field artillery. : For info on the Italian Waffen-SS Division ( See Italian Organizations) The four-inch howitzers were typically deployed in the three battalions (three batteries each) of an infantry division’s artillery regiment. Additionally in some cases there were also cavalry, engineer and medical units attached. These reductions were followed in April 1916 by further decreases in the transport establishment of the field batteries. Б. Мюллер-Гиллебранд. During the interwar period German army was still using the old 75mm FK 16 and 150mm sFH 13/02. The division was commanded by Major General Wener Haack.1 The 309th Division were formed in January 1944 in Paris for artillery support of the Oberbefehlshaber West. The second category of artillery was the foot artillery, and in 1913 its peacetime establishment included 1,332 officers, 82 medical officers, 35 veterinary officers, 129 paymasters and assistant paymasters, 25 bandmasters, 50 artificers, 5,322 NCOs and 28,002 other ranks, with 3,391 horses. What if Eisenhower Had Driven On to Berlin? Сухопутная Армия Германии. Ever since its significant contribution to the German victory against France in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, the artillery had enjoyed a particularly prestigious position within the army. The army’s artillery survey training manual issued in May 1917 included a list detailing the principal duties of these units: ‘(a) Location of hostile batteries and other targets; (b) Information from aeroplane photographs; (c) Observation of fire for own artillery; (d) Observation of enemy’s movements; (e) Preparation and use of stereo photographs; (f) Preparation of charts and tables showing the positions, number and activity of hostile batteries; (g) Preparation of battery [fire data] boards and artillery maps; (h) Collection and collation of all reconnaissance reports concerning the sector.’. With artillery and machine-guns dominating many of the World War I battlefields, the identification and neutralization of Allied artillery batteries was accorded a particularly high priority by the German general staff, and it was therefore hardly surprising that by early 1918 there were at least 175 Artillerie-Meßtrupps and 125 Schall-Meßtrupps operating on the Western Front alone. Б. Мюллер-Гиллебранд. German Organization Main Menu: Army Group C at Cassino, Feb 1944.: Army Group C at GOTHIC Line, Sept 1944.: German Winter Attack in December 1944.: Army Group C - Spring 1945.: Unit History - A Brief History of each Division, August 1944 to May 1945.: Commanders - A brief list of commanders. Initially using 2-centimetre, 3.7-centimetre, 5-centimetre, 5.7-centimetre and 6-centimetre guns adapted for the purpose (mainly by lowering and reconfiguring the gun carriage to enable shells to be fired with a near horizontal trajectory), these defensive or protective artillery units (Schützengrabenkanonen-Abteilungen) were deployed to infantry regiments on the Western Front as sector troops, being manned jointly by artillery and infantry gunners. Each battalion consisted of five companies. The remaining officers and men from staff and corps troops were used to form the Panzerkorps Großdeutschland and the artillery regiments were reformed into several independent artillery brigades. PzDiv") is an armoured division of the German Army.Its headquarter is based in Oldenburg.In the course of the last reorganisation of the Bundeswehr it became the backbone of Germany's newly formed intervention forces with a manpower of 35,000 soldiers. The unit was planned as a mobile artillery force, but due to lack of equipment it was never raised to its planned strength. Example: 3rd Panzer Grenadier Division consisted of 103rd Panzer Battalion (assault guns), … The German corps, in addition to containing supply, communication, and hospital units, provided heavier artillery for the support of the divisions. The whole equipment was mounted on a two-wheeled trailer and drawn by a suitable motor vehicle, a metal seat being provided at each side of the tower for use by the device’s two-man crew when in transit. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. The 1st Panzer Division (German: "1. Change ). 1st Panzer Division (1. Each infantry division had another artillery battalion equipped with the tractor-drawn M1 155mm howitzer with a range almost 14,600 meters (nine miles). The Destruction of Army Group Center, 1944. This formation included 14 infantry divisions, one tank division plus three mountain brigades, four cavalry brigades and two fortress brigades. Known as the Infantry Division 1944, this new formation had a strength of 12,772 men as opposed to the 17,734 soldiers of a division in 1939, although its firepower had actually increased. Now in terms of organization and structure, a German Infantry division in 1914 consisted of 2 Infantry brigades, which themselves consisted of 2 Infantry regiments each, which consisted of themselves of 3 infantry battalions and 1 MG Company. These guns provided general support of the division. On mobilization the divisional field artillery was grouped into field artillery brigades (Feldartillerie-Brigaden), each consisting of of two regiments and commanded by a major general (Generalmajor), with a brigade allocated to every division. Taking into account their intended use, the mountain divisions had a large share of light and easy-to-handle equipment. Artillerie Division) was a short-lived artillery division of the Wehrmacht. To carry out their task, artillery group observation detachments used a range of optical surveillance equipment, including large periscopes (Mastfernrohre) manned by an NCO and four other ranks. Although the precise numbers always depended upon the operational situation and stage of the conflict, a field artillery battery usually had about 135 rounds of gun ammunition or 88 rounds of howitzer ammunition immediately available for each gun from its battery gun limbers, wagons and wagon limbers. Being the first independent mobile artillery force it never raised to its planned strength. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. From 1943, the lack of available replacements for the Wehrmacht began to become apparent, reducing the division’s TOE strength and introducing a new organization. The three-Abteilungen organization also reflected the fact that most infantry divisions were ‘triangular’, being based upon three infantry regiments, and by 1917 this structure had become the standard field artillery support for a division. It was formally disbanded on July 27, 1944. German Orders of Battle for the campaign in the West, 10 May 1940. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. In comparison, German artillery strength on the Eastern front (probably only referring to artillery, not mortars) was ~over 7 k down to over 5 K in the same period) This serviced some 2.7-1.9 million German troops. These reorganized regiments now had three Abteilungen, numbered I, II and III (one of which was entirely equipped with light field howitzers) rather than two, and nine instead of twelve field batteries. The 1st Reserve Division triangulated in June 1917. In 1913, the field artillery’s peacetime establishment consisted of 3,523 officers, 325 medical officers, 315 veterinary officers, 529 paymasters and assistant paymasters, 101 bandmasters, 214 artificers, 14,181 NCOs and 72,180 other ranks, with 57,327 horses. German Artillery Tactics in World War 2 are a rather obscure subject, very little is written about it. ARTILLERY OBSERVATION AND SOUND-RANGING UNITS. Although not as effective as a reconnaissance aircraft, these extending observation towers were mobile and relatively easy to conceal, so they were less vulnerable than captive observation balloons. From February 1917 the separate branches of field and foot artillery were centralized, with a single focus for artillery development, command and control. A special element of this division was that it had its own (heavy) infantry element, the Schützen-Abteilung 88 (tmot) (also known as Art.-Kampf-Btln. That effectiveness also influenced the future construction of defensive positions, as all sides sought to counter the sheer weight of high explosives that could be delivered with considerable accuracy by a wide range of guns, mortars, and howitzers of all types, capabilities and calibres. 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