Major Events Of World War 2

[Gotthard Heinrici]

Here is a breakdown of the German Order of Battle during the Battle for Berlin as compiled by Tony Le Tissier in his book "Race for the Reichstag":

OKW RESERVE (later allocated to the LVI Panzer Corps, 9th Army)

18th Panzergrenadier Division (Maj Gen Josef Rauch)
30th & 51st Panzergrenadier Regts
118th Panzer Regt (part)
18th Artillery Regt

ARMY GROUP ‘VISTULA’ (Col Gen Gotthard Heinrici)

III SS ‘Germanic’ Panzer Corps (SS Lt Gen Felix Steiner)
(divisions later allocated to the 9th Army)
11th SS ‘Nordland’ Panzergrenadier Division (SS Maj Gen Jurgen Ziegler / SS Maj Gen Dr Gustav Krukenburg)
23rd ‘Norge’ Panzergrenadier Regt
24th ‘Danmark’ Panzergrenadier Regt
11th SS ‘Hermann von Salza’ Panzer Btn
503rd SS Heavy Tank Btn
11th SS ‘Nordland’ Armoured Reconnaissance Btn
23rd SS ‘Nederland’ Panzergrenadier Division (SS Maj Gen Wagner)
(divisions later allocated to the 3rd Panzer Army)
27th SS ‘Langemarck’ Grenadier Division
28th SS ‘Wallonien’ Grenadier Division

3rd Panzer Army (Gen Hasso von Manteuffel)
‘Swinemunde’ Corps (Lt Gen Ansat)
402nd & 2nd Naval Divisions
XXXII Corps (Lt Gen Schack)
‘Voigt’ & 281st Infantry Divisions
549th Volksgrenadier Division
Stettin Garrison
‘Oder’ Corps (SS Lt Gen von dem Bach / Gen Hörnlein)
610th & ‘Klossek’ Infantry Divisions
XXXXVI Panzer Corps (Gen Martin Gareis)
547th Volksgrenadier Division
1st Naval Division

9th Army (Gen Theodor Busse)

156th Infantry Division
541st Volksgrenadier Division
404th Volks Artillery Corps
406th Volks Artillery Corps
408th Volks Artillery Corps

CI Corps (Gen Wilhelm Berlin / Lt Gen Friedrich Sixt)
5th Light Infantry Division
606th Infantry Division
309th ‘Berlin’ Infantry Division
25th Panzergrenadier Division
111th SPG Training Bde
‘1001 Nights’ Combat Group
LVI Panzer Corps (Gen Helmuth Weidling)
9th Fallschirmjäger Division (Gen Bruno Braüer / Col Harry Herrmann)
25th, 26th & 27th Fallschirmjäger Regts
9th Fallschirmjäger Artillery Regt
20th Panzergrenadier Division (Col / Maj Gen Georg Scholze)
76th & 90th Panzergrenadier Regts
8th Panzer Btn
20th Artillery Regt
‘Müncheberg’ Panzer Division (Maj Gen Werner Mummert)
1st & 2nd ‘Müncheberg’ Panzergrenadier Regts
‘Müncheberg’ Panzer Regt
‘Müncheburg’ Armoured Artillery Regt
920th SPG Training Bde
XI SS Panzer Corps (SS Gen Mathias Kleinheisterkamp)
303rd ‘Döberitz’ Infantry Division
169th Infantry Division
712th Infantry Division
‘Kurmark’ Panzergrenadier Division
502nd SS Heavy Tank Btn
Frankfurt an der Oder Garrison (Col / Maj Gen Ernst Biehler)
V SS Mountain Corps (SS Gen Friedrich Jackeln)
286th Infantry Division
32nd SS ’30. Januar’ Volksgrenadier Division
391st Sy Division
561st SS Tank Hunting Btn

ARMY GROUP CENTRE (Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner)

4th Panzer Army (Gen Fritz-Herbert Gräser)
(later transferred to the 9th Army)
V Corps (Lt Gen Wagner)
35th SS Police Grenadier Division
36th SS Grenadier Division
275th Infantry Division
342nd Infantry Division
21st Panzer Division

12th Army (Gen Walter Wenck)
XX Corps (Gen Carl-Erik Koehler)
‘Theodor Körner’ RAD Division
‘Ulrich von Hutten’ Infantry Division
‘Ferdinand von Schill’ Infantry Division
‘Scharnhorst’ Infantry Division
XXXIX Panzer Corps (Lt Gen Karl Arndt)
(12 – 21 April 1945 under OKW with the following structure)
‘Clausewitz’ Panzer Division
‘Schlageter’ RAD Division
84th Infantry Division
(21 – 26 April 1945 under 12th Army with the following structure)
‘Clausewitz’ Panzer Division
84th Infantry Division
‘Hamburg’ Reserve Infantry Division
‘Meyer’ Infantry Division
XXXXI Panzer Corps (Lt Gen Holste)
‘von Hake’ Infantry Division
199th Infantry Division
‘V-Weapons’ Infantry Division
1st HJ Tank Destroyer Bde
‘Hermann Göring’ Jagdpanzer Bde
XXXXVIII Panzer Corps (Gen Maximillian Reichsherr von Edelscheim)
14th Flak Division
‘Leipzig’ Battle Group
‘Halle’ Battle Group


Ungrouped Formations

‘Friedrich Ludwig Jahn’ RAD Division (Col Gerhard Klein / Col Franz Weller)
‘Potsdam’ Infantry Division (Col Erich Lorenz)


Busse's 9th Army and Wenck's 12th Army were prinicipally caught up in the Battle for the Halbe Pocket

[Kiwiwriter]

That OB is fascinating...talk about a "dog's breakfast" of units. The "1001 Nights" brigade? A panzer corps made of Naval Divisions? (Those were sailors released from ships) The 9th Parachute Division held Seelow Heights and crumbled under Soviet pressure. Most of the 9th Parachute Division were Luftwaffe ground crewmen, who had very little infantry training. Thanks for sharing that.

[Gotthard Heinrici]

Originally posted by Kiwiwriter@Mar 24 2005, 02:25 PM
That OB is fascinating...talk about a "dog's breakfast" of units. The "1001 Nights" brigade? A panzer corps made of Naval Divisions? (Those were sailors released from ships) The 9th Parachute Division held Seelow Heights and crumbled under Soviet pressure. Most of the 9th Parachute Division were Luftwaffe ground crewmen, who had very little infantry training. Thanks for sharing that.

Quoted post

That Fallschirmjager Unit the 9th, was commaded by Bruno Bauer, who I believe was executed after the war for war crimes committed in Crete. did he execute New Zealand prisoners????


another interesting figure at the time was the commander of the 56th Panzer Corps General Weidling. In the space of 24 hours he went from being arrested to being made commandant of the Berlin Garrison!!!!

Yeah there were some pretty weird units in that order of battle but even take the amount of SS Divisions. Of 38 recognised Units, 11 were formed in 1945!!!:
Name Strength
26th SS Ungarische 13000

30th Waffen Grenadier Division Der SS ( Weissruthenische Division )
Strength 4500

31st SS Freiwilligen Grenadier Division
Strength 11000

32nd SS Freiwilligen Grenadier Division
Strength 2000

33rd Waffen Kavallerie SS Division
Destroyed 1945 number given to next

33rd Waffen Grenadier Division Der SS( Charlemagne Division )

34th Waffen grenadier SS Division ( Landstorm Nederland Division )
Strength 7000

35th SS Polizei Grenadier Division
Strength 5000

36th Waffen Grenadier Division Der SS
Strength 6000


37th SS Freiwilligen Kavallerie Division (Lutzow Division )
Strength 1000

38th SS Grenadier Division ( Nibelungen )
Strength 1000
As can be seen very few, if any, of these units came anywhere near what could be classed as divisional strength.

[Gnomey]

Really interesting informaton Gotthard. Thanks for sharing that, there really was a hodge podge of units defending Berlin, many nowhere near what could be classed as divisional strength.

[morse1001]

Most of the 9th Parachute Division were Luftwaffe ground crewmen, who had very little infantry training. Thanks for sharing that.

You must remember that 2500 luftwaffe personnel were transfered to the 1SS Divison and fought with great skill with the SS.

Also, remember that britain had the Royal Naval Division in WWI which was made up of serving RN people.

in addition after D-day there was a run down of units in RAF and many personnel were transfered to the army. men who had volunteered from Aircrew duties found themselves humping rifles around Northern europe.

[Kiwiwriter]

Originally posted by morse1001@Mar 25 2005, 12:20 PM

You must remember that 2500 luftwaffe personnel were transfered to the 1SS Divison and fought with great skill with the SS.

Also, remember that britain had the Royal Naval Division in WWI which was made up of serving RN people.

in addition after D-day there was a run down of units in RAF and many personnel were transfered to the army. men who had volunteered from Aircrew duties found themselves humping rifles around Northern europe.

Quoted post

All very true, but the 9th Parachute Division crumpled on Seelow Heights, nonetheless. Many of the Luftwaffe personnel who had been transferred earlier to 1 SS and other divisions had served in Goering's Luftwaffe field army, so they had more battle-training and combat action. Also the Royal Naval Division was based on serving RN people, but at that time, European navies had vast experience with shore landing parties from colonial battles, and bluejackets often fought land battles against assorted enemies, ranging across the globe. These included the Chinese Boxers in 1900. The first attempt to relieve the siege of Beijing was made by Admiral Seymour and 2,000 Royal Navy sailors and Marines. They were stopped by sheer numbers, and the famous expeditionary force backed them up in the final drive on Beijing. They had a lot of sailors, too. The defense of Bejing was initially led by the skipper of the Austrian cruiser Zenta, by virtue of seniority and a bad temper, and his first order to fall back was greeted with gasps by diplomats and other military attaches alike. Realizing that the seniority rules of the Austrian Navy did not apply, the diplomats fired the captain. Many of Beijing's defending troops were Austrian, Italian, and Spanish sailors themselves.

[Gotthard Heinrici]

Originally posted by Kiwiwriter+Mar 28 2005, 02:59 PM-->

All very true, but the 9th Parachute Division crumpled on Seelow Heights, nonetheless. Many of the Luftwaffe personnel who had been transferred earlier to 1 SS and other divisions had served in Goering's Luftwaffe field army, so they had more battle-training and combat action. Also the Royal Naval Division was based on serving RN people, but at that time, European navies had vast experience with shore landing parties from colonial battles, and bluejackets often fought land battles against assorted enemies, ranging across the globe. These included the Chinese Boxers in 1900. The first attempt to relieve the siege of Beijing was made by Admiral Seymour and 2,000 Royal Navy sailors and Marines. They were stopped by sheer numbers, and the famous expeditionary force backed them up in the final drive on Beijing. They had a lot of sailors, too. The defense of Bejing was initially led by the skipper of the Austrian cruiser Zenta, by virtue of seniority and a bad temper, and his first order to fall back was greeted with gasps by diplomats and other military attaches alike. Realizing that the seniority rules of the Austrian Navy did not apply, the diplomats fired the captain. Many of Beijing's defending troops were Austrian, Italian, and Spanish sailors themselves.

Quoted post

[/b]

Good point well made Kiwiwriter. When Goering heard that the 9th Parachute Division had run away, he went into a fury saying "Not my paratroops" until, having it verified, he then went into a sulk!!!!