Thread by @Niels_1944

By 1944 a standard German infantry division had about 4.000 horses. Yes, you read that correctly: 4.000
#WW2 #SWW #History

The number of horses for the artillery as show here is actually too low because it included some batteries with just 3 guns, instead of the actual 4

For Normandy such 'standard' divisions included the 271ID, 272ID, 275ID, 276ID, 277ID, 331ID, 352ID, 353ID, 363ID. Of course these were not identical in strength for various reasons

But to come back to an earlier moment, in mid 1943 the German Army (Heer) had a personnel strength of 4,29 million men. Transportation included 1,2 mil. horses and 230.000 motor vehicles. Numbers were a bit different for the navy and Luftwaffe though

Having horses to replace motor vehicles also puts a strain on manpower. To move 3 tons with a truck for 80km you only need 2 men, to accomplish the same with horses you need 24 men

Of course horses come in many different sizes and shapes. That's why the German military distinguished riding horses, light, heavy and super heavy draught horses in its TO/Es. In addition they used small and tough 'Panjepferden' from eastern Europe

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Since people have already brought up bicycles and motorization, here are the numbers for those aspects and some other topics as well. (Again this is the standard authorized strength for a Type 44 division)

and especially for @militaryhistori, a Heeresgruppe B document with some of the number he used in S&S. It shows the numbers of both human and equine 'personnel'. Of interest are the horses with the navy, Luftwaffe and SS/Police in the Netherlands

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