Thread: German 'stomach' and 'ear' units

Let's continue examining Cross-Channel Attack's (CCA) take on the German troops. For 1950/1951 it was admirable, but as we have seen yesterday not all of it holds up. Image
Now look at this sentence. The German use of stomach units has become (in)famous, but CCA correctly states that was just one division: the 70ID Image
The existence of ear and stomach units is a popular story, but it is seldom explored for what it really was.
On D-Day the 70ID did not really exist yet...
In the bigger picture it was very much an emergency formation in the summer (crisis) of 1944.
Only its infantry regiments were formed using stomach units. The rest of the division appears to have been pretty normal. Its staff originated from the 165.Res.Div. which had had its troops taken from it during the summer as troops/replacements for other units.
As for stomach (Magenkranke) and ear (Ohrenkranke) units: the majority was (originally) not raised as front line units. Instead they were formed as rear area security battalions. [Exceptions were Gren.Btl.1201 and 1202]

In May 1944 six were used to form regiments for the 70ID Image
As the war progressed, ear and stomach units were also raised as fortress units. This mainly happened in late 1944/early 1945 though
A number of these peculiar units faced allied forces in Brittany in August 1944. These had been brought up to reinforce the area after many of the regular troops in that sector had left. Incl. were: Sich.Btl.1220(M) and 1221(O), 1222(O). We can see them on their way in late June: Image
Both 1220 and 1222 were destroyed in the fighting in Brittany. 1221 evaded to Fortress Lorient and remained there until the German surrender.

[information presented here is based on Tessin, German records, allied intel and FMS]
If you enjoyed this thread and like to see more you can support me through ko-fi.com/niels_1944
Yesterday's tweet, as referred to in the first post:

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Niels Henkemans

Niels Henkemans Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @Niels_1944

18 Aug
Thread: German orbats #2
Let’s continue our crash course of German OOBs. We’ll zoom in on this one Image
Anyway, time to dig little deeper and start with a inf rgt:
Staff, HQ company, three battalions and two regimental heavy weapons units Image
Read 24 tweets
17 Aug
Thread: German orbats
German document can be very interesting, even if you don’t speak German.

Their visual OOBs are prob the best example of that, if you know what the symbols mean.
Yes, you can look those up online, but how about a crash course in several threads? ImageImage
Modern publications typically use NATO symbols. Useful, but also boring.
(Examples from Zetterling’s ‘Normandy 1944’ and Zaloga’s ‘Cherbourg 1944’) ImageImage
German OOB charts are great, and a little confusing
Regard them as a unit assembled on an inspection ground: that they're seen from the perspective of a commander looking at his troops. So left on paper is actually right and right is left: So 4-3-2-1. Applies to all subunits! Image
Read 13 tweets
26 Jul
Thread: German static divisions in Normandy supposedly had very poor personnel. While true to some extend but as always it's a bit more complicated. Cross-Channel Attack (1951) made a serious attempt for a balanced view. Arguably better than much what has been written since! Image
The book seems to be key in spreading the message that 'the average age of the 709ID was 36'. This is commonly presented as fact when in fact it was based on anecdotal evidence: An officer explaining the failure of his division.
His claim made it into German records as well 🙄 Image
Fact: the maximum average age of the combat elements in static divisions was set at 36.
And yes, support elements could raise that to over 36. But that’s just theory…
Are there reasons to believe that actually happened in the 709ID? Not really. 🧐
Read 21 tweets
6 Jul
By 1944 a standard German infantry division had about 4.000 horses. Yes, you read that correctly: 4.000
#WW2 #SWW #History Image
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 Image
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
Read 10 tweets
2 Jul
Thread:
On 21 June 7.Armee was still responsible for the fighting in Normandy with a considerable force under its command Image
Its forces were still growing in number. Image
But with an increase in troops, so increased the supply issues. Supply could not keep up with the demands of rations, fuel and ammunition.
Read 8 tweets
3 Mar
There seem to be two options in talks about German MGs on the D-Day beaches:
1) All guns MG42s (especially at Omaha)
2) Just old and captured MGs
Neither are true. Let’s take a quick look at the available numbers for the 716ID and 352ID. [I’ll ignore the Osttruppen for now]
The 716ID was a static division, so poorly equipped with just old and captured MGs. Right? Not quite.
So why the confusion? For one people confuse organic and static weapons. Big no no.
On 1 Dec. 43 the division itself had:
349 x MG34
3 x 08/15
11 x 116(f)
13 x 08
It received 9 MG42 before D-Day.
You can expect the MG34 and MG42s in frontline units.
Read 10 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(