German platoon and company strengths Normandy.

[FreddBloggs]

Where would I go to look these up, I suspect the answer might be Zetterling which has a new edition coming.

[Jeremy]

Fred, what are you looking for? I’ve got a fair bit. The TFL IABSM supplements are excellent as a base

[FreddBloggs]

9th and 10th ss panzer. I am looking to do ww2 in 6mm and am basing the forces for and against 11th armoured.

[Jeremy]

This is going to be a tough one I suspect. You’re probably going to have to work on average strengths. I know at one stage, the 9th only had 50% of its vehicles working.

[FreddBloggs]

I know, never do it the easy way. Average and possible is good, also the makeup and spread of vehicles and attached.

[grizzlymc]

I think Zetterling goes down to company level.

Under is the word you are looking for.

[FreddBloggs]

Admit it bearish one, you are getting worried in case I show it all in the one true scale....

[grizzlymc]

That would be rather nice.

[RMD]

Platoon and Company strengths are almost impossible to discover and in any case were obsolete almost from the moment they were recorded. Unlike the British and Americans, who maintained a near-constant supply of replacements for losses, the Germans would generally keep ever-shrinking units in the field, amalgamating them as they got too weak until the division was finally down to regimental strength and would then be withdrawn in its entirety for reorganisation and absorption of replacements.

Here's an answer I gave to an earlier discussion re the order of battle for II SS Panzer Korps during Operation BLUECOAT:

When the extent of the British breakthrough became apparent, the II. SS-Panzer-Korps, consisting of 9. SS-Panzer-Division 'Hohenstaufen', 10. SS-Panzer-Division 'Frundsberg' and Schwere-SS-Panzer-Abteilung 102, was rushed from the Evrecy area, to block any further British moves south to Vire and the Vire-Conde highway. Hohenstaufen moved first, during the mid-afternoon of 1st August, while the rest of the corps moved later that night. The lead elements of Hohenstaufen clashed with the Guards Armoured Division near St Charles de Percy and Catheolles during the early hours of 2nd August.

Hohenstaufen had suffered casualties during their counter-attacks against Operations 'Martlet', 'Epsom' and 'Jupiter', as well as in their defence against Operation 'Greenline'. These casualties were suffered chiefly by the five motorised battalions of SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Regiments 19 & 20 and as a consequence, these battalions were amalgamated as a single regiment on 23rd July, designated 'SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 'H'.

The new SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 'H' had three well-equipped motorised battalions, plus five very strong support companies:
13. (sIG) Kompanie: 12x 15cm sIG (armoured – Grille or Bison)
14. (FlaK) Kompanie: 12x 2cm FlaK on armoured halftracks
15. (GrW) Kompanie: 12x 12cm mortar
16. (Pionier) Kompanie: partly equipped with SPWs
17. (Leichte) Kompanie: SPW platoon, motorcycle platoon and scout platoon (one source describes this as a 'Headquarters' company)

The III. (SPW) Bataillon of SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 20 hadn't suffered as badly as the others and was attached directly to SS-Panzer-Regiment 9. It seems to have kept its original designation of III./20, even though SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 20 no longer existed.

SS-Panzer-Regiment 9 is recorded as having 17x Pzkpfw IV, 31x Panther and 28x StuG III operational and ready for action on 1st August. This had been reduced to 7, 18 and 9 respectively by 3rd August, which gives you some idea of the intensity of combat (though these figures may also include break-downs during the march). The Panthers were massed in the regiment's I. Abteilung, while the Pzkpfw IVs were in the 5. & 6. Kompanien of II. Abteilung and the StuGs were in 7. & 8. Kompanien.

Kampfgruppe 'Meyer' was formed from Otto Meyer's SS-Panzer-Regiment 9, the remnants of III.(SPW)/SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 20, Zollhoefer's SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 'H', part of Graebner's SS-Panzer-Aufklaerungs-Abteilung 9 and most of the division's artillery. The survivors of 21. Panzer-Division were also placed under Meyer's command.

A small advanced-guard element, designated Kampfgruppe 'Froehlich' was also formed, consisting of Froelich's own 7. Kompanie/II./SS-Panzer-Regiment 9 (comprising StuG IIIs) and roughly a platoon's worth of infantry stragglers from 326. Infanterie-Division.

SS-Panzer-Artillerie-Regiment 9 was still apparently intact at the start of the battle. It's I. Bataillon had 1. Batterie, with 6x Wespe, 2. Batterie also with 6x Wespe and 3. Batterie, with 6x Hummel. II. Bataillon had three batteries (4-6) each with 4x 10.5cm leFH. III. Bataillon also had three batteries (7-9) with 4x 10.5cm leFH, plus 10. Batterie with 4x 10cm K18.

SS-Panzer-Pionier-Bataillon 9 had three companies, the third of which was mounted in SPWs. Probably quite depleted.

Graebner's SS-Panzer-Aufklaerungs-Abteilung 9 was with Weiss' Schwere-SS-Panzer-Abteilung 102 (30x Tiger I) and elements of SS-Panzer-Artillerie-Regiment 9, forming 'Kampfgruppe Weiss''. Graebner's objective was to block British advances to Vire. I don't have any information on the state of his battalion, but it originally conformed to the usual pattern of one wheeled armoured car company (Sdkfz 232, 233, 222, 221 & 223 – no modern 234 types), one halftracked armoured car company (Sdkfz 250/9), one light recce company (Sdkfz 250 SPWs), one medium recce company (Sdkfz 251 SPWs) and one heavy recce company (Sdkfz 251 support variants).

SS-Panzer-FlaK-Abteilung 9 had three batteries of 88mm FlaK and one battery of 37mm FlaK.

[RMD]

The structure of 10. SS-Panzer-Division 'Frunsberg' was virtually identical to that of Hohenstaufen, though SS-Panzer-Regiment 10 was lacking its I. Bataillon and did not therefore have any Panthers. Like Hohenstaufen, the II. Bataillon had two companies of Pzkpfw IV and two of StuG III.

However, the division suffered heavy casualties in the battles of Hill 112 and Evrecy (Operations 'Jupiter' and 'Greenline') and the division's panzer-grenadiers were particularly hard-hit.

The division was particularly weak in tanks. It had only 20x Pzkpfw IV and 15x StuG III operational on 31st July. By 2nd August the StuG strength had fallen to 8, though the Panzer strength remained at 20. By 7th August, the battalion's four companies were each down to platoon strength.

When II. SS-Panzer-Korps was pulled out of the line to counter the 'Bluecoat' penetration, Frundsberg was somewhat more difficult to extricate than Hohenstaufen. Otto Paetsch, commanding SS-Panzer-Regiment 10 was therefore ordered to form a kampfgruppe, consisting of his regimental headqurters and II. Bataillon, Brinkmann's SS-Panzer-Aufklaerungs-Abteilung 10 and Troebinger's SS-Panzer-Pionier-Bataillon 10. Kampfgruppe 'Paetsch's immediate task was to plug the line to the west of Aunay-sur-Odon, on the right of 21. Panzer-Division – to shore up the crumbling 276. Infanterie-Division and block the advance of 7th Armoured Division.

Paetsch was later reinforced in the Aunay-sur-Odon sector by SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 21 and elements of the divisional artillery, as well as Werfer-Brigade 8.

On 3rd August, Kampfgruppe Paetsch was pulled once again out of the line. With the British VIII Corps threatening Vire, Paetsch's new task was to hook around the rear of Hohenstaufen, switching from their right flank to their left flank, with the intention of clearing the Vire-Vassy highway and establishing a new defensive line along the Perrier Ridge, centred on Chendolle, just to the north of the road.

Brinkmann's recce battalion was sent to link up with 3. Fallschirmjaeger-Division at Viessoix, just to the east of Vire. Paetsch's main force meanwhile, ran headlong into strong British forces established on the Perrier Ridge.