Wehrmacht Panzer Companies
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Ostfront – Commander’s Bulletin Building German Tank Companies for Your Battles Welcome to the third Ostfront Commander’s Bulletin, Colonel. We’re going to tackle the German armed forces this time. You’re still going to need the Wehrmacht book and the rule set on hand. We’re going to focus on companies, as the !ork !ell !ith Ostfront. The "ifferences #s usual, the details changed o$er the ears. %n fact, the !ere &uite massi$e – and that’s because of the doctrine. The first thing to remember is that the Germans !ere not &uite as strong logisticall as the #llies and often ended up o$ere'tended. #s a result, it !as a rule rather than e'ception for German di$isions to fight under(strength. The !ere also al!a s in need of materiel, as the #llies made it difficult to obtain. %n fact, it’s an e'tremel comple' sub)ect and this fundamental !eakness – along !ith an ailing econom – !as an important reason as to !h the lost, fighting on too man fronts not!ithstanding. While the relied on the *ch!erpunkt idea – concentrating force and breaking through – it !orked some!hat differentl from the !a the *o$iet concentration of forces !orked. Their doctrine !as actuall closer to modern Western forces. Their infantr tactics centered on machineguns, and the hea$il utili+ed ,-Gs. This is in stark contrast to the Western forces, !hich considered rifles sufficient for suppressi$e fire purposes. We often think of the Wehrmacht as mechani+ed, but that’s not the case. %n fact, the Germans ne$er achie$ed the mechani+ation rates of the #llies. But at the same time, there !as a different facet to this, obser$ed e$en recentl . German soldiers are often pu++led b ho! slo! compared to them their British allies operate. That happens because !hile the Germans operate as mechanized infantr , the British operate as mechani+ed infantry. This difference in emphasis actuall goes !a back to World War %%. /urthermore, the most re$olutionar thing about the German forces !asn’t the use of tanks themsel$es, or e$en the smart use of tanks. Compared to modern or allied armored di$isions, the Germans had relati$el fe! tanks in a 0an+er di$ision. The re$olutionar part !as that the !ere organic, and that 0an+er di$isions !ere not fe! in number. %n fact, as the !ar dragged on, more mechani+ed infantr !as added. 1 Ostfront – Commander’s Bulletin Tank 0latoons %n the Wehrmacht, the t pical tank platoon had 2 tanks of the appropriate t pe. %t should be noted that uniformit !as not guaranteed and a single platoon could ha$e different tanks of the same class. The German Tank Compan The German Tank Compan !ould ha$e an !here from 3 to 4 tank platoons, a staff component, a signals component, a pioneer component, motorc cle recon and an anti(aircraft platoon. *ince there !as massi$e $ariet like that, and the compan could be under(strength, !e’re going to describe mi' and match components. Building Your Compan We’re going to gi$e rough guidelines for periods and specific theaters – !hile the formed a large part of their arm at first, the Germans started phasing out light tanks in 0an+er di$isions and the !ere largel gone b 56237 instead, -edium and 8ea$ Tank companies !ould form the bulk of the German forces. *o, !e co$er the rough periods before #frica, the #frican campaign, Operation Barbarossa, the 5623 period – 9ursk and %tal – and the 5622: period, !hen the Germans !ere alread on the !a to defeat. 8ea$ tanks !ere also rarel permanentl attached to a specific di$ision and instead !ere used in independent tank battalions. %f ou’re tr ing to build off a ;t pical’ di$ision, ou might ha$e multiple companies. in general, earlier battalions had more light tanks, then the medium tank component gre! to dominate. *ometimes, single platoons from hea$ companies !ould be dispatched to assist. %n fact, earl hea$ companies !ere sort of padded !ith 0an+er %%%s. #s a rule of thumb, the later in !ar, the more uniform the tanks in the companies !ere. We’re going to list the components – ou should check off the *ignals, 0ioneers, <econ, *taff, Compan Command, and the #nti(#ircraft platoon. Then ou should add 3 to 4 platoons of the appropriate t pe for our compan =light, hea$ or medium>. ?ote that ou can skip some of these to represent the t pical under( strength realit the Germans often found themsel$es in. We’d suggest designing a full(strength, paper compan and then crossing off some pre$ious casualties. To build our tank platoons, ou should consult the lists further do!n – the !ill list the tanks eligible for each t pe of platoon for a gi$en period. "epending on the battalion, the tank lineups could be relati$el uniform, or a mishmash of e$er thing. 3 Ostfront – Commander’s Bulletin *ignals, 0ioneers, <econ, *taff 5 ' 9ubel!agen or -otorc cle Compan Command 3 ' Tank #nti(#ircraft 0latoon 4 ' #nti(#ir unit ,ight Tank 0latoon 4 ' ,ight Tank -edium Tank 0latoon 4 ' -edium Tank 8ea$ Tank 0latoon 4 ' 8ea$ Tank ,ight Tank, before #frica 0an+er % B 0an+er %% # 0an+er 3@=t> -edium Tank, before #frica 0an+er %%% 8 0an+er %A B =-a'imum of 5> ,ight Tank, Barl #frica =5625> 0an+er % B 0an+er %% # 2 Ostfront – Commander’s Bulletin -edium Tank, Barl #frica =5625> 0an+er %%% 8 0an+er %A B ,ight Tank, #frica =5621(5623> 0an+er %% # -edium Tank, #frica =5621(5623> 0an+er %%% C 0an+er %A B 0an+er %A G 8ea$ Tank, ,ate #frica =5621(5623> 0an+er %%% C 0an+er A% Tiger =5 ma'imum> ,ight Tank, Barbarossa 0an+er %% # 0an+er 3@=t> -edium Tank, Barbarossa 0an+er %%% C 0an+er %A B 0an+er %A G 8ea$ Tank, Barbarossa 0an+er %%% C 0an+er A% Tiger 4 Ostfront – Commander’s Bulletin 5623 -edium Tank 0an+er %%% C 0an+er %A B 0an+er %A G 5623 -edium Tank, Battalions 45 D 41 0anther 5623 8ea$ Tank 0an+er %%% C 0an+er A% Tiger 5622: -edium Tank B%T8B< 0an+er %%% ? O< #n 0an+er %A O< 0anther 5622: 8ea$ Tank B%T8B< Tiger O< Tiger %% -echani+ed %nfantr *ince a 0an+er di$ision had a si+eable mechani+ed infantr component. #s German infantr itself is a $er comple' sub)ect, it’s a topic for another time. %f ou E Ostfront – Commander’s Bulletin need an infantr detachment from our 0an+er di$ision, the easiest !a to do it is to build an infantr compan !ith enough 8anomags to transport it. Fsing these in Ostfront Calling back to the #merican companies Bulletin, Ostfront doesn’t enforce an arm composition. "epending on the battle si+e, ou can deplo a full tank compan , a battered compan or !hate$er ou !ish. These lineups should help ou build realistic forces. ?ote that !e onl co$ered the mi' of tank companies for the Germans. %f ou’re pla ing a 0an+er di$ision element, ou’ll likel !ant to add 0an+ergrenadiers to support ou. # 8ea$ Tank battalion might turn out infle'ible, as its companies are po!erful but eat up a lot of points. 9no!ing ho! these units !ere built, ou should be able to &uickl !hip up a realistic force to field. ?ote that this is entirel modular, so as !e mentioned pre$iousl . in a bigger fight, ou can bring out attachments or e$en multiple different companies to reach our goals. G.