6th PzD - OOB Question - Stalingrad

[von Nev]

Good discussion all. I think we may be narrowing it down.

I did find the 228th in "Strumgeschutz Vor." I mistakenly overlooked that two page appendix section on other units where little information is available. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

I agree Richrd that Beevor is probably not be a credible / good source. I was startled by his statement that the first Tigers were somehow in the Stalingrad relief. My understanding was that they were sent to Leningrad and I can't believe that Raus would not mention these "Wonder Weapons" in his book if they were truly available.

Based on what we have so far I am getting comfortable in saying that that the assault gun unit may be the 228th. The question now is how big was it and what quality? Raus seems to have gotten the overall number of tanks that the 6th PzD had right (or pretty close). He mentions it was around 150 and that is what independent sources also claim. Any reason to believe that he would be seriously off in his assessment of the number of tanks in the assault gun unit? He was commanding them. He says in one place it was 42 and in another it was 40. Could a brand new Stug unit that was going to Africe be overstrength at 40? At a minimum I was thinking that it should be at least at its T/O strength. Also, and this is food for thought, why would they be shipping a unit all the way to Africa at less than full strength? I can see them overstrength it since it took so long to reinforce Africa.

Regarding the morale, I was thinking it was "B" quality at a minimum perhaps even "A". Stug units were horribly feared on the battlefield by the Russians and this unit, according the Raus, performed very well on the battlefield. I struggle with making it a "C" unit since "C" units are very brittle. One shot and the whole unit can disrupt and with 100 fatigue it is down to "D" quality. If the German relief effort is going to match any sort of advance that happened historically they can't be that brittle IMHO.

Your thoughts?

Also, Ed (Volcano Man), I am serious here, do you think you can put together a camel unit art? I really think that would be cool. Raus mentions that he thinks it was a whole brigade of camels.

Marty