Updated Normandy'44_Alt (third time, 13 AUG)

[Strela]

Great post Volcano man re the challenges tank forces have when used en masse - under the McNamara rule set.

I was particularly interested in the comments regarding German tank strengths in Normandy. It echoed what I had seen with Korsun in that all German tank units were full strength and way over stated for the actual situation. It was the findings of that research that prompted me to redo the Korsun scenarios.

A quick scout through my reference library (Jentz's Panzertruppen 2 sufficed in this case) turned up the following;

Guderian's (Panzer Inspector) report to Hitler on June 10th regarding tank strength available in France. It's very important to note that France was being used to refurbish and reconstitute units from the Eastern Front. This meant that they were bought up to full TO&E in terms of equipment very quickly but took longer to bring personnel up to a level that they could be committed to combat. The German doctrine was to leave units in the field until they burned out and then rebuild them (in Germany & France). Of the nine Panzer Divisions in France & Belgium only three had been slated for the actual defence of the country (21st, Panzer Lehr & 12th SS). 17th SS Panzer Grenadier with it's single Panzer Battalion was also slated for the defence of France.

Guderian's Report showed nearly 1,900 armoured vehicles available.





Importantly, the actual number available (both operational and under repair) is in the following charts;


Forces responsible for defending France;





Reinforcements used in Normandy during June (usually moved from their training grounds in France to the front)





Reinforcements used in Normandy during July (from across Europe)





As can be seen many of these units were full TO&E before being committed to combat. Very importantly though to note is that the ONLY Panzer replacements received in the West between June 6th & July 8th was 17 Pzkw IV's to 21st Panzer Division. Every unit had to recover its own vehicles and repair / keep them in good repair with their own assets. Essentially the German forces in the West received reinforcements of whole formations, rather than replacements for units in the field.

Here is the summary of the claimed German losses by the Allies and the actual complete write offs of vehicles recorded by the Germans;




Of interest is that Guderian said that the Panzer Divisions were in very good shape during June and July and were available for offensive actions. When compared to the starting strength of 1,891 vehicles this 349 vehicle loss equated to just 18.5% of the starting number.

If we look at some of the fluctuating strengths during the campaign we see the following.

21st Panzer Divisions, 22nd Panzer Regiment. This Division lost half its Pzkw IV's during June but actually kept operational the remainder of its vehicles till at least mid July.




Michael Wittman's SS sPz Abt 101 lost half its vehicles on the approach march (due to mechanical issues) but managed to keep 30 Tigers on its roster for nearly all of June & July. It 'only' had 15 irreparable losses during June and a further 5 in July. That said the actual operational vehicles was painfully low at any one time with periods where no Tigers were available for combat. Again the organic workshops managed to keep this Abteilung in the field.




As a final comparison, here is 1st SS Panzer Regiment (Leibstandarte). This unit once having traversed France to Normandy increased it's operational strength as damaged vehicles returned to the battalions;




Looking at the losses in July, a period of initial positional warfare and then the break out we see the following;




Of significance is the comments regarding losses to air attack. This equates to less than 10% of vehicles reviewed by the British post battle. Of interest a similar comment was made regarding the (first) Gulf War;

One Iraqi tank battalion started the war with about 35ish tanks dug in Kuwait - after 6 weeks of aerial attack by highly sophisticated modern fighter bombers with smart weapons they had lost 7 destroyed.

During the land battle a US armoured unit engaged the afore mentioned Iraqi battalion and 15 minutes later they had no tanks, or any other vehicles left.

Considering how sophisticated modern fighter bombers are that is an interesting set of statistics…..

All in all on the above, I would concur that the German Panzers should be fairly close to full strength, pretty resilient and injured but not fatally by air.

As a final comment to back up Volcano Man's test; after the war debriefing of German Generals confirmed that about 30% of their losses were mechanical, 10% air, 15% AT defences and the rest to allied tanks.

David