Returned eastward in February 1945, the division subsequently was withdrawn to Pomerania. supplied through research done by Ron Klages. Under Gruppenführer Heinz Harmel, who was to command the division for all but the final month of the war, by 24 June the division staff and advance elements had reached the Normandy assembly area, preparing to give battle the next day. Major Friedrich Freiherr von der Heydte, one of his subordinates, proved controversial, being criticized for excessively independent action (having taught law in New York, he treated captured GIs with remarkable civility). In 1939 most divisions comprised three regiments, each of three battalions—the ‘‘triangular’’ format adopted by the U.S. Army in contrast to the previous ‘‘square’’ formations. Throughout June the division sustained 1,250 killed or missing and 1,600 wounded. Generalleutnant Edgar Feuchtinger reestablished the division in France in July of that year, but it saw no combat until June 1944. The tanks were nearly all the excellent Mark V Panther, and Lehr was one of only two army divisions with a Mark VI Tiger battalion. The defenders of the landing beaches were, west to east: Deployed at the west end of the Utah Beach sector, the 709th was reasonably well staffed, with eleven battalions in three regiments: the 729th, 739th, and 919th. Because the Wehrmacht was composed of the army, navy, air force, and Waffen SS units, Hitler’s interest and therefore loyalties were divided—in favor of the army. Lehr suffered more at the hands of Allied airmen during Operation Cobra, when a massive Eighth Air Force bombing attack saturated the area on 25 July. The Twenty-first fought in North Africa 1941–43 and was destroyed in the Tunisian collapse of May 1943. Otherwise, new units often were formed rather than sending replacements to older ones. In the campaign against France, there were 10 panzer divisions incorporating … German Division Count by Type (1939-1945) by Ron Klages & John Mulholland The following accounting of German divisions by type from September 1939 to May 1945 was compiled from the works of Georg Tessin in his epic accounting of the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS titled: Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS 1939-1945 . A Comprehensive Guide to the Armies of World War Two, California – Do not sell my personal information. Defending Normandy was the Seventh Army under Col. Gen. Friedrich Dollmann. He placed three divisions (243d Air Landing, 709th and 716th Infantry) on the Calvados coast and Cotentin Peninsula, backed by two counterattack units, the Ninety-first Air Landing and 352d Infantry Divisions. German tanks were technically superior to anything the United States or Britain fielded, and they could cope with the excellent Soviet T-34. Wisch took First SS to Belgium during May 1944, bringing its strength up to 16,600 men. The division participated in the occupation of Vichy in 1942, returning to the Eastern Front in early 1943. Generalleutnant Dietrich Kraiss’s 352d Division defended the Omaha Beach area. German The german divisions uniform could not be edited until now. Additionally, in 1944 divisional artillery comprised six batteries, nominally with forty-two 105 mm howitzers, eighteen 75 mm guns, and a dozen 150 mm. Germany also employed panzer grenadier divisions, which were essentially mechanized infantry. A company commander in the first war, he was twice wounded in action. Though the 352d was one of the few full-strength divisions in France, its presence was not detected soon enough by Allied intelligence to benefit the assault divisions. Any errors or typos The following article on the German Army WW2 is an excerpt from Barrett Tillman’ D-Day Encyclopedia. The American units had twice as many mortars and antitank guns, but German divisions possessed more and often better artillery. Scott Michael Rank, Ph.D., is the editor of History on the Net and host of the History Unplugged podcast. The Twenty-first counterattacked against the British sector but sustained heavy losses, including fifty-four tanks. The division had been established under Generalleutnant Bruno Ortner in February 1944, but Generalmajor Wilhelm Falley assumed command on 25 April. This category includes articles about the organisation and unit histories of all German divisions during the Second World War that performed in combat in the role of infantry.