Why were so many division commanders in the Wehrmacht colonels in Dec. 1944? The commander for the 5th Parachute, the 2d Panzer, and almost all of the Volksgrenadier Divisions were colonels. It made no sense. Were the Germans short of general officers? Would this not lead to problems in command relationships?
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Colonels leading German divisions in the Battle of the Bulge.
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Originally posted by Triple C View PostWhy were so many division commanders in the Wehrmacht colonels in Dec. 1944? The commander for the 5th Parachute, the 2d Panzer, and almost all of the Volksgrenadier Divisions were colonels
2. PzDiv was commanded by Major General Schönfeld until just before the battle. He "voluntarily retired" from his post one day before of the battle, with one of the colonels under him taking over, four months later being promoted to major general himself.
5. FsJgDiv was commanded by Major General Heilmann.
The VG-Div were SS. And mostly commanded by Major Generals too. A few only by two-star Lieutenant Generals. Some were commanded by colonels, e.g. the 462nd for four weeks (Nov-Dec 44) between its general being captured and the division being destroyed.Last edited by kato; 15 May 12,, 10:13.
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Originally posted by kato View PostIn December?
2. PzDiv was commanded by Major General Schönfeld until just before the battle. He "voluntarily retired" from his post one day before of the battle, with one of the colonels under him taking over, four months later being promoted to major general himself.
5. FsJgDiv was commanded by Major General Heilmann.
The VG-Div were SS. And mostly commanded by Major Generals too. A few only by two-star Lieutenant Generals. Some were commanded by colonels, e.g. the 462nd for four weeks (Nov-Dec 44) between its general being captured and the division being destroyed.All those who are merciful with the cruel will come to be cruel to the merciful.
-Talmud Kohelet Rabbah, 7:16.
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In most cases the VG-Divs used in the Ardennes Offensive were rather quickly formed from either halfway destroyed divisions or from Navy or Air Force personnel - between September and November '44. The colonels leading them (not commanding them, there's a difference!) were either commanders of those regiments absorbed into the new units that remained intact (i.e. the "core units" of the new divisions) or were assigned leadership of a "strange" unit (for the units with LW/KM personnel) with previous experience usually being general-staff-level commanders of army schools. The latter is the case e.g. with the 560th, 167th, 26th or 18th VGDiv.
Ludwig Heilmann was assigned leadership (not command!) of the 5th FsJgDiv on November 17th 1944 and was promoted to Major General and assigned command of the division on December 22nd 1944, immediately before committing the unit to combat. The unit got stuck in its first major combat at Martelange two days later, and was subsequently moved back into a defensive position.Last edited by kato; 15 May 12,, 20:47.
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Certainly a measure of how the Heer had really fallen apart by this time.
Few of the 1st SS Panzer Division's replacement crews for the Battle of the Bulge had ever previously been in a tank, and there was only one live firing exercise (in November) before the offensive started.
The Luftwaffe was similarly depleted, and for its Operation Bodenplatte on New Year's Day in 1945 many pilots lacked navigational skills and had to follow flight leaders to the targets.
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