Enduring the Whirlwind by Gregory Liedtke

Author:Gregory Liedtke
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Military / World War II
ISBN: 9781911096870
Publisher: Helion and Company
Published: 2016-09-19T04:00:00+00:00

As Müller-Hillebrand admits, the ability of the reporting system adopted by the Organization Department in terms of gauging actual personnel shortages was at best problematic since it was based on an automatic supposition that the availability of replacements could never compensate for losses, and that shortages were thereby inevitable. It also made no effort to account for personnel transfers or losses through sickness, the latter being especially notable given that the Ostheer had been forced to repatriate an estimated 715,400 sick to Germany by 1 July 1942.156 In essence, such assessments represented little more than a guess. By the spring of 1942 it would appear that nobody within OKH actually knew what the exact personnel requirements and shortages of the Ostheer really constituted.

And yet, as vague as these accounting procedures were, that the cumulative effect of the winter campaign upon the Ostheer had been ruinous should have been blatantly obvious. Losses consistently outpaced replacements whose arrival was retarded by the chaos afflicting the transportation system.157 Personnel strengths plummeted, especially amongst combat battalions. Desperate to maintain at least some of their units at an effective strength, many divisional commanders were forced to disband some of their infantry battalions, consolidating their remnants into those that remained. Men skimmed from the rear echelons and headquarters establishments, together with artillerymen and other troops who had lost their equipment, were amalgamated into the remaining combat battalions or else formed into emergency Alarmeinheiten with depressing frequency. A report from the VII. Armee Korps dated to 3 April, which notes that its three infantry divisions had disbanded a total of 11 (out of 27) infantry battalions, nine artillery batteries and two anti-tank companies, appears fairly typical.158 By the time operations finally began to subside copious gaps existed in the ranks of most divisions. A cursory look at the divisions present with Heeresgruppe Nord (displayed in Table 4.17) on 1 April reveals that each division was short an average of at least 3,648 men. For Heeresgruppe Mitte, information for the same period could only be found for four divisions, but these note an average shortfall of 4,551 men.159 In overall terms, the situation appeared bleak. Statistics for the other army groups could not be found, but one incomplete report from Heeresgruppe Nord indicated that it was short 120,462 men of its Sollstärke on 1 May.160 Although contentious given its methodology, a study compiled by the Organization Department concluded that as of 1 June 1942 some 740,000 personnel vacancies existed throughout the entire Ostheer.161

Although tardy in recognizing the full extent of the crisis, various Army authorities had instituted a number of remedial measures at an early stage. Mostly this involved finding replacements from within the Army itself. Commencing in mid-August 1941, Army establishments and training units within Germany were systematically scoured for younger, combat-fit men who were then exchanged with older, less-fit personnel manning the divisions garrisoning Western Europe, thereby raising the combat-readiness of these formations should the need arise for their deployment to Russia. By late October, this

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