Hitler's Final Push by Danny S. Parker

Author:Danny S. Parker
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: e9781634508339
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2016-01-21T16:00:00+00:00

5. THE FINAL DISTRIBUTION OF FORCES

The first draft of the plan for the Ardennes Offensive, which had been submitted to the Führer on 11 Oct 44, and which had been approved by him, had been based on the commitment of 29–30 full divisions. Of the divisions destined for the Offensive, a large number were at that time still in the front line; they needed thorough reorganization, all the more so since most of them had not had a rest since the Invasion, and because the West Wall units, assigned to them, had not yet been indoctrinated. Some of the other units had not finished their initial organization. There was therefore much to be done before the attack could be started. The two questions which dominated during the intervening period were:

a) To what extent would it be possible to withdraw from the front the divisions destined for the Offensive in time to afford them sufficient reorganization?

b) To what extent would it be necessary to support threatened fronts by the commitment of units, which had been destined for the Offensive, but which now remained pinned down by the fighting?

By the end of Oct 44, the preparations had reached the following stage:

a) Sixth Pz Army was being reorganized in Westphalia; the Pz Lehr Div had to be withdrawn from Army; its reorganization could not be completed, because Division had to be prematurely committed in the A Gp G sector.

b) OB West had so far only been able to withdraw 2 Pz Div from the front. Six more panzer units were to be reorganized: the 9, 11 and 116 Pz Divs, 10 SS Pz Div, and 3 and 15 Pz Gren Divs.

c) Three of the divisions, which were to be brought up, had so far arrived, but 269 Inf Div had been diverted to A Gp G, and 256 Volks Gren Div had been employed in the Fifteenth Army sector.

d) The assembly of volks artillerie corps and volks werfer brigades started on 28 Oct according to plan. OB West was authorized to employ the corps with the permission of OKW for the purpose of forming defensive centers of gravity. However, they were only to be committed as one unit and not perhaps by the battalion. On the other hand, the werfer brigades were not to be employed before the Offensive because they were short of ammunition.

Thus, the preparations of the forces destined for the Offensive had to be altered already in Oct 44. The description of the fighting during Nov 44 has already shown that even more changes had to be made during that month. The battle on the Roer started on 16 Nov 44; it continued up to the beginning of the Offensive, and during the second half of the month, critical situations developed in Alsace and Lorraine. Although the allocation of forces at the expense of the Offensive was being kept as low as the seriousness of the situation would permit, several of the units destined for the attack had to be considered as lost for that purpose or, at least, as prematurely exhausted.

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