"German Armored Vehicles, 1940-41" Topic

Hello, everyone.

My Early War project continues, and I'm hoping some of you can help with another detail.

I'm fairly familiar with early war armor, but I would like to see a comprehensive listing of what was available and in use with Heer and SS Formations during the campaigns of 1940-41 (beginning with Denmark). Is there a source somewhere, perhaps that has a table of available vehicles? Really, what I'm looking for is something that says, "these armored vehicles were in use with the German Army during the 1940-41 campaigns"; don't even need hard and fast technical data on the vehicles, just numbers and names so that I can look them up and see what we need to produce.

Thanks,

A.

p.s.

Along those lines, any info on softskins (Trucks, etc.) would be useful, too!

Encyclopedia of German tanks of WWII was just about everything in it. There is a production by year chart on page 261 that gives total numbers by year. It wont tell you what was lost, and what had not yet reached a given unit, but it lets you know what they made.

For the softskins i have another book. i just looked and cant find it, must be packed away somewhere. There are many pages of different ones in it. And each page has like 8 or so different vehicles. I would guess there are 3 or 4 times as many softskins as armor. It looks like every kind of civilian vehicle made was painted grey and given a number.

Lots of types i never would have evn thought of. I would love to have a model of each and every one, but that is way beyond my means.

wow that was fast Don. Did we miss something good?

"In August 1940, Hitler already decided that in further enlargement of the Army, the possibility of a campaign against Soviet Russia had to be considered. By the time this campaign began in June 1941, 84 more divisions were created. Just before Barbarossa, 88 infantry divisions, 3 motorized infantry divisions and 1 Panzerdivision were largely equipped with French vehicles. Without the extensive booty from the western campaign of 1940, these units would have remained without weapons and vehicles. Motor vehicles in particular played an important role in the motorization the divisions. The 18.PzD was equipped with strictly stock French motor vehicles until the end of May 1941. Among the trucks, the 4.5-ton Citroën Type 45 attained a certain significance. The 1-ton Peugeot was also seen often. The same was true for the French halftrack (Somua MCL and MCG, Unic P107 etc.) towing vehicles, which were used as tractors in the Panzerjäger units, infantry gun companies and motorized artillery units.

Most of the motor vehicles (German, French or other booty trucks) massively used for various transports were not to have long lives under the rough conditions of the Eastern theatre of war. The progressive deterioration of the German army's motor vehicle situation already in the autumn of 1941 led to numerous use and new production of French trucks and also to the transformation of about 200 French tanks into towing vehicles/tractors (Renault and Hotchkiss Mörserzugmittel / Artillerie-Schlepper)."

link

And more info in this previous thread.
TMP link
Robert

Try the Concord seeries if you are looking for pictures and painting data as well as vehicles in use. If there is a picture of it in use then it was being used.

Many moons ago, a TMPer posted a link to an ASL website that had collated loads of data about tanks/vehicles and the dates they were available. Its taken me 30 mins to find the darn thing via TMP's search function because I accidentally deleted the link whilst 'house-keeping' last month!

Anyway, here it is – link

Use the vehicle and ordnance charts as a starter for your project.

And yes, I've bookmarked the link!

Is there a source somewhere, perhaps that has a table of available vehicles?

These is indeed …

Blitzkrieg – Armour Camo & Markings 1939-1940 (Zaloga – Squadron/Signal Publication). Loaded not just with photos and lots of color plates (to show the markings), but tables and numbers as well.

From p66:

Wehrmacht Inventory 1 May 1940
Pz I 1,077
Pz II 1,092
Pz III (37mm) 381
Pz IV 290
Command Tanks 244
Pz 35t 143
Pz 38t 238
Lt Armoured Cars 800 (SdKfz 13,14,221,222, 223)
Hvy Armoured Cars 333 (SdKfz 231, 232, 263)
SdKfz 251 338
Stug III 20
15cm sIG Sf 38

That same page has a list of inventory for 1 Sep 1939 as well.

And for those with interests regarding other early war forces, there are tables showing BEF, Belgian & French units and their tank strengths for May 1940, and another table showing the same for Poland in 1939.

Steve

Interesting so for May 1940 the ratio is
1 Pz I : 1 Pz II : 1 "medium"

Where medium is split fairly evenly between Pz III, Pz IV and Cezch tanks.

The number of Stugs is really low, compared to my mental image.

Excellent stuff, everyone, many thanks. SG – that list you've given is a huge help. Thank you:)

-A.

Yes, for 1940 Zalogas 'Blitzkreig Armor, Camouflage and markings etc' is excellent.

For 41 Bob Mackenzies 'Thin Grey Line' has pretty comprehensive breakdowns of vehicle holdings by division albeit in Command Decision stand terms. Covers the whole Russo-German war and includes all the wierd stuff like 105mm guns on Vickers chassis etc.

A specific listing for 1941 is:

German Panzer Strength in June 1941.
====================================

The Wehrmacht possessed the following tanks in June 41:

877 Pzr I (+ 245 under repair)
202 Pzr I with 4.7 cm KwK
38 Pzr I with 15 cm s.I.G.
1074 Pzr II (+ 45 under repair + 15 under production)
85 Pzr II with flamethrower
235 Pzr III with 3.7 KwK (+ 81 under repair)
1090 Pzr III with 5 cm KwK (+ 156 under production)
572 Pzr IV (+ 41 under repair + 38 under production)
377 StuG (+ 56 under production)
187 Pzr 35(t) (+ 11 under repair)
754 Pzr 38(t) (+ 25 under repair + 65 under production)
141 small Pzr Befehlswagen (+ 2 under production)
189 large Pzr Befehlswagen (+ 3 under production)

If you are interested in the deployment for Barbarossa, the figures
are:

410 Pzr I
746 Pzr II
965 Pzr III
439 Pzr IV
149 Pzr 35(t)
623 Pzr 38(t)
250 StuG

Source:
Fritz Hahn
Waffen und Geheimwaffen
Bernard & Graefe Verlag 1987
ISBN 3-7637-5832-1

"Interesting so for May 1940 the ratio is
1 Pz I : 1 Pz II : 1 "medium""

Yes, but they weren't spread evenly. 9th Panzer Div in particular had a very high proportion of Pz Is & IIs, which was why it was sent to the Netherlands.

There were indeed hardly any Stugs at all in the 1940 campaign, they were outnumbered by PzJag 1s, and almost outnumbered by the dozen SP Flak 36s!

Further to Martins comments; 2 batteries of 6 StuG A IIRC. From memory one was with 1st Panzer Division & Gross Deutschland Regiment, as was one of the SP FlaK detachments.

wow that was fast Don. Did we miss something good?

Kinda. I had posted a list of basic German AFVs of '40-41, but when I went back in to edit a typo what appeared was a cross-post by someone else meant for a different thread. So I nixed it.

Aurelian was looking for on-hand numbers, which is why the Blitzkrieg book is perfect.

If he (or anyone else) is looking for specific numbers for specific Panzer Divisions, then Wehrmacht Panzer Divisions 1939-45 (Jorge Rosado & Chris Bishop – Amber Books), is an excellent source.

This book takes each division, in turn, and gives specific tank strength (by model of tank and within each tank regiment) for specific periods of time.

The snapshots will depend on the division (some were yet to be created, others had already been destroyed, some did not deploy to a particular theater, etc.), but a quick glance shows these as some of the snapshots:

1 Sep 1939 (Poland)
10 May 1940 (Fall Gelb – France)
1941 (Enter the Fox – Rommel in NA)
6 Apr 1941 (War in the Balkans)
22 Jun 1941 (Barbarossa – Eastern Front)
25 May 1942 (War in the Desert)
28 Jun 1942 (Fall Blau – Eastern Front)
1 Jul 1943 (Last Summer Offensive – Eastern Front)
Jun 1944 (Western Front)
Dec 1944 (Bulge)

Some divisions only have strengths listed for some of these snapshot periods. But it's a great place to start if you need numbers for divisions at key dates.

Steve

OK found it. Wheeled Vehicles of the Wehrmacht. Edited by Chris Ellis.

Claims to list over 250 vehicles. It has things you most likely never thought of. For example, the SD AH 35 Doughkneading trailer. I certainly never heard of that one.

If it had wheels on it it seems to be listed. I dont think all of them are things gamers are waiting for, but there is enough in there to find some gems that do need to be made. And they all have a drawing of them, that look like they came right out of the original feild manuel

The only problem may be finding a copy.