"Stug's in the 6th FJR?" Topic

I am planning to collect the 6th Fallschirmjager Reg for battles both in Normandy & Holland.

My question is, did the regiment ever have Stugs assigned as part of their organization. I've often seen the FJ working closely with Stugs so was wondering if they were just on loan from armored units.

Cheers.

They didn't have them as part of the regiment, but there were several independent StuG Abteilung/Brigades operating in the area (including one FJ Stug Abteilung), as well as the StuGs belonging to the Panzer Abteilung of 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division. This latter unit definitely operated alongside FJR 6 for a time.

Cheers Mark! Knew I could count on you for a quick answer!

U.K.

The StuG's in the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division would have been StuG IV's, according to Munoz in his book "Iron Fist: A combat history of the 17.SS Panzergrenadier Division 'Gotz von Berlichingen' "

Thanks Greg!

FJR 6 was supported by elements of StuG.Brig 280 in the operations against the Canadians in Holland during October 1944.

sPz.Jag.Abt 559 was in the area in early October and may also have contributed at least one Jagdpanther to support FJR 6. Whether this was in fact the case depends on one's interpretation of the account in the Black Watch of Canada's War Diary. The entry for 9 October says a "Ferdinand" was first disabled by a PIAT and then destroyed by a Sherman from the Fort Garry Horse.

Elements of sPzJagAbt 559 were certainly in support of FJR 6 during Operation Market-Garden, with a platoon-sized unit of Jagdpanthers being involved. 559 had two companies of StuG and one of Jagdpanther, but I've no idea if the StuGs were involved.

For what it is worth,

On June 13th, FJ Regiment 6 fought near Carentan alongside the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division. The Panzer Abteilung of the Division (according to Zetterling) had 42 StuG IIIs, not IVs. They were supposed to have Jagdpanzer IVs, but none had arrived, and the the 3rd/SS-Panzerjaeger Abteilung 17 only had Marders.

Jentz confirms that as 42 StuGs paper strength, but does not qualify which type.

Georges Bernage in "The Panzers and the Battle of Normandy" states the 17th SS used the StugIII model 40 type G.

For me, I tend to trust Zetterling – but if I have conflicting sources and I really don't know which is correct, I tend to err on the side of StuG III, since there were 9 times as many produced as the StuG IV.

Zetterling does get the odd thing wrong (though he's still far more accurate than most). I would second Greg's assertion that the 17th SS Panzer-Abteilung had StuG IVs – they are one of the few units who used them and are quite well-known for that.

Here's one of them (although it doesn't have the formation marking for 17th SS, note that the tactical symbol is for a panzer unit rather than a StuG unit – the only panzer unit using StuGs in the St Lo area was 17th SS):

NB Panzer and Panzerjaeger units using StuGs would only have used 75mm-armed StuGs. The independent StuG units usually had roughly one 105mm-armed StuH for every two or three 75mm-armed StuGs. The following independent StuG units are listed for the western flank of Normandy, though I've no idea if they actually fought alongside FJR 6:

StuG-Abteilung 902 – 25x StuG (no StuH)
StuG-Brigade 394 – 31x StuG (no StuH)
StuG-Brigade 341 – 33x StuG & 12x StuH
Fallschirm-StuG-Brigade 12 – 8x StuG & 3x StuH

Panzer-Abteilungen (Funklenk) 301 & 302 also had some StuG III, fitted as radio-command vehicles for the dozens of B IV demolition vehicles under their command. However, these StuGs usually ended up being used as regular StuGs.

Many infantry divisions in Normandy also included a number of StuGs in their divisional Panzerjaeger-Abteilung.

Excellent info again Mark. One more question. In your first post you mentioned that there was 1 FJ Stug Abteilung attached to FR6.

Do you happen to know the unit designation/name for this abteilung?

Not exactly. I said there was one FJ unit in the area – it was elements of the 17th SS Panzer Abteilung that was definitely attached to FJR 6 for a time.

Fallschirm-StuG-Brigade 12 (mentioned in my last post) was the unit I was thinking of. It was a II. Fallschirm-Korps asset and moved from Britanny to Normandy with 3. Fallschirmjaeger-Division. It may well have supported FJR 6 at some point, but I simply don't know for sure.

That k you again Sir!

sPz.Jag.Abt 559 in Market garden came under KG Chill (along with FJR 6) and it had 17 Jagd Panther and 28 STUG III.