Panzergrenadier Divisionen
Wehrmacht's Armored Infantry Divisions
Posted by webmaster
The term Panzergrenadier was not adopted until 1942. Infantry in panzer divisions from 1939 onwards were known as Schützen Regiments;
they wore the same rose pink piping on their uniforms as the tank crews. Soldiers in special Motorized Infantry units wore the
standard white piping of the Infantry. In 1942, when Infantry Regiments were renamed as Grenadier Regiments by Hitler as a historical
homage to Frederick the Greats Army, the Schützen regiments (and the soldiers in them) began to be redesignated as Panzergrenadier
regiments, as did Motorized Infantry units and soldiers. Their Waffenfarbe was also changed from either white (in the case of
Motorized Infantry) or rose pink (with an "S" cypher that distinguished the Schützen from the tank and anti-tank units that also
wore that colour) to a grass green shade previously worn by motorcycle troops. Some units did not change over their designations
and/or waffenfarbe accoutrements until 1943.
To read more about Panzergrenadier Divisionen please click here...
List of Heer Panzergrenadier Divisions
Panzergrenadier Divisions
The term Panzergrenadier was applied equally to both the infantry component of Panzer Divisions as well as the new divisions known
as Panzergrenadier Divisions. Most of the Heers PzGren. divisions evolved via upgrades from ordinary infantry divisions, first to
Motorized Infantry divisions and then to PzGren. divisions, retaining their numerical designation within the series for infantry
divisions throughout the process. This included the 3rd, 10th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 18th, 20th, 25th, and 29th divisions. Others, such
as the Großdeutschland Division, were built up over the course of the war by repeatedly augmenting the size of an elite regiment or
battalion. The Waffen SS also created several PzGren. divisions by the same methods, or by creating new divisions from scratch later
in the war. A number of PzGren. divisions in both the Heer and Waffen SS were upgraded to Panzer divisions as the
war progressed.
The Panzergrenadier divisions were organized as combined arms formations, usually with six battalions of truck-mounted infantry
organized into either two or three regiments, a battalion of tanks, and an ordinary divisions complement of artillery, reconnaissance
units, combat engineers, anti-tank and anti-aircraft artillery, and so forth. All these support elements would also be mechanized
in a PzGren. division, though most of the artillery, anti-tank, and anti-aircraft elements were equipped with weapons towed by trucks
rather than the relatively rare armored and self-propelled models. In practice the PzGren. divisions were often equipped with heavy
assault guns rather than tanks, due to a chronic shortage of tanks throughout the German armed forces. A few elite units, on the
other hand, might have the tanks plus a battalion of heavy assault guns for their anti-tank element, and armored carriers for some
of their infantry battalions as well.
On paper a Panzergrenadier division had one tank battalion less than a Panzer division, but two more infantry battalions, and thus
was almost as strong as a Panzer division, especially on the defensive. Of 226 panzergrenadier battalions in the whole of the German
Army, Luftwaffe and Waffen SS in September 1943, only 26 were equipped with armoured half tracks, or just over 10 percent. The rest
were equipped with trucks.
The use of armoured half-tracks was exceedingly rare in the German Army, and even the elite Großdeutschland Division, with two
panzergrenadier regiments, only mustered a few companies worth of the vehicles, generally SdKfz 251 troop carriers. The vast majority
of Schützen/Panzergrenadier soldiers were mounted in trucks. Additionally, vehicles in the early war period suffered from poor
off-road performance.