Radio and telephone equipment used by Volksgrenaider Div

[RandJS]

Hi,

Need some help, as this is totally out of my area of knowledge! Was there a "standard" radio and telephone equipment issued to the divisions? What equipment would be used in the HQ/Signals Bttlns, what would be issued to Regts/Bttlns/Ko's?

Thanks for any info!

Rand

[Richard Hedrick]

Hey Rand,

I am doing some work on this subject but it’s still pretty rough. I was hoping someone would have provided some details as well but this is some of what i have:

From a division level (Nachrichten Abteilung) you have a telephone company (Fernsprech) using horse drawn Nf.2 wagens and a radio company (Funk) using radios mounted in trucks.

From an infantry perspective they seem to be using all handheld or backpack equipment (Feldfunksprecher b) down to the company level.

For artillery you are looking at 4 Nf.2 (Fernsprechwagen) and two Nf.5 (funkwagen) at the Regiment level, one Nf.2 and one Nf.5 at the battalion level and at the battery level you have two Nf.2 and unsure of the radio equipment at this time but they seem to be using If.8 carts to haul it around.

Hope this helps,
Richard

[RandJS]

Hello Richard!

To the rescue again, thanks! I am surprised at the lack of responses so far. We have further digging to do. I'll post anything I find as well.

Thanks and regards,
Rand

[Funksammler]

For artillery I expect that the Torn.Fu.k or perhaps the Torn.Fu.i was used. The Torn.Funktrupp.i Mw starts appearing in artillery KstN's from end 1943, manufacturing delays meant that the Torn.Fu.i was only issued in very limited numbers in the final months of the war.

Also interesting is that the Klfspr.d starts appearing in the KstN's for some heavy Mg Radfahrer companies towards the end of 1944. So it is not impossible that these were issued in some Volksgrenadier units.

Other than that the equipment used was probably typical of infantry divisions during the war, some heavier stuff like the Mittlerer Funktrupp b, Kleiner Funktrupp a and b in the Divisions Nachrichtenabteilung; Torn.Funktrupp d Ukw in the Regiments, Torn.Funktrupp b (Mw) in some of the heavy weapons companies and Feldfu.b's at the lowest echelon (This late in the war, Feldu.b1 and b2's would have been issued).

regards,

Funksammler

[RandJS]

Funksammler,

Thanks for the info. Nice member name!

Regards,
Rand

[Billious]

I have a field phone in the bakelite case. Usta have 8 of them but hadta sell them to IMA. Billious