Hi, Gary, thank.CNE503 wrote:Hello,
The commonly admitted explanation concerning the change of name of this division on January 1st, 1943 is the following one: it was to honour its impressive battle records during the Soviet offensive "Mars" late November and early December 1942. Also, as it was a mainly Schwabian unit, it was a link to the prestigious imperial "Sturmfahn" (assault flag) of the holy Germanic Roman emperor of the Middle Ages, which was protected by trusted Schwabians.
But it doesn't sound correct to me. Otherwise, there were a lot of another divisions which could claim this sort of honour (for instance, not speaking of mechanized or airborne units, at some stages of the war: 7., 12., 44., 62. Infanterie Divisionen, etc.). And in this case, why the occupation unit of Rhodes was an assault division whereas it didn't fight during its whole existence?
I found another hypothetical explanation for this renaming of the 78. Infanterie-Division: owing to the heavy losses it suffered during the Soviet offensive "Mars", it was fully reorganized into a new type of unit. For instance, its infantry regiments were reduced to a single battalion (but with six companies, including a heavy one and an engineers one); the division was OPCON-reinforced with three organic battalions : assault guns, Flak and mortar battalions; on February 1st, 1943, the three battalions of its artillery regiment were tactically subordinated to the infantry regiments, whereas the combat support battalions listed above (assault guns, mortars and Flak) were subordinated to the artillery regiment staff.
Long story short: the division was an experimental unit. Its purpose was to test a new tactical organization which enhances firepower capabilities but needs less troopers to do so. The experiment was inconclusive because 1) it was not broadened to other units; 2) the division was reorganized from April 1st, 1943 into somewhat more traditional (three infantry regiments with two battalions each, an artillery regiment with four battalions, etc.) even if it retained its additional fire support units. But the name "Sturm-Division" stayed.
Am I totally wrong or my attempt to explain this term sounds correct?
Thanks for your comments,
Cheers,
CNE503
And CNE503, you said 7, 12,44 and 62 ID had some sort of honour, I know what about 44, who became Reichs Grenadier Division HuD but about another three divisons, I never heard that, may you tell me what is it ?