Hi, Ljadw, I disagree that only 2.5 PzD were operational, in accordance with your views, 2. and HJ were operational and PzLehr were 50% operational.ljadw wrote:more about the PzL:
its Panther batallion was going eastwards:first train was in Magdeburg on 5 june,last still in Paris on 9 june,and was only committed in Normandy on 15 june,that means that the PzL had only 50 % of its tanks on 6 june.
About its Tiger II tanks :these were only prototypes with technical deficiencies,and never were committed;as there was no possibility to send them back to Germany,they were blobn up in Chateaudun.
Thus,on 6 june ,only 2 1/2 PzD were operational in the west .
But you should remember that Pz.Lehr-Division was exceptionally strong division in German panzer troops. Although its Panther abteilung, I./Pz.Rgt.6 was departed for the East but it is still in France and several days departure with Pz.Lehr-Division was not regarded as 50% strength.
And besides this, Pz. Lehr Division was only one Panzer-Division with four Panzer-Grenadier battalions in the entire German army. Other Panzer divisions mostly had one only ( except 2. Pz and 21. Pz , they had two). Of four Panzer-Grenadier battalions, each had a full complement of six Sd.Kfz.251/2 and twelve Sd.Kfz.251/9 which enhanced their firepower of Panzer-Grenadier significantly. And regarding quality, I. and II./Panzer-Grenadier-Lehr-Regiment 901 was directly designated from Panzer-Lehr infantry regiment and I./Panzer-Grenadier-Lehr-Regiment 902 was directly designated from II./Pz.Lehr-Regiment. All these were Demonstration units and their fighting technique were good.
Its 10.5 cm le. Haubitzen-Abteilung were unit came from Artillerie-Lehr-Regiment and its Panzerjäger-Lehr-Abteilung 130 was directly designated from III./Pz.Lehr-Regiment. So training and technique were considered fine.
Its Panzer-Pionier-Lehr-Bataillon also had some cadre coming from Pionier-Lehr-Bataillon. And its Pz.Pi.Lehr-Btl.130 were only one units with equipped fully with SPW in all three kompanie. (83 x SPW in all on June 1 1944) Its 3. kompanie even had two sd.kfz.251/9 for fire support. No any German Panzer-Pionier-Battalion had that level of equipment.( Other Panzer-Pionier-Bataillon only had one kompanie equipped with SPW.)
In comparsion with British and US armored divison in Normandy battlefield, Each British armoured division (Guards, 7th and 11th) only had one motor battalion (armored infantry) out of four infantry battalions and they lacked assault gun weapon such as sd.kfz.251/9 for direct fire support. With regard to US armored force, they were better, they had three armored infantry battalions, and in this area, Pz.Lehr still had one more armored infantry battalion than her, and each US armored infantry battalion had only three 75mm or 105mm Howitzer mounted on Halftrack while Pz Lehr had 12 x 75mm KwK mounted on sd.kfz.251.
When talking about tank strength, even without I./Pz.Rgt.6, Pz Lehr still had 97x Pz IV, 40 Jagdpanzer IV and StuG III and 6 x Tiger, on June 1 1944, around 150 AFV, but when you go back to battle of Kursk, three powerful Waffen-SS German Panzer-Divisions : they mostly had 150 AFV around operational on July 4 1943 :
Leibstandarte had 79 x Pz IV Long, 11 Pz III Long, 12 x Tiger, 34 x StuG III and 19 x Marder (155 operational AFV)
Das Reich had 47 x Pz III Long, 30 x Pz IV Long, 18 x T-34/76, 12 x Tiger, 33 x StuG III and 11 x Marder (151 operational AFV)
Totenkopf had 59 x Pz III Long, 42 x Pz IV Long, 11 x Tigers, 28 x StuG III, 11 Marder ( 151 operational AFV)
Started from 1943, it is hard to maintain a Pz division with 150 operational vehicles , Leibstandarte, Das Reich, Totenkopf and GroBdeutschland in Kursk, Leibstandarte in Italy , Oct 1943, Four Waffen panzer division in Ardennes and Pz Lehr division, 2. & HJ in Normandy were good periods for German Panzer troops. When comparing with other historic period, Pz.Lehr-Division , without panther battalion, still had 100% full strength and even stronger when you considered its strong Panzer-Grenadier and Panzer-Pionier troops
In overall, PzLehr-Division cannot be considered 50% strength. Also , I./Pz.Rgt. 6 with 86 operational Panther on June 1 1944 rejoined the division in mid June.
She only weakness was lack of self-propelled gun, she only received its Wespe and Hummel in July 1944
And you also omit 21. Pz division, although she were exclusively equipped with French vehicles and SPW, she had been trained for a year and she possessed 98 operational Pz IV on June 1 1944 and also had some 75mm and 105mm panzerjager mounted on French Hotchkiss and she had two battalion of self-propelled gun mounted on Lorraine chassis. and they had adequate number of motor vehicles to motorize its forces.Its had two Panzer-Grenadier battalions equipped with French SPW and her Pz.Pi.Btl.220 had two kompanies equipped with French SPW.So, you should also count this division in operation list
So, it were four operationl Panzer Divisions on eve of Normandy invasion.
For other Pz.Divisions during initial Normandy battle, I agree with your comment : Their situation were not so good : Leibstandarte and Das Reich still had about hundred of panzer and StuG operational but their training was far from complete until late July 1944 and Leibstandarte possessed no SPW in June 1944. III./SS Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 4 Der Führer (armored infantry) of 2. SS-Panzer-Division Das Reich did not have any sd.kfz.251/9. And its Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung lacked many types of SPW like sd.kfz.250/9
9. 11. and 116. Pz.Divisions 's training were not yet finished too. And Hohenstaufen and Frundsberg still in the East and even they came back to the West, though their training were completed and had field experience in the East front, their panzer status was below standard : Hohenstaufen only had 41 operational Pz IV and 38 StuG combat ready on June 1 1944 and Frundsberg had 32 x Pz IV and 34 x StuG III ready for action in the same period.