Wehrmacht Divisions mustered in W2

[Redfred]

How many divisions did the Wehrmacht muster in W2. If possible by
Western & Eastern Fronts.

[Richard Murphy]

Redfred,
A very comprehensive list of the Infantry divisions appears in George F. Nafziger's "The German Order of Battle-Infantry in World War II". Sadly the same cannot be said for the "Panzers & Artillery" volume (Though it is still a good source) and I don't have the "SS & Minors" one.

I will have a count up in a minute and get back to you.

Regards from the Park,

Rich

[Andy H]

It isn't possible to give figures for divisions by front because the divisions would move from front to front over the course of the war. Some unfortunate divisions from June 1941 served all there time on the Eastern Front.

Then of course there is the definition "Division" itself which can be very misleading, especially in the later stages of the war when many "Divisions" were just re-inforced regiments etc. Also many original line infantry divisions were re branded as Volksgrenadier Divisions, whilst Training & Admin divisions were upgraded to normal Infantry Division status but severly lacking the internal infrastructure.

Hi Ho Silver Away

[Christoph Awender]

Hello Redfred!

As said before it is impossible to give numbers for an overall view. You can just take certain dates. From end of 1943 on the weekly OKH Order of Battle report contains also a division count per front. Also said before that the actual combat strength of divisions on the paper were sometime not more than one or two regiments.

OKH Order of Battle Example 15.Oktober 1943:

Heeresgruppe A: Pz.Div. 2, Inf.Div. 11, Jg.Div. 2, Geb.Div. 2 = 17 Sich.Div. 1/3, Feldausb.Div. 1, Lw.F.D. 2, fremdl.Verb. 10

Heeresgruppe Süd: Pz.Div. 9, Pz.Gr.Div. 7, Inf.Div. 44 + 1/2 = 60 1/2
Sich.Div. 3, Res.Div. 2, fremdl.Verb. 4

Heeresgruppe Mitte: Pz.Div. 6, Pz.Gr.Div. 2 1/2, Inf.Div. 42 = 50 1/2
Sich.Div. 4+1, Feldausb.Div. 2, Res.Div. 2, Lw.F.Div. 4, fremdl.Verb. 6

Heeresgruppe Nord: Inf.Div. 33, Jg.Div. 3, Geb.Div. 1 = 37
Sich.Div. 3, Feldausb.Div. 1, Lw.F.Div. 6, fremdl.Verb. 1

Summe East-front
164 + 2/2 divisions
Sich.Div. 11 + 1/3
Feldausb.Div. 4
Res.Div. 4
Lw.F.Div. 12
fremdl.Verb. 21

20.Geb.Armee: Inf.Div. 3 + 2/3, Geb.Div. 4 + 1/3, Lw.F.Div. 1/3
A.O.K.Norwegen: Pz.Div. 1/2, Inf.Div. 11, Lw.F.Div. 1
Heeresgruppe D zugl. Ob.West: Pz.Div. 1, Pz.Gren.Div. 2/2, Inf.Div. 20, Sich.Div. 1 + 1/3, Res.Div. 12, Lw.Verb. 4
Heeresgruppe B, Ob.Südt: Pz.Div. 2, Pz.Gr.Div. 5 + 1/2, Inf.Div. 8, Lw.Verb. 3, fremdl.Verb. 1
Heeresgruppe F, Ob.Südost: Pz.Div. 1, Pz.Gr.Div. 3/3, Inf.Div. 2 + 1/2 + 4/3, Jg.Div. 5, Geb.Div. 2, Lw.F.Div. 1, Res.Div. 2, fremdl.Verb. 8
Chef H Rüst u.B.d.E.:: Inf.Div. 1, Lw.VErb. 1, Res.Div. 3, Ers.Div. 31

OVERALL ALL FRONTS: 229 + 7/2 + 10/3, Sich.Div. 12 + 1/2, Feldausb.Div. 4, Res.Div. 21, Ers.Div. 31, Lw.VErb. 22 - 1/3, fremdl.Verb.30

not included in numerical overview divisions in Aufstellung: 20 Div., 4 Brigaden

hope this is of some help,
Christoph
WWIIDAYBYDAY.COM

[Daywalker]

How many divisions did the Wehrmacht muster in W2. If possible by
Western & Eastern Fronts.

Well I have a large WW2 statistic paper (cant remember where I got it thru) and it says Germany ended the war with 375 divisions, going from 78 in 39 to 375 in May 1945.
It does not say how many is active, paper divisions and such. Surely a large part of them in 1945 could not be more then a few men.

At the same time USA vent from 8 -94 (counting Pacific too)
USSR, 194-491 - intreasting is that Germany actually outnumber USSR in divisions in 1942 (as the only year) with 261 vs. 250 - not all on the E-F thru.
Britian from 9 to 31 ( thru with 39 in 1943)
France 86 -105 (39-40) taking a nose dive in 1940, all the way to zero and ending with 14 in 45.
Poland 43 (39) ending ww2 with 5.
Italy 6-86 (39-43), down to 2 and ending with 10
Romania 10-33 (39-43) down to 24.

[Gwynn Compton]

Here's a rough count in 1943, I'm having to extrapilate for Italy and the Westheer due to not having reliable figures for either.

John Keegan places the number of German Divisions on the Ostfront in 1943 as 180 from memory, prior to the Kursk assualt. Some 3.1 million Germans in total, a net decline of 200,000 since the unleashing of Barbarossa in June of 1941. However a large number of these divisions are severely understrength.

The Westheer at the same time has a figure of between 45-60 Divisions divided mostly in Northern France/Belgium, and a lesser number in Southern France.

In Italy Kesselring deploys anywhere between 15-25 divisions.

(I've extrapilated the latter two numbers based on figures for 1944 where the Westheer deployed 60 divisions, and Kesselring's 10th and 14th Armies in Italy (Did I get the right numbers there?) made up some 26 Divisions.

So in the period of 1943/44 we have the Wehrmacht deploying anywhere between 240-260 Divisions, though in reality if you looked at the material and manpower of the Wehrmacht you would have to downgrade that number, and then you'd produce a figure of how many "battlefit" divisions the Wehrmacht had.