German Military 1945

Discussions on High Command, strategy and the Armed Forces (Wehrmacht) in general.
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T.R.Searle
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German Military 1945

#1

Post by T.R.Searle » 29 Nov 2002, 00:57

Near the end of the war, preferably after the Battle of the Bulge what was left of the German military? How many soldiers were still alive(and also how many alive in POW camps) How much equiment was left...planes, tanks? How many factories were still runing and how many divisions were left for the defence of Germany?

Anything to do with this period would be greatfully accepted seeing I am researching this period my self aswell.

T.R.Searle :)

Michael Plomer
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#2

Post by Michael Plomer » 02 Dec 2002, 05:54

It is difficult to have an exact number as to troop numbers at the end of the Ardennes offensive. The offensive itself involved some 250,000 germans and two thirds of them had dissapeared by the end of Jan. 1945
By March 1945, german troop numbers had dwindled to approx. 600,000 with Army group Vistula which was responsible for holding the 3 entire Russian Army fronts on the Oder river. In the west, any cohesive unit larger then a division was non exsistant. Although, according to Hitler and the German general staff, many armies still remained, though we all know, it was only on paper. Army group Stiener and the 12th army commanded by Wenck. Surprisingly enough, german factories still ran at approx. 70 to 80 percent, right up until the Ruhr pocket was finally erased.
Many factories in and around berlin produced arms right until the last few days. The loss of those many divisions during the Ardennes offensive and the Ruhr and Courland pockets cost the germans dearly. If germany still had them, they could have possibly extended the war by many months.


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