How large or how much of a fighting force was left when Germany surrendered in 1945? I would say about 2 million...but that's just a guess. I know Army Group Center had around 560,000 troops left, and the armies defending Berlin had around 350,000, the 12th Army had around 200,000 if I'm not mistaken...plus there were numerous independent units fighting all over that can't be accounted for.
How much of a "front line strenth" army was left?
Wehrmacht strength at 1945 surrender...
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PanzerKing
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I think there was about 2 Million German POW's under Western Allied control alone. I could be off on that number though.
But even with 2.5 million troops Germany had wasted its best on the endless plains of Russia and there was no replacing these men with boys and above middle aged men, plus the ones that were left from the Eastern and Western fronts were tired wore out and demoralized.
War is anything but Darwinist strongest survives type deal. It destroys the best we have.
But even with 2.5 million troops Germany had wasted its best on the endless plains of Russia and there was no replacing these men with boys and above middle aged men, plus the ones that were left from the Eastern and Western fronts were tired wore out and demoralized.
War is anything but Darwinist strongest survives type deal. It destroys the best we have.
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Scott Smith
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davethelight
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From the web pages of Norwegian Foreign Ministry:
http://odin.dep.no/odin/engelsk/norway/ ... b-n-a.htmlIt was widely feared that the war would end differently. Such apprehensions had a basis in arithmetic - the Germans had a huge concentration of armed forces on Norwegian soil. As many as 400,000 men- members of the German army, navy and air force - were stationed in Norway and when the Third Reich's collapse drew near, there were still 360,000 enemy troops in the country. [emphasis mine /I.]
Among them were numerous detachments with fresh combat experience on the Northern Front, in Russia and Finland. From the summer of 1944 to the beginning of 1945 they had been led by General Lothar Rendulic. Rendulic, his chief of staff General Böhme, Major-General Hermann Hölter, and the naval chief, Admiral Krancke, were all officers with battle experience and tough reputations.