Feldersatz-Bataillonen

[Hans Weber]

Divsion Combat Schools

An Austrian PW captured early in November from 245 Signal Bn supplies the following information on the present method of supplying reinforcements to field units from stragglers. As stragglers are understood to be trained and experienced troops only need segregation, all divisions have been ordered to form a Divisional Battle School (Div. Kampfschule) to provide:

a) Refreshers training for special or non-infantry personell milked from arty, signal, etc. units.

b) Refresher training for strays from the division or other units.

Corps schools of similar nature (but three times the size) are believed to have been set up also.

245 Division Battle School has a straggler March Co consiting of a Lehr Zug and 3 platoons. Lehr Zug consists of 9 NCO's and 15 EM demonstrators who are employed as sub-instructors (this PW had to demonstrate methods of crawling through low cover with a rifle.) Co strength is usually about 140 men. Training is with basic infantry weapons and lasts for two weeks before the March Co, plus the training NCO's are sent out as a reinforcement unit. From mid-October to early November 245 Division produced three such schools; if the school is insufficently supplied with stragglers from other units, a pool is formed from the division's own non-infantry units to meet replacement requirements.

Source 12th Army Group Periodic # 174


Dough: one of my sources has this, seems that G-2 all talk the same: Life in such a formation (ie Sturm Kompanie) must indeed be thrilling. PW stated his company started out 140 strong. After being in line for two days they were whittled down to 30.
Cheers

Hans

[Doug Nash]

Hans,
Have some rather humorous order of battle summaries produced by the G-2 of the US 78th Infantry Division from Feb. and Mar. 1945, in which he talks about the questionable military value of such Alarm Units. In one, he states that "Alarm" is an appropriate name for them, given the "alarming" state of the German defenders at one particular point. By March 1945, the Americans were increasingly displaying pity towards their opponent, when GIs began to encounter more and more Alarm-units hastily thrown together out of supply personnel, clerks, Luftwaffe crewmen, Kriegsmarine personnel, Ordnungspolizie, Volkssturm, etc. Usually they had no heavy weapons at all and no radios to communicate with. These men were "Verlorene Posten," slaughtered by artillery and machinegun fire, often before they could even try to surrender, an indication of their overall military ineptness. It was a damned shame, wrote one American soldier during the war, to see men's lives thrown away so carelessly since by March 1945, there was no longer any point for the Wehrmacht to continue fighting. By then, most of the regular troops were dead, wounded, or in POW camps. It must have been very difficult for the few remaining professional soldiers to watch their once-proud Army fall into such a sad state.
Cheers,
Doug

[John W. Howard]

Hello Andries, Doug and Hans:
Thank you very much for the additional quality information; I have a much clearer picture than I ever did before regarding FEB's and the late war German divisions. Good luck with the book, Doug!! Best wishes to all of you.

[David W]

Did the 90th Light Division have a Feldersatz Battalion?

[Shadow]

Andries,
my pleasure. Say, the 272nd VGD was supposed to play a role in the Ardennes Offensive, but got diverted by the American attack on Kesternich on 13 Dec, which occupied its full attention until 18 Dec. So it never crossed the start line and in fact got hit while it was repositioning its three regiments for its planned offensive role in the Ardennes. I don't want to go into any more detail than that - I'm going to cover this aspect of the plan for the Ardennes in my upcoming book "Victory was Beyond Their Grasp" and don't want to give the game away just yet!
Best regards,
Doug

Greetings Troops !!

Doug's book: "Victory was Beyond Their Grasp" is now out, and I must recommend it to all serious researchers who have an interest in the "German" view of combat in the West!
It did, in fact, open my ( "old" researcher's" ) eyes to an arena of combat I was little acquainted with, though I had heard of the "Ardennes Offensive" [Wacht am Rhein] percolating on its southern flank. The narrative of this lone V.G.D., through its many battles, answered, to a degree, my oft asked question; "How in h*ll did these units continue to operate when, in fact, they had been mauled down to well below their KtsN Order of Battle ........ by as much as 80% and more !!
Through reading Doug's book I came to understand how important (and unique) the Feldersatz Bataillon was to each of the Divisionen they served under.
The fact that, at this point in the war, Divisionen could sustain massive casualties and yet bounce back from prohibitive losses, was mostly due to the fact that they could draw on the resources of their Feldersatz Battaillon to fill the gaps and, in some cases, act as an independent fighting force on their own. As opposed the "Western" concept of having "reserve" troops stationed behind the lines in "depots" awaiting orders to the front, the German trait of having their "reserve" troops stationed close to their respective Divisionen gave each "Ersatz-Batallion" (and it's troops) a chance to become rapidly integrated into the formations at the "fighting front"!

FWI: John

[David W]

Did the 90th Light Division have a Feldersatz Battalion?

And if so, do we know when it arrived in North Africa?

[Shadow]

David,

I show 90th Light having Feldersatz-Bataillon 190, formed 16 October 1942, in Africa.

Later reformed in December 1943 after the defeat in Tunisia.

Best regards,

John

[David W]

Thank you John, and "howdy!"

[David W]

I show 90th Light having Feldersatz-Bataillon 190, formed 16 October 1942, in Africa.

Definately 1942?

[Shadow]

I show 90th Light having Feldersatz-Bataillon 190, formed 16 October 1942, in Africa.

Definately 1942?

According to Lexicon.

Aufgestellt am 16. Oktober 1942 in Afrika aus dem Feldersatz-Bataillon Afrika 10. Das Bataillon wurde im Mai 1943 in Tunis vernichtet.
Neu aufgestellt im Dezember 1943.

John

[David W]

Thanks for the confirmation.

[David W]

I have heard that it was raised on 6 Kompanies, rather than on the usual 4.
Can anyone confirm or deny this?

[David W]

Do we know where it was raised?
I'm guessing Tripoli.
How about any info on the number of Kompanies?

[Leo Niehorster]

Greetings,

As has been noted above, the 190. FEB (Feldersatz-Bataillon = field replacement battalion) was formed on 16.10.42 in Africa from the FEB Afrika 10, which had in turn been raised on 01.05.1942, also in Africa. Exact locations are not specified. (I.a.w. Tessin). Note that the Kriegsgliederung dated 27.05.1942 already shows the 190. FEB with 6 companies. Possibly planned at that date, although there is no such note to indicate a proposed status. But note that the KStN for the 90. le.Afr.Div. had already been issued as far back as 20.03.1942. As we have seen, events in Africa sometimes overtook what the OKH thought they were.

A FEB was not a full-sized unit. KStN 2301a dated 20.03.1942 “Feldersatzbataillon für 90. le. Afrika Division” shows that it was a battalion with six “type”, i.e. dedicated companies, with a cadre of 167 men plus 990 replacements:
. Battalion Headquarters (20 cadre),
. 1st Infantry and Rifle Company (24 cadre + 175 replacements),
. 2nd Infantry and Rifle Company (24 cadre +175 replacements),
. 3rd Heavy Weapons Company (24 cadre + 70 replacements),
. 4th Gun Company (24 cadre + 175 replacements),
. 5th Mixed (signal & service) Company (27 cadre + 220 replacements),
. 6th Pioneer Company (24 cadre + 175 replacements).

Order of battle diagrams do not normally show the day-to-day strengths of the battalion. The authorized 990 replacements would probably never have been exactly achieved, as the number of men would have fluctuated from time to time, if not from day to day, as new replacements arrived and others were sent to the division. So, the 90. FEB is always going to have six companies, but not likely at “exact authorized strength”. And it never would have been considered as a “combat” unit.

Further, also i.a.w. Tessin, between July 1941 and Winter 1941/42 (possibly to March 1942 ?), the DAK had two FEB (598 and 599) directly attached. These would have provided replacements to all the Army combat units in North Africa, including the 90. leichte Afrika-Division. So either there were so many replacements they had to set up additional FEB to contain them, or the troops arriving from Germany were inadequately trained. As you know, the FEB was not just a holding unit, it also had an “in theater” training mission, giving the arriving replacements a final edge.

Best regards
Leo

[David W]

Leo,
Thanks for the comprehensive answer.

Now some supplementary questions if I may....
Do you think that FEB Afrika 10 was ever up & running so to speak, or that it existed in name only during May-October 1942?

Would I be correct in assuming that the dedicated "type" Kompanies "3, 4 & 6" of 190 FEB would have been lacking in any heavy weapons. Or might they have had obsolete models to train with ?

I was excited to learn of the existence of 598 & 599 FEB. Were these at any time known as 200 & 33 FEB, or are they entirely seperate FEB in additon to those other two?
And what happened to them (598 & 9) after March 1942?

Many, many thanks & Best wishes,
David.