Effectiveness of German Infantry Divisions in Russia

[Maus]

Hello,

I am trying to determine the relative effectiveness of German infantry divisions on the Eastern Front. So, I am looking for any instances where German infantry divisions were on the offensive without the support of Panzer or Mech/Motorized divisions. I can think of three offensives off the top of my head: (I am writing these without the benefit of my library at home, so on some of these I cannot come up with the casualties, and whether or not the Germans committed any armor)

Sevastopol: This was a purely infantry offensive against heavy fortifications. Von Manstein claims his losses were around 24000. Not sure what the Russian losses were. I will have to check Krivosheev's numbers tonight when I get home.

Manstein's Kerch Offensive: Russian losses were evidently 162,282. German losses amounted to merely 3397 with 600 of those being dead. This offensive did have the assitance of the 22nd Panzer Division, but the Russians had 4 armored brigades to counter the 22nd Panzer.

The Destruction of the Second Shock Army: I am not sure on the numbers of casualties in this battle, and I am also not sure if the Germans committed any armor to help destroy the Second Shock Army. But, I believe it was mainly infantry units involved.

I will have to dig into these battles tonight when I get home, and come up with solid casualty figures and whether there was any armor committed in the battle against Second Shock Army.

If anyone knows of any other instances where German Infantry Divisions were on the offensive against Russian units, and did not have the assistance of large Panzer formations, please add them, along with the casualty figures of both sides (if known), and what source you used. The battles can be as small single infantry divisions. But, I will be looking for casualty figures for both sides, in order to come up with a simple casualty ratio bewteen the two combatants. I should also add I that I am looking for the relative strength (number of soldiers) of each side at the start of the offensive.

Regards,

Brian

[ljadw]

IMHO,it is questionable to use casualties to determine relative effectiveness:what about artillery? what about numerical strength ?

[Alanmccoubrey]

You also seem to be ignoring the terrain in any operations.

In the Crimea von Manstein created a mobile group to support his infantry by combining all the motorised units in both the German and Romanian forces, are you considering their affect on the operations ?

[Maus]

I do take terrain into account in my analysis. Terrain plays a huge part. How much did the terrain favor the defender during the siege of Sevestopol? The Russians got a big boost from the terrain during Sevastopol and on the Volkhov. Number of artillery pieces, amount of air support, armor if any (for instance, the Russians had 4 full strength armored brigades, 350 tanks, to offset the Germans 22 Panzer Division during the Kerch offensive). Yes, I have set up a chart on my website to help with the analysis, and included in that analysis is a strength ratio in addition to the casualty ratio. So, I will look at the total strengths on each side, and then also the total casualties on each side, and then come up with a ratio for each. If the number of artillery tubes is available, I will list that as well, but it is not information is not always readily at hand.

Also, it is important to remember that "normally" during offensives, the side that is on the offensive will usually suffer higher casualties. But, it is almost always evident that on the Russian front, the Soviets suffered higher casualties whether on the offensive or on the defensive. My research merely reinforces this. I have purchased the NARA rolls containing (hopefully) the strength and casualty figures for the Germans during the offensive against the Volkhov pocket (2nd Shock Army). I plan on having that information up my website sometime this summer (it normally takes close to two months to get the DVD's from the National Archives).

Guys, thanks for the input!

Regards,

Brian