Post
by MarkD » Fri Apr 21, 2006 10:41 pm
These units were originally created for coastal defense in 1941. Since all motorized and even much of the horse-drawn transport was allocated to divisions participating in the invasion of Russia, there simply weren't very many vehicles left for the troops that had been assigned to occupation duty in France.
Germany had already commandeered the motorized transport had been used by the defeated French, Belgian and Dutch armies. With all of those trucks, it had managed to roughly double the number of its panzer and motorised divisions, plus raise dozens of additional (regular) infantry divisions. Furthermore, Hitler was trying to show the German people that the war would not interfere seriously with the production of civilian goods, so the German automotive factories continued to produce military transport pretty much at 1939 levels.
Obviously, something had to give. Although the threat of an English cross-channel attack was negligible in 1941, the German Army in France still needed to garrison the key ports and beaches. To that end, they raised their first series of "Standing Still" divisions of the 700 series during the summer of 1941. These 15 divisions were scattered into France, Belgium, Holland, Norway, Greece and Yugoslavia. They had very little artillery and even heavy infantry weapons like mortars and machine guns were in short supply. By the end of 1941, most of them had received additional equipment (much of it captured). Their soldiers were generally older men who lacked the stamina for hard-fighting on the Russian front.
The transport of a Static Division (as the Allied Forces called them) was so limited that the artillery and the supply trains could not be moved at the same time. Since they were intended for coastal defense, military doctrine did not forsee moving their artillery batteries anyway. Some of these divisions had less than a dozen motor vehicles.
The 700 series divisions were understrength by the standards of a 1941 infantry division. They only had 6 infantry battalions which were organized into two infantry regiments. There was no recon battalion. Later in 1942-44, one or two "Ost" battalions were often attached to these units and some were re-organized as Type 44 divisions with three regiments of two infantry battalions each.
The 200 and 300 series of static divisions in 1942-43 generally had three regiments of 3 infantry battalions each, but like their predecessors they lacked even sufficient horse-drawn transport to move their artillery and supply trains. Many of their German rifle battalions were replaced with "Ost" battalions (the 266th had five such "Ost" battalions). Like many other German infantry units, their supply trains were also manned by "Hiwis" (Russians in German uniforms). During the first half of 1944, the Germans "upgraded" some of their Training Divisions into Static Divisions (47, 48, 49, 165) by adding personnel and equipment and they formed additional divisions (59, 64, 226, etc.) from older aged men which were deployed in coastal sectors where regular infantry divisions had been previously stationed.
Although transport was short, in the event of an emergency local civilian vehicles (motor and horse) were commandered to give these units more mobility. Then after the surrender of Italy in 1943, some of the captured Italian trucks were used to partially motorize some of these Static Divisions. The 243rd and 346th were partially motorized, being reduced to 6 infantry battalions each. The 265th and 266th in Brittany each had one regiment that was partially motorized along with a supporting artillery battalion (these kampgruppes would be detached for rapid reaction to an Allied invasion, which was what actually happened). In the Pas de Calais zone, the 19th Luftwaffe Field and 326th Divisions also received a compliment of motor vehicles with the former being sent to Italy at the end of May, 1944. The 715th Division was also fully motorized and sent to Italy.
Due to the nature of the partisan war in the Balkans, the 704, 714 and 717 Static Divisions were converted into "Jaeger" Divisions by the addition of horse-drawn transport.
Most Static divisions assigned to coastal defense were often co-located with a Coast Artillery Regiment which often consisted of completely immobile, casemated guns (often captured equipment). Thus, for defense against sea landings, these units often had a full compliment of artillery when compared to their Allied counterparts. However, the emplaced artillery was either overrun by advancing Allied soldiers or abandoned when German troops withdrew towards Germany in the fall of 1944.
Although never designated as "Static Divisions", many of the new infantry divisions that were left behind in France in 1941 (like the 305th) were also lacking in heavy equipment and transport. Many people have wondered why the Germans had so many "regular" divisions sitting idly in France in the late fall of 1941 when the German army in Russia was already running very short of infantry at the gates of Moscow. The simple answer is that these formations were still not adequately equipped for full-scale combat.
Mark D.