Corderex it looks like this is highly a matter of definition and a matter of understanding of the big picture of operational warfare.
There is no doubt that the Waffen-SS was a major offensive weapon and for this was supplied with first rate equipment - LIKE the first rate divisions of the Heer.
Of course if you compare it with the
entire Heer the percentage was high but if you look how many types of divsisions the Heer included the picture looks different. The Heer had also its main forces and the untis which had to come out with second rate equipment, low strength etc... There was no use to create static etc...Waffen-SS divisions but the Heer had plenty of divisions which were held at a low combat-value in favour of the workhorse divisions. You cannot simply compare the percent (Well if you want you can but it gives this Waffen-SS best first always picture). You simply cannot compare the Heer with its many purposes with the Waffen-SS which was mainly used as offensive weapon LIKE the workhorse divisions of the Heer. It is unserious to compare a Waffen-SS division with a Heer Infanterie Division of the 20.Welle for example. Compare the supply, replacement and equipment of the 1., 2., 3., 4.Pz.Div., GD etc... you will see that they were not at all lower equipped etc...
- Out of ten heavy panzer battalions created during the war, three belonged to the Waffen SS.
No objection but as I said the percentage count does not work here because as I said the Heer had a large, large list of other duties to fullfill than the Waffen-SS had. Count just the Heer divisions which were always kept at Combat-level "Useable for all attack operations" you will have a different picture.
Besides the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Waffen SS divisions, there was only one other unit equipped with an organic heavy panzer battalion, the GD division...
But you yourself know that this wasn´t for long that they were organic.
It was a matter of operational thinking because the Heer units were far more spread and the heavy tank battalions had to be much more mobile to act as support.
- Out of 473 Tiger II tanks actually delivered to operational units until the end of the war, 124 (26.2%) ended up in one or another of the three Waffen SS heavy panzer battalions...
Yes 319 were delivered to schwere Heeres Panzer-Abteilungen, 124 to schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilungen, 30 to other units. Don´t you think this depends more on casualties? Casualties have to be replaced and they were replaced in the Heer AND the Waffen-SS. Some Heer Abteilungen also didn´t persist to the end of the war so this draws the percentage to the W-SS again. I say it again.. these number games don´t say anything.
We can also see this number game a little different
Tiger I
Heer
501 - 45
503 - 76
505 - 48
506 - 70
507 - 27
509 - 56
510 - 8
511 - 8
Various: 6+
Total: 342
Total per independant unit: 34,2+
Total per s.Pz.Abt.: 42,25
----------------------
Waffen-SS
101/501 - 96
102/502 - 31
103/503 - 39
Total: 116
Total per s.Pz.Abt.: 38,66
Where do you see a favor for the Waffen-SS in this number game?
- At the start of Kursk offensive, Germany had 133 Tiger I tanks in its order of battle (on-hand strength). Forty-two of them (31.5%) belonged to one or another of the three Waffen SS PzGren. Divisions...
(T. Jentz, Panzertruppen: The Complete Guide to the Creation and Combat Employment of Germany's Tank Force, 1943-1945, vol. 2)
Furthermore, of the 19 Tigers sent as replacements during the battle, 5 (26.3%) went to the LSSAH Pz.Reg. Interestingly enough, the LSSAH division only lost one Tiger during Zitadelle, against the 4 lost by s.Pz.Abt. 503, which did not get a single one of these 19 Tigers.
Why the focus in the Tiger? But anyway shall I give you a randomly picked example (like yours) where a Heer unit was eqipped and a W-SS unit not?? I know very well these percentages and as I said above you cannot compare the huge number of different army units with the Waffen-SS. BTW How many Panther did the W-SS have in Kursk? I know you can asnwer that yourself. Or was the Panther a crappy tank for the Heer and the W-SS got the great Tiger? And please don´t start with the performance of the Panther units at Kursk which is more matter of tactics and technics than W-SS - Heer.
Those figures would make sense only if the Waffen-SS constituted about 30% of the entire German land forces during the war, which of course, and as you know, was not the case.
Again, you cannot simply play this number game. How many garrison, defense units (e.g. France) did the W-SS have to build and maintain???
I don't know how this worked, "considering that it was supplied through Heer channels", but these are the facts, and examples abound. Maybe some decision from higher echelons?
These facts say nothing and if it was a higher echelon decision there must be written orders that the Waffen-SS had to be better supplied and equipped. None ever showed up.
One of the over several W-SS veterans I interviewed was the O2 of Hausser at Charkow and later Ib in several divisions and commands. He also signed the interview he gave me where he answered to my question if the W-SS was better supplied that this is nonsense and not correct.
How about some vice-versa examples which agains say nothing but maybe you see that we can play this game the other way round as well.
- 1939 and the following years the W-SS formations had to rely mostly on captured and confiscated foreign equipment and weapons.
- Here are TigerI allocations
This was the allocation of new Tiger Is:
Heer
501 - 51
502 - 129
503 - 169
504 - 83
505 - 60
506 - 113
507 - 89
508 - 83
509 - 95
510 - 51
Various: 233
Total: 1,156
Total per independant unit: 68
Total per s.Pz.Abt.: 92.3
--------------------
Waffen-SS
Various: 97
101 - 34
102 - 45
103 - 16
Total: 192
Total per independant unit: 32
Total per s.Pz.Abt.: 64
- Until early 1942 the W-SS didn´t have tanks (except StuGs) at all. But obviously these years don´t count for the W-SS better and best "fans".
- The "Luchs" an excellent recon vehicle was just issued to Heer units (and HG).
We could go on with number games but what we have to see is why these things were done and this needs a unbiased look at operational use of the workhorse divisions of the Heer and the Waffen-SS.
\Christoph