Canada, as one of the Allied nations during the Second World War, was opposed by a group of nations referred to as the Axis Powers.

Nations of the Alliance

The three main Axis nations, Germany, Italy and Japan, referred to their relationship as the "Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis". All three nations were militaristic societies with imperial ambitions and all three waged aggressive and militarily unprovoked wars with their neighbours.

Other nations became associated with the Axis, either by treaty, agreement or by some form of annexation/subjugation.

Partners in the Axis

The actual term "Axis" was initiated by Benito Mussolini, ruler of Fascist Italy, when in Nov 1936 he spoke of a Rome-Berlin axis, the result of a treaty of friendship signed between Italy and Nazi Germany. The treaty, signed 25 Oct 1936, led Mussolini to declare that the two nations would form an "axis" around which the rest of Europe would revolve. Italy's alliance with Germany had been brought about after the League of Nations opposed Italian imperialism in Abyssinia. Germany had supported Italy in that venture.

In May 1939, an official alliance was created with the "Pact of Steel". On 27 Sep 1940, the alliance extended to the Empire of Japan, with the signing of the Tripartite Treaty.

Germany

Mussolini, General Jodl, Adolf Hitler, and General Keitel. Mussolini would be executed in early 1945, Hitler committed suicide in Apr 1945, and both Jodl and Keitel were tried at Nuremberg and hanged in 1946.

The Second World War may be described as Hitler's War; he gained supreme power over the German people, largely through democratic means, and established himself as supreme commander of the military through a series of cunning political maneuvers. For the German military, who had a long-standing tradition of not involving themselves in politics, there was simply no choice but to follow the orders of their Führer. Hitler's surface aim was to establish a unified German state, taking back territories ceded by the harsh Treaty of Versailles after the First World War. His ultimate goal was to eliminate what he termed the "Jewish race" (defining Jews racially in addition to just religious practice) and establish Lebensraum (living room) for the German people, who he also defined racially as "Aryans". Domination of eastern Europe was the means to these goals.

Hitler's ultimate problem for his military would be conquering the Soviet Union, pushing Germany's borders as far east as possible, to at the least keep Soviet airpower away from German territory and that of its allies, such as the rich oilfields of Romania.

As for the nations that followed Germany into what was later billed an "anti-Bolshevik crusade", there were many factors, as described briefly in the various nationality sections below. In summary, we can see that many of the central and eastern European nations had many reasons to want to participate; reliance on Germany for security, desire to recover lost territory from the Soviet Union, fear or hatred of communism, desire to be free of Soviet rule, and the opportunistic notion that booty might be theirs for the taking by assisting in the destruction of the USSR. Many also participated with varying degrees of willingness in the Final Solution, either staging executions, assisting German execution squads, or deporting citizens to German concentration camps.

As the fortunes of war changed in favour of the Red Army, many of the Axis allies demonstrated opportunism of another kind, and through their self-preservation instincts turned on Germany in 1944 as the war ground down to a final confrontation on German soil in 1945.

Even before Barbarossa began, Hitler single-handedly set out foreign policy for the German nation, and his decisions to attack countries - even as monumental an undertaking as the war against the USSR - were done without consulting his military. After December 1941, his power was all encompassing, and the war against the Soviet Union can rightly be called Hitler's War. The war against the Soviet Union ended in abject failure, and all of Hitler's foreign policy goals failed to be achieved, with the partial exception of his desire to destroy the Jewish peoples of Europe. This goal was worked towards with ruthless and ghastly efficiency; Jewish populations in many Eastern European nations were almost completely wiped out. But Gemany itself was occupied, the lands it gained by hook and by crook between 1933 and 1943 had been reclaimed, and the German state was occupied and partitioned for nearly 50 years.

Italy

Fascist Italy participated in the war, first as the Kingdom of Italy, in which Benito Mussolini ruled in the name of King Victor Emmanuel III until Sep 1943. After secret negotiations with the Allies, following the landing of Allied troops on the Italian mainland (including the 1st Canadian Infantry Division), Mussolini was dismissed and Italy joined the Allies. Those areas of the nation under German control, however, became the Italian Social Republic (Repubblica Sociale Italiana or RSI). Mussolini - arrested by the new Italian government - was rescued by German commandos in the Gran Sasso Raid on 12 Sep 1943 and installed as the leader of the RSI. He as captured in Apr 1945 and executed by Italian anti-fascist partisans.

Japan

Japan and Germany had become allies with the signing of the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1936. Japanese and Soviet forces had clashed briefly over territory in China, including open armed conflict, in 1939. Nonetheless, Japanese forces did not engage in direct large-scale combat with Soviet forces until after the capitulation of Germany. Japan's attack on the United States in Dec 1941 did provide the Soviet Union the ability to redeploy sorely needed resources from her eastern frontiers, however, and fresh Siberian divisions had profound effects on the combat outside Moscow in December 1941.

In the closing weeks of the war, Soviet forces determined to make last minute territorial gains in Manchuria before the close of the American-Japanese war initiated a brief period of combat with Japanese forces before the surrender of Japan in September 1945.

Other Members of the Axis

Debate continues among historians as to the precise membership of the Axis, as some nations joined under coercion or as the result of annexation or subjugation. Aside from the original three signatories to the Tripartite Pact of 1940, Yugoslavia had also signed the Pact on 25 Mar 1941, after long negotiations with Germany. Days later, however, a British-backed military coup toppled the pro-Axis government under Prince Paul. The new government feared that Britain would be unable to help them should they repudiate the treaty, and declared that Yugoslavia would abide by the Tripartite Pact's agreements. Germany nonetheless invaded and occupied Yugoslavia in Apr 1941, causing a crucial delay of their planned invasion of the Soviet Union for several weeks.

Other nations joining the pact included:

• Hungary (20 Nov 1940)

• Romania (23 Nov 1940)

• Slovakia (24 Nov 1940)

• Bulgaria (1 Mar 1941)

Croatia

Croatia, which gained nominal independence after German occupation of Yugoslavia in 1941, was considered a minor Axis Power. On 10 Apr 1941, an extreme-right nationalist organization called Ustaše proclaimed an "Independent State of Croatia" from regions of occupied Yugoslav territory after the capitulation of the Royal Yugoslavian Army to the Germans. The state was founded as a reaction to a perceived pro-Serbian bias in the national government of Yugoslavia. Fascist Croatians used their power to send hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews, Gypsies and political dissenters to their death in German concentration camps.

Thailand

While Thailand was not a signatory of the Tripartite Pact, it quickly ceased resistance to the Japanese invasion on 8 Dec 1941, and signed a military alliance with Japan in 1942, as well as declaring war on the United States and Great Britain.

Bulgaria

Bulgaria remained an Axis power until 9 Sep 1944, when the Bulgarian Communist Party staged a coup (coincidentally as the Red Army approached the nation's border), declaring the country the People's Republic of Bulgaria (which would last until 10 Nov 1989). Bulgaria officially joined the Allies in 1944, though no territorial gains were made as a result.

Vardar Macedonia, a region of Yugoslavia populated with ethnic Bulgarians, largely welcomed Bulgarian occupation in 1941. When Bulgaria left the Axis in Sep 1944, Germany suggested that Ivan Mihailov, the leader of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, declare Macedonian independence, but the idea was rejected.

Hungary

Hungary had actually started its collaboration with Italy in 1927 with the signing of a treaty, as well as creating ties, both formal and informal, with Germany in the 1930s. Hungary's desire was to regain territory lost after the First World War, and the dismantling of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Treaty of Trianon in 1920 had taken two-thirds of the nation's area and population away and ceded it to new countries. As such, it was a very willing participant in the Axis, participating in the dismantling of Czechoslovakia from which it acquired territory. Southern Slovakia went to Hungary in 1938 as part of the Munich Agreement, and in Mar 1939 Hungarian military forces occupied Ruthenia (also part of Czechoslovakia). In Aug 1940, Germany forced Romania to cede northern Transylvania to Hungary, putting her eastern frontier along the strategically important Carpathian mountains. In Apr 1941, Hungarian troops helped occupy Yugoslavia after the German invasion, alienating her non-German neighbours (Romania was already a bitter enemy) and ensuring reliance on the Germans for protection.

Hungary also participated in the war in the Soviet Union.

Italian Social Republic

The Italian Social Republic (Repubblica Sociale Italiana in Italian) was a fascist state established in 1943 after Italy, under King Victor Emmanuel III, joined the Allies. Mussolini had been arrested by the Italians, but he was freed in Sep 1943 by the spectacular raid on Gran Sasso by German commandos under the famous Waffen SS officer Otto Skorzeny. Mussolini was installed as the leader of the new republic, which was centred at Salò. The republic fell as German forces in the north of Italy surrendered or withdrew to German soil in early 1945.

Romania

The Kingdom of Romania joined the Axis on 23 Nov 1940 after the Soviet Union occupied half of the province of Moldova on 28 Jun 1940. Germany and Italy forced it to relinquish half of another province, Transylvania, to Hungary on 30 Aug 1940. Romania became a major participant in the war in the Soviet Union. By early 1944, as Soviet forces crossed the border into Romania, the Romanian Army became increasingly uncooperative with the Germans, and on 20 Aug 1944 Romania defected to the Allies.

Slovakia

The independent Slovak Republic was formed after the Czechoslovakia was dissolved before the Second World War. A "Protection treaty" gave Germany the power to set Slovakian foreign, military and economic policy on 23 Mar 1939. Slovakia therefore joined the Axis, and participated in the German campaigns against Poland in Sep-Oct 1939 and the Soviet Union in Jun 1941. With the exception of border territories, Slovakia was not occupied by the Germans.

Thailand

Japanese forces invaded Thailand as part of their widespread offensive in the Pacific on 8 Dec 1941. Resistance was ceased by the Prime Minister, Field Marshal Pibulsonggram, and a military alliance with Japan formed on 21 Dec was followed by declaration of war on Britain and the US on 25 Jan 1942. Thai forces were actively engaged against the Chinese. The Prime Minister was overthrown in 1944 as discontent with the Japanese presence in the country grew, though the new civilian government retained cordial relations with Japan. After the war, the United States - who had never reciprocated the declaration of war - insisted that Thailand not be treated as an Axis nation. Britain - who did reciprocate the war declaration in 1942 - demanded reparations in the form of rice and territory annexed from Malaya by the Thais, as well as parts of Burma and French territory in Cambodia and Laos.

Yugoslavia

As noted above, Yugoslavia joined the Axis on 25 Mar 1941 until a British-supported coup two days later cast doubt on Yugoslavia's status. Despite King Peter II's declaration of adherence to the Tripartite Pact, Germany occupied the nation in Apr 1941, which ceased to exist. As was the case with Poland, a government in exile was established in Britain. Germany annexed Slovenia, Italy took Dalmatia, Bulgaria took Macedonia, and Albania annexed Montenegro while Croatia declared independence. Serbia also became an independent entity, underneath a pro-Axis puppet head of state.

Finland

Finland was not a member of the Axis, but had long-standing territorial disputes with the Soviet Union. Finland had been part of the Russian Empire until 1917, when German troops assisted the Finns in establishing independence. The Finns maintained a policy of neutrality between the wars, and Soviet territorial demands in Oct 1939 led to negotiations halted by Soviet invasion without declaration of war on 30 Nov 1939. The Winter War lasted until Mar 1940 when the Finns negotiated a peace settlement, giving in to Soviet territorial demands.

In 1941, following the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Finland participated with the stipulation that all they sought was to recover territory lost in the Winter War. They called the new conflict the Continuation War and felt that both conflicts were separate from the Second World War as a whole. Finland never signed an agreement with Germany, Italy or Japan and while Great Britain and France declared war on Finland, the United States did not.

After limited offensive operations after the German invasion of Russia in Jun 1941, in which much Finnish territory was recovered, the Finns refused to get involved in protracted and costly operations in the Soviet Union. In Dec 1941, the decision was made to stablized their lines, and the front remained relatively quiet until Jun 1944. Massive Soviet attacks into Karelia obliterated all the gains made in the Continuation War, and in Aug 1944 a treaty with the Soviet Union was concluded. German forces were expelled from Finland and into northern Norway.

Defections

• Italy - defected to the Allies on 8 Sep 1943. A fascist puppet state was established in northern Italy, which dissolved when Germany surrendered in May 1945.

• Romania - defected to the Allies in Aug 1944

• Bulgaria - Communist coup in Sep 1944 and defected to the Allies.

• Germany - defeated by the Allies and surrendered unconditionally, with Victory in Europe Day declared by the Allies on 8 May 1945.

• Japan - defeated by the Allies and surrendered unconditionally, with Victory over Japan Day declared by the Allies on 2 Sep 1945.

Satellite States

Europe

• Austria became part of Germany after the Anschluss of 1938.

• Belgium was overrun in May 1940.

• Belarusian Central Rada was the name of the puppet state set up after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941; this state disappeared after German forces withdrew in 1944.

• Denmark was overrun in 1940.

• Luxembourg was overrun in 1940, occupied until Aug 1942, then incorporated into Germany until liberated by the Allies in late 1944.

• Lokot Republic was established as an experiment by Germany in establishing a pro-Axis, anti-Soviet Russian entity and represented an example of co-operation between Axis invaders and Russian nationals. The republic ended in 1943 as Axis fortunes in the East changed after Stalingrad.

• The Netherlands were overrun in 1940.

• Norway was overrun in 1940.

• Reichskommissariats of Ostland and Ukraine - German run governments in conquered territories of the Soviet Union; they naturally disappeared as the Red Army regained lost territories in 1943 and 1944.

• Vichy France - Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain became the head of state of unoccupied areas of France after the surrender on 22 Jun 1940, separate from the other two-thirds of France which was militarily occupied by the Germans. The government was established in the resort town of Vichy, and retained control of overseas possessions. Vichy French troops briefly saw combat against British and Free French troops in Syria in 1941, and against American and British forces in North Africa in Nov 1942. A Free French government in exile was established in the UK.

Vichy France signed the Anti-Comintern Pact of 1941 and sent French volunteers to fight the Soviet Union. Vichy controlled colonies were sometimes used as bases for Axis military operations; Japan in particular occupied French Indochina, used as a staging base for invasions of Thailand, Malaya and Borneo.

Asia

• Manchukuo (Manchuria) was a Japanese puppet state established in 1932. The independence of Manchuria was not recognized by the League of Nations, a situation that prompted Japan to withdraw from the League. Only Italy, Germany, and the Nanjing puppet government recognized the new state initially, though Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ba Maw Burmese Nation, Thailand, the Indian government of Subhas Chandra Bose, and The Vatican later gave recognition to Manchuria. After Japan's surrender, the Manchurian state was dissolved.

• Mengjiang (Mengchiang) was a client state of Japan's, organized in northern China on 18 Feb 1936, though independence was theoretical only. This state disappeared in 1945 as Japan was defeated and mainland possessions were invaded by the Soviet Union in the wake of the US atomic bombings in Aug 1945.

• A puppet state in Nanjing was founded on 29 Mar 1940 by the Japanese, which surrendered on 9 Sep 1945 to Nationalist Chinese forces.

• Provisional Government of Free India - led by Indian nationalist Subhas Chandra Bose, this government never operated in India itself, but in Japanese-controlled areas outside the country. Bose rejected Gandhi's peaceful methods though their goal of Indian independence was the same. Bose declared an independent India in Oct 1943, creating a provisional capital in the Nicobar Islands. The state disappeared on 18 Aug 1945, having only been recognized during its brief history by other Axis nations or puppets including Germany, Japan, Italy, Croatia, the Wang Jingwei Government in Japanese-occupied China, Thailand, Burma, Manchukuo, and the Philippines.

Military Forces

The German Military

Germany's Armed Forces (Wehrmacht) consisted of the Army (Heer), Air Force (Luftwaffe) and Navy (Kriegsmarine). During the war, the Waffen SS also gained importance in dramatic fashion - originally a political organization, the SS grew during the war to encompass the General SS (under whom many state security and police organizations fell) and the Waffen SS, the military arm of the organization.

The SS was the private domain of one Heinrich Himmler, and the Luftwaffe too, under Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, developed a large set of ground forces. At first only responsible for parachute troops and anti-aircraft units, the Luftwaffe raised several divisions of infantry units, as well as the elite armoured division named after the Reichsmarschall himself. The Army, however, fell more and more under Hitler's direct control - especially after assuming the post of Chief of the Army High Command in December 1941 in addition to his title of Supreme Commander. His most senior officers were lackeys and yes-men, notably the Chief of the Operation Staff of the High Command of the Armed Forces, Alfred Jodl, and the Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, Wilhelm Keitel. Any senior generals who opposed his orders or even his thoughts were routinely dismissed, some to be reinstated - and then dismissed again.

The Axis forces on Germany's Eastern Front were divided into Army Groups, as noted below. Each Army Group was made up of Armies, each Army made up of two or more Corps, each Corps having two or more divisions, and troops of all the services were combined into these Army Groups. The various contingents of foreign national armies or foreign legions listed further down on this page were attached to German higher formations and fought in the area of responsibility of the various Army Groups as well.

German Army Groups on the Eastern Front

The German Army

Nationhood and Early Beginnings

A German national Army did not exist as such until after the First World War; troops in that conflict had come from different states such as Bavaria, Saxony, Prussia, etc. Tradition extending back centuries always dictated that the Army would be a non-political and highly obedient servant not just of the State, but of the Ruler, be he emperor or king. With the abolition of the monarchy after World War One, and with no Kaiser to swear loyalty to, German soldiers and ex-soldiers (one Adolf Hitler among them) threw themselves into the political turmoil throughout the country, as the Freikorps (Free Corps) roamed the countryside. The Army eventually moved itself out of the political arena, withdrawing into its traditional anti-democratic and non-political stance. A condition of the peace of 1918 was that the German state as a whole be permitted only a 100,000 man Armed Forces called the Reichswehr, in which volunteers had to sign on for extensive periods of time. The Army once again pledged itself to total obedience and service to the state.

When Hitler finally came to power as Chancellor in the early 1930s, the Army struggled to remain non-political. Officers noted with alarm that political armies such as the SA (see below under the Waffen SS) had gained in importance - in 1933 the SA numbered 400,000 men, outnumbering the Army some 4 to 1. A brief flirtation with political power immediately before Hitler's accession to Chancellor is seen as the last chance the Army had of preventing a National Socialist takeover. But the generals, for a variety of reasons, were powerless to intervene. The only path for the German Army at this stage was to war; to fulfill his ultimate political aims, Hitler would need more than just political bullies such as the SA. Hitler unified the German states and announced a general re-armament, and the Army changed dramatically. Regimental traditions as rich as those held by the British Army were dispensed with in favour of a homogenous new Heer (as the Reichsheer was redubbed - meaning simply The Army). From a 100,000 man standing start, the new Wehrmacht was expanded greatly in a very short time, by October 1934 some 240,000 men were under arms. The Army was intended to be the sole bearer of arms of the nation, and the SA was greatly reduced in importance beginning in June 1934 with a purge of its leadership. More importantly, Hitler refused to intervene in Army matters and the Army was allowed to run itself.

The German Army had a strong manpower pool to draw from; not only was twelve months of military service compulsory for all German males of appropriate age, but paramilitary youth groups were common, in which German boys started to receive military training even before entering their teen years. Service with the Reich Arbeits Dienst (RAD - German Labor Service) was also compulsory. Marching, drill, discipline, weapons training, and a regimentalized system of living was part of the German male's experiences throughout his formative years. All German recruits, for the first time in history, swore their oath of allegiance to a single individual by name - Adolf Hitler.

By 1938, the Army occupied the same position the SA had in 1934; it was the most important armed force in the German state, and like the SA in 1934, the Army leadership had lost Hitler's confidence and trust. Both Himmler and Goering had axes to grind with the Army leadership - and vice versa. Hitler acted to consolidate power and some 50 generals were dismissed, or made to resign, with Hitler assuming, in February 1938, the role of Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.

Rapid Expansion

In 1939, the Army had grown to number 52 active and 51 reserve divisions, with 730,000 men under arms and 1,100,000 in reserve. After mobilization for war in September, a remarkable achievement in itself, Germany's men under arms totalled over 3,700,000, of a total population of some 80,000,000. But the rapid expansion had its dangers; from 84 infantry battalions in 1934, Germany fielded some 885 in 1939 - more than ten times as many. Twenty-four artillery battalions had expanded to become 439 in the same time frame. Some 3,550 officers existed in the German Army in 1933 (not counting 450 medical and veterinary officers), and 500 of these were transferred to the fledgling Air Force. By 1939, some 100,000 officers were required. Many NCOs and Police officers were commissioned to make up shortfalls - with the added effect of breaking down social class distinctions in the Army, which had been a supposed goal of National Socialism in any event. The camaraderie that grew during the war between officers and men in the German Army was arguably more intense than in the armies of most of the Allies; this infusion of men from the ranks no doubt helped this take place.

Victory in Poland, followed by the unexpected declaration of war by France and Britain, paved the way for successful campaigns in Norway, and finally the Low Countries and France itself. Victory had come through capitalization of poor Polish deployment; their armies did not take advantage of natural obstacles such as rivers, and worse, was forced to deploy on two fronts when the Soviets invaded from the east after the initial German successes in the western part of the country. Despite immense logistical problems caused by the reliance on nearly 200,000 horses accompanying the German Army, the campaign was effectively concluded by the 18th day, and had been decided by the fourth day. A large battle ending with the capture of some 170,000 Polish soldiers would be the largest encirclement in the entire history of warfare to that date.

The Polish campaign revealed another trend that would continue throughout the war; that of Adolf Hitler's willingness to gamble. In September 1939, the gamble had been that the western Allies would not declare war, a gamble that Hitler lost.

The Nature of German Warfare

The Polish Campaign had been essentially an infantryman's battle; German infantry made up 75% of the attacking force, and the majority of battles were concluded within 50 miles of the frontier, where the bulk of the Polish forces chose to deploy. A small portion of the German force had to march as far as 200 miles, but supply and fatigue did not pose any real problem - as they would later in the expanse of the Soviet Union. More tellingly, German air and armoured forces were not deployed for long ranging shock action - as the myth of Blitzkrieg would have us believe - but in some cases, armoured formations were actually subordinated to the command of infantry corps. The armoured units were envisioned as leading a collaborative effort against the enemy - not of taking independent action.

The Army leadership in Poland became aghast at German plans for occupation of the country, and especially the action of the Security Police, members of the SS that followed the Army and were tasked with securing the rear areas. Unofficially, they served a more sinister purpose, along with the Einsatzgruppen, or Special Action groups. Six such groups, numbering between 400 and 600 men each, marched into Poland and under several pretexts, rounded up intelligentsia, officials, businessmen, religion figures and other important personages, and executed them. Army commanders and rank and file alike were not fooled by the official pretexts for the murders - usually attributed to "counter espionage work" - and after the conclusion of the campaign, Army generals were so keen on distancing themselves from the killings that they pulled out of their occupation duties before being formally relieved. The SS stepped happily in, and the campaign continued unhindered. The Army turned its attention to the West.

Campaigns in the West and the Myth of Blitzkrieg

The campaigns in Denmark and Norway in the spring of 1940 formed a necessary prelude to the invasion of France and the Low Countries. It was here that German armoured forces were able to practice techniques that would later come to play in the Soviet Union. Even before the invasion of France, however, there was no consensus on the correct method of attack, and no thought that "Blitzkrieg" was the ultimate solution to the problem. The final plan drafted by Manstein was notable for its high risk factor - an attack with mobile forces through the dense Ardennes Forest. But the plan was also consistent with conventional German military thinking; a difficult campaign was expected in which the infantry would play a major role.

The myth of Blitzkrieg persists in the image of German panzers driving deep into French territory with air power blasting a way forward. This simply did not happen. Rough terrain, and especially the obstacle of the Meuse River, delayed German armoured forces to a great extent, and the infantry was still the mainstay of the attacking forces; the assault over the Meuse was actually led by anti-tank and engineer units. Airpower was indeed crucial to the campaign, with aerial supremacy being established quickly, and providing a secure blanket over the troops on the ground, as well as confusing French commanders as to the intent of German forces - but in no way did the use of airpower signify any revolution in modern warfare, and aerial attacks accounted for little destruction among enemy ground forces. Conservative employment of the armoured troops, too, caused the Army to stop short of annihilating some 300,000+ troops at Dunkirk by prematurely halting.

Planning for an invasion of the Soviet Union in the spring of 1941, Hitler's plans were sidetracked by the need to intervene to assist Italy in North Africa as well as the Balkans. After a quick conquest of Yugoslavia and Greece, and the despatch of a token force to Africa, Barbarossa was slated for June. Several weeks of good campaigning weather had been lost. Further, the myth of Blitzkrieg and the miraculous victory over France in six weeks led many Germans to believe that the Soviet Union would be a pushover.

By 1941, the German Army had a considerable amount of experience at conducting operations in the field, and had not yet faced a major defeat. Two schools of thought pervaded the grand strategy planned for the Russian campaign; the "armoured concept" of Heinz Guderian, who advocated swift moving armoured forces rapidly advancing to capture enemy power centres, and the classical approach, favoured by the High Command , of decisive maneuver, in which pockets of enemy troops could be encircled and destroyed. The use of maneuvered had been practiced by German armies for at least a century; the war with the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1866 had lasted just six weeks, the main battles of the 1870-71 war with France lasted just over six weeks, and initial successes in 1914 also showed the effectiveness of maneuver. No tanks or Stuka dive bombers had been necessary; in 1940 new technology was applied to these older ideas, but the concepts were nothing new. After the shock of attrition warfare and the ascent of the machinegun as the master of the infantryman's battlefield, there were serious questions as to whether decisive maneuver could still work, but the new technologies - tanks, support aircraft, and flexible artillery support - seemed to ensure that the decisive maneuver could be successful, and the two schools of thought, with much in common (both rejected attrition as a viable means of waging war) would shape German strategy in Russia.

Nature of combat in the Soviet Union

The German Army was not prepared for many factors it encountered in the Soviet Union. Firstly was the fighting ability of the Soviet soldier, who showed a marked willingness to accept casualties, as well as a genius for entrenchment and camouflage. Secondly was the appearance of excellent Soviet tanks such as the T-34 and KV-1; while poorly employed and co-coordinated in the field, and often lacking spare parts, the Germans had few weapons capable of dealing with these weapons on an equal footing and their existence came as a rude surprise. The weather, too, was an enemy as dogged as the individual Russian soldier, be it the long periods of mud and rain in spring and autumn (made even more noticeable by the lack of paved roads in the Soviet Union) or the intense cold of winter which froze many types of German equipment. Notably, no preparations had been made to transport cold weather clothing to German soldiers in Russia in late 1941, general consensus being that the campaign would be over before the snows fell.

While the German soldier fought with great skill and determination, his Soviet counterpart in time also became quite skillful and lavishly equipped with automatic weapons, tanks and artillery, and his tactics improved (the eventual addition of radios to their tanks, for example, helped greatly). German units received improved small arms as the war went on, including semi-automatic and automatic weapons, though these never fully supplanted the bolt action K98 Mauser rifle as the mainstay of the infantryman. But by no means had the current modern family of small arms reached the entire German Army by June of 1941, and numbers or older weapons remained in front line units long after the invasion of Russia began; none of which probably mattered a great deal; both sides found the majority of casualties suffered were usually inflicted by artillery.

The Soviet Union also had a significant manpower advantage, and despite the crushing losses inflicted on it early in the war, the Soviet nation was able to mobilize and replace these losses in a significantly short period of time. The declaration of war on the United States by Japan also allowed the Soviets to reduce her eastern garrisons and move troops to the west to fight the Germans - the arrival of the Siberians in December of 1941 was especially significant.

The further into the Soviet Union that the invading Axis armies travelled, the harder it became to keep them supplied. Soviet railway lines were of a different guage than German trains, Soviet rails were lighter and only capable of carrying a 17 ton axle load (7 tons less than the European standard), Soviet locomotives had larger water capacity which meant that watering stations were farther apart in the USSR than in Europe - a problem when the Germans decided to relay the track in the country to the German gauge. Construction of new railway lines were inefficient, and length of track laid was given priority over necessities such as roundhouses, depots, workshop facilities, coal and water stations, etc. Only about 25 percent of the Soviet rail lines were double tracked rather than single tracked, and poor roadbeds in many areas limited maximum speeds to 20 miles per hour. Motor transport was also hampered severely by the lack of graded and paved roads in the Soviet Union, as well as the spring and autumn rainy periods which quickly turned the dirt roads into quagmires.

Production and Distribution of Materiel

German units were always deficient in key items of equipment, notably motor transport, and were heavily reliant on draft animals - very often supplementing their own horses with smaller Russian ponies when they could be found. A single first line infantry division required some 4,842 horses to supplement its motor transport allotment of just over 1000 cars and trucks. Weaker divisions required fewer cars and trucks, (still amounting to close to 600 vehicles ) but required over 6,000 horses. By the war's end, over 2,700,000 horses would have passed through the German Army. The 198th Infantry Division reported in November 1941 that its complement of 4600 horses had diminished to 3100, with some 1200 of these barely able to stand for due to a combination of cold weather, overexertion and lack of suitable fodder. These horses were stabled until they recovered - in mid June 1942; in their place 1600 local Panjes (Russian ponies) were utilized.

Halftrack vehicles and armoured personnel carriers - in theory the standard mount of the elite Schützen and Panzergrenadier regiments of the Panzer divisions - were never available in anything like adequate numbers. Tanks capable of keeping pace with Soviet tank design were long in coming, and the introduction of the Tiger in late 1942 was a blessing for German tank men. The even better Panther was delayed until the summer of 1943, and original models were mechanically unreliable. By this point, the disasters at Stalingrad and El Alamein had fallen and the Combined Bomber Offensive of the western Allies was wreaking havoc, if not directly on the German economy, then not so co-incidentally her civilian population.

The German economy was never properly geared for war production until very late in the game; James Lucas tells us (in his book Reich) that in 1943 1 million German women were employed as hairdressers rather than employed in "war work." The word "krieg" (war) was also never used openly before 1943, rather a "period of national emergency" was declared.

German Leadership of BARBAROSSA

Perhaps most importantly, Adolf Hitler assumed greater control over the Army's employment in the field in December of 1941, assuming the post of Chief of the Army High Command. While his Stand or Die orders that winter may in fact have been the correct method of preventing a rout, his continued issuance of similar orders on later occasions throughout the war were not suited for many of the tactical situations of units to whom those orders were given. The most notorious example was the Sixth Army at Stalingrad; most historians feel that had von Paulus been permitted early on to withdraw or attempt to fight his way out of the Soviet encirclement, thousands of German lives might have been saved. As the war went on, many German generals were sacked (some more than once) when they were seen to disagree with Hitler or issue orders contrary to his wishes.

The einsatzgruppen followed the Army into Russia as well, and amidst the legitimate concerns of anti-partisan warfare, mass executions of enemy civilians were commonplace, and on a large scale. At Babi Yar in September 1941, some 33,771 civilians were exterminated, ostensibly in reprisal for German Army casualties caused by the explosion of mines laid by the Red Army. By the end of 1941, with the assistance of local volunteers in the Baltics and Ukraine, the einsatzgruppen could report that nearly 500,000 civilians had been killed. The direct effect on the Army - whose level of direct participation is unclear but whose level of knowledge of these activities is easier to surmise - was the necessity of employing large numbers of men on security and anti-partisan duties in the rear areas.

After the defeat at Stalingrad, the German Army had transformed from an unbeaten force of conquerors to an army forced to fight for its life. The first major defeats in North Africa occured just as the Stalingrad battle opened, and by the time the Kursk battle was concluded - the last great German offensive of the war in the East - the western Allies had landed on Sicily and Italy was soon to capitulate. But the German soldier fought on, along with desperate allies who saw the Red Army advancing towards their borders, and decided that their best hope for fair treatment by the invading Soviets would be to switch sides.

During the two years of defensive warfare and retreat, the German Army maintained discipline and morale - sometimes through draconian means, such as the creation of "flying courts martial" and special military police units who were authorized to try, convict and execute deserters and shirkers. The policy of aggressive counter-attacks often led to hastily prepared attacks for little gain with appreciable losses in valuable resources, especially tanks and armoured fighting vehicles.

Perhaps the most visible sign that Hitler had lost faith in his Army was his order on 24 July 1944 (in the wake of the Bomb Plot that almost killed him four days earlier) that the military hand salute was to be immediately replaced with the "German Greeting" - the act of stretching the arm out to a 45 degree angle, accompanied by the salutation "Heil Hitler." All officers of the German Army were ordered to re-swear their oath of allegiance. Certainly many officers had finally seen Hitler as the greatest obstacle to Germany's well being. But the plot against Hitler had been put down bloodily and swiftly by both the SS, and regular Army officers still devoted to the cause. There would be no more chances for conspirators; Hitler soon retreated into seclusion, drastic security measures were taken not only for his own personal safety, but to ensure that soldiers in the field kept fighting. Soldiers who deserted or surrendered now left their families at risk of arrest; flying courts-martial and execution became so common that historians can't determine with precision exactly how many German troops were executed in the last days of the war.

The German General Staff - a unique institution - was also deeply mistrusted by Hitler. After December 1941, the Army High Command (OKH) and Hitler's personal staff, the Armed Forces High Command (OKW) operated separately and were united only by Hitler's personal direction. By 1945, Hitler promised to dismantle the entire system, and by March 1945, Kesselring of the Luftwaffe and Doenitz of the Navy were in command of ground operations, leaving Army officers completely out of the highest levels of the command loop. Infantry

The German infantryman was a highly trained specialist, whose training began with 16 weeks of basic military training (decreased during the war to eight, and progressively less in the closing months of the war) in the region (Wehrkreis) where he was recruited. After advanced trades training - where the infantryman learned to use the machine pistol, light machinegun, several types of grenades, different tactics and drills, the art of entrenchment and camouflage in the field, how to attack tanks, first aid, survival skills and a variety of other skills - the soldier joined a March Company and moved to the front as a formed unit, eventually to join one of the numbered regiments of the Army that hailed from his home region. He was taught to take over a squad or platoon in an emergency, and that it was always better to do something, than nothing. The concept of auftragstaktik - misson-type orders - meant that leaders at the lowest levels were given the flexibility to think for themselves in battle rather than tie themselves to rigid plans, and show initiative where men in other armies might simply remain idle.

Changes to regimental organization were minor during the war, though individual armament changed greatly. From the beginning of the Russian Campaign, German soldiers were taught to aggressively react to armoured threats with whatever means were at hand. Eventually, of necessity, an increasingly deadly array of anti-tank weaponry was introducted, from magnetic mines to hand held disposable rocket launchers which improved in quality as the war went on, to the bazooka-inspired Panzerschreck. But hand in hand with new weapons came decreases in manpower, and the established strengths of German units decreased as the war went on. Infantry squads of 10 men were replaced with a nine man organization, for example (in practice these numbers meant little in any event). Other weapons were upgraded in capability; the 3.7cm anti tank gun was successively replaced with 5.0 cm and 7.5 cm models, and the 8.1 cm mortar began to be replaced in infantry battalions with the 12 cm model.

Usually outnumbered by 1943, and kept in the line by harsh discipline, the German Army also represented a progressive entity where cameraderie - even between commissioned officers and enlisted men - was a cornerstone of morale and efficiency. Whereas the soldier of the Kaiserheer in 1914-1918 had sometimes been abused in basic training by strict NCOs, and required to refer to his officers in the third person, the Landser in Russia was often closer to his company commander than members of the "democratic" armies of the US or Britain, where officers sometimes remained insulated from their men by tradition or class difference. German officers ate the same food as their men (albeit off a metal plate) and shared their dangers, while recruits in training were treated more humanely than in the Old Army (with some old soldiers venturing the opinion that the Army had "lost it."). Mountain Troops

Mountain troops date back to before the start of the 20th Century; previous to this, wars were usually conducted in spring, summer or early autumn weather - European nations with mountainous borders up until the late 19th Century could depend on small bands of militia to defend their mountain passes. As railways and roads were developed during the 1800s, it became obvious that small bands of soldiers were inadequate to the task of delaying enemy forces moving through their mountainous borders, and a need for specially trained mountain troops was felt. During the First World War, the first combat employment of specially trained mountain troops occurred in the Austrian, Hungarian and Italian alps. German alpine troops came to see action in Tyrol and later Macedonia, and proved themselves so capable they were used as assault troops at Verdun before being employed in mountains once more in Romania, the Vosges, and Caporetto, among others. The tradition of mountain troops continued in the Wehrmacht, and during the period of German expansion, three small units were expanded to become the 1st Gebirgsjäger Division. With Austrian annexation in 1938, two more mountain divisions were added to the Wehrmacht, and all three were employed in Poland. Aside from their initial fighting against Polish alpine troops, the German mountain soldiers were too lightly equipped to be of much use in the rest of the campaign; pooled transport allowed one division to advance to Lemberg, where they did not have the equipment or manpower to take the city itself.

Mountain troops saw action in France, and extensive employment in Norway, followed by fighting in the Balkans. All these employmens, with the exception of brief periods in France and the Low Countries, saw the Gebirgsjäger employed in mountainout terrain. This stopped in June 1941 when the Mountain divisions were sent into Russia as part of Barbarossa. By now there were six divisions of German mountain troops, spread along the front from Finland in the north to Army Group South. Two more mountain divisions were raised by 1944, and all the divisions were widely employed, moving to different sectors of the front, and to other fronts, as was felt necessary. Mobile Troops

The German Army began the war with Poland possessing some 4,500 armoured fighting vehicles, of which under 600 were armed with guns larger than 20mm. In France, German AFVs (which include armoured cars and halftracks) were outnumbered by British and French AFVs by some 4,000 to 2,800. German tanks were marked by reliability for the most part, but also complexity and over-engineering, as well as a lack of standardization (leading to problems in the mass production of vehicles - for example, both Porsche and Henschel produced components for Tiger tanks that were not interchangeable.) In other words, when running, German tanks performed very well, but when broken down were more difficult to repair. Shortages of these vehicles also led to their constant use, and the sheer number of differing types (again, a result of non-standardization) led to supply and repair problems.

The Germans entered the Soviet Union with an initial force of 3,350 armoured vehicles, and production was not increased to war levels until late 1942. Over 20,000 vehicles were built in 1943 after the move to a war footing (some 350% the number of vehicles produced in 1941) - though a third of this total represented armoured halftracks. By the end of the war, some 80,000 armoured vehicles had been built by Germany - with only 22,000+ being main battle tanks (to use the modern term) or Panzer III, IV, V or VI type. By way of contrast, the US produced almost 50,000 Shermans (with few going to the Pacific) and the Soviets produced some 71,000 T-34, KV and IS tanks.

The discovery of the Soviet T-34 and KV-1 tanks in the summer of 1941 was a rude shock for German tank troops, though German tankers had also seen heavier tank models fielded by the French (Char B1 bis) and English (Matilda) in France in 1940 as well. It was not until late 1942 and the introduction of the Tiger that the German armoured force had a heavyweight tank of its own in sizable numbers. German armour had many advantages over Soviet armour from the beginning of the campaign, however. Mechanical reliability was superior (some Soviet tanks came complete with hammer so the driver could change gears by beating the stiff controls into place), as were optics and crew training. The use of wireless allowed for flexible command and control over armoured formations, and German tank units were deployed en masse for maximum efficiency.

In 1939, most trucks used by motorized infantry had been road-bound and could not travel cross-country with the tanks. After the Polish Campaign, armoured divisions were increased in infantry power; in 1942 the Schützen regiments were designated Panzergrenadier, and in tandem with this name change came the introduction of SPW halftracks - initially intended for issue to two full battalions in each division with these halftracks, in reality only one battalion per division became the norm. In France, this allotment had been only one company of armoured infantry for every panzer division. Of 226 panzergrenadier battalions in the whole of the German Army, Luftwaffe and Waffen SS in September 1943, only 26 were equipped with armoured half tracks.

Strategically, Germany never developed successful defensive policies with its armour once the initiative passed to the Allies in 1943; armour was usually amassed and thrown into new offensive operations rather than used defensively. As the tide of the war turned, assault and self-propelled guns were built in large numbers, as these were cheaper to produce than fully turreted tanks - though having 17 seperate types of assault gun (and this only includes major types, defined as having production runs of 60 vehicles or more) did not help ease logistical burdens.

The operations of German mobile troops were highly publicized throughout the war, and their presence was essential for most major actions to be successful. They never accounted for more than a simple minority, however, among the far more numerous infantry divisions who marched (with their horses) from battle to battle, and even the mythical panzergrenadiers, fighting while safely ensconced in armoured halftracks, was something of a myth - truck and halftrack-borne infantry invariably dismounted to fight. Artillery

The artillery was an important and decisive arm of the division's firepower. By 1941, the 75mm field pieces found in some units had been replaced with 10.5 cm and 15 cm pieces being standard. By the middle of the war, the standard configuration for an infantry division was 36 of the lighter 10.5 cm field pieces with 12 heavier 15 cm guns, scaled back to 24 of the 10.5 cm pieces after a 1943 reorganization of infantry divisions. Higher formations used 17 and 21 cm guns, with rocket artillery becoming important, generally grouped independently and assigned to divisions as needed. Higher formations also used the same (smaller) field guns as the divisional artilleries as well, generally attached directly to Armies. These units tended to be motorized rather than horse drawn as the majority of infantry division artillery regiments were. A wide variety of rocket weapons were also employed, both towed and self propelled, and these also were assigned to a corps or army rather than specific divisions, and these units too were primarily motorized. Most German artillery was horsedrawn, with the panzer and motorized infantry/panzergrenadier divisions having self-propelled guns. At the time of Barbarossa, air power (most notably Stuka dive bombers) was used heavily as fire support; as the Allies achieved greater mastery of the skies by 1943 and 1944, rocket artillery and larger field pieces were used to supplement divisional artillery, as well as the increasing use of assault guns in the direct fire role.

The most notorious artillery piece of the war was the "88", officially the 8.8 cm FlaK 18 (later also a FlaK 36 model). The suitability of this high calibre anti-aircraft gun against ground targets had been noted in the Spanish Civil War, and after ad hoc use in France as an anti-tank gun against the near-impregnable Char B1 bis and Matildas, it's place in the German anti-tank arsenal was assured by its performance in North Africa - picking off British tanks at ranges of 2000 metres with ease. The 88 was produced in large numbers, and was employed freely as an anti-armour and anti-personnel weapon in addition to its main anti-aircraft role. The Germans also used a variety of low calibre, quick firing cannons for anti-aircraft work that were routinely used as a ground weapon, both towed and self-propelled weapons of 2 and 3.7 cm were employed, in single and multiple mounts.

German artillery practices differed from those of the Allies in many ways; Artillery Battalions were normally fired as a single unit, rather than batteries firing independently in support of different infantry units (as was often the case with Commonwealth units, for example). In rare circumstances, this was done, but was not the norm. Unlike the Soviets, the Germans saw artillery as a supporting arm rather than having a central role. Whereas one forward observer in a British unit could conceivably call down the fire of an entire corps or even army with a single code word, German artillery organization precluded such massing of fire. An Arko (Artillerie Kommandeur - Artillery Commander) designated both an officer and a headquarters unit created specifically to co-ordinate all the artillery units within a corps, and later in the war, Harkos (Höherer Artillerie Kommadeur - Higher Artillery Commander) were designated to perform the same function with all artillery units within an Army. The ability to call down artillery fire was not as lavishly given out as in other armies, due to the logistical realities the Germans faced in the Soviet Union, and the attendant need to husband ammunition. Divisional artillery officers, and corps level staff officers, generally allocated firepower resources to units on the front, with artillery units being assigned to specific formations or units. In this way, infantry units could not rob their neighbours of fire support allocated to them.

Artillery units were weakened during the war in the east by occasional combings-out of personnel to form emergency infantry units for partisan hunts or to shore up defences in the event of enemy breakthroughs, and many experienced artillerymen were lost in this way.

Statistics

In all, some 12.5 million men passed through the German Army (and 18 million in all three services) in World War Two with about 1.6 million being killed between 1939 and 1945 on all fronts.

The Waffen SS

The roots of the Waffen SS lay in the political turmoil in Germany after the First World War. The SA (Sturm Abteilungen or Storm Troops), created in 1921, were one of the necessities of political life in Germany at the time. Their role was to protect the fledgling Nazi Party from opposing groups. The SA rose to number 3 million members by 1933 while at the same time, a Schutz Staffel (Protection Squad) was created as the personal bodyguard of one Adolf Hitler. By 1929 this group had only 280 members, but under the leadership of Heinrich Himmler came to number 30,000 members by 1933. After the Knight of the Long Knives in 1934, when the head of the SA and Hitler's main political rival, Ernst Roehm, was killed (along with many of his lieutenants in key positions in the SA), the SS grew in importance, taking over political police work and becoming increasingly important in the realms of Party and government.

The SS came to be a very complex empire, and what was to become the Waffen SS was only a small part of the Allgemeine SS (General SS). The SS as a whole was largely a bureaucratic and political entity who controlled key security functions such as the SD (Security Police), Gestapo (Secret State Police), and Concentration Camps.

At the outbreak of war, a small group of SS men, armed and trained as soldiers for service in the field, had been created. Collectively known as SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT), these men included four motorized infantry regiments. Hitler saw the SS as an elite and loyal political police force which would keep control in the conquered territories and at home. Himmler, whose powers as head of the SS and several national police agencies had become truly awe-inspiring, dreamed of creating a modern day Knighthood of racially pure Aryans. Due to these ambitions, and the high standards imposed on SS recruits, the SS men were given an opportunity to prove themselves in combat.

The experience of the SS-VT units in Poland and France (by 1940, numbering just over two divisions and renamed Waffen SS) was sufficient to ensure they remained on the order of battle during the Balkans campaign in the spring of 1941. By June 1941, five divisions (at least in name) and a brigade were available for action. One of these, Wiking, had half its strength made up of non-Germans: volunteers from across Europe who had volunteered to fight against Communism in the East. In addition, ethnic Germans in other nations were also permitted to join German SS units.

Waffen SS Divisions - 22 June 1941	Area of Deployment
Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (Motoriziert)	Army Group South
SS Division (Motoriziert) "Reich"	Army Group Centre
SS Totenkopf Division	Army Group North
Polizei Division (not technically part of the W-SS)	Army Group North
SS Division (Motoriziert) "Wiking"	Army Group South
SS Kampfgruppe "Nord" (brigade sized unit)	Northern Finland

Despite poor showings by Polizei and Nord, the performance of the other divisions earned the Waffen SS a reputation for steadfastness and respect from their comrades in the Army. The year 1942 saw several more divisions created; Polizei joined the Waffen SS proper, and both a mountain division and a Cavalry division were formed. The former ("Prinz Eugen") was created from Austrian-Germans and served (notoriously) on anti-partisan duties in Yugoslavia.

After the Waffen SS played a starring role in the important capture of Kharkov in the spring of 1943 (in the wake of the disastrous defeat at Stalingrad), three new German SS divisions were recruited, along with a growing list of foreign legions and divisions composed of ethnic volunteers. By early 1945, the Waffen SS numbered some 38 divisions on paper, though many of these were in reality fictitious, some divisions fielded a handful of companies. Racial policies were relaxed and hopelessly confused in the closing years of the war, and many "ethnic" SS formations were renamed several times as the need for troops increased, and the apparent need for racial purity not so coincidentally dissipated. By 1945, the Waffen SS numbered some 800,000 men and accounted for 25 percent of Germany's tank troops and 33 percent of Germany's motorized infantry.

The Army usually looked on the better SS divisions as "good comrades" and came to respect their fighting abilities by the middle of the war. Comradeship among Waffen SS troops was high; even taking the extra step of eliminating the need for soldiers to address auperiors by the formal "Herr" in addition to their rank. At the same time, the SS showed a contempt for the human qualities of their enemies, and the core divisions were truly feared on the battlefield for the no-quarter attitude displayed by SS men, the higher scale of issue of new weapons afforded them in deference to their "elite" status, their willingness to take high casualties, and reluctance to yield ground or break off an attack. SS formations have also gained a reputation - before the war and after - for willful commission of atrocities. Some units earned especial notoriety - Prinz Eugen in Yugoslavia, for example, or the Hitlerjugend Division in Normandy.

Many foreign legions were incorporated into the Waffen SS proper, more details are found below under the various nationality headings. The raw numbers of volunteers are as follows.

Number of Waffen SS Volunteers by Nationality

Western Europe		Eastern (Axis Allies)		Eastern Europe (Soviet States and Other)
Belgium: Walloons	15,000	Albania	3,000	Belorussia	12,000
Belgium: Flemish	23,000	Bulgaria	1,000	Cossacks	50,000
Denmark	11,300	Croatia	20,000	Eastern Turks	8,000
France	8,000	Finland	1,000	Estonia	20,000
Italy	20,000	Romania	5,000	Latvia	39,000
Netherlands	22,000 to 50,000			Serbia	15,000
Norway	6,000			Ukraine	26,000
Spain	1,000
Sweden, Switzerland & Luxemburg	3,000

It is estimated some 180,000 SS soldiers were killed in World War Two (on all fronts) with 400,000 wounded and 40,000 missing, In June 1944 the Waffen SS had over 594,000 troops on its rolls (serving on all three fronts), with 368,000 of them considered field troops.

The German Air Force (Luftwaffe)

Like the SS, the Luftwaffe was very much affected by the personality and political clout of its commander. Hermann Goering, a World War One fighter pilot and ace (who in fact commanded Baron von Richtofen's unit after his death) was the number two man in Nazi Germany, holding the title Reichsmarschall in addition to his command of the German Air Force. Like Himmler, Goering wanted his personal empire to play an important role in German victories. As early as 1933, Goering had organized the General Goering Police Regiment (as part of his portfolio as Prussian Minister of the Interior), which later became the famed Hermann Goering Panzer Division.

By 1941, the Luftwaffe numbered nearly 2,000,000 men, the largest percentage of these being anti-aircraft personnel and signal troops, with a small minority of men actually being associated with aerial operations. Overall, of all of Germany's total manpower of armed troops, the Air Force accounted for twenty percent. The first six months of campaigning in Russia cost the Army some 700,000 casualties, with half that number again lost in the first three months of 1942. Replacements could not make good these losses, and front line Army units were continually short handed. When the Army requested a transfer of 50,000 Air Force troops to their control, Goering convinced Hitler that the solution was not to lose politically loyal troops to the tradition bound Army (the Air Force was considered most National Socialist of the three services, the Navy was traditionally Christian, and the Army was widely considered reactionary) but to create Luftwaffe ground units. In September 1942, the first calls went out for volunteers, with a target of 100,000 men set.

In the meantime, Anti-Aircraft units had already accompanied Army troops into Russia, and an entire division of paratroopers were employed for the first time in a pure foot soldier role near Leningrad in the autumn of 1941. (The zenith of German airborne operations had been Crete, which proved so costly that Hitler forbade any future parachute or glider operations.) As the Air Force followed the Army deep into Russia, emergency units were created out of necessity to combat partisans and for security duties around the airfields and supply bases. Successful deployment of emergency units in early 1942, necessitated by the Soviet counterattacks against Army Group Centre, led to the creation of Luftwaffe Field Regiments, and the satisfactory performance of Division Meindl in particular prompted the creation of the first 10 Luftwaffe Field Divisions in September 1942.

Field Divisions

The 10 Field Divisions were widely scattered throughout Russia almost immediately, and despite Goering's personal intention they be used only on quiet fronts for defensive duties were employed in attack roles - notably during the attempt to relieve the Sixth Army at Stalingrad. Some divisions went to form all-Luftwaffe corps while others were assigned to Army formations. Heavy casualty rates and poor performance caused the Air Force and Army both to re-evaluate their necessity, but nonetheless these ground divisions remained on active duty throughout 1942 and into 1943. By the summer of 1943, 22 Field Divisions were in existence, and it was recognized that they were not being employed for their original purpose of security, and were occupying portions of line that regular Army divisions would have occupied - but without much of the same equipment (or training) that those Army divisions would have had. Proposals to reorganize the divisions were not made before their deficiencies were once again showcased by Soviet offensives in the autumn of 1943. Heavy casualties ensued among the Luftwaffe men fighting in several areas, and finally, in November, they were ordered transferred to Army command.

The Army replaced Luftwaffe officers up and down the chain of command in the divisions with Army officers, upgraded equipment and organization to match the standard Model 1944 Army Division, assigned Army post office numbers and redesignated the former Luftwaffe Field Divisions as Field Divisions (Luftwaffe). The reorganizations did not go entirely smoothly; Anti-aircraft battalions never transferred to Army command and were taken from the divisions, and many veteran officers, NCOs and men transferred to other Luftwaffe duties, notably paratroops units.

The beginning of 1944 saw the Field Divisions again suffer heavy casualties defending against Soviet attacks along the front and by the end of the summer of 1944 only two divisions were left in the Soviet Union. They went on to fight with Army Group Kurland, some remnants holding out until May 1945.

It is estimated that 250,000 volunteers joined the Field Divisions in 1942 and 1943, and that 180,000 transferred to Army command in the winter of 1943. Most of these men no doubt became casualties as the divisions were destroyed in 1944. The experiment had been a costly failure; not only in men's lives but also considering the issue of weapons and vehicles had delayed the refitting of Army formations that might have made better use of them.

Paratroops

By June of 1941, the heyday of the German paratroops was over. After thrilling the world by its exploits at Eben Emael in Holland in 1940, the casualties suffered by parachute and glider troops on Crete in the spring of 1941 caused Hitler to forbid their future employment in their intended role. Two divisions of Fallschirmjäger came to be employed in the Soviet Union, as ground troops.

Fallschirmpanzerdivision "Hermann Göring"

The Hermann Göring Division had an extensive history from its beginnings as a battalion in 1935, then regiment, then division, but did not see service on the Eastern Front until August 1944, after which it served extensively in the East, in the central sector until February 1945, and in Poland and East Prussia until the end of hostilities. This division formed the nucleus of an entire panzer corps, but like the Panzer Korps Grossdeutschland, was a corps in name only, most component units coming from the division of the same name. Also like the Grossdeutschland, the HG was considered an elite formation and received first rate equipment and recruits, and was equipped as an armour-heavy panzergrenadier division with two regiments organized identical to Army panzergrenadiers and a full panzer regiment.

Other

In addition to the paratroops and Field Divisions, there were other Air Force ground units to participate in the ground fighting in Russia, including emergency units and penal battalions, as well as the use of anti-aircraft weapons in a ground role, especially "88" units.

Types of Infantry Regiments in the German Military (Eastern Front 1941-1945)