Category Archives: Campaigns

Feldzüge – WW2 German Army Operations and Campaigns

Although WWII began in 1939 operations in which the German Wehrmacht took part (albeit without firing a shot) actually began in 1935 with the military march into the Saarland after the successful plebiscite that reunited the Saar region with Germany. Later in March of 1936, the Rhineland demilitarized zone was reoccupied by German troops in […]

WW2 Campaigns in the West, France, 1944

German Policy, Outlook and Plan in the West, 1944 German Organization for Combat, 1944 German Command and Tactics in the West, 1944 The Atlantic Wall and the defense of the West, 1944 The West on the eve of D-Day, 1944 The German Order of Battle, 6/6/44 The Battle for the West, 1944 Directive 51 for […]

The Naval War in the Baltic Sea 1941-1945

The German naval campaign in the Baltic Sea was one of Germany’s most successful military efforts of the entire Second World War. For most of the Second Wo…

The Atlantic Wall and the Defense of the West, 1944

Rommel’s construction and mine-laying program called for a very largeexpenditure of labor, and labor was scarce. It has already been pointed outthat Organization Todt was employed chiefly in the major port fortressareas, on V-weapon sites, and, in the spring of 1944, on railroadmaintenance. In the apportionment of the remaining labor supply among thearmies, Fifteenth Army […]

Policy, Outlook and Plan in the West, 1944

German strategy for 1944 rested on the realization that decisive offensivescould no longer be mounted in the east and that the growing strength of theWestern Allies made almost certain a major invasion attempt before the endof the year. The prospective invasion of Western Europe presented both thegravest danger to the Reich and the most hopeful […]

Invasion of Norway

German Naval Forces Committed to Operations Against Norway (April 1940) See also, German coastal defence in Norway during WWII The Initial German Invasion of Norway took part in a series of echelons.The invasion echelons consisted of the Tanker Echelon, Export Echelon,Warship Echelon, and the Transport Echelon. Each echelon is detailed below,giving its exact composition and […]

German Organization for Combat, 1944

Between 1939 and 1943 the German standard infantry division contained three regiments with a total of nine rifle battalions. Each of the infantry regiments had, besides its twelve rifle and heavy weapons companies, a 13th (infantry howitzer) and 14th (antitank) company. The division had also an antitank and a reconnaissance battalion. Organic artillery consisted of […]