Like many Flames Of War players, I have quite an interest in the German Big Cats (Tigers, Panthers and so on) and have featured them in many of my armies. I cannot put my finger on the primary reason for my love of these tanks, but it is probably a combination of factors including in-game performance, and real-world respect.
With the D-Day: German book I found myself really wanting to build a few lists (nothing like new plastic kits passing across your desk to get you excited) but thanks to my Big Four commitments I was reluctant to dive down the rabbit hole – that was until inspiration hit me! I have a box of partially assembled Tigers sitting in the man-cave (okay, garage) at home that I started and then stopped after being distracted by something else shiny!
Now, you cannot think about Tigers without thinking about Michael Wittmann and his exploits in Normandy. His actions have become somewhat legendary amongst the modelling and gaming communities. We even made a specific model for him back in the day (see the article here…)
I’m drawn to building a list around him for a few different reasons;
I can slowly build an all-Tiger force of seven (or eight) vehicles
Because it is a compact force, I can really go to town on the models
He faced off against the British and Canadian forces in Normandy and was probably killed in an engagement with a Firefly tank (AT 14 beats Front Armour 9 all day!). Having just finished my Firefly tanks it could make for a good match up.
It can be fun to build a specific real-world force, based on actual events, with no plans to growing the project outside its specific scope. Thanks to the internet I can actually track down all the tank numbers and details for the tanks that he rolled out with on that fateful day.
So what’s my plan? First step, start building the army. I am going to be heavily inspired by Blake’s outstanding article over on the Flames Of War site – stop reading this now, click this link and come back – which is overflowing with great ideas.
Next, do a little reading and figure out a how to paint them.
Lastly, find someone in the Studio to play a game against and hit them with seven Tigers and a small pile of Tiger Ace Command Cards!
It is had been a while since I last painted a German Army for Late War, my first being a Herman Goering from 3rd Edition. With D-Day: German‘s launch, I’m excited to start a new German army. I like to try and get my armies painted quickly and on the table so that I can get games played and then tweak my list as I go along. With my play style I like a balanced force that allows me to have some flexibility. Reading through the new D-Day: German book I settled on the Armoured Panzergrenadiers.
I spent a couple of afternoons hunting through the web to find German units in Normandy and found myself drawn to the 21st Panzer Division. I wrote a few lists and looked at Panthers and Tigers, but these did not really suit my need for a flexible army. With that in mind I hit the book again and the web and settled on 125th Panzer Grenadier Regiment commanded by Major Hans von Luck. In my army I started with my core choices and went with full strength Panzergrendier platoons with added Panzerfausts. They will either rush forward to take the objectives, dismounting and then digging in to make them difficult to shift off the objective, or be a mobile assault force against other enemy infantry.
I also want to make sure that I can pin enemy infantry down and have the ability to take out lightly-armoured enemy vehicles so I have chosen a battery of 6 Hummels, now this does take up a large part of my army points, I am then adding some a couple of Tigers to either refuse a flank or go enemy tank hunting trying to ensure that I can get on the flanks to make the task easier.
To round out my points I have taken some 7.5cm armoured guns and a couple of pumas to spearhead them onto the flanks and again cause my opponent to maybe alter their battleplan
I think this is a nicely balanced force that will give me some good options during the Hobby League, but I can also easily swap out anything that does feel right or not working well in the game.
My biggest challenge is getting this army painted is my infantry as it has never been one of my strong points, with my figures always coming across too dark and blending with the bases, so I am going to try working off a white undercoat and see if that brightens up the paint scheme.
When playing Germans I often find it difficult to bring the big and shiny toys, while having a force that is substantial enough to cover all of the bare necessities. The force I’ve come up with allows me to have at least one thing for every kind of scenario I expect to face on the table.
The Panzergrenadiers are there to hold objectives, or assault enemy objectives. The Armored Mortars are for a smoke screen or pinning enemy infantry. The Armored Gun platoon is for ambushing and killing medium and light armor. The AA is rather self explanatory, but could easily be pressed into service killing light vehicles or infantry. I brought the Tigers because they can handle almost any tanks that they come across, and can be put in reserve to cover my 40 point requirement. The Sdkfz 250s are for Spearheads and emergency AA. The Sdkz 234 7.5cms add in a little extra pizzazz.
The card that makes this all possible is the 116 th Panzer Division card. For the steep discount of -2 points per unit in my primary formation, I take a hit to both Last Stand, and Tactics, a sacrifice I’m willing to make as it saves me 14 points overall. This discount from this card pays for one of my two Panzergrenadier Platoons!
Honestly I took this formation for only two reasons, to get some recon assets, but more importantly to get the Sdkfz 234 7.5cm Heavy Scout Platoon! They’re just too cool to pass up, they’re Pumas but better because they have a better Firepower rating, as well as HEAT.
I wouldn’t possibly be able to pass on taking a Firefly, everyone knows that
the best Allied tanks are driven by Germans after all!
Normally when I put together a list, there is an aesthetic or historical reason behind it and I am able to give (at length) reasons why I have chosen that Army. Alas, and much to the relief of my wife, this time is a little different for the German D-Day book. I won’t be waxing lyrical about specific units or
historical formations. Instead I have actually approached the book from a gamer’s point of view, albeit with some restrictions. I started as I always do with writing my ideal list, regardless of points, for the units I have seen in the book that I want in my army. This time, it was the turn of copious amounts of Panzer IV, Panthers, and troops to enter the fray and get my appetite whet. One thing to bear in mind with the German Book for D-Day is that there are a lot of options for units. The first thing a player will notice is, similar to Fortress Europe, you can take multiple tank formations of Tigers and the bigger tanks that the Germans employed in the later stages of 1944. This poses an issue as to take lots of tanks, costs lots of points. Hence my decision to go with Panzer IV, that ubiquitous workhorse of the Heer, in quantity with some elite tanks attached. Hello Panthers! The tracks, the guns, the turrets… I knew I had to take some Panthers to show the American 76mm who was boss of the battlefield. Now with the German D-Day book there is another variant of the Panther – The Panther A.
The key difference between this and the Panther G, which most people will know, is the application of Zimmerit on the hull and turret. And the new plastic kit delivers in bucket loads.
Sculpted directly on the plastic is the Zimmerit and it looks seriously good. To round off my force, from a gaming perspective, I needed some troops.
So I add some Panzergrenadiers, sadly bereft of their Halftracks so as to squeeze them into the army at full stand sized companies. Plus by doing this I was able to keep the model count low. Time is money and having already committed to building a 100pt army of US Paras, with their lovely high model count, for the UK Office Hobby League, I wanted as few stands and tanks to paint as possible. Then it was time to trim the list. First out were extra Panzers and Panthers to maintain an equilibrium in points so as to make sure any one formation wasn’t too high, but also so I could squeeze in a second formation of troops to hold and contest objectives, and be a pivot for my tanks to run off. I eventually managed to come up with this list: Now to decide on a paint scheme!
The Germans are coming and, not being a German player, I’m planning on beefing up my American D-Day Forces to counter the Panzer IVs, Panthers, and Tigers (oh my) that I hear Brian talking about and expect to be dealing with. I expect to be dealing with somewhere between 9 and 17 tanks so I’ve got to be smart about what I’m taking. I love the Armored Rifle Company but I just don’t have the time to paint that many infantry up fast enough for our league, having let my “paint figure quickly” skill atrophy over time. I don’t relish being hit on a 3+ so my plan is for a complete Veteran M4 Sherman Tank Company.
My force consists of 23 Sherman Tanks of various configurations and 2 support vehicles and is broken-down as follows: My 76mm tanks are going to be the biggest threat to any German armor I encounter and are thus, the most likely targets of enemy counter fire. That being said, all of the smoke that I can lay down with the 75mm and 105mm Sherman Tanks should be sufficient to protect my boys from too much steel coming their way and hitting them until they get into range. My hope for my screen of M5 Stuarts is that they get ignored until I’m able to exploit some weak points along the enemy lines; get enough of ‘em along the flanks of some Panzer IVs and there’s gonna’ be a lot of dead Panzer IVs (hopefully). The standard 75mm Sherman Tanks, when they’re not casting smoke down-range, are more than sufficient in knocking out Panzer IVs but really need the flank shots to have a hope of pinging any Panthers or Tigers; they’ll be operating mostly in support of the 76mms unless I see an opening I can exploit.
I’ve never used 105mm Sherman Tanks before but I’m eager to get them in the field. The idea of knocking out German Tanks with a Sherman from artillery fire at 48-inches from the top makes me giddy. And their anti-tank for direct fire isn’t too bad either. Lastly, just in case someone brings some aircraft, I’ve got a small contingent of AAA to handle that eventuality.
My first Flames Of War army was German, my Fortress Europe army was German, and when Hobby League started up and everybody had gravitated to the other three forces it seemed like I was destined for Germans again. Luckily for me, with D-Day: German on the horizon I was able to take a deep dive into all the exciting German forces and pick a unique and colourful force to work on.
The key to embarking on any project, Flames Of War or otherwise, is to latch onto something you find interesting. For me, that meant the opportunity to either modify units in my force or paint a colour I haven’t painted before- because after two lots of grenadiers in Field Grey, I was frankly not that interested in doing it a third time around.
A tabletop approximation of 16. Feld-Division (L) in Normandy, 1944, offers me both of these chances— an opportunity to paint Luftwaffe blue, and an opportunity to modify a few grenadier uniforms to reflect the very swish LwFD camouflage smock.
Having spent an afternoon spitballing with Phil and Andrew, I came up with a list representing 16. Feld-Division (L) roughly as they were during Operation Goodwood, supported by bits of 21. Panzerdivision.
I’m working out of the very exciting D-Day: German, which isn’t out yet—but then again, what’s the point of hanging out at the Battlefront Studio if I can’t get a little early access. With this in mind, here are my first 50 points:As I’m sure you can see, my first 50 points give me a playable formation, but it is also all infantry, which is something of a mountain to climb in only a month—especially since I’m also hoping to pull off some figure modifications to make the miniatures
A Brief History of Luftwaffe Field Divisions The Luftwaffe Field Divisions were raised from the ranks of regular old Luftwaffe ground crew. They weren’t the most exceptional troops on account of having never signed up for infantryman duties, and their inception as dedicated field divisions was more a response to suggestions that the German Army could do with a few hundred thousand more warm bodies than it was the establishment of a military unit full of guys who found their natural calling as foot-sloggers after making a brief detour into air force work (kind of like switching your major at university mid-degree because you found out anthropology was really more your thing than law). In any case, the LwFDs kept their organisation and remained under the leadership of Luftwaffe officers until late in 1943 when they were reorganised and transferred to the Heer.
Project Research Up until their transfer, Luftwaffe Feld-Division boys were outfitted with the traditional feldblau Luftwaffe Uniform, making them a distinctive blue on the battlefield, quite obviously different to the feldgrau of the Heer. After being subsumed into the army structure, the LwFD boys were outfitted with regular feldgrau Heer uniforms as their original blues ran out. This will give me the opportunity to paint a mixture of Luftwaffe and Heer uniforms and equipment for my force, as by 1944, there would have been a good mix of kit and uniform. A great source for uniforms is this here 18th Luftwaffe Field Division https://18thluftwaffefielddivision.weebly.com/our-kit.html> reenactment group (who don’t appear to have any info on their ‘About Us’ page, so I can’t thank them), and there is a full list of kit I could apply to my LwFD (you can follow the link and see the list yourself) and there is also this handy tidbit on the subject of mixed Heer/Luftwaffe uniforms:
“Very frequently we can see, especially as the war progressed into 1944-45, the use of Heer uniforms and insignia within the ranks of the LwFD. Not only was supply of uniforms and equipment transitioned to Heer supply, but also the replacements of men. It is for these reasons that we find such variance in equipment and uniforms through to the end of the war.”
Smock and Roll One of the key features of the Luftwaffe field boys was their iconically formless and ubiquitous camouflage smock. The picture at the top of the article shows a man of the Luftwaffe Field Divisions in one of these splinter-camo smocks. The plastic grenadier kit doesn’t happen to be wearing these smocks. If I were playing my LwFD as kitted fully in Heer or fully in Luftwaffe standard service uniforms this would be no problem, I would just paint then feldgrau of feldblau or a mixture of the two and be on my merry way. But no, I’m going to model a selection of my figures in this iconic smock—and that means Green Stuff.
The simple recipe is to trim off the bottom of the uniform jacket, slice off any pockets, and then with a rubber clay brush (as tiny as you can get it) start spreading the green stuff around the waist of the figure and down to just above his knees. The Luftwaffe camo smock did not have any breast pocket, so you could either shave those off the figures or very thinly green stuff around them to hide them, but in most cases there is enough webbing and extra bits of equipment already covering them. The smock did have a pocket on either thigh which you could model with two tiny squares of green stuff.
After priming, I painted the smock according to the instructions in Colours Of War, a mixture of German Camo Beige and Green Ochre, then highlighted with German Camo Beige. To separate my Luftwaffe camo pattern from the Heer I picked a slightly different colour combination, using Vallejo Panzer Aces Splinter Blotches I & II, which give a brighter colour palette and are a good colour choice for FJs too.
The guys in blue also benefited from Colours of War, as I followed the Luftwaffe Jaeger instruction in the book to get that bright blue I was so looking forward to painting.
The Rest of the Stuff in the List My 50 points of modified Luftwaffe infantry is certainly a bit ambitious, but it’s comforting to know that the following months will see me painting only a handful of tanks, so it’s not the end of the world.The 10.5cm guns in the support are being modelled as captured Russian guns from the Eastern Front just to add another point of visual interest to the list- they are close enough in use and effectiveness that it’s not beyond the pale to use the 10.5cm Unit Card for those models.
The elements of 21. Panzer that backed up the Luftwaffe in Caen will be represented by a pair of Tiger tanks, a handful of three or four StuGs, and a captured Sherman Firefly. Instead of keeping the list strictly to 100 points, I’m actually painting up a few more points worth of things so I have the option to switch and swap the odd unit or two to give the force a lot more modularity.
Make sure you check back on the Hobby League page each week to see what the gang has been up to, and to see how you can get involved with the Hobby League in your local store or club.
With the release of D-Day: German comes a series of Command Cards used to represent various specific units from the German defence of Normandy. One such Command Card, Air Force Soldiers, gives players the chance to field 16. Luftwaffe Feld-Division. This card could equally be used to represent many of the Luftwaffe Field Divisions of the war, so we dug up an article from the archives outlining the history of the Luftwaffe Field Divisions- perhaps there’s one here for you to represent on the table with D-Day: German…
In the desperate winter of 1941, the Heer, the German Army, was on the defensive after its failed advance on Moscow. Every available unit was thrown into the battle, including the Luftwaffe Fallschirmjäger (air force paratroops). One such unit was the Luftlandesturmregiment, Air-landing Assault Regiment, under Generalmajor Meindl. The regiment’s casualties were so severe that it was withdrawn early in 1942.
However, Generalmajor Meindl and his staff remained behind and formed Division Meindl from spare Luftwaffe ground crew. Under the veteran Fallschirmjäger commander the division fought well in the defence of Cholm.
By the spring of 1942, the Army’s need for troops to replace its casualties was so acute that they convinced Hitler to transfer surplus troops from the Luftwaffe to the Heer. Reichsmarshall Herman Göring, Commander In Chief of the Air Force, was furious. Not only would his personal empire be diminished, but also the reactionary Army, the very organisation responsible for the failures of the previous year, would corrupt his loyal National Socialist airmen.
Instead he offered 22 Luftwaffen Felddivisionen, 22 Air Force Field Divisions, that would remain under air force control, although under army command. The success of Meindl’s division swung the balance, and Göring got his way.
The first ten of these divisions were organized in September of 1942, and, still in their air force-blue uniforms, dispatched to the Eastern Front.
Unfortunately, despite their brand new equipment (the envy of army units still fighting with old, worn out gear from previous battles), they had very little infantry training and little heavy support. Unlike Meindl’s division, their officers were airmen with no knowledge of ground combat at all. As a result, the first Luftwaffe field divisions did not perform well when they entered combat. The remaining divisions formed in early 1943 were little better.
At least one half-formed division was overrun by the spearhead of a Soviet attack while marching to the front, still having conducted no training at all! In November 1943, all remaining Luftwaffe field divisions were converted to regular infantry divisions under full army control.
Luftwaffe field divisions were approximately half the size of their Heer counterparts.
A normal Infanteriedivision had three regiments each of three infantry battalions and an artillery regiment. A Luftwaffe Felddivision had only four Jäger (light infantry) battalions and a single battalion of artillery (often only equipped with out-dated mountain guns or heavy mortars). On top of this, whereas the Infanteriedivision had an anti-tank battalion, a reconnaissance battalion, and a pioneer battalion, the Felddivision often had only one company of each.
The best-equipped divisions had full battalions, but even then, the anti-tank battalion only had 15 anti-tank guns in three companies, one of nine 5cm PaK38, and two each of three 7.5cm PaK40, and no other anti-tank guns in the entire division! There were two positive features though. Firstly, each division had a full Luftwaffe anti-aircraft battalion with four powerful 8.8cm FlaK18 anti-aircraft guns. Secondly, the divisions were entirely equipped with trucks as gun transports and supply vehicles. They had no horses at all.
Divisional Histories
1. Luftwaffe Felddivision (Generalleutnant Gustav Wilke) Relieved the Spanish 250. Infanterie Division, the famous Blue Division, in November 1942, taking up positions north of Lake Ilmen between Moscow and Leningrad.
This was supposed to be an easy sector, and remained quiet until January 1944 when the Red Army launched a massive attack through the division’s sector, wiping the division out in a matter of days.
The division’s artillery was initially only one battalion of 7.5cm GebK15 mountain guns. It was strengthened by two more battalions in 1943, although the battalions may have only had two batteries of four guns each!
2. Luftwaffe Felddivision (Oberst Hellmuth Pätzold)
Was formed at the same time as 1. Luftwaffe Felddivision and was similarly equipped. Additionally it had a company of six StuG D assault guns. The division occupied a sector of the Rzhev salient in November 1942. Unusually, its positions were facing west!
On 25 November the southern part of the division was overrun by a massive Red Army attack, although the northern flank held on until 9 December. The division was rescued by 19. Panzerdivision and Grossdeutschland and reoccupied its positions.
The division was attacked again in October 1943 in its new positions near Nevel, abandoning most of its heavy equipment and retreating rather hastily (as the German Army delighted in pointing out to the Luftwaffe). The division continued to fight on until disbanded in January 1944.
3. Luftwaffe Felddivision (Generalleutnant Robert Pistorius)
Formed at the same time as 1. & 2. Luftwaffen Felddivision, this division occupied positions south of Nevel (north of Vitebsk just west of the Rzhev salient). It had a fairly quiet time until Christmas Eve, 1943 when it was attacked by the 5th Tank Corps. The division was quickly cut off and overrun, being disbanded in January 1944.
4. Luftwaffe Felddivision (Oberst Hans-Georg Schreder)
Took up position south of 3. Luftwaffe Felddivision near Nevel. Initially it had one battalion of two batteries of 10.5cm NW40 heavy mortars for its artillery. It gained four more batteries in two more battalions during the summer of 1943. The division was heavily engaged in the battle around Vitebsk, and later absorbed the remnants of the 3. Luftwaffe Felddivision after its disbandment. 4. Luftwaffe Felddivision fought on until it was destroyed in the Vitebsk pocket in June 1944.
5. Luftwaffe Felddivision (Oberst Hans-Bruno Schulz-Heyn)
While the first four divisions fought in the north around Moscow, 5. Luftwaffe Felddivision was sent south to Army Group B in the Caucasus. It was posted to defend Krasnodar, near the Black Sea, with the Rumanian Cavalry Corps. On 11 January 1943 the Red Army launched Operation Mountain to push Army Group B from the Caucasus. The attack split 5. Luftwaffe Felddivision in two. Half remained with the Cavalry Corps, while the other half fought with 4. Gebirgsjägerdivision further north. The fighting continued until May, by which time the division was reunited in the Kuban bridgehead, the only remaining German toehold in the Caucasus. In late May, the division withdrew to Crimea to reorganise before moving to the front lines at Melitopol, just north of the Crimean Peninsula, in September where it absorbed 15. Luftwaffe Felddivision as replacements for previous losses. On 9 October 1943, the Red Army launched another major offensive that cut off the Crimean Peninsula. The division was retreated westward and fought on until disbanded in May 1944.
6. Luftwaffe Felddivision (Generalleutnant Rudolf Peschel)
After defending Velikiye Luki, north of the Rzhev salient, in heavy fighting in November and December 1942, 6. Luftwaffe Felddivision took up position between of 2. & 3. Luftwaffen Felddivisionen near Nevel in July 1943. There it received additional artillery batteries to form weak second and third artillery battalions.
It remained there until the attacks of January 1944.
It fought off heavy attacks with the help of the Hornisse tank-hunters of 519. Panzerjägerabteilung, winning the Knights Cross for the divisional commander and Obergefreiter Heinz Reichmann. It then absorbed the remnants of 2. Luftwaffe Felddivision to replace its losses. The division was destroyed in the Vitebsk pocket in June 1944.
7. Luftwaffe Felddivision (Generalmajor Wolf Freiherr Von Biedermann)
Was hastily rushed to the front to hold the line on the Chir River after the encirclement of Stalingrad. It was involved in continuous fighting until March, 1943 when it was disbanded and the survivors used to strengthen 15. Luftwaffe Felddivision. Oberleutnant Emil Eitel won the Knights Cross during this period.
The division’s artillery was a single battalion of 7.5cm GebK15 mountain guns. They were supported by a company of five StuG D assault guns.
8. Luftwaffe Felddivision (Generalleutnant Wilibald Spang)
Although 8. Luftwaffe Felddivision was supposed to be organised the same as 7. Luftwaffe Felddivision, it was slightly different due to the way it was formed. Kampfgruppe Statel (formed from rear-area Luftwaffe troops retreating from Stalingrad under Oberst Rainer Statel) was already in combat on the Chir River when the rest of the division, newly arrived from Germany, was assigned to a different sector.
While moving up to their assigned positions, the anti-tank battalion and leading battalions ran headlong into the Soviet spearhead and were annihilated. The survivors of the division fought on throughout the winter. In April 1943 what was left of the division was used to strengthen 15. Luftwaffe Felddivision.
9. Luftwaffe Felddivision (Generalmajor Ernst Michael)
The next series of Luftwaffe divisions had a little longer to organise and actually had two regiments of three infantry battalions. In the case of 9. Luftwaffe Felddivision they were 17. & 18. Luftwaffen Jägerregimenter (light infantry regiments). Although the division had no assault guns, it did have two weak battalions of artillery, and in theory, full battalions of anti-tank, pioneers, and infantry reconnaissance.
It joined the divisions guarding the Soviet troops trapped in the Orienbaum pocket on the coast just west of Leningrad in December 1942. It initially occupied an 11-mile front, but this was later increased to 23 miles. Far too long a stretch for such a weak division. One battalion briefly fought with 227. Infanteriedivision around Lake Ladoga, before returning to guard the pocket in March 1943.
The sector was quiet until 14 January 1944, when a massive Soviet attack by the 2nd Shock Army burst through the division. The attack by five infantry divisions and a tank brigade destroyed the Luftwaffe division in just four days. 10. Luftwaffe Felddivision (Generalmajor Walter Wadhehn)
Like 9. Luftwaffe Felddivision, 10. Luftwaffe Felddivision spent most of its life guarding the Orienbaum pocket. In January 1943 a Kampfgruppe or battlegroup from the division fought near Lake Ladoga, supported by four Tiger tanks from 502. schwere Panzerabteilung and Marder tank-hunters of 563 Panzerjägerabteilung.
The same attack that destroyed 9. Luftwaffe Felddivision rolled over the division, although Kampfgruppe Helling fought on until the division was officially disbanded in February 1944. The commander of 19. Luftwaffe Jägerregiment, Oberst Matussek, won the German Cross in Gold for his valiant defence.
Unlike the 9. Luftwaffe Felddivision, the division had three battalions of artillery. One with twelve 10.5cm NW40 heavy mortars, and two battalions of twelve 7.5cm GebK15 mountain guns.
11. Luftwaffe Felddivision
This division was formed in Greece for guard duties and did not see combat until late 1944 as it retreated through the Balkans.
12. Luftwaffe Felddivision (Generalleutnant Herbert Kettner)
One of the two really good Luftwaffe field divisions, 12. Luftwaffe Felddivision was part of Army Group North from February 1943 until the end of the war. It had 23. & 24. Luftwaffen Jägerregimenter, each of three battalions, and two battalions of artillery, each with twelve old 1897-model French 75mm guns. Its anti-tank battalion had twelve new 7.5cm PaK40 anti-tank guns, twelve 2cm FlaK38 anti-aircraft guns, and ten StuG assault guns with long 7.5cm guns.
In February 1943 they entered combat near Lake Ladoga north of 1. Luftwaffe Felddivision. They stopped a Soviet attack in their area winning two German Crosses in Gold in the process. They fought hard and well in the January 1944 fighting and in the subsequent retreats. They were finally cut off in the Courland pocket and ended the war fighting in East Prussia.
13. Luftwaffe Felddivision (Generalmajor Hans Korte)
Entered the line south of 12. Luftwaffe Felddivision in February 1943. It took part in the July 1943 battles, but was destroyed in the retreat in January 1944.
14. Luftwaffe Felddivision
This division spent the war performing garrison duties in Norway.
15. Luftwaffe Felddivision (Generalmajor Eduard Muhr)
This division was scratched together from local air force units around Rostov in November 1942. It absorbed the survivors of 7. & 8. Luftwaffen Felddivisionen in April 1943 and received its artillery regiment from France in May. Its first battles were in July 1943 near Taganarog on the Sea of Azov just west of Rostov. The division was surrounded, but broke out leaving most of its heavy weapons behind. Hauptmann Eitel won a posthumous Knights Cross leading 30. Luftwaffe Jägerregiment through enemy lines.
In October the remnants were at Melitopol on the Dnepr River when they were overrun again. The survivors were absorbed into 5. Luftwaffe Felddivision south of Zaphorye.
16. Luftwaffe Felddivision
Fought in France, 1944 and destroyed at Caen soon after D-Day.
17. Luftwaffe Felddivision
Destroyed defending the Seine crossings in France, 1944, during the breakout from Normandy.
18. Luftwaffe Felddivision
Destroyed in the Mons pocket in France, September 1944.
21. Luftwaffe Felddivision (Generalmajor Richard Schimpf)
21. Luftwaffe Felddivision was formed from Division Meindl, which had five regiments each of four infantry battalions, but little else. Division Meindl was formed as an overall command for the numerous air force security battalions and hastily formed defence battalions that suddenly found themselves in the front lines during the Soviet 1941 winter offensive. When it was formed in February 1942, the regiments were all attached to infantry divisions between Leningrad and Moscow.
1. Luftwaffe Feldregiment was with 218. Infanteriedivision in and around the Cholm pocket.
2. Luftwaffe Feldregiment was with 5. Jägerdivision near Staraya Russia.
3. Luftwaffe Feldregiment was with 12. Infanteriedivision in and around the Demyansk pocket.
4. Luftwaffe Feldregiment was with 18. Infanteriedivision (mot) around Lake Ilmen.
5. Luftwaffe Feldregiment was with 290. Infanteriedivision in and around the Demyansk pocket.
Between then and December 1942, when 21. Luftwaffe Felddivision was formed, the division was reunited and held the southern flank of the newly opened corridor to Demyansk and Cholm. The newly formed division only had four regiments, the fifth having been disbanded. It gained an artillery regiment with French guns in the summer of 1943, along with an assault gun battery of four long-barrelled StuG III assault guns (increased by a further six StuG IV in 1944) and ten 7.5cm PaK40 guns. Each regiment was also reported as having as many as ten 7.62cm PaK36(r) anti-tank guns. At this point it was easily the strongest Luftwaffe field division in existence.
The division was involved in heavy fighting from March 1944 until it surrendered in the Courland pocket at the end of the war.
22. Luftwaffe Felddivision
Disbanded before fully formed.
The coolest thing about the new Reconnaissance Company in D-Day: German is its flexibility. It’s similar to an Armoured Panzergrenadier Company in many ways, but lighter, faster, and more flexible. With the war turning against them, German panzer divisions found themselves fighting on the defensive more often than making grand offensives. As a result, the reconnaissance battalions were used as the divisional reserve, to fill gaps in the line, or to cover retreats more than as a true reconnaissance force. The reconnaissance company fills these roles well, and can be built in three different ways to reflect this.
If I’m building a divisional reserve type force, I want to create a battlegroup mixing tanks and armoured infantry for a flexible approach to battle. The core of the force would be a Reconnaissance Company HQ and a pair of Reconnaissance Platoons, all in light Sd Kfz 250 half-tracks, as an assault force. I could swap one of these out for a normal Armoured Panzergrenadier Platoon to save a few points, but I like the increased firepower of the extra half-tracks and the Scout ability to keep my infantry alive as they work their way forward.
I’d back them up with a Scout Troop of Sd Kfz 250 (2cm) armoured cars to give me some spearhead capability and a useful economy-of-force unit to tie down enemy troops where my main force isn’t. The 8cm Mortar Section and 7.5cm Gun Platoon, give me more Sd Kfz 250 half-track goodness, and relieve my tanks of infantry support duties, making the infantry more self-sufficient. That useful little company comes in at around 44 points if I keep one of the 7.5cm Gun Platoon at two rather than three vehicles. Since I’ve plenty of other guns in my tanks, I don’t think I’ll miss the extra vehicle.
That leaves me a solid 56 points for the tank component. I could go with five Panther tanks for some heavy fire support, but as I envision this as a free-wheeling attack force, I think a company of ten Panzer IV tanks works better. As a separate formation, it’s strong enough to fight its own battle in support of the reconnaissance, and gives me two formations to keep me in the fight. The last point would probably go on the Lucky command card for that extra bit of luck when I really need it.
A defensive force to fill a gap in the line would be a bit different. Here, I’d probably look at adding four Panthers as a powerful reserve striking force (rather than the Panzer IVs), while boosting the core company with a 7.5cm Tank Hunter Platoon to give me more resilience against tanks. Since I don’t need as much mobility, I think I’d also trade in the half-tracks from one platoon to give all of my infantry Panzerfausts. The plan here would be to dig in the platoon without half-tracks with the anti-tank guns on the most vulnerable objective, while a mobile group of all of my half-tracks manoeuvres to keep the enemy at bay until my Panthers arrive, then counterattacks to secure victory. To build a true reconnaissance force for mobile operations, I might look at the Puma Scout Company command card for my second formation in place of tanks. A company of nine Puma eight-wheelers with three 7.5cm armoured card for fire support would set me back 24 points. Adding a second Sd Kfz 250 (2cm) and the 7.5cm Tank-hunter Platoon to my Reconnaissance Company burns up another 14 points. Throw in a platoon of overlong 8.8cm tank-hunters for heavy tank killing, and I’ve got a force that is mostly light, fast and mobile, but still packing a heavy punch.
No matter how you organise it, the Reconnaissance Company has plenty of flexibility and potential (as well as lots of really cute Sd Kfz 250 half-tracks!).
Wayne and I sat down to play a game of Flames Of War and we wanted to do a beach landing. Since I was still working my 29th Infantry Div beach landing Assault Company I decided to do something a little different than what I normally play for this Beach Landing game. I wanted to play Rangers. Rangers in V4 are incredibly cool. They are assault monsters and if they can get in close they will kill everything with their +2 to hit in Assaults.
Now, when brewing up a list for a Beach Landing mission, as an ally force you want to focus on the units that will cycle back onto the table: the infantry units, so I want at least 3 units, but the way the Rangers work I only get two per formation so I need to bring two formation. This is one of the strong aspects of the Rangers since their formations are small you can get multiple company commanders to help motivate your troops and keep your forces moving. With the core troops I wanted to add some artillery in the form of Mortars and Naval Gun Support. And since we are going D-Day let’s get some Duplex Drive tanks via the DD Sherman Command card.
Here is the list I ran against Wayne in our game:| Ranger Company 1
Ranger HQ 1 Point
Ranger Platoon 10 Points
Ranger Platoon 10 Points
Ranger Mortar platoon with 6 guns
Ranger Company 2 Ranger HQ 1 Point
Ranger Platoon 10 Points
Ranger Platoon 10 Points
Support
M4 Sherman Tank Platoon with 4 tanks 14 Points
Command Cards Lucky 1 Pont
Naval Gun Support 12 Points
Sherman DD 0 Points
If you add it up you can see we were playing below the normal 100 point level, at 75 points. This was due to the fact we were playing in a recorded battle report and we wanted to keep it short. But 100 points is where the game truly shines and if you wanted to add 25 more points to this list I would add the following,
Ranger Company 3 Ranger HQ 1 Point
Ranger Platoon 10 Points
Ranger Platoon 10 Points
Add a fifth tank to the M4 Sherman Platoon +4 Points
That gets you to 100 point easy and you will have even more troops on the table to harass your opponents.
Wayne and I were playing the FUBAR mission found in the D-Day: American book, we wanted to show off the basic mission and give players a look into how the mission is played. We could have played the Pointe Du Hoc Variant rules that would have let us play the beach landing the Rangers ran into on D-Day. Both missions work as FUBAR is a great representation of the Omaha beach landings.
I won’t tell you how the game went as you can watch our battle report video to find that out but I will go into the basic tactics of this list.
This list is all about attacking, you move your infantry in and you overwhelm your target with sheer numbers. During the FUBAR beach landing mission you have to take both objectives but your opponent’s resources are quite limited so try and mass up on both objectives. Your Shermans are limited resources so be careful with them and get them up the beach quickly and have them focus on taking out bunkers, start with the AT bunkers and once they are dealt with move on to the MG nests. Something else to keep in mind when building non-Ranger Tank forces, Rangers formations are cheap point wise to add to your force. For 21 points you get two full units of Rangers and an HQ, so you get re-rolls and some of the best Assaulting units the Americans have to offer. Its easy to build a well forces list and slot the Ranger platoon in, for example,
M4 Sherman Company M4 Sherman Company HQ with 2 Tanks 7 Points
M4 Sherman Tank Platoon with 5 tanks 18 points
M4 Sherman Tank Platoon with 5 tanks 18 points
M4 Sherman (76) Tank Platoon with 5 tanks 23 points
M4 81mm Armoured Mortar Platoon 2 Points
Ranger Company Ranger HQ 1 Point
Ranger Platoon 10 Points
Ranger Platoon 10 Points
Support
Priest Artillery Battery with 3 Priests 8 Points
Sherman OP 3 Points
There is a hundred points and the Rangers are the perfect include, if you have to defend well you get two full strength Ranger platoons to dig in on the objectives, with their 3+ moral rating they will rally and stay in the fight longer than most other American infantry units. Add in their 2+ to hit in assaults and you have a defending unit your opponent does not want to assault into. Ranger weakness to keep in mind, they are easy to hit, so HMGs and other high rate of fire hostiles are a big threat, you want to use your tanks and artillery to deal with those threats before the Rangers move into the assault.
I have been really looking forward to this book so I can finally start my late war Armoured rifle and why not kick it off with the Veteran Armoured Rifle Company! I love the speed this company brings! Being able to zip around the board with all those MG’s. They can hold most positions against infantry while trying to grab objectives on top of creating barriers with half tracks them selves.
Than of course you add in the support of the 57mm Anti-Tank platoon that will back up the half tracks zipping around. They are only AT 10 but that should be able to hold down or take out what I need in time to get into position.
The M4 81mm Mortar platoons and M8 Scotts will rain hell down on machine gun nests and pin down enemy troops until my rifle get into position as well. I also forgot to mention that the M3 half-tracks all have defensive AA!
Over all this army is fast, efficient, and well rounded. They have all the weapons needed to get the job done. This is definitely going to be a fun army to field.
I started as I always do with writing my ideal list, regardless of points, for the units I have seen in the book that I want in my army. This time, it was the turn of copious amounts of Panzer IV, Panthers, and troops to enter the fray and get my appetite whet. One thing to bear in mind with the German Book for D-Day is that there are a lot of options for units. The first thing a player will notice is, similar to Fortress Europe, you can take multiple tank formations of Tigers and the bigger tanks that the Germans employed in the later stages of 1944.
This poses an issue as to take lots of tanks, costs lots of points. Hence my decision to go with Panzer IV, that ubiquitous workhorse of the Heer, in quantity with some elite tanks attached. Hello Panthers! The tracks, the guns, the turrets… I knew I had to take some Panthers to show the American 76mm who was boss of the battlefield. Now with the German D-Day book there is another variant of the Panther – The Panther A.
Time is money and having already committed to building a 100pt army of US Paras, with their lovely high model count, for the UK Office Hobby League, I wanted as few stands and tanks to paint as possible. Then it was time to trim the list. First out were extra Panzers and Panthers to maintain an equilibrium in points so as to make sure any one formation wasn’t too high, but also so I could squeeze in a second formation of troops to hold and contest objectives, and be a pivot for my tanks to run off. I eventually managed to come up with this list:
I love the Armored Rifle Company but I just don’t have the time to paint that many infantry up fast enough for our league, having let my “paint figure quickly” skill atrophy over time. I don’t relish being hit on a 3+ so my plan is for a complete Veteran M4 Sherman Tank Company.
My 76mm tanks are going to be the biggest threat to any German armor I encounter and are thus, the most likely targets of enemy counter fire. That being said, all of the smoke that I can lay down with the 75mm and 105mm Sherman Tanks should be sufficient to protect my boys from too much steel coming their way and hitting them until they get into range.
The standard 75mm Sherman Tanks, when they’re not casting smoke down-range, are more than sufficient in knocking out Panzer IVs but really need the flank shots to have a hope of pinging any Panthers or Tigers; they’ll be operating mostly in support of the 76mms unless I see an opening I can exploit.
Lastly, just in case someone brings some aircraft, I’ve got a small contingent of AAA to handle that eventuality.
A tabletop approximation of 16. Feld-Division (L) in Normandy, 1944, offers me both of these chances— an opportunity to paint Luftwaffe blue, and an opportunity to modify a few grenadier uniforms to reflect the very swish LwFD camouflage smock.
Project Research
The Rest of the Stuff in the List
In the desperate winter of 1941, the Heer, the German Army, was on the defensive after its failed advance on Moscow. Every available unit was thrown into the battle, including the Luftwaffe Fallschirmjäger (air force paratroops). One such unit was the Luftlandesturmregiment, Air-landing Assault Regiment, under Generalmajor Meindl. The regiment’s casualties were so severe that it was withdrawn early in 1942.
By the spring of 1942, the Army’s need for troops to replace its casualties was so acute that they convinced Hitler to transfer surplus troops from the Luftwaffe to the Heer. Reichsmarshall Herman Göring, Commander In Chief of the Air Force, was furious. Not only would his personal empire be diminished, but also the reactionary Army, the very organisation responsible for the failures of the previous year, would corrupt his loyal National Socialist airmen.
Luftwaffe field divisions were approximately half the size of their Heer counterparts.
2. Luftwaffe Felddivision (Oberst Hellmuth Pätzold)
4. Luftwaffe Felddivision (Oberst Hans-Georg Schreder)
7. Luftwaffe Felddivision (Generalmajor Wolf Freiherr Von Biedermann) 
10. Luftwaffe Felddivision (Generalmajor Walter Wadhehn)
11. Luftwaffe Felddivision
17. Luftwaffe Felddivision
Between then and December 1942, when 21. Luftwaffe Felddivision was formed, the division was reunited and held the southern flank of the newly opened corridor to Demyansk and Cholm. The newly formed division only had four regiments, the fifth having been disbanded. It gained an artillery regiment with French guns in the summer of 1943, along with an assault gun battery of four long-barrelled StuG III assault guns (increased by a further six StuG IV in 1944) and ten 7.5cm PaK40 guns. Each regiment was also reported as having as many as ten 7.62cm PaK36(r) anti-tank guns. At this point it was easily the strongest Luftwaffe field division in existence.
The division was involved in heavy fighting from March 1944 until it surrendered in the Courland pocket at the end of the war.
Ranger Company 1
Something else to keep in mind when building non-Ranger Tank forces, Rangers formations are cheap point wise to add to your force. For 21 points you get two full units of Rangers and an HQ, so you get re-rolls and some of the best Assaulting units the Americans have to offer. Its easy to build a well forces list and slot the Ranger platoon in, for example,
Ranger weakness to keep in mind, they are easy to hit, so HMGs and other high rate of fire hostiles are a big threat, you want to use your tanks and artillery to deal with those threats before the Rangers move into the assault.
