Reply To: Continued Explorations of Normandy Wargaming

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Thanks for the reply, @piers ~

The question of quality for the 352nd was a big issue I honestly fought with for quite a while building this scenario.   Sources were all over the place as, well, the data is all over the place.  😀

I’m sure you already know all this, so I’ll keep it quick for others in the thread:

• Agree – most of the more recent recruits were 18 and 19 year olds.  But that’s the age you’re supposed to be as an infantryman.  As opposed to units like the 716th, 711th, or 709th, where the average age was somewhere in the 30s (decrepit for an infantryman).
• Three live fire exercises and two “training” hand grenades?  That’s what most armies get, at least in recruit training and initial infantry school, unless by “training” grenades you mean non-explosive grenades.
• I would agree the training for the INTEGRAL regiments of 352. ID was hampered.  From what I read, a lack of fuel was a real factor here.
• Raised from the 321st, yes, a division that had done nine months in Russia.  Now I doubt many of the new recruits were in Russia (unless the Germans sent them there at age 16), but many of the platoon- and company-level officers and even more importantly, the NCOs might have had the benefit of some that that experience.
• Spent most of its time building … here is where I ran into some confusion during my construction of this scenario.  When 352.ID was moved up into Grandcamps sector (broadly speaking, Omaha), it “absorbed” units like the III./726th IR. and elements of I./726th IR. From 716th Infantry Division.  Now these guys CERTAINLY, these are the 30+ year old reservists, former wounded, etc., who’ve spent the vast majority of their time building bunkers and beach obstacles for the Atlantic Wall.  From what I can see, though, once 352. ID became responsible for their training and armaments, things rapidly improved.  Certainly not enough to get them up to 352. ID’s integral level (i.e., Regiments 916 around Omaha, 914 further west, and 915 w/ KG Meyer in LXXXIV Corps reserve).
• Now the majority of the “352” units that actually fought on 6 June were from the attached 726th IR., so in that sense, yes, these guys had spent the vast majority of their time building and combat training suffered as a result.  I just don’t know if I would include 352’s integral regiments in that summation (GR.’s 914, 915, 916).
• I have reflected this difference between integral and attached 352 constituent units in the scenario with 10. and 11. Kompanie / III. Bn / 726 IR., by building them understrength with a 5-4 mix of “Security” Panzer Leader infantry platoons, and reduced battalion support assets.
• Units like 5. and 8. Kompanie / II. Bn / 916 GR. (extended eastward toward St. Laurent) are built with a 6-3 mix of “Rifle” and “Security” platoons, making them markedly better but still not full “parade ground” order of battle.
• Finally in the far east past Colleville we’re looking at 1. and part of 2. Kompanie / I Bn / 726 IR., again at the lower level.
• But these are still better than the “pure” static infantry divisions like 716th we see at Gold (almost all Security platoons) and especially really sub-par constituent units like Ost Battalion 441 (all Security platoons, and not even the full number for a “German” battalion).
• So no, as a 13th Wave Division, and hardly full strength, given reinforcements which actually might have been more of a liability as Division HQ now had to train, equip, and feed them, and (again) stretched across 33 miles of front … 352. ID was hardly top of the line.

But compared to everyone else in the area, at least on that initial day?  I think this is where it gets it reputation as the “iron men of Normandy,” which I agree wasn’t really true.

By the way, as long as I have you here … I’ve been finding mentions of a battery of Werfer Regiment 84 attached to 352. ID, but my sources are not saying WHERE this battery was deployed on the morning on 6 June.  As much as I love nebelwerfers, the Americans are already being creamed by too much German artillery so I have NOT included them, erring on the side of caution if nothing else.  Ever hear of this?  Were they with KG Meyer, or over by Gold Beach?  I ask because I remember that great KG Meyer game you included In our WWDDC project a while back.