APPENDIX 1
The German and American armies were based on more or less the same organizational principles
Platoon was called Zug in the German Army.
The assigned strength of a Zug was 48-50 man, divided into several Gruppe of each on average ten men, and a command Trupp (Platoon Headquarters) consisting of a platoon commander (Zugführer), a deputy platoon commander, an orderly and occasionally also a signaler.
The assigned strength of an American Platoon was most commonly 41 men, divided into three Squads of each 12 men, plus a Platoon Headquarters consisting of the platoon commander and four men.
Company was called Kompanie in the German Army.
The assigned strength of a German company Kompanie was up to 200 men, divided into three rifle platoons, three anti-tank squads, and a company headquarters, plus support units.
The assigned strength of an American Company was 193 men, divided into four platoons—three rifle platoons and a Weapons Platoon consisting of the Platoon Headquarters and one Section each for mortars (17 men) and machine guns (12 men).
Battalion was called Bataillon or Abteilung in the German Army (In the cavalry, the armored troops, the anti-tank units, the artillery and the signal units the battalion was called was called Abteilung.)
The assigned strength of a German infantry Bataillon was 860 men, divided into three rifle companies (numbered 1-3), a battalion headquarters and various support and supply units.
The assigned strength of an American infantry Battalion was 860 men, divided into a Battalion Headquarters with four officers, a Headquarters Company with around 120 men, a Heavy Weapons Company with around 160 men, and three rifle companies. The three rifle companies in the American battalions were ’numbered’ according to the following: 1st Battalion: Companies A, B, and C, plus D, which was the Heavy Weapons Company; 2nd Battalion: Companies E, F, and G, plus H, which was the Heavy Weapons Company; 3rd Battalion: Companies I, K, and L, plus M which was the Heavy Weapons Company. (Note: In most cases there was no ‘J’ Company due to the risk of misreading the handwritten ‘I’ and ‘J.’)
Regiment was called Regiment (alternatively Volksgrenadier-Regiment or Grenadier-Regiment) in the German Army.
The assigned strength of a German infantry Regiment usually was around 3,000 men, divided into three battalions, a regimental headquarters, and various support and supply units.
The assigned strength of an American infantry Regiment was 3,118 men, divided into a Regimental Headquarters and a Headquarters Company, three battalions (numbered 1-3), and various support and supply units.
Division was called Division in the German Army.
The assigned strength of a German Volksgrenadier-Division was slightly above 10,000 men, divided into two infantry regiments (Volksgrenadier-Regiment), an artillery regiment, an engineer battalion, an anti-tank battalion, a signals battalion, and a Fusilier-Grenadier-Kompanie (sometimes a Fusilier-Grenadier-Bataillon) which was a combined reconnaissance/rifle unit, and various support and supply units.
The assigned strength of an American Infantry Division was 14,253 men, divided into a headquarters company, three infantry regiments, four Field Artillery Battalions, an Engineer Battalion, an antitank battalion (Tank Destroyer Battalion), an air defense battalion (Anti-aircraft Automatic Weapons Battalion), various support and supply units, and often also a Tank Battalion.
Corps was called Korps in the German Army.
A German Korps and an American Corps usually consisted of two to five divisions. In both cases, the Corps were numbered with Roman numbers.
A (numbered) Army was called Armee in the German Armed Forces.
A German Armee and an American Army usually consisted of two to six corps. In both cases, the Armies were numbered with Arabic numbers.
Army Group was called Heeresgruppe (alternatively Armeegruppe) in the German Army.
A German Heeresgruppe and an American Army Group usually consisted of two to four armies. The German Heeresgruppe was usually numbered by either characters or geographical names. The American Army Groups were numbered with Arabic numbers.
Armored units
By this time, the German armored divisions (Panzer-Division) consisted of one armored regiment (Panzer-Regiment), two regiments of armored infantry (Panzergrenadier-Regiment), an artillery regiment (Panzer-Artillerie-Regiment), and one each engineer battalion (Panzer-Pionier-Bataillon), anti-tank battalion (Panzerjäger-Abteilung), air-defense battalion (Flak-Artillerie-Abteilung), and reconnaissance battalion (Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung).
A German armored regiment was divided into a headquarters platoon (Stabs-Zug) and two armored battalions (Panzer-Abteilung), each with a headquarters platoon (Stabs-Zug) and four companies (companies Nos. 1-4 in I. Panzer-Abteilung; companies Nos. 5-8 in II. Panzer-Abteilung).Usually, the Panthers and the Panzer IV tanks were separated into different companies, sometimes also different battalions.
The assigned strengths of German armored units was: Tank platoon (Zug) five tanks; company (Kompanie, consisting of four platoons and two command tanks) 22 tanks; battalion (Abteilung) 88 tanks; regiment (Regiment) 176 tanks. Owing to the lack of tanks, the German armored regiment consisted of fewer tanks by this time.
An American armored division normally consisted of three Tank Battalions, three Armored Infantry Battalions, four Armored Field Artillery Battalions, an Armored Engineer Battalion, an anti-tank battalion (Tank Destroyer Battalion), and an air-defense battalion (AAA AW, AntiAircraft Artillery—Automatic Weapons Battalion), plus a reconnaissance battalion (Cavalry Squadron).
An American tank battalion was divided into a Headquarters Company with two Sherman medium tanks and three 105mm howitzer Shermans, three companies of each 17 Sherman medium tanks and a 105mm howitzer Sherman, a company of 17 light tanks (most usually Stuarts), and a Service Company. Hence, the assigned strength of an American tank battalion was 59 medium tanks and 17 light tanks. Including the light tanks of the division’s reconnaissance battalion, the assigned strength of a U.S. armored division was 10,500 men and 263 tanks (177 Shermans and 86 Stuarts). However, most U.S. armored divisions in the Ardennes were reinforced to a strength of around 12,000 men.
Some of the American armored divisions were so-called heavy armored divisions—each consisting of two Armored Regiments of three tank battalions and an infantry regiment apiece. The assigned strength of a heavy armored division was 14,000 men and 390 tanks (including 252 Shermans). During the Ardennes Battle, the 2nd and the 3rd Armored divisions were heavy armored divisions.
Apart from the heavy armored divisions, the American armored divisions were divided into three combined sub-units—Combat Command A, Combat Command B, and Combat Command Reserve (CCA, CCB, and CCR), each consisting of a tank battalion, an armored infantry battalion, an armored field artillery battalion, and a platoon of anti-tank guns or tracked tank destroyers.
Artillery
A German artillery regiment (Artillerie-Regiment) consisted of three light (leichte; with light guns) battalions (Abteilung) and a heavy (schwere; with heavy guns) battalion, each consisting of three batteries (Batterie) with four pieces each (guns or rocket artillery).
The American artillery battalion normally consisted of three batteries of four guns apiece. However, there were exceptions: The Armored Field Artillery Battalion consisted of 18 guns. The 240mm Howitzer Battalion consisted of six 203mm 8 inch M-1 guns.
Other units
The German unit Brigade had no assigned strength, other than that it was smaller than a division. For instance, Stürmgeschutz-Brigade 244 was about company-size, while the Führer Begleit Brigade consisted of an armored regiment, a panzer grenadier regiment, an air-defense regiment, and an artillery battalion with altogether 6,000 men.
The German divisions often were divided into ad hoc task forces, Kampfgruppe. A Kampfgruppe usually consisted of elements from the various sub-units of a division. The strength of such a Kampfgruppe varied from somewhat larger than a regiment to somewhat larger than a battalion.
The American cavalry—in reality a mechanized force—was divided into the Cavalry Group (about the equivalence of a regiment), the Cavalry Squadron (about the equivalence of a battalion) and the Cavalry Troop (about the equivalence of a company).