I'm reading Guderian's book, and have naturally encountered the I.R. GD. So I have several questions: 1. How big was this unit? It does not seem like it was a standard infantry regiment. 2. What was the point of keeping an independant I.R. on the front???
Thats hard to say because, the "G.D" which did start as a single Regiment, was never an ordinary Regiment. The G.D. always had other smaller units attached to it depending on what their next mission(s) called for. They ranged in size thruout the war from a single Regiment to a Division to even Korps sized unit. The unit consisted of subunits like (and skipping the normal subunits of a larger unit such as: Pioneers, Signalers, Bakery Kompanie, Suppply Transportation, Medical and staffs etc) They also had Artillery--Smoke Troops, Assault Pioneers, Anti-tank units, Panzers etc. It basically depended on what they were needed for.
PS, they had Knights Cross Recipients (ill fill in the blank when I get back here) A version of the unit patch was: a Diamond of Green Felt--with Gold embroidered GD on it. [ 09 May 2002, 02:37 PM: Message edited by: C.Evans ]