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Troop Movement

Discussion in 'WWII General' started by Erniem, Jul 29, 2016.

  1. Erniem

    Erniem New Member

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    There are about 2.5 million troops ready to invade Russia at the beginning of Barbarossa. My question is how did they advance. Did they stay on whatever roads they could find, did they walk across fields, did they occupy every town and village ? Thank for any information, E
     
  2. LRusso216

    LRusso216 Graybeard Staff Member

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    My guess and recollection is that the vehicles (tanks, trucks, artillery) tried to stay on or near roads. Walking troops, like infantry, used the entire terrain finding whatever cover they could. They could not hope to capture every village unless it could provide food or shelter.
     
  3. Terry D

    Terry D Well-Known Member

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    The Germans found very quickly that advancing in Russia was not like advancing in France. The roads in Russia were few and poor and the forests, swamps, and sandy soil often limited off road movement as well. The road and terrain conditions wore down men, horses, and equipment at a great rate. The wide expanses of the country (which got wider and wider as the Germans advanced every further eastwards) forced the German armies along divergent routes, with great distances between the advancing columns. The German infantry, plodding along on foot and mopping up the pockets of Soviet troops isolated in the first onrush, often became separated from the panzer spearheads up in front. Many Soviet troops naturally took advantage of all this to escape German encirclement.
     
  4. GunSlinger86

    GunSlinger86 Well-Known Member

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    Off the 3 plus million invasion troops for Barbarossa, were they all German, or some of them from the Axis partners such as Italy, Rumania, Hungary, etc? With Germany having forces in occupying roles in the West and Poland already, I'd think it'd be hard for them to also mass over 3 million troops for the Russian invasion.
     
  5. Sheldrake

    Sheldrake Member

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    What is your interest?

    This is a big question and best answered by reading some of the chapters in the history books about the nature of the Eastern Front..

    Any army of millions is the population of a small country, led by combat troops on foot in vehicles and on horseback, but can only be sustained by its logistic system. The motorised panzer troops were only a small proportion of the German army and its Romanian and other allies. The majority of its supplies were by rail to a railhead and thence by horse drawn transport. The railways and railway towns were key and had to be captured and occupied

    Much of the Northern half of the Eastern front area was heavily forested and crossed by many rivers. Euirope's largest marshland, the Pripyet Marshes is in the middle. The road network was sparse and, apart from the "moscow highway," unmetalled. major movements had to follow or clear enough roads to support an advance. Towns on river crossings were important.

    In the open grassland of the Ukraine there was nothing to stop an advance across country - in dry weather. When it rained the the steppes turned to mud, as did the roads. In the Russian winter villages and towns were key for survival offering shelter.

    Eastern Europe and Russia is a big place and the Germans could not occupy everywhere. Especially around the forests and marshes there were areas controlled by Soviet,Ukrainian, Polish and Jewish partisan groups. There is a chilling film called "Come and See" about it.

    . .
     
  6. LJAd

    LJAd Well-Known Member

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    No : some 3 million Germans were committed for Barbarossa .

    Army, WSS, LW ground forces and KM coastal artillery for Barbarossa (committed between 22 june and 4 july )

    AGN : 29 divisions and 712000 men(562000 in combat units)

    AGC : 52 divisions and 1.308.000 men (1.022.OOO in combat units)

    AGS : 41 divisions and 1.013.000 men ( 804000 in combat units )

    Finland : 4 divisions and 88000 men (78000 in combat units)

    OKH reserves : 12 divisions and 239000 men (200000 in combat units )

    Total : 138 divisions and 3.359.000 men ( 2.665000 in combat units )

    The number of 3.359.000 includes 220700 men of the LW .
     
  7. GunSlinger86

    GunSlinger86 Well-Known Member

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    That's pretty impressive, I always thought that 3.4 million men included the Axis partners.
     
  8. GunSlinger86

    GunSlinger86 Well-Known Member

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    Another question on troop movements. In the MTO, in November 1943 after subsequent operations in that theater, 4 US and 3 British divisions were to move to England for re-deployment for the cross-channel invasion of 1944. With those 7 divisions gone, what would have bee left for US and British operations in the MTO. The US 5th Army was small as it was, how would that have affected it?
     
  9. Terry D

    Terry D Well-Known Member

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    Actually eight divisions were ultimately removed for NEPTUNE, the British 7th Armoured, 6th Airborne, 50th, and 51st (infantry) and US 2nd Armored, 82nd Airborne, 1st and 9th (infantry). Of these, the British 7th Armoured and 6th Airborne and the US 82nd Airborne fought on the Italian mainland while the other five fought in Sicily and remained there until they were sent to the UK. This left US 5th Army with the US 3rd, 34th, 36th, and 45th Infantry and US 1st Armored, as well as the British X Corps (46th and 56th Infantry). The four divisions of the French Expeditionary Corps (FEC) arrived during the winter and spring and went into action progressively (2nd Moroccan, 3rd Algerian, 4th Moroccan, 1st Free French). By the late spring two fresh US infantry divisions had also arrived, the 85th and 88th. Exclusive of X Corps with 5th Army, the British forces in Italy had or shortly received the 6th Armoured Division, 1st, 4th, 5th, and 78th Infantry Division, the I Canadian Corps of 1st Canadian Infantry Division and 5th Canadian Armoured, the 2nd New Zealand Division, and the 4th, 8th, and 10th Indian divisions. The two divisions of II Polish Corps (3rd Carpathian and 5th Kresowa) also joined during the spring. By the time of DIADEM, then, 15 Army Group had been brought back up to a strength of 26 divisions, exclusive of independent brigades and regiments. The month-by-month movement of Allied and German formations in the Italian theater is tracked by H.P. Willmott in his WWII encyclopedia.
     

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