List of German divisions in World War II

This article lists divisions of the Wehrmacht (German Armed Forces) and Waffen-SS active during World War II, including divisions of the Heer (army), Luftwaffe (air force), and the Kriegsmarine (navy).

Upgrades and reorganizations are shown only to identify the variant names for what is notionally a single unit; other upgrades and reorganizations are deferred to the individual articles. Due to the scope of this list, pre-war changes are not shown. Most of these divisions trained in Berlin, which is also where new military technology was kept and tested.

German unit designations

These designations are normally not translated and used in the German form in the unit name or description.^[1]

Army (Heer)

Panzer divisions

Numbered panzer divisions^[2]

Named panzer divisions^[2]

Light mechanized divisions

The designation "Light" (leichte in German) had various meanings in the German Army of World War II. There were a series of 5 Light divisions; the first four were pre-war mechanized formations organized for use as mechanized cavalry, and the fifth was an ad hoc collection of mechanized elements rushed to Africa to help the Italians and organized into a division once there. All five were eventually converted to ordinary Panzer divisions.^[3]

Various other divisions were dubbed "Light" for other reasons, and are listed among the Infantry Series Divisions (see below ↓).

Infantry series divisions

The backbone of the Heer was the infantry division. Of the 154 divisions deployed against the Soviet Union in 1941, including reserves, there were 100 infantry, 19 panzer, 11 motorized, 9 security, 5 Waffen-SS, 4 "light", 4 mountain, 1 SS-police, and 1 cavalry. A typical infantry division in June 1941 had 17,734 men organized into the following sub-units:^[4]

• three infantry regiments with staff and communications units
  • three battalions with:
    • three infantry companies
    • one heavy weapons company
  • one anti-tank company (mot.)
  • one artillery company
  • one reconnaissance unit
• one tank destroyer battalion with:
  • three companies (each with twelve 3.7 cm guns)
• one artillery regiment
  • three battalions
    • three batteries
• one pioneer battalion
• one communications unit
• one field replacement battalion
• Supply, medical, veterinary, mail, and police

Infantry divisions were raised in waves (Aufstellungswelle), sets of divisions with a standardized table of organization and equipment. In general the later waves (i.e., the higher-numbered divisions) were of lower quality than the earlier ones.

Numbered divisions

Divisions are listed by number and reflect their lineage where names or designations were changed over time.^[5]

1st to 99th^[6]

100th to 199th^[7]

201st to 299th^[8]

300th to 999th

Named divisions^[10]

Landwehr divisions

Mountain divisions^[11]

Ski division

• 1st Ski Division (previously 1st Ski Brigade)

Cavalry divisions

According to Davies, the Cavalry divisions were mounted infantry and the Cossack divisions were "true cavalry", modelled on the Russian cavalry divisions.

Artillery divisions

Named fortress divisions

Named training divisions

RAD divisions

In 1945 the Reichsarbeitsdienst (Reich Labour Service) transferred personnel to the army to form new divisions as part of the 35th Aufstellungswelle, the last of the war.

Field replacement divisions

Navy (Kriegsmarine)

Marine divisions

Air Force (Luftwaffe)

Hermann Göring divisions

The Hermann Göring formations grew from a single police detachment to an entire armored corps over the course of the war. The later epithet Fallschirm ("parachute") was purely honorific.

Airborne divisions^[10]

To keep its existence secret, the first German airborne division was named as if a Flieger ("flier") division in the series of Luftwaffe divisions that controlled air assets rather than ground troops-named 7th Flieger Division (often translated 7th Air Division - which see: 1st Parachute Division (Germany)) The division was later reorganized to start a series of nominally airborne divisions. Though named Fallschirmjäger ("paratrooper") divisions, only some of them participated in airdrops in the early part of the war. Whilst the first five divisions received full paratrooper training, the remaining divisions did not and in practice operated as ordinary infantry throughout their existence. The lower-numbered ones earned and maintained an elite status, but quality generally declined among the higher-numbered divisions.

Field divisions

Luftwaffe Field Divisions were ordinary infantry divisions organized from Luftwaffe personnel made available after mid-war due to problems with manpower. They were originally Luftwaffe units but were later handed over to the Heer, retaining their numbering but with Luftwaffe attached to distinguish them from similarly numbered divisions already existing in the Heer.^[12]

Training divisions

Anti-Aircraft divisions

These were headquarters for controlling aggregates of flak ("anti-aircraft artillery") assets rather than ordinary combined arms divisions organized for ground combat.

Waffen-SS (Schutzstaffel)

All divisions in the Waffen-SS were ordered in a single series up to 38th, regardless of type. Those tagged with nationalities were at least nominally recruited from those nationalities. Many of the higher-numbered units were small battle groups (Kampfgruppen), i.e. divisions in name only.

Also Panzer Division Kempf, a temporary unit of mixed Heer and Waffen-SS components.

See also

• List of German Army Groups in WWII
• List of German corps in World War II
• List of German brigades in World War II
• List of World War II military units of Germany

Notes

References

Bibliography