Wehrmacht 708th Division Project

[bluewillow]

My next Wehrmacht build is the 708th Infantry division, the Infantry division fought locally in my area in 5 -15 August 1944 against Pattons US 3rd army Breakout. The 708th division was totally destroyed in the retreat through the Falaise pocket.

First up some supply vehicles, two 20mm resin and one plastic kit, I need to add loads once I paint them.










Full unit history on my blog
https://kampfgruppewillow.blogspot.com/2023/08/708th-infantry-division-in-pays-de.html



Cheers
Matt

[anevilgiraffe]

so the Nazi's invented the cybertruck?

[fred]

I think you'll find that's a Renault!

Nice eclectic mix of vehicles, very appropriate for late war German formations.

[CapnJim]

Yep - those trucks''ll certainly do...

[carlos marighela]

so the Nazi's invented the cybertruck?

Well, Elon's grandad was a Nazi.........

I've often wondered if, like the Cyberfuck, the draftsmen at Renault working on the AH series thought to themselves 'fuck this for a game of soldiers,  they are all going to the Germans, I'll just submit my eight year old's drawing of a truck'.

[modelwarrior]

Just look at the aero dynamics of that Renault

 I saw a similar vehicle to the Renault a couple of years ago at a military show but it had a more rounded front. Older version of the same thing ?

[aphillathehun]

The artillery complement is quite interesting too.  Neat that you dug all this info up.  Thanks for sharing.

[bluewillow]

The artillery complement is quite interesting too.  Neat that you dug all this info up.  Thanks for sharing.

The armour will be the interesting one, mostly French Somua and H35/39 and flame Char B

Cheers
Matt

[sultanbev]

In your list on the blog you give every company MMG, whereas only the 4th company of each battalion has tripod mounted MMG, according to the organisation schematic you've presented, all the others have LMG. A close look shows a small "s" under the MG symbol on it's lower left - those are the MMG. Also, I think the "l" next to the mortar symbol is light mortar, short hand for "le", I'd very much doubt 120mm mortars were put at company level which would have a "s" next to the mortar symbol.
Example:
You posted:

"I 728 battalion
HQ Kp

I Kp cycles 12 MMG, 2x 120mm mortar
II kp 12 MMG
III kp 12 MMG, 2 x 81mm mortars, 1 x 120mm mortar
IV kp 12 MMG, 4 x 81mm mortars"

Whereas the schematic shows, as I understand it:
1st Battalion 728th Regiment
Bttn HQ
1st Coy: cycles, 12 LMG, 2x 5cm mortars
2nd Coy: 12 LMG
3rd Coy: 12 LMG, 2x 81mm mortar, 1x 5cm mortar
4th Coy: 12 MMG, 4x 81mm mortars

NB the 5cm mortars could be French 60mm M35 GrW225(f)

The "gem" next to the regimental anti-tank companies means they are part motorised, usually meaning they have enough trucks to tow one platoon of guns at a time.
The divisional Pioneer Companies have 6 flamethrowers each; one mobile company appears to have 3 LMG and 6 MMG, the other 8 LMG and 5 or 6 MMG.

Each divisional artillery battery also has 1x 2cm or 20mm AA gun generally, and 3 LMG of mixed origins. Although I don't know if that matters if you are using Rapid Fire.

Unless of course you have combat reports/diaries that override the schematic...
For those interested, the meaning of the symbols are on the Niehorster site:
http://www.niehorster.org/011_germany/symbols/_symbols_43.html

It is great picking one of these units with a full schematic available, I did a similar thing for the 65th Infantry Division in Italy, where they put the few Panzershrecks available into the divisional pioneer companies.

[bluewillow]

I followed the latest research from Neils Henkemans Defending Normandy vol 2.

I will check if I have any typos

[Veroo]

A fabulous start; looking forward to the completion of the force.