Thank you for posting the photos. Lovely to see the detailed camouflage patterns on the helmets, as Metternich pointed out. Based on the other photos of infantry platoons, the figures represent just less than a platoon-size element. This would likely be referred to as a Sturmabteilung if it was not part of a super-specialist stormtrooper training unit, such as Sturmbataillone 5 (Rohr) for example.
Just to give some idea of how rare it was for the super-specialists to be involved in a major battle such as Operation Michael in 1918, the Order of Battle for von Hutier's 18th Army for 21st March 1918 had: two companies of Sturmbataillone 12 assigned to the whole of III. Army Corps; IX Army Corps had 2 companies Sturmbatallione 5 (Rohr) and 1 company SB 12; XVII Army Corps had 2 companies SB 5 (Rohr) and 1 company SB 12. Given that only 3 divisions of the 6 in each Corps was actually involved in the first day, these allocations equated to no more than one company-size element of super-specialists per infantry division. If you wanted to represent this type of unit then, in addition to the anti-tank rifle (which was very late war - the fairly small size of the unit would represent the impact of heavy losses at this stage of the war) you would have MG08, Minenwerfer, and Granatwerfer teams mixed in as an integral part of what was sometimes called a Sturmblock.
I have just completed a review of the Battle of Courcelette in September 1916. The village was attacked and taken by the Canadians on 15th September. The two phase assault by Canadian 2nd Division was part of the much larger Battle of Flers-Courcelette, which saw the first use of tanks in the war. Courcelette was defended by the German 45th Reserve Infantry Division (RIR 45). The division was defending the likes of Moquet Farm as well as Courcelette. The British and Dominion forces had taken some ground in preparation for the attack on the 15th. RIR 45 was not aware that the massive offensive was about to get underway on the 15th. On the night of 14/15 September, therefore, RIR 45 planned an immediate counter-attack Gegenstoß for the morning of the 15th. The hasty counter-attack was to include Sturmabteilung 45, which was the platoon-size element of infantry trained in assault tactics. The painted unit featured above would represent the equivalent of Sturmabteilung 45, rather than a super-specialist unit. The lack of integral support weapons, such as the heavy MGs, Minenwerfer and Granatwerfer, illustrates how these units were not able to operate with the full spectrum of shock tactics in the same way as a Sturmblock would. Of course it was possible to allocate such weapon systems to such a unit for a specific operation, though there was more of a problem with ensuring close working together if there had not been any time to train as a unit before an operation. Thus Sturmabteilung 45 had no chance to practice for the counter-attack, nor any opportunity to have more close support weapons attached. A planned counter-attack was known as Gegenangriff, compared with the immediate Gegenstoß.
It is important to re-emphasise that these concepts were not unique to the German army.
Robert
29 July 2021, 07:03:35 AM