German ranks

[blitzkreig]

Hello all,

Some interesting points. I think its worth noting that the "elite" divisons such as the 1st SS Pz Divison Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler suffered huge causalites during the latter stages of the war. To such an extent in fact it was technically "destoryed several times over" ie it lost more men than the divison actually contained over a period of time.

With the chronic German man power shortages these losses were often replaced by drafting unwilling volunters from the Lufwaffe into the units in mass. Even the Leibstandarte dropped any pretence of racial selection by the end of the war.

What is surprising is that these "premier" divsions functioned at all after these losses. replacemnts often only had months, weeks or even days to retrain and integrate. In any allied army the divison would have been decleared combat ineffective going through a similar process. A testamont to the effectivness of the NCO's and officers of these SS formations.

On a seperate note I do like to use SS formations and recreate their engagements. They performed some stunning feats of soldiering and were very adept at modern manouver warfare. The issues of warcrimes however has always left me feeling a little uncomfartable doing so. Espically since the more I reasrch German Pz and SS forces the more I come across. Does it bother other folks I wander?