Produktbeschreibung
The German defenders - the Festungskompanien - are now available to hold the beaches.
The Box contains: 5 x Command teams, 3 x Snipers, 3 x 8cm Mortars, 3 x Light Mortar, 1 x Panzerschreck, 1 x Püppchen, 18 x MG teams, 3 x Goliaths, 2 x R.35 Bunker turrets and 4 x MG-Tobruks.
352. Infanteriedivision (352nd Infantry Division) rose from the ashes of 321. Infanterie-division, destroyed in the Soviet counteroffensive following the Battle of Kursk on the Eastern Front. A strong cadre of combat veterans survived to lead the division in a new battle of annihilation on the Western Front.
The division began mustering in earnest at St. Lô, in Normandy, on 5 November 1943, receiving young 18 and 19 year old recruits from Hannover, Germany.
As the commander, it fell upon Generalleutnant Dietrich Kraiss (awarded the Knights Cross with Oakleaves and the German Cross in Gold) to make his division ready to fight.
He and his staff worked ceaselessly to get equipment. Heavy weapons were scarce, trucks almost unobtainable. Shortages of ammunition and fuel meant a bare minimum of weapons training and virtually no driver training.
In spite of these shortages and spending up to 8 hours a day labouring on beach defences, by May 1944, 352. Infanterie-division was fully combat ready - a state that no other infantry division in the Normandy area could even aspire to. The biggest question on their mind was where would the division fight next.
352. Infanteriedivision had taken over half of the Normandy coastal sector from 716. Infanteriedivision, a second-rate static division, but expected to be called back to the Eastern Front at any moment. Its size had grown with the attachment of 726. Grenadierregiment (726th Infantry Regiment) and 439. Ost Bataillon (439th Eastern Battalion) from the previous garrison, but it had lost 915. Grenadierregiment and the divisional fusilier battalion, combined into Kampfgruppe Meyer (Battlegroup Meyer), the mobile reserve for its parent LXXXIV Armeekorps (84th Army Corps).
This loss cost the division all of its self-propelled guns, and truck and bicycle-mounted infantry.
D-Day, 6 June, answered the question of where the division would fight. The division reacted immediately to the Allied invasion, inflicting horrendous casualties on the two American divisions landing in its sector.
On the first day the only beach where the Germans stopped the Allies cold, even if only for a few hours, was Omaha, and it was 352. Infanteriedivision that had performed this heroic feat.
In Flames Of War -
In Bloody Omaha you can take a Festungskompanie (Fortress Company) representing one of the companies of the 352. Infanteriedivision or one of the other divisions defending the coastline around Omaha Beach.
Though without the full array of support choices available to their colleagues on the Eastern Front, the infantry companies of the Normandy front do have some trick of their own. A Festungskompanie always defends, even against another infantry company.
It also always has a certain amount of fortifications available to it and can field fortifications even when not fighting a mission with fortifications (see special rules on page 12 of Bloody Omaha).
The 352. Infanteriedivision Festungskompanie box contains:
A Company HQ (2 Command teams, 3 Light Mortar teams with options to upgrade to 3 8cm GW42 mortars, anti-tank section with Panzerschreck team or 8.8cm Püppchen RW43, and three sniper teams.
Three Grenadier Platoons with MG or Rifle/MG teams, Command Panzerknacker SMG team option and Goliath option.
Two R-35 tank turret bunkers and four HMG Tobruk bunkers (see pages 22-23 Bloody Omaha).
Divisional history -
The 352nd was formed in November 1943 in France, commanded by Generalleutnant Dietrich Kraiss from 6th November 1943 until it was destroyed in July 1944. Organizationally, the 352nd was better off than most German divisions in 1944. At that time, as a result of severe personnel losses, German infantry divisions were generally reduced by one infantry battalion per regiment. The 352nd, however, retained its full complement of nine battalions.
The 352nd began its coastal duty by improving the beach obstacles, emplacing mined stakes and timber structures. This involved not only cutting and hauling timber from miles inland but also driving stakes and piles deep in the sand. To fully cover the sector, they needed 10 million mines, but a scant 10,000 were available. The first band of obstacles - about 250 yards out from the waterline at high tide - consisted of Belgian Gates, reinforced iron frames with iron supports that were built atop rollers. Next came a band of mined stakes and log ramps, meant to tear the bottoms out of landing craft or tip them over. Finally, there was a row of metal obstacles, including hedgehogs, made of iron rails. Although the Germans had attached mines to many of the obstacles, few of them were waterproofed, and corrosion had long since taken a toll on many of the explosive devices.
The soldiers of the 916th and 726th regiments occupied slit trenches, eight concrete bunkers, 35 pillboxes, six mortar pits, 35 Nebelwerfer (multi-barrel rocket launcher) sites and 85 machine-gun nests. The defenses were clustered in strongpoints.
The 916th Grenadier Regiment saw action during D-Day Operation Overlord, opposing the 1st and 29th U.S divisions at Omaha Beach. The 352nd made a good account of itself, causing many casualties and defending the bluffs above the beach for several hours before being overwhelmed. The 916th retreated in the morning hours of June 7 after the Commander Col. Ernst Goth couldn't hold the positions retaken in the night from the 6th to the 7th of June any longer.
The rest of the division saw heavy fighting in the bocage (or hedgerow) country defending St. Lo against the Americans.
The 352nd was destroyed in the fighting following the invasion, and on 30 July the 352nd was declared abgekämpft, meaning the division was no longer fit for combat. The division was reconstituted as the 352nd Volksgrenadier Division in September, and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Thereafter it fought defensively around Trier and the Moselle until it was destroyed once again in mid-March 1945, with only a small remnant escaping across the Rhine at Worms. It was partially reconstituted one last time as a battlegroup in mid-April, and ended its career near Darmstadt.
Major Werner Pluskat, who was featured in Cornelius Ryan's The Longest Day was in the 352nd Artillery (Artillerie Abteilung) and fired his guns on Omaha Beach until he ran out of ammunition. His forward observer was on WN62 - Resistance point 62 [1]- above the beach, east of the U.S. Cemetery nowadays and location of the 1st Infantry Division memorial.
Order of battle
The 352nd's order of battle on the eve of the Allied Invasion was as follows (NB: artillery component is also shown):
* 914. Grenadier Regiment
o 2 x 15 cm sIG
o 6 x 7.5 cm leIG
o 3 x 7.5 cm PaK 40
* 915. Grenadier Regiment
o 2 x 15 cm sIG
o 6 x 7.5 cm leIG
o 3 x 7.5 cm PaK 40
* 916. Grenadier Regiment
o 2 x 15 cm sIG
o 2 x 7.5 cm leIG
o 3 x 7.5 cm PaK 40
* 352.Panzerjäger Abteilung
o 14 x Marder II and Marder III variant Panzerjägers
o 10 x StuG III ausf G assault guns
o 9 x FlaKPanzer 38 Self-Propelled Flak
* 352. Artillerie Regiment
o 1-9.Batterie - 36 x 10.5 cm leFH 16
o 10-12.Batterie - 12 x 15 cm sFH 18
* 352.Pioniere Battalion
o 20 x Flammenwerfer
o 6 x Granatawerfer
* 352. Fusilier Battalion (1.Kompanie was bicycle mounted)
* Feld-Ersatz Battalion
o 6 x 8 cm Granatawerfer 34
o 1 x 5 cm PaK 38
o 1 x 7.5 cm PaK
o 1 x 10.5 cm FeldHaubitze
o 1 x Infanterie Geschutz
o 2 x Flammenwerfer
* Supply Train / Signals Troops |
