The German Volksgrenadier division was a last-ditch attempt to mobilize the final manpower and heavy equipment reserves in late 1944. It combined the survivors of shattered divisions with hastily trained troops from other services, convalescents from hospitals and previously deemed unfit personnel. Yet it also organized its frontline units in a novel way, making use of the revolutionary Sturmgewehr assault rifle. This episode of Four Minute Formation is on one of its six infantry battalions.

Four Minute Formation provides information-packed overviews of military organizations. Command structure, sub-units and equipment are explained using custom-made organizational charts.


PRIMARY SOURCES:
KStN 111V (Battalion HQ)
KStN 131V (Grenadier company)
KStN 151V (Heavy company)
KStN 154V (Tank destroyer company)


SECONDARY SOURCES:
Karl-Heinz Pröhuber, Volksgrenadier-Divisionen (Aachen 2021).
TM-E 3—451, Handbook on German Military Forces (War Department, March 1945).
Gary Kennedy, Organization of the German Infantry Battalion 1938 to 1945 (February 2019). http://www.bayonetstrength.uk/.
Christoph Widmann-Awender, https://www.wwiidaybyday.com/.


PHOTOGRAPHS BY ORDER OF APPEARANCE:
Author unknown
Bundesarchiv 101I-691-0244-11
Bundesarchiv 101I-316-1190-27
Bundesarchiv 101I-583-2130-36
Bundesarchiv 101I-710-0371-20
Bundesarchiv 101I-734-0013-11
Bundesarchiv 101I-078-3086-31

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Overview
02:05 Headquarters
02:34 Rifle Companies
03:22 Heavy Company & Tank Defence
04:24 Transport & Medical