help with OST units please

[M4Jess]

Okay, how would you design a OST battilion and company in Normandy?


M4:eek:

[laurentsx]

http://www.angelraybooks.com/diewehrmacht/heer/st1.htm


"To combat the growing partisan menace, the German rear area commands were required to use a real hodge-podge of unit types, from front line divisions, to volunteer battalions, to special security units and even Hungarian occupation forces. The Germans had begun raising "volunteer" formations from captured Soviet soldiers, deserters, and others almost immediately after the initiation of the war against the Soviet Union. While most of these initial units were completely unauthorized and unofficial, a move had been made to recruit volunteers officially as early as October 1941. These volunteer units composed of non-Baltic Soviet citizens, often formed from Soviet ethnic minorities, were collectively referred to as Osttruppen, or Eastern Troops. The fighting quality and loyalty of these units varied, but given the overwhelming manpower shortages facing the German armed forces, they were a welcome addition to the German order of battle. As can be determined by examining the tables below, almost all German divisions at this time in the war, even front line panzer divisions, had at least one "Ost" company, if not an entire battalion, attached to them. Disbanded, disbanding, or weakened Hungarian divisions were also employed in the security role behind German lines"

other sources:
http://www.angelraybooks.com/diewehrmacht/heer/ot.htm
http://www.angelraybooks.com/diewehrmacht/heer/ot3.htm
(The Organization of the Eastern Troops, 22 November 1943)
http://www.feldgrau.com/
http://www.feldgrau.com/foreign.html
(if you have a company number for the/a ost company, you might find a description on feldgrau)

It looks like the osttruppe were mostly second-line material, but with a chance for some experienced and good squats... The easiest approach would be using germain second line troops with low morale but with some high experience squats...

well my 2 cents

[Larry Holt]

I recall reading about some hapless soul who was forced to fight in a security unit. He was captured in Normandy. The kicker was he was Korean or something like that. He was certainly blown around in the war.

[V-man]

Originally posted by Larry Holt
I recall reading about some hapless soul who was forced to fight in a security unit. He was captured in Normandy. The kicker was he was Korean or something like that. He was certainly blown around in the war.

There were four of them. They had been conscripted by the Japanese, captured by the Soviets and pressed into service, captured by the Germans and pressed into service, and finally, captured by the US Army in Normandy.

They had been shipped back to Chicago before anyone figured out where they were from. A language professor at Univ. Chicago got the job. He figured it out.

What is sad is that they were likely, after the war, conscripted *AGAIN* into the North or South Korean Army. On the otherhand, whatever commanders got them would have some VERY experienced troopers, eh?