Panzer Division 1944 – Organization Chart and KStN List
Panzer Division 1944 Organization
The Panzer Division 1944 organization did not have any major changes from the late Panzer Division 1943. This is with regards to combat organization. There was, however, a major change to unit organization referred to as Freie Gliederung. This is where the supply units, which were normally in a company, were removed and combined in supply company. This company would then serve the entire battalion. May K.St.N. were updated with this change in April of 1944. Those K.St.N. where the organization was changed in this way have (fG) trailing the K.St.N. number. An example would be, 1177 (fG) v. 1.4.44.
Using the gliederung image below you can see that this document flows from the most significant (combat) units at the top and then works down to the support units. At the very top of the diagram is the division command. This would typically include mapping, police and division escort units.
Panzer Division 1944 Gliederung
Panzer Division 1944 KStN
Panzer Regiment
The Panzer Regiment of the Panzer Division 1944 consisted of two battalions. One battalion had Panthers and the other Panzerkampfwagen IV’s. Each battalion was authorized 76 tanks. There were 17 in each of the 4 companies and 8 in the battalion headquarters company. In addition, 8 tanks were assigned to the regimental headquarters. Three 3 Panthers signal platoon and 5 Panzerkampfwagen IV’s in the reconnaissance platoon. This brought the total number of tanks for the regiment to 160.
Panzergrenadier Regiment
The division had two panzergrenadier regiments with two battalions each. The first battalion of the first regiment was an armored battalion which means it was equipped with armored half-tracks. The remaining three battalions were motorized. Each regiment was also authorized a self-propelled heavy infantry gun unit (K.St.N. 1120a v. 1.4.44) and an engineer company (K.St.N. 1118 v. 1.4.44). This engineer company organization applied either a version A or version B. Version A for the motorized regiment and Version B (with half-track) for the armored regiment.
Other units
The reconnaissance battalion was a formidable unit with almost 1000 men and about 129 armored vehicles. It had 5 different companies and had Sd.Kfz.250’s and Sd.Kfz.251’s in different configurations. It also had Sd.Kfz.234’s in the headquarters company (K.St.N. 1109 (gp)(fG) v. 1.4.44).
The Panzerjäger (Anti-Tank) battalion had two assault gun companies in addition to a heavy anti-tank company (towed). Each of the two Sturmgeschütz companies had 15 Sturmgeschütz. The towed anti-tank company had 12 – 7,5 cm Pak 40. The K.St.N. authorized twelve Sd.Kfz.3 or Sd.Kfz.11 for towing the guns.
The Artillery regiment had three battalions. A light battalion with three batteries, a heavy battalion with 2 batteries and an armored battalion. The armored battalion consisted of two Wesp (light) and one Hummels (heavy) self-propelled artillery. The K.St.N. applied was 432 (fG) v. 1.6.44.
A previous post featuring a German manual on the Wesp can be found here.
The PDF document is about 40MB and also includes lists of manpower, weapons and vehicles by KStN.
*The documents in the PDF vary in dimensions in order to maintain the highest possible resolution. We recommended to download the PDF to view and not view it in the browser.
Download File
Feedback or comments are welcome.
Sources:
- US National Archives & Records Administration
Richard,
first of all: a big thank-you for your dedication to & your passion for this (sadly almost forgotten) “niche” of war history.
Just a short comment for the unpracticed reader with all respect: an “OKH-Gliederungsbefehl” (order for organization of units?) was (especially as of mid 1943)
a noble goal or target – more or less.
IMHO literally a handful of Heeres/Waffen-SS Panzer Divisions would meet this order
(particularly with reference to a Divison Panther Abteilung/battalion) at that point in time.
Sincerely yours
Frank G. from Germany
Hey Frank,
Thanks for the comment and i agree. For that reason i have always found it much more engaging to think of units in terms of theoretical instead of actual, at least you get the whole picture. I suspect some panzer divisions in the West just before Normandy would have come the closest to meeting this org chart.
Cheers,
Richard
Dear Richard,
me too ;-). – absolutely no offense meant!
But e. g. regarding D-Day (in the broadest sense) only two divisions come to my mind
(1. SS-Panz.Div. “LSSAH” + partially 12. SS-Panz./Panz.Gren.Div. “HJ”) regardless of any independent units.
Cheers,
Frank
Dear Richard
According your chart of Panzer Division 1944 Gliederung，maybe one panzer regiment have 22×4+22×4=176 panzer？（88IV and 88panther） Because the number under each IV and V company is 22.However，in your article，your tell us that Each battalion was authorized 76 tanks.Maybe i misunderstand your means. Please tell me the truth if you convenient.
that is a good question. Looking at it now i guess I should have actually pointed that out and made things a bit clearer.
The issue here is that the gliederung and the KStN do not strictly match. As mentioned in the text, which is based on the actual KStN, a company was authorized 17 panzers. KStN 1177 (fG) – 1.4.44 authorized only 3 platoons of 5 panzers each and then two in the Group Führer for a total of 17. The fourth platoon was reserve panzer personnel.
The hint of this in the gliederung is the top left corner of the Panzertruppe box, “Vorläufige Ausstattung je Kp. 17 Pz.Kpfwg”. which I take to mean, provisional equipment is 17 Pz.Kpfwg per Company.
The 22-panzer company on the gliederung was probably a carryover from the 1177 – 1.11.1943 KStN. If you look at the “Waffen – Soll einer Panz.Div. 44” in the A106 document packet it will verify the 17-panzer company for a 1944 Panzer Division. Hope that helps.
Cheers,
Richard
Dear Richard:
Thanks your answer which make me clear,My friend told me that due to the actual situation, these units were not built as originally planned,that’s why there are only 17 Panzers in the company
but not 22 Panzers.They told me that some company has been cut down a platoon.All in all,thanks your reply and your explanation about KStN.
Have a good weekend！
Pz.Abw.Abt.9 Panzerabwehr-Abteilung : le 9e bataillon de chasseur de char
Wehrkreis IX (District militaire N°9) Aufgestellt (Créé le) : 06.10.1936
Le chiffre arabe “1” devant l’identifiant de l’unité signifie la 1ère Compagnie
Le chiffre romain suivant l’identifiant de l’unité désigne le Regt
Il sagit de la 1ère Cie du Bn Antichar N°9 du IIe Regt Antichar