| Taktische Zeichen, Gliederungen, Meldungen and K.St.N. |
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Taktische Zeichen, Gliederungen, Meldungen and K.St.N.
Since the mid 1990s it has become more and more frequent for military historians to study in detail the organization of the German armed forces during WWII using, among other sources, German documents freely accessible at the Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv in Freiberg http://www.bundesarchiv.de/aufgaben_...orte/freiburg/ I've always found it to be a very fascinating subject even if a bit daunting at first, especially for people not familiar with the German language (which was my case, I studied it very superficially in High School but never could grasp all the grammar). I am going to try to introduce as simply as possible the way the Germans presented the order of battle and TO&Es of their military units during WWII. For those unfamiliar with them, I hope this will be of interest.
Taktische Zeichen
The first thing to learn in order to read WW2 German military documents and orders of battle are their very specific Taktsiche Zeichen (tactical signs or symbols), which are roughly equivalent to the NATO symbols most wargamers are familiar with albeit much more complex. They are used to indicate the size, type and armament of a given military unit and there are literally hundreds of them. They differed throughout the war and the last set was released on 23 May 1943. You can find them in table of organizations, as vehicle markings, on road signs, on maps etc...
Here's an example on how they look like:
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Gliederungen
The Gliederung (plural: Gliederungen) is a table that gives both the order of battle and the TOE of a formation (Division or lower). They come in two types, the Sollgliederung which is the planned table of organization and the Kriegsgliederung (or sometimes knows as Istgliederung) which is the most common type and that gives the actual table of organization. They were filled at least once a month by the Ia (1. Generalstabsoffizier, the 1st General Staff Officer in the tactical detachment of a Division HQ, otherwise known as the Chief of Operations) and they relied heavily on the use of tactical symbols explained above. Here are two example of Gliederungen:
This one shows the planned organization (Sollgliederung) of a Panzer-Division type 1944
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The Gliederungen are read from right to left, and they are divided into "blocks" for each component of the Division, for instance, the first block of the Pz.Div.44 table is the Panzer-Regiment:
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At the top is the Regiment's HQ, then from right to left are the composition of the 1st battalion then the 2nd one.
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Meldungen
Often found with the Gliederung is another type of document called the Meldung (plural: Meldungen). The Meldung complements the info found on the table of organization but this time using charts and is generally divided in 5 parts:
-1. Personelle Lage (personnel situation reporting those present and missing)
-2. Materielle Lage (materiel situation reporting all the weapons and vehicles available)
-3. Pferdefehlstellen (horses reported as missing in case of a horse-drawn unit)
-4. Kurzes Werturteil des kommandeurs (short evaluation of the unit by its commanding officer)
-5. Kurze Stellungnahme der vorgestezen Dienstelle (short comment of the superior echelon)
Here's an example of a blank Meldung:
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K.St.N.
Finally, the last useful document to study the organization of the German forces during the War is the Kriegstärkenachweisung (K.St.N. for short). The literal translation is something along the lines of “War Strength Proof”. In a nutshell a K.St.N. shows the theoretical organization and composition of a certain unit. K.St.N.’s were updated and changed during the war. They list the exact number of men, their ranks, their position, task in the unit and the armament. The type of vehicles, trailers etc. are also shown. K.St.N.’s were generally numbered and dated.
As an example, here's a K.St.N. for a Feldgendarmerie (Military Police) Platoon:
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Note: The material on this page originates with a thread on the Armchair General site:
http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37730
Started by Stéphane Moutin-Luyat and edited by yours truly.
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