The Complete WWII German
Infantry Regiment

Piggybacking

by Tom Harris

Piggybacking works best when you begin to complete the entire regiment, so I suggest starting with the infantry battalions first, and building up from there.

5.1 REGIMENTAL MAXIMUMS

The following are the maximum number of the types of stands needed for a regiment (only stands common between the battalion and the regiment are shown.)

    3 37L45 AT Gun
    4 Single Stand Gun Crews
    3 75L46 AT Gun
    7 Double Stand Gun Crews
    3 75L12 IG
    4 Kubelwagon
    3 120mm Mortar
    6 Light Trucks
    14 Command
    5 Limber
    19 SMG
    30 Medium Trucks
    9 Patrol
    14 SdKfz 251/1
    4 Engineer
    3 Trucks S/R
    4 Engineer with F/T
    15 MMG
    1 SdKfz 251/1 S/P
    7 Weapons
    3 Trailers
    3 Wagons

5.2 BATTALION ONLY

There are a number of economies that can be practiced at the battalion level to reduce the number of stands that you need to make. On 6 of the 9 Infantry stands, for example you can place a rifleman with a submachine gunner, while on the remaining three you can place 2 rifleman. This would give you the six needed SMG stands for the 44 Volksgrenadier Battalion without having to paint six additional stands. In a similar manner, you can designate three of the MMG stands to serve as the weapons stands when needed as such.

Since the Marder II and III are never found in the battalion at the same time, one can be used to represent both.

5.3 SUBSTITUTIONS

While some of the battalion organizations require a Marder II or III, it can be replaced by any of the 75mm AT self propelled guns, ie a Hetzer or any of the French tank conversions.

The self propelled 150mm IG can be either a GW II, GW 38t, or a StPz IV. As the first two were used in 1943, and the last two in 1944, acquisition of the the GW 38t will let you cover the entire period. The Stg IIIb can be substituted for the SdKfz 251/9, while the 20mm armed armored cars can use any older model as well.

The Complete WWII German Infantry Regiment

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