Germany used a military district (Wehrkreis, WK) system to organize the Army. Each WK was responsible for the recruitment and training of its manpower and the formation of military units. Upon mobilization, each WK would form a corps headquarters. Reservists would report to their units and take the field, and the replacement army, which did not exist in peacetime, would set up units in each WK for that WK's units in the field. Thereafter, the WK would continue to induct and train men, forming them into new units or processing them through the replacement units. In 1939, Germany had the WK's shown on the upper portion of the following page.

The final important element of the WK system was mobilization. The Army was divided into four mobilization categories, based on the time needed to mobilize a unit:

• 12 Hours: All motorized troops (panzer, light, and motorized infantry divisions).
• 48 Hours: All 35 active (first wave) infantry divisions. These needed 31 infantry battalions and five artillery battalions from the reserves to go to full strength. On mobilization day 1, these divisions would throw off active- personnel cadres for the second-wave divisions.
• 4 Days: All 16 second-wave infantry divisions, of Class I, Class II, and Landwehr reservists.
• 6 Days: All 21 third-wave infantry divisions from the Landwehr and all 14 fourth-wave infantry divisions from reinforcement battalions.

Mobilization was very flexible. The Germans had learned the problems of having a rigid mobilization unable to be changed in reaction to events--in 1914 Germany's response to the outbreak of war between Austria-Hungary and Russia was to attack France, per mobilization plan. In the 1930's, the Germans built a very flexible mobilization system. Individual WK's could be partly or fully mobilized as needed, openly or secretly. This served the Nazi government's penchant for adventures and surprise attacks perfectly. In August 1939, for example, most of the German Army was mobilized without the government having to give away its intentions by publicly proclaiming a general mobilization.

Inside Europa First to Fight Designer's Notes Part II, Section A Germany

Introduction
Army Re-armament and Manpower
Strategic Situation
Germany-Allies Strength Comparison
German High Command and the Government
Volksdeutsch Resettlement 1939-1942
The Wehrkreis System
Frontier Defenses and Border Regt Commands