Dear John; Where are the Sturm battalions? Accounts of various World War II battles mention German sturm battalions in the thick of the fighting. However, I don't see many of these units in FitE/SE. What gives?

German forces, in the west and elsewhere as well as the east, formed assault (Sturm) units, scratch formations assembled from whatever military assets were available to a corps or army headquarters. Besides these scratch units, the Germans raised other assault units on formal organizations. The most well known perhaps was the 78th Sturm Division, formed in Army Group Center through the addition of assault guns and motorized assets to the 78th Infantry Division. These formally-organized units appear in the Europa orders of battle, and the rest of this article concentrates on the scratch assault units.

Due to their ad-hoc formation, assault units were not always designated "Sturm" but sported a variety of designations, "Sturm" being by far the most common. Typically formed by an army headquarters, the battalion (occasionally a regiment) was committed to action as circumstances warranted, typically on the defense (or in counterattacks) against enemy attacks or offensives. An assault battalion typically was an infantry formation, consisting of two to four or more infantry companies, and often supported by an artillery battery. Occasionally other companies, squadrons, or batteries reinforced the battalions, such as combat engineer companies or assault gun batteries.

Assault battalions first appeared on the Germans' eastern front in 1942. Although I haven't documented the following, it seems likely they were formed as a response to both the length of the front and the losses the German forces in the east had already suffered. These circumstances meant Army HQs increasingly did not have the luxury of keeping an infantry force in reserve but rather had to keep their formally-organized forces, particularly infantry, in the front lines. However, the need for an infantry reserve force of some type meant that the HQs found ways to scrape together a minimal force by any means possible, hence the origin of assault battalions. The vast majority of assault units, thus, were formed from already existing assets, such as companies or battalion's detached from divisions, from soldiers arriving as replacements or returning from furlough or medical leave, and so on.

After 1942, more and more army HQs set up their own assault battalions, with many being created on the eastern front and a few in the west. Some armies, however, did not create assault battalions, such as the German armies fighting the Allies in Italy. Formations other than army HQs on occasion formed assault battalions, too.

In Europa, since in almost all cases these assault units are already accounted for by existing units or by regular/special infantry replacements flowing to existing units, most assault units are not shown as separate units. However, if you really Want to have them, you can as long as you pay for them--put them in the replacement pool and activated them by spending infantry replacement points. The following order of battle gives the historical appearance of these assault units.

For those who like special rules, you can also add the following:

When playing Fire in the East/Scorched Earth (but not Second Front), the German player may voluntarily remove infantry divisions from the replacement pool, permanently retiring them from play. For each division removed in this fashion, the German player receives one German infantry RP. (The Germans in the east began disbanding infantry divisions on a limited scale in late 1941 and on a large scale in 194344, and parceled their remaining assets out to other formations. Although this in theory diminished the number of infantry divisions that could be built up to strength, in practice the Germans had little hopes of rebuilding all their divisions, while disbanding them meant their assets could be allocated more efficiently.)

Any of the assault battalions or regiments listed in the OB below can be voluntarily disbanded. However, rather than permanently removing the disbanded unit's counter from play, place it instead in the replacement pool. (Army HQs on occasion merged their assault units into other units, but often later formed new assault units.)

May I 42
EAST:

Replacement Pool: Add:

1x 1-8* Inf II 2P St

Note: Assault Battalion of the 2nd Panzer Army. Originally designated as Infantry Assault Battalion of the 2nd Panzer

Army, then as Infantry- Instruction Troops (Lehrtruppe) of the 2nd Panzer Army, and then as Instruction-Battalion of the 2nd Panzer Army.

Oct I 42
EAST:

Replacement Pook Add:

1x 1-8* Inf II 2A St

Note: Assault Battalion of the 2nd Army. Originally designated as Instruction Battalion of the 2nd Army.

Oct II 42
NORTH:

Convert: 1x 3-6* Inf Cadre (7-6) 269 to:

1x 2-3-6* Inf Cadre (5-7-6) 269
1x 1-10 mot Inf II ANS

Note: Assault Battalion of Army Norway. This officially was formed in the summer of 1943, but it was formed from assets from the 269th Infantry Division. The 269th was sent (at cadre strength in Europa terms) from the east front to Norway, where it slowly rebuilt per its standard 9-infantry battalion organization, until it converted to the new 7 battalion (six infantry and one "fusilier") organization in 1943. It works best for Europa OB purposes to handle this process while the 269th is still at cadre strength. (Note that ANS appears as part of the Jul 143 initial forces in Norway in Second Front.)

Nov I 42
EAST:

Note: Ignore the appearance of 2x 1-6 Inf II 393, 395 in FitE/SE. See Dec 142 for these units.

Dec I 42
EAST:

East Reinforcements:

2x 1-6* Inf II 393 St, 395 St

Note: Originally as 393rd and 395th Infantry Battalions, later designated 393rd and 395th Assault Battalions. These were used as stiffening troops for the Italian and Hungarian armies near Stalingrad (one battalion to each army), but in reality the Germans needed multiple divisions, not single battalions, to stiffen these armies.

Jan I 43
EAST:

Replacement Pool: Add:

1x 1-8* Inf II 16A St

Note: Assault Battalion of the 16th Army. Later designated as Special Purposes Battalion of the 16th Army, still later as SpecialPurposes Grenadier Battalion of the 16th Army.

May I 43
WEST:

Replacement Pook Add:

1x 1-8* Inf II CIA St

Note: Assault Battalion of the 7th Army. This was destroyed at Cherbourg. German players of the "Operation OVERLORD" or the "Victory in the West" scenarios in TEM #59/60 can spend one German inf RP of their initial allotment and place this unit in Cherbourg during initial deployment.

Jun I 43
EAST:

Replacement Pool: Add:

3x 1-8* Inf II 1P St, 4A St, 8A St

Note: Assault Battalions of the 1st Panzer, 4th, and 8th Armies.

Aug I 43
EAST:

Replacement Pool: Add:

3x 1-8* Inf II 17A St, 18A St, 20 St

Note: 17A St and 18A St are the Assault Battalions of the 17th and 18th Armies. 20th is Assault Battalion XX formed by the 20th Army Corps.

Sep I 43
EAST:

Transfer to Southeast:

1x 1-8* Inf II 2P St

SOUTHEAST:

Arrive:

forces from East Upgrade:

1x 1-8* Inf II 2P St (.5 arm RP) to: 1x 1-2-8* PzG II 2P St

Note: When the Germans transferred the 2nd Panzer Army HQ to the Balkans, its assault battalion was redesignated as panzergrenadier. I'm not sure if the assault battalion actually was transferred or was disbanded in the east and reformed in the Balkans from assets there. I'm also not sure if the battalion was panzergrenadier other than in name (2nd Panzer Army was a panzer army only in name while in the Balkans and did not command a single panzer division for the next 18 months), but if you want to spend the .5 arm RP, you can make it one.

Oct I 43
WEST:

Replacement Pool: Add: 1x 1-8* Inf II 1A St Note: Assault Battalion of the I" Army.

Nov I 43
WEST:

Replacement Pool: Add: 1x 1-8* Inf II 19A St Note: Assault Battalion of the 19th Army. EAST: Replacement Pool: Add. 1x 1-8* Inf II 3P St Note: Assault Battalion of the 3rd Panzer Army.

Dec I 43
WEST:

Replacement Pool: Add: 1x 1-8* Inf II 15A St Note: Assault Battalion of the 15 th Army.

May I 44
EAST:

Replacement Pool: Add: 1x 2-8* Inf III GNP St Note: Assault Regiment of the 4th Panzer Army. Ignore appearance of 1x 2-10 mot Inf III 4 St in FitE/SE. (Various assault units occasionally got to call on some motorized ( assets, but this probably was insufficient to make combat /motorized in Europa terms.)

Jun I 44
EAST:

Upgrade: 1x 1-8* Inf It 4A St (1 inf RP) to: 1x 2-8* Inf III 4A St Note: Assault Regiment of the 4th Army. There appearance have been no actual regimental headquarters over the the battalions of this regiment, but this is ignored. Replacement Pool: Add: 1x 1-8* Inf II 6A St Note: Assault Battalion of the 6th Army.

Jul I 44
NORTH:

Convert: 1x 1-10 mot Inf II ANS to:

1x 3-10* PzG X Norw

Note: Per the SF OB.

EAST:

Upgrade: 1x 1-8* Inf II 1P St (1 inf RP) to:

1x 2-8* Inf III 1P St

Note: Assault Regiment of the 1st Panzer Army.

Aug I 44
EAST:

Replacement Pool: Add:

1x 1-8* Inf II 42AK St

Note: Assault Battalion of the 42nd Army Corps. This officially was a Assault Regiment but actually was just a reinforced infantry battalion. Ignore the appearance of 1x 2-10 mot Inf III 42 St in FitE/SE.

Sep I 44
EAST:

Upgrade: 1x 1-8* Inf II 2A St (1 inf RP) to:

1x 2-8* Inf III 2A St

Note: Assault Regiment of the 2 nd Army Ignore the appearance of 1x 2-10 mot Inf III 2 St in FitE/SE.

Replacement Pool: Add: 2x 1-8* Inf II 9A St, 427 St

Note: 9A St is the Assault Battalion of the 9th Army. 427 St is Assault Battalion 427, raised the 27th Army Corps.

Nov I 44
WEST:

Replacement Pool: Add:

2x 1-8* Inf II 5P St, F St

Note: 5P St is the Assault Battalion of the 5th Panzer Army. FSt is the Assault Battalion of the 1st Parachute Army, although the battalion did not receive any numeric designation. Note that although the Is' Parachute Army is officially a Luftwaffe headquarters, many of its formations were German Army (OKH) units, and the assault battalion seems to be mostly or completely derived from German Army assets, not Luftwaffe.

Feb I 45
WEST:

Replacement Pool: Add:

1x 1-8* Inf II 25A St

Note: Assault Battalion of the 25 th Army. Note that the actual strengths of any units formed in 1945 could be much smaller than their official size would indicate, but this doesn't matter for this OB since you have to spend real assets (inf RPs) to get these units.

EAST:

Replacement Pool: Add:

lx l-8*lnf II 11A St

Note: Assault Battalion of the 11th Army.

Mar I 45
EAST:

Upgrade: 1x 1-8* Inf II 9A St (1 inf RP) to:

1x 2-8* Inf III 9A St

Note: Assault Regiment of the 9th Army. Technically, this is Special-Purposes Regiment HQ of the 9th Army, which controlled the I and II Assault Battalions of the 9th Army,

ABBREVIATIONS:

ANS	AOK Norwegen Sturm [Army Norway Assault]
FSt	Fallschirmarrnee Sturm [Parachute Army Assault]
St	Sturm [Assault]
1A St	1. AOK Sturm [1st Army Assault]
1P St	1. Panzer AOK Sturm [1st Panzer Army Assault]
2A St	2. AOK Sturm [2nd Army Assault]
3P St	3. Panzer AOK Sturm [3rd Panzer Army Assault]
4A St	4. AOK Sturm [4th Army Assault]
4P St	4. Panzer AOK Sturm [4th Panzer Army Assault]
5P St	5. Panzer AOK Sturm [5th Panzer Army Assault]
6A St	6. AOK Sturm [6th Army Assault]
7A St	7. AOK Sturm [7th Army Assault]
8A St	8. AOK Sturm [8th Army Assault]
9A St	9. AOK Sturm [9th Army Assault]
11A St	11. AOK Sturm [11th Army Assault]
15A St	15. AOK Sturm [15th Army Assault]
16A St	16. AOK Sturm [16th Army Assault]
17A St	17. AOK Sturm [17th Army Assault]
18A St	18. AOK Sturm [18th Army Assault]
19A St	19. AOK Sturm [19th Army Assault]
25A St	25. AOK Sturm [25th Army Assault]
42AK St	42 Armeekorps Sturm [42nd Corps Assault]

Counters

You can use the template below to help make your own units. Some of these units may appear in Total War, but these can be retrofitted to Second Front, and Fire in the East / Scorched Earth.

Note: Backs of all units are blank.