I was recently told that, in the opinion of the U.S. Army lineage experts, the term "formation" is supposed to refer to a division-sized organization, and the term "unit" is supposed to refer to something smaller. Well, I don't know if this really holds water, but it sounds so mystical and obscure that I'm sure I can use this knowledge to good effect in showing off. So, with this little bit of trivia tucked away, let me start by saying this article will address some German formations (sounds great, doesn't it?) that are used, or have the potential of being used, as division-equivalent structures within the larger Europa framework.

James D. Parmenter takes the credit for getting us into the subject of some strange German division staffs (Divisions z.b.V.). After all, it might be very useful to briefly survey these organizations as they relate to Europa. This topic, of course, introduces a bit of "Grand Europa" into the column, but perhaps it won't hurt to gaze at the stars and anticipate developments down the road. And this subject does explain many Europa decisions already implemented, under consideration, or deferred for the present time.

In our discussion of German divisional staffs let's begin with the beginning. Prior to the start of WWII one or more German replacement organizational staffs existed in each of the Reich's fifteen military districts ("Wehrkreise", abbreviated WK) and controlled the infantry, artillery, reconnaissance, engineer, and supply troop replacement and training units within its own district. In the case of the infantry and artillery this control was exercised through intermediate infantry and artillery replacement and training regimental staffs, which gave these staffs some semblance of divisional structure at the outset. The district-level German replacement organizational staffs were designated as "Kommandeur der Ersatztruppen (Heer) Nr. (X) in WK (X)", translated as "Command of the Replacement Troops (Army) Number (X) in Military District (X)". During the course of the war, the title "Division Number" or "Division Nr." replaced the older designation, and basically reflected the transition of these organizational staffs from administrative duties to field functions within their area of jurisdiction. As the war continued, this official title was often dropped as a matter of usage, and in practice such variants as "Division (X)" or "I nf ante rie-Ersatz-Division (X)" were employed. In common parlance, the generic term for all types of division staffs in the Replacement Army became "Ersatz Division"..

In addition to the ersatz formations, another group of division-sized structures were formed soon after the German invasion of Poland. These were designated as Divisions for Special Purposes, known in German as Divisions z.b.V. The term z.b.V. stood for "zu besonderer Verwenclung" and, despite the exotic title, in this case represented Special Administrative Division Staffs. By the way, these were also known in a more convoluted form as "Divisions Kommando z.b.V., abbreviated as "Div. Kdo. z.b.V.".

Special Administrative Division Staffs

The Special Administrative Division Staffs, or Divisions z.b.V. constitute one of the more interesting German formation series. The first set, which I refer to as the 400-series, were generally formed during the period October 1939 through mid 1940. These divisional staffs initially provided headquarters for Landesschutzen local-defense or homeguard units in each Wehrkreise and newly established territories taken from neighboring countries, with two wartime mission-specialized divisions (454th, 460th) as the inevitable exceptions.

Division z.b.V. 401 was raised within WK I (East Prussia) during mid-January 1940, where it remained until converted to an ersatz division in late September 1942 appearing as such in Scorched Earth that October. Incidentally, there is reason to suspect that Division z.b.V. 401 did move east - at least into the newly organized lands of expanded German Prussia around Bialystock- following the German drive to the east. Thus, it could conceivably operate as a division-equivalent structure in that region until its formal appearance as the 401st Ersatz Division in Scorched Earth.

Division z.b.V. 402 was formed at Stettin in late October 1939 and remained in WK II (Pomerania and Mecklenburg) until converted to an ersatz division in late September 1942 and mobilized on an emergency basis to fight the advancing Soviets. The 402d Emergency Infantry Division is slotted for Second Front in its home area during February 1945.

Division z.b.V. 403 was raised in WK III (Berlin and Brandenburg), during late October 1939 and moved to Brittany, France, in August 1940. It would serve as a ganison division in that region until its conversion to the 403d Security Division in mid-March 1941. The 403d Security Division appears in Fire in the East as part of the initial German invasion force into Russia during June 1941.

Division z.b.V. 404 was formed at Dresden, WK IV (Saxony and adjacent areas), during October 1939 and remained in that vicinity, becoming an ersatz divisional headquarters in September 1942. It was mobilized to fight the Soviets in its home region east of the Elbe during March 1945, and will appear in Second Front as the 404th Emergency Infantry Division that April.

Division z.b.V. 405 was raised at Stuttgart,, WK V (Wurttemberg), during October 1939 and later moved to Strassburg. It was mobilized in 1945 and entered combat in the Upper Rhine area as part of 19 Army in Army Group G.

Division z.b.V. 406 was formed at Munster, WK VI (primarily Westphalia, but expanded to include parts of Belgium during the war) in October 1939. The division remained there until mobilized as part of the German II Parachute Corps and thrown into the Battle of Aachen. Thus, it will appear as the 406th Reserve Division in Second Front during September 1944.

Division z.b.V. 407 was raised at Munich, WK VII (mainly Bavaria) in October 1939 and remained in that vicinity. It became an ersatz division in October 1942 and was mobilized to defend the area around Augsburg in late March 1945. The 407th Emergency Infantry Division will appear in Second Front effective April 1945.

Division z.b.V. 408 was formed at Breslau, WK VIII (Silesia) during October 1939 where it remained and became an ersatz division in October 1942. Mobilized for defense of Silesia in February 1945, the 408th Emergency Infantry Division will appear in Second Front during the same month.

Division z.b.V. 409 was raised in WK IX (much of Thuringia, Hesse, and nearby small districts) in October 1939 and remained around Cassel, being transformed into an ersatz division in October 1942. The 409th Emergency Infantry Division is mobilized within its home region during March 1945 and appears in Second Front at that time.

Division z.b.V. 410 was raised in WK X (northern Hannover, Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Bremen, etc.) during October 1939 and stayed in that vicinity until 20 January 1944 when it was broken up to provide headquarters personnel for new corps being built throughout the German Army.

Division z.b.V. 411 was formed at Hannover, WK X1 (southern Hannover, Brunswich, Anhalt, Magdeburg) during October 1939 and remained in that region until broken up in October 1944. Fragments of this staff may have been incorporated into the 411th "Feldgendarme" (Military Police) Division, which appears in Second Front in the west in January 1945.

Division z.b.V. 412 was raised in WK XII (southern Rhenish Prussia and western Hesse, Nassau, Saar district, etc.) in midJanuary 1940 and remained there until 23 October 1940, when it was utilized to help form the 4th Mountain Division.

Division z.b.V. 413 was raised in WK XIII (Franconia, lower Bavaria, upper Palatinate, and other areas) in October 1939 where it was disbanded in June 1942. A new 413th Ersatz Division was raised at Nurnberg in July 1943, and the 413th Emergency Infantry Division appears in defense of this area in Second Front during March 1945.

Division z.b.V. 417 (the next one raised) was formed at Vienna for WK XVII (eastern Austria) in late October 1939. The division remained in Vienna until mobilized as the 417th Emergency Infantry Division for action against the Soviets in Second Front during January 1945.

Division z.b.V. 418 was formed in Wehrkreise XVIII (western Austria) during midMay 1943 and became the basis of the 418th Ersatz Division of Salzburg, Austria. This division in turn became the basis of the 188th Reserve Mountain Division, which transferred to Italy as part of the Second Front order of appearance during October 1943.

Division z.b.V. 421 and 422, the next of these type divisions in line, were formed during November 1939 for Prussian border defense. The former was converted in March 1940 to the 399th Infantry (Home Defense) Division. In a weird twist of typical Germanic logic, Division z.b.V. 422 became Division z.b.V 401 in January 1940 (as seen above).

Division z.b.V. 423 and 424 were both raised from field commands (Feldkommandantur) in Poland during late October 1939 and became the staffs of the 393d and 379th Infantry (Home Defense) Divisions during January and February 1940, respectively. Division z.b.V. 425, an elite special staff formed in Poland during late October 1939, became the basis of Ersatztruppen 100 during June 1940. Division z.b.V. 426 and 427 were formed in Poland in late October 1939 and became the staffs for the 556th and 557th Frontier Guard (Upper Rhine Defense) Divisions in February 1940.

Division z.b.V. 428 was formed in Prussia during late October 1939 and provided a Staff for Landesschutzen forces in Danzig and parts of the Polish provinces of Pomorze and Poznan, an area known to the Germans as Danzig-West Prussia. The division staff was broken up in December 1942 and its job was taken over by the 152d Training Division. The 152d Training Division remained in this region and provided personnel for field formations fighting in Russia. Although the 152d formed a battle group for defense of West Prussia against the Soviets in January 1945, the bulk of the Staff moved west and absorbed new subordinate units on that front during March. Thus, the 152d Training Division itself never entered combat until April 1945 and will probably show up in Second Front in that capacity only. The Battle Group defending West Prussia is not currently programmed.

Division z.b.V 429 was formed in late October 1939 to provide a Staff for Landesschutzen forces in the occupied Polish territories around Poznan, Lodz, and Warsaw; an area the Germans designated as Richsgau Wartheland. The division staff remained there until broken up in late March 1943 and if Polish partisans become active in that area during its time of service, it should be used as an anti-partisan divisionequivalent structure. This would, of course, only be possible in a Grand Europa scheme because this time frame of Polish partisan activity is not covered by Scorched Earth.

Division z.b.V. 430 was raised during late October 1939 in the Polish region of West Prussia occupied by Germany after the invasion. The staff moved to Holland in June 1940 and was used to form the headquarters of Wehrmacht-Befehishaber Niederlande. Its battalions in the Reich region of West Prussia were distributed between the commands of Division z.b.V. 429 and 431. 431 was raised during late October 1939 as a Staff for security of West Prussia and appears as the 431 st Security Division in Scorched Earth from August 1941 until its disbandment in late March 1943.

Division z.b.V. 432 was raised in late October 1939 and served to administer units in the recently occupied Polish region of German-claimed Silesia. On October 1, 1942 it was converted to the 432d Ersatz Division and was stationed at Gleiwitz at the end of 1944. It participated in the defense of this region against the Soviets, but its utility in Second Front is still undetermined, although it might form part of a Breslau Fortress Division under consideration.

Division v.b.V. 441 and 443 were raised during late October 1939 in western Germany and formed the staffs of the 554th and 555th Frontier Guard Divisions respectively. Division z.b.V. 442 and 444 , also raised in western Germany at the same time, were sent to the Russian front as the 442d and 444th Security Divisions. The latter appears in Fire in the East as part of the initial German invasion force of June 1941, and the former appears in Scorched Earth during April 1942. Finally, another bizarre German shuffling of formation numbers caused Division z.b.V. 445, formed at Koblenz in October 1939, to be transformed into Division z.b.V. 412 (as seen above).

Division z.b.V. 454 (the next numerical sequence) was formed in June 1940 at Dresden for a special-employment mission and was sent to the French Channel coast in July. It provided a staff divisional organization for "sick" German soldiers in anticipation of Operation Sea Lion, the landing in England. For the operation the 454th would have operated as a Light-Duty Security Division on English soil. This should be noted for Grand Europa purposes, or in line with adjustments for Their Finest Hour. At any rate, the invasion never transpired and the division became the 454th Security Division in March 1941 (doubtless still using many convalescing Germans) and appears in Fire in the East that June.

Division z.b.V. 460 is next in order. This formation was formed on April 24, 1940 and contained three Landesschutzen regiments (104th, 105th, 106th) and one Landesschutzen artillery regiment (460th), all from WK X right next to the Danish border. This formation was placed under Army Group B and served in Denmark from 26 May until 6 August when it was returned to Lubeck and disbanded there on

October 25, 1940. This is a valid division in its own right. It was organized for the special employment mission of Danish pacification during the western campaign and used Germans who were familiar with Danish customs and language.

The other Divisions z.b.V. in the 460 series (and above) comprise yet another grouping of reserve units with their own unique evolution. Most stemmed from reserve divisions in the 100 series; for example, Division z.b.V. 465 took the place of the lower numbered 165 Reserve Division. Discussion of these units is best deterred to a future article.

Four Special Administrative Division Staffs existed as Divisions z.b.V. in the 500 series. These were the 537th and 538th, raised in Innsbruck and Klagenfurt during December 1939 for border-watch purposes, and the 539th and 540th, raised at the same time in Bohemia and Moravia for security purposes in Prague and Brunn.

Special Administrative Division Staffs existing as Division z.b.V. in the 600 series were actually Emergency Infantry Divisions mobilized for combat during the latter stages of the war, from October 1944 through April 1945. Some of these formations already appear in Scorched Earth. The unique circumstances under which they were mobilized and their unusual patterns of evolvement are best treated in another article.

The complicated reality of the everchanging German response to providing suitable formations for training, replacement purposes, occupation duty, and battlefield requirements - as illustrated by the Division z.b.V. - constitutes the main problem in connecting all the Europa parts into one grand German Order of Appearance. The situation can be adequately handled in any front-specific game by introducing German divisional staffs (or their derivative combat units) as they became available historically. in addition to their factual appearance, some German formations may be held in readiness at selected hexes at various times. My design work so far with John Astell indicates that a dual solution, using both historical appearance and transitory reaction elements, is planned for Second Front.

There is no need at present to address the larger German Army order of appearance as a continuum throughout the entire war. I suspect, however, that a Grand Europa system will maintain identified German replacement formations at their normal duty station hexes and trigger their actual mobilization (freedom to deploy) based on game or historical events. Under this scheme, the actual compositional arrangement and factors of "activated" German formations will depend on the stage of the war, resources at hand and other circumstances.

Such a Grand Europa (Europic?) system will allow considerable flexibility in unit types replacement panzer divisions and the like and must contain historically viable alternate counters to provide the full range of options possible. Exact duplication of the historical German order of battle in WWII is still possible on these terms, but players will probably field some variant divisions either as a matter of convenience or necessity.

The last part of James Parmenter's query concerns the 160th Ersatz Division and the German Danish garrison during the war. As mentioned earlier, the Replacement Army and its deployment in such areas as Denmark is another topic which must be deferred right now. The Danish garrison, however, is being addressed (at least from 1943-45) in Second Front. Also, because of the length of this article, the Assault Gun listing will be continued, with other items, next time.