Panzergrenadier

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Panzergrenadiers of the modern Bundeswehr on an alert post during an exercise in 2006.

Panzergrenadier (help·info) (abbreviated PzGren or Pzg) (Literally; armored grenadeer) is a German term for motorised or mechanized infantry, as introduced during World War II. It is used in the armies of Austria, Germany, and Switzerland.

1 Forerunners
2 Panzergrenadier Units
3 Second World War equipment
4 Current Equipment

[edit] Forerunners

The term Panzergrenadier was not adopted until 1942. Infantry in panzer divisions from 1939 onwards were known as Schützen Regiments; they wore the same rose pink piping on their uniforms as the tank crews. Soldiers in special Motorized Infantry units wore the standard white piping of the Infantry. In 1942, when Infantry Regiments were renamed as Grenadier Regiments by Hitler as a historical homage to Frederick the Great's Army, the Schützen regiments (and the soldiers in them) began to be redesignated as Panzergrenadier regiments, as did Motorized Infantry units and soldiers. Their waffenfarbe was also changed from either white (in the case of Motorized Infantry) or rose pink (with an "S" cypher that distinguished the Schützen from the tank and anti-tank units that also wore that colour) to a grass green shade previously worn by motorcycle troops. Some units did not change over their designations and/or waffenfarbe accoutrements until 1943.

[edit] Panzergrenadier Units

The term Panzergrenadier was applied equally to both the infantry component of Panzer Divisions as well as the new divisions known as Panzergrenadier Divisions. Most of the Heer's PzGren. divisions evolved via upgrades from ordinary infantry divisions, first to Motorized Infantry divisions and then to PzGren. divisions, retaining their numerical designation within the series for infantry divisions throughout the process. This included the 3rd, 10th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 18th, 20th, 25th, and 29th divisions. Others, such as the Großdeutschland Division, were built up over the course of the war by repeatedly augmenting the size of an elite regiment or battalion. The Waffen SS also created several PzGren. divisions by the same methods, or by creating new divisions from scratch later in the war. A number of PzGren. divisions in both the Heer and Waffen SS were upgraded to Panzer divisions as the war progressed.

The Panzergrenadier divisions were organized as combined arms formations, usually with six battalions of truck-mounted infantry organized into either two or three regiments, a battalion of tanks, and an ordinary division's complement of artillery, reconnaissance units, combat engineers, anti-tank and anti-aircraft artillery, and so forth. All these support elements would also be mechanized in a PzGren. division, though most of the artillery, anti-tank, and anti-aircraft elements were equipped with weapons towed by trucks rather than the relatively rare armored and self-propelled models. In practice the PzGren. divisions were often equipped with heavy assault guns rather than tanks, due to a chronic shortage of tanks throughout the German armed forces. A few elite units, on the other hand, might have the tanks plus a battalion of heavy assault guns for their anti-tank element, and armored carriers for some of their infantry battalions as well.

On paper a Panzergrenadier division had one tank battalion less than a Panzer division, but two more infantry battalions, and thus was almost as strong as a Panzer division, especially on the defensive. Of 226 panzergrenadier battalions in the whole of the German Army, Luftwaffe and Waffen SS in September 1943, only 26 were equipped with armoured half tracks, or just over 10 percent. The rest were equipped with trucks.

[edit] Second World War equipment

The use of armoured half-tracks was exceedingly rare in the German Army, and even the elite Großdeutschland Division, with two panzergrenadier regiments, only mustered a few companies' worth of the vehicles, generally SdKfz 251 troop carriers. The vast majority of Schützen/Panzergrenadier soldiers were mounted in trucks. Additionally, vehicles in the early war period suffered from poor off-road performance.