Late War Volksgrenadier Regiment

As part of a contuing drive to improve my various armies, I decided a while back to revamp my late-war Volksgrenadier Regiment. Again using the template for Charles Grant`s "Battle" rules.

I ajusted the orbat to create a more historic look.

Regiment HQ
Field car, Kubelwagon, 2 x radio truck, 3 supply trucks, 3 tonne trailer, 1 tonne trailer, field kitchen
Various officers, RTO, cook & staff, 10 man security platoon, 2 x M/C messengers
Feldpolitzei Plt. - field car, Kubel, M/C
Engineer Plt + truck
Bi-cycle recce Plt

2 infantry battalions with -
HQ
Kubel, M/C messenger, supply truck, supply wagon, pack horses (x 4)
Various officers, RTO, LMG team, FOO team
3 rifle companies with -
3 man HQ
3 x 10 man Plt (inc 1 LMG)
Hvy Coy with -
2 x 81mm mortar + crew
2 x MMG + crew
wagon (or truck)

Lt Infantry gun Coy with -
4 x 75mm IG + crews (horse drawn), ammo wagon, FOO team

Hvy gun coy
2 x 120mm mortar + crew, 2 trucks, FOO team

AT coy
Pak40 + tow
6 x panzershreck teams


This is a pretty standard late-war, 2-battalion regimental orbat (though some Divisions had only 2 regiments with 3 battalions).

The VG suffered from a lack of flexible man-power, in this case you could only attack/defend with 1 battalion, whilst the other is in reserve; this caused major issues in attack (with no extra battalion to exploit break-throughs) or defence where units got little rest and there were few replacments available.

Equipment varied greatly, some had 150mm IG in the heavy company or even WW1 era 75s , I added the Pak40 to this AT company, but you could well have just Panzershreck, Pak35/37, Pak38 or captured weapons.......

bi-cycle recce platoon



Mostly SHQ, with the odd old plastic conversion
Regimental Pioneer platoon





Figures are Kelly`s Heroes (excellent), Fiat 626 is Minimi

Regimental feldpolitzei platoon
Transport - field car off John Dowman (too nice to repaint), Kubel and crew - Britannia, M/C comb - Matchbox

Britannia cops

More cops (make unknown - SHQ?)

Whole unit -


No11 company (Panzerjaeger)
Pak40 & crew

6 Panzershreck teams
L-R, Old Airfix loader + unknown gunner, old Airfix loader with Esci gunner, Elheim team

Wargames Supply Dump team; SHQ loader + Battlefield gunner; Kelly`s Heroes moving team

Whole company

 

Infantry companies all finished.
A huge mixture of manufacturers - Kelly`s Heroes, SHQ, Britannia, FAA, Wargames Supply Dump, Elheim, Combat Miniatures, Ab Figures, Fantassin, Battlefield and Lancashire Games and various plastics.
Mix of uniforms - M43 blouse, M44 blouse, greatcoat, smock, Zeltbahn
Mix of headgear - officers cap, side cap, feldmutze, plain helmet, helmet with camo cover, helmet with netting or foliage comouflage.
Weapons - MG42, MP40, Kar98 (some with sniper scopes), GW43, GW44, Panzerfaust

Built to our modified version of Charles Grant`s "Battle" rules where roughly 10 men = a platoon; 3 platoons plus a small HQ = a company. For this late war regiment, each company has 3 x 9 man platoons (each with an MG42) and a 4 man HQ; therefore 31 men per rifle company.

I Battalion, No1 company -




No2 company




No3 company




II Battalion, No5 company




No6 company




no7 company

 

No10 company - heavy gun company

2 x 120mm mortars with crews (Kelly`s Heroes)

Tubes with transport (Renault by Minimi, Krump by Matchbox)

FOO team (spotter - Kelly`s, RTO - Battlefield), Hasawaga M/C combination

 

Infantry battalion support weapon companies.

I battalion No4 company
MMG teams (old Skytrex)

81mm mortars (various plastics)

FOO team

Company transport wagon

Whole company


II Battalion No8 company
MMGs (Kellys Heroes & FAA)

Mortars (again various crew)

Company transport wagon


Whole company (inc FOO)

 

No9 Company - Lt. infantry guns (though I`m reliably informed the support companies were still numbered 13, 14 & 15).

1st Platoon - IG18s by Britannia, crews - Britannia & Elhiem, Gun commander Airfix, FOO - Britannia, RTO - Hasawaga

2nd platoon - IG18s by Britannia & Minimi, crews & RTO - various plastics, gun commander - Britannia, FOO - Kellys Heroes

Whole company on the move (horses are old Skytrex)

Close-up of my scratch built supply wagon (Esci plastic figure)