Elite or Trash? German D-Day Unit at Omaha

Today we look at the 352nd German Infantry Division that was responsible for the defense of Omaha Beach. Now depending on who you ask, the division was either elite or trash. Well as so often, a look at the details might reveal a bit more information. We look at the division weapons layout, its experience and the German combat effectiveness rating the division received.

Colorization & modification by vonKickass.

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Ose, Dieter: Entscheidung im Westen 1944: der Oberbefehlshaber West und die Abwehr der alliierten Invasion, Helios: Aachen, Germany, 2013.

Müller-Hillebrand, Burkhart: Das Heer 1933-1945. Entwicklung des organisatorischen Aufbaues. Band III. Der Zweifrontenkrieg. Das Heer vom Beginn des Feldzuges gegen die Sowjetunion bis zum Kriegsende., E.S. Mittler & Sohn: Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 1969.

Scherzer, Veit: Deutsche Truppen im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Band 1: Formationsgeschichte des Heeres und des Ersatzheeres 1939 bis 1945. Teilband 1 A., Scherzers Militaer-Verlag: Ranis / Jena, Germany, 2007.

Lieb, Peter: Unternehmen Overlord: Die Invasion in der Normandie und die Befreiung Westeuropas, C.H. Beck: München, Germany, 2014.

Boog, Horst/Krebs, Gerhard/Vogel, Detlef: Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg 7: Das Deutsche Reich in der Defensive. Strategischer Luftkrieg in Europa, Krieg im Westen und in Ostasien 1943-1944/45. Bd. 7, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt: Stuttgart, Germany, 2001 (Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg 7).

Messenger, Charles: The D-Day Atlas: Anatomy of the Normandy Campaign, First paperback edition 2014, Thames & Hudson: London, UK, 2014.

Penrose, Jane (Hg.): The D-Day Companion: Leading Historians explore History’s Greatest Amphibious Assault, Paperback ed, Osprey: Oxford, UK, 2009.

#dday80 #omahabeach #352nd #normandy #ww2 #elite #trash

00:00 Intro
00:32 Unit History
00:58 Actual Strength
Heavy Weapons
02:55 Machine Guns
04:15 Small Arms
05:12 Comparison with the ID 44 & static defense division
06:50 Combat Effectiveness
07:02 Experienced or not?
09:40 German Rating
10:45 Not the whole division
11:01 Summary

[marjae]

A couple questions:
1. What are good sources for wartime estimates of combat effectiveness?
2. How do these German ratings compare with American WW1-era estimates of 1st-4th class German divisions, or WW2-era estimates of combat efficiency, or Dupuy-style Combat Effectiveness Value (as a force multiplier)?

[vladimpaler]

Well, they made Omaha a tough beach to crack, so they weren't a pushover.

[fereise]

Decent video but should have fully mentioned an element of 716th ID that defending Omaha Beach as well.

[edwardgranger]

Just stop doing these kinds of "elite or trash" headlines. It's clickbait BS, and not worthy of any remotely serious history channel. I may or may not watch this at some point, but this is a serious turnoff as far as the likelihood of me doing so goes. History almost always comes with caveats, gray area, reconsideration, etc. that make this kind of thing frankly look like a supermarket checkout version of whatever it is you think you're trying to address in some kind of nuanced way. We all know the extremes posed in the headline aren't sincere, so just stop doing it.