- For the Steel Division: Normandy 44 unit see SD:Pz.Grenadier
Pz.Grenadier is a German Infantry unit in Steel Division II.
Background[ | ]
Coming into existence in 1942, after changes to motorized and Panzer divisions, the Panzer-Grenadier as a mixed infantry/motorized unit was born. By the time of the Operation Bragation there was no doubt these units, which were in either Pz. or PzG. divisions, were some of the best equipped and trained men that the Wehrmacht had at its disposal. Due to infantry losses, motorized Panzergrenadier squad was reduced to 12 while the armored Panzergrenadier squad was reduced to 10. Panzer and Panzergrenadier Divisions has two Panzergrenadier regiments.
21. Panzer had two battalions mounted in U304(f). With the other two battalions were mounted in French trucks. Panzer-Lehr has all of their Panzergrenadier Battalions equipped with Sd.Kfz. 251/1. All of the other Panzer Division has a one battalion mounted in Sd.Kfz. 251/1 while other three battalion are motorized.
Gruppe Harteneck had elements of 4. Panzer Division attached.
25. Panzergrenadier had two regiments 35th and 119th Panzergrenadier regiment both which were motorized. 20. Panzergrenadier has two Panzergrenadier Regiments Panzergrenadier Regiment 76 and Panzergrenadier Regiment 90 which were motorized
Elements of the 20. Panzer Kampfgruppe Brausch served with 1 Blindata "România Mare".
17. SS-Panzergrenadier had two Panzergrenadier Regiments with three battalions. One of the shortages that 17. SS-Panzergrenadier had was a lack of Panzerfaust during the D-Day the division did not have any only getting some during the Normandy Campaign. Another issue was a lack of transportation. The first two battalions Panzergrendier Regiments were motorized while the third battalion of 17. SS-Panzergrenadier's Panzergrendier Regiments were mounted on bicycles.
Sperrverband Kessel commanded Kampfgruppe Gradl and Eder which were remains of 13. Panzer and 10. Panzergrenadier.
Available Transports[ | ]
| 5. Panzer | 16. Panzer | 20. Panzer | 21. Panzer | 116. Panzer | Sperrverband Kessel | Panzer-Lehr | Gruppe Harteneck | 25. Panzergrenadier | 1 Blindata "România Mare" | 20. Panzergrenadier | 17. SS-Panzergrenadier (SD2) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kfz. 70 | 300 | 300 | 250 | 100 | 300 | 90 | 300 | |||||
| Opel Blitz | 80 | 80 | 50 | 30 | 40 | 300 | 4 | 120 | 80 | 80 | 50 | |
| Sd.Kfz. 10 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 12 | 12 | 20 | 8 | 25 | ||||
| Sd.Kfz. 11 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 6 | |||||
| Sd.Kfz. 251/1 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 10 | 75 | 30 | 250 | 9 | 12 | |||
| Sd.Kfz. 7 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 8 | 12 | 40 | ||||||
| ZiS-5V (Ger) | 30 | 30 | ||||||||||
| DMA | 20 | 200 | ||||||||||
| Laffly S-35T | 32 | |||||||||||
| U304(f) | 150 | |||||||||||
| RSO | 12 |
Strategy[ | ]
Panzer Grenadiers are the primary German infantry unit. If you picked a German non infantry Division, you probably have these, so you better get used to them.
First off, the unit’s usefulness comes in the two MG-42 light machine guns. There are a few things to note about them:
- These have excellent suppression and firepower, thanks to their amazing rate of fire.
- the aforementioned rate of fire means they need tons of ammo, so unlike, say a Gvardia (DP) you cannot really put these guys into a building and keep them there, as sooner or later, you will need to find some sort of way to deliver them ammo, preferably without having the truck with said ammo blown up in the process.
- they are light machine guns, meaning they do not fire at distances less than one hundred meters, leaving you with… a single MP-40 and seven Kar-98Ks… yeah.
what is the main takeaway from this?
you want these guys to fight at more than one hundred meters. Their dominance is most noticeable at 500+ since it’s then a machine gun only fight, but keep in mind that the sheer volume of fire the 42s put out are enough to pull you through a lot of engagements. Even allowing (to an extent) to fight at a cover disadvantage by pinning the enemy down.
Your enemy however, likely knows this, and will as a result try to do one of the following:
- use fire support, especially armor and artillery, though support guns are also something to be wary of. all of these are a surefire way to scare your panzergrenadiers away, so keeping track of the armor situation, and most importantly, denying the enemy the advantage in that manner means you can futher deepen your fire superiority
- Use numbers against you. Two MG-42s will win against two DP-28s for sure, but not so much against six. Luckily your own fire support, or good allocation of forces usually, if you use your brain enough allow you to keep that advantage down to a level where this equation is true:
Yd x Yn > Ed x En
Yd: Your Dakka
Yn: Your Numbers
Ed, En: Enemy DItto
on a serious note, don’t be scared of a slight numerical advantage. The reason German infantry has this much firepower, is the expectancy of higher numbers, and the attempt to mitigate them by using overwhelming firepower. Just remember. Manually target units with your pgrens so they don’t change targets constantly, resulting in everyone getting a little stressed, but none being full on pinned, and just try to get them scared out of fighting one by one by the sheer rain of bullets.
Do keep in mind, since as stated before, your rain of bullets does not count at below 100 meters, you are going to have to find a way to advance where your infantry can still have some sort of cover, but are not cramped in tight towns.
AVOID HEAVY FOREST. Sending Pzgrens to a heavy forest, unless you already took it and want to deny the enemy’s approach by some on-the-forest’s-edge dakka, is a straight up waste of points. Use whatever CQC troops your division has. Which, since you play the Germans is probably not a lot, this means you have to be extra careful when picking fights. Allow your Pzgrens to do the work, and do not get dragged into a fight on the enemy’s terms.