The steel fist

To give an idea of the tank inventories of the SS panzer divisions, in February 1943 the Leibstandarte had the following panzers in its order of battle: 12 Panzer IIs, 10 Panzer IIIs, 52 Panzer IVs, 9 Tiger Is and 9 command tanks. Five months later, just before the Battle of Kursk, the division could field 4 Panzer II, 13 Panzer IIIs, 67 Panzer IVs, 13 Tiger Is and 9 command tanks.

At the heart of the Waffen-SS divisions were their panzergrenadier regiments. These units were able to trace their lineage back to the original SS standarten, and they made great play of their Nazi heritage. They generally had honorific titles as well as numerical designations. For example, Das Reich had the Deutschland and Der Führer Regiments, Totenkopf had the Thule (later Totenkopf) and Theodor Eicke Regiments, and Wiking had the Germania, Nordland and Westland Regiments. The Leibstandarte, however, was unique in that all its sub-units included numerical designations and the title Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, abbreviated to LSSAH.

Heavy firepower

During the autumn of 1942, the panzergrenadier regiments had equipment lavished on them to turn them into self-contained armoured units in their own right. One panzergrenadier battalion in the division received armoured halftracks to allow it to go into action alongside the panzer regiment. The other battalions retained their soft-skinned transport, but also had 120mm mortars, 20mm flak guns, 75mm anti-tank guns and 150mm Bison light howitzers. These were mostly self-propelled on halftrack chassis. When fully up to strength, a Waffen-SS panzergrenadier regiment boasted some 3200 men in late 1942.

Heavy firepower was provided by the artillery regiment, which received self-propelled 105mm Wespe and 150mm Hummel howitzers, as well as wheeled versions of those guns.

Support elements

Supporting the "teeth regiments" of the division were anti-tank, reconnaissance, assault gun, anti-aircraft and combat engineer (pioneer) battalions. During late 1942, the Waffen-SS started to receive the StuG III Ausf F, which featured the powerful L/48 75mm cannon, to equip its assault gun battalions (each battalion had just over 30 StuG IIIs). These vehicles packed a powerful punch and had heavy armoured protection, and so were much in demand to support panzergrenadier operations. The anti-tank companies in the panzergrenadier regiments and the divisional anti-tank battalion, as well as the reconnaissance battalion, also used the Marder III anti-tank gun, which utilized an obsolete Czech 38(t) tank chassis and mounted the long-barrelled L/40 75mm or 76.2mm cannon. These bore the brunt of defensive anti-tank tasks, freeing the panzer regiment to take the lead in offensive action.

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