A Division in the Defense (Part III)
Combat Reports
The four regiments holding forward positions - two of which were organic to the 256th Infantry Division and two of which had been borrowed from other formations - were in better shape than the elements of the division reserve. Each retained substantial portions of their infantry gun and anti-tank companies, and each could also count on the services of at least half of the number of riflemen, machine gunners, and mortar men they were supposed to have.
The regiment on the middle of the sector, the 481st Grenadier Regiment, bore the strongest resemblance to an ideal unit of its type. That is, it consisted of three grenadier battalions, an infantry gun company, and an anti-tank gun company.
The infantry gun company of the 481st Grenadier Regiment possessed both of the heavy (150mm) infantry guns it was supposed to have, as well as all of the six light (75mm) infantry guns it rated. Indeed, it somehow managed to acquire a seventh light infantry gun.
The anti-tank gun company rated six heavy (75mm) anti-tank guns and six medium (50mm) anti-tank guns. Unfortunately, only two weapons of each type were on hand. Thus, the anti-tank company was forced to make do with a mix of weapons that consisted of two 75mm guns, two 50mm guns, two Soviet-built 45mm guns, and two obsolete light (37mm) guns.
Of the three organic grenadier battalions of the 481st Grenadier Regiment, the largest could muster 321 men and the smallest 173. Thus, the “rifle strength” of the regiment was less than a thousand men.
In order to increase the number of men defending the sector assigned to the 481st Grenadier Regiment, the division commander provided that unit with a fourth battalion. Borrowed from the 456th Grenadier Regiment, that battalion had an on-hand strength of 300 or so.
Source: Barbara Selz, Das Grüne Regiment. Der Weg der 256. Infanterie-Division aus der Sicht des Regiments 481 (Freiburg im Breisgau: Verlag Otto Kehrer, 1970)
Note: The letters next to the symbols for anti-tank and infantry guns describe the relative weight of the piece within its category. “S” stands for schwer (“heavy.”) “M” means mittlere (“medium.”) “Le” indicates “leicht” (“light.”)