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Description

Backstory:

The Stosstruppen (English: assault/shock infantry, better known as Sturmtruppen) were a specialised type of infantry seen in almost all divisions the German Reich recruited after 1943. They were an updated version of those assault troops active during World War I, where they were successful in pushing back the Allies on several occasions. On the Western Front they were vital during the battles of Verdun and in lending assistance to the Ottoman Empire during the Arab revolt.

    The very first assault battalions were recruited from the assault engineers, called “pioneers” in the German Imperial Army, as they knew how to handle heavy weaponry like flamethrowers. The battle order for an assault battalion consisted of two pioneer platoons and a 37mm gun platoon, when captain Willy Rohr took command over an assault detachment, it had a machine gun and flamethrower platoon, the infantry support guns previously used were too burdensome and were dropped. Rohr’s tactics consisted of squad-sized Sturmtruppen supported by a number of heavy support weapons and field artillery, the infantry were armed with hand grenades and steel helmets. The captain’s tactics were tested for the first time in November 1915 in the Vosges Mountains near the Franco-German border.

                After the war several Freikorps had adopted the name Sturmabteilung, like Gerhard Rossbach’s Freiwilligen-Sturmabteilung Rossbach. It was also the name given to the NSDAP’s largest paramilitary, simply called the Sturmabteilung (English: Storm Detachment), specifically named this way to invoke the fear the WW1 shock troops commanded. It wouldn’t be until the German-Allied War, that started in 1943, the assault infantry would make a comeback. The Maginot Line had taught the Germans the Allies were very capable of building long- and short-term defences to keep the Reich at bay, it was only because of Guderian’s plan to push through the Ardennes and attack the weak French defences in that area the Germans were victorious. The Oberkommando des Heeres (English: Army High Command, abbreviated as OKH) realised they couldn’t risk forcing the armoured columns into the heavy Allied anti-tank artillery and so began the reinvention of the Stosstruppen.

    Already in 1938 a marine unit was formed by the Kriegsmarine called the Marinestosstruppkompanie (English: assault marine company). This company wasn’t necessarily intended for quick assaults, but was used to capture the military transit depot of the Westerplatte in Danzig, the Hel Peninsula and before that, during the Spanish Civil War, they blew up a radio station on Ibiza and occupied Memelland in Lithuania. The company became part of the 1. Marineinfanterie-Division in the same year as their founding and would become actual assault troops in 1943. The Marinestosstruppkompanie would become the inspiration for shock infantry units across the entire Wehrmacht. Their use of automatic weapons, grenades, man portable anti-tank weapons, infantry guns, mortars and camouflage smocks (camouflage vests) and parkas (vests for the winter) made them efficient at taking and holding enemy strongholds until the main force of infantry could come and reinforce the breach.

    The Heer converted the light infantry columns in each infantry regiment, normally tasked with supply duties in the rear and providing reinforcements, into assault columns. As each regiment had its own artillery and anti-tank companies, the assault columns could be reinforced with platoons of said companies. This meant that per infantry regiment two platoons of shock infantry were present, the reason for this organisation was due to the belief modern warfare would leave little room for heavy fortifications in the future, a belief that would turn out to be well founded.

    The Heer outfitted all of their assault infantry with submachine guns like the MP40 and a larger quantity of grenades than the regular infantryman. The early assault rifles being tested in the field were given to the assault columns for further testing, prototypes like the Maschinenkarabiner 42(W) and Maschinenkarabiner 42(H) were thoroughly tested in early 1943 and would influence the Sturmgewehr 44’s development. It was no surprise then the shock infantry were the first to use the assault rifles as their main weapon. Their kit also included modified bayonets, as the blades couldn’t be fitted onto the Stg 44, the Germans instead developed them further into combat knives capable of easily stabbing the enemy when an infantryman lost their assault rifle. Camouflage uniforms too were distributed amongst the shock infantry for testing, they were at all times the first to receive the latest updates to camouflage or uniform adjustments. It made the assault columns and general shock infantry the most modern and up-to-date branch of the army.

    The plan to fully mechanise the Wehrmacht dated back to 1940, however, when the war between the Western Allies and the Reich began, the plan was only completed for light and regular tank and armoured infantry divisions, not for the rest of the army. The assault infantry did accelerate the full mechanisation plan at least somewhat, because they were considered a worthy trial force to mechanise. They were given the standard Sd.Kfz.251/1 troop carrier in hopes assaults would be faster and more deadly to the enemy when needed, however, due to the real risk of a whole squad being taken out per anti-tank or artillery hit, the preferred tactic for the mechanised shock infantry was to dismount the vehicle before battle and use the half-track’s machine guns for mobile support.

    Perhaps the most successful battles involving assault troops were those fought against Soviet defences during Operation Sea Lion and the German-Soviet War, the former involved shock marines and the latter mainly involved the 78th Assault Division, a unit specially made for long and independent assaults into the USSR. The 78th was far from a regular infantry division, they were reinforced with a mortar battalion, assault gun battalion and anti-air battalion and were fully mechanised. Their role in the invasion of the USSR was one of quickly sieging cities and moving on, leaving consolidation to the infantry divisions. During the winter of 1952, when the war was slowing down and the Germans were digging in and reinforcing defensive positions, the decision was made to establish two more assault divisions like the 78th, these were the 90th and 103rd. These formations were the only ones where shock infantry, mechanised with the Sd.Kfz.256/22 infantry fighting vehicles at that, made up the largest concentration within a division. The concentration of heavy equipment, normally absent in an infantry division, like assault gun and mortar battalions, made them an expert battle order for city sieges, as proven by the battles of Stalingrad, Leningrad and Moscow.

    After the conclusion of the German-Soviet war, the assault infantry remained part of the standard battle order of an infantry division. The assault divisions were put in reserve with sporadic training to keep the members regular. It was believed that with such a vast empire created after their victories the Reich needed to keep potentially hostile cities under their thumb, and, if it were to happen, they needed specialists to siege a rebellious city, hence why the Sturm-Divisionen were not outright disbanded. In popular German culture, legendary actions supposedly performed by the stormtroopers were used as propaganda to exemplify how an Aryan must attack even when faced with overwhelming odds stacked against them in order to achieve victory for the race. The Sturmabteilung was charged with the after-army training of recruits and to keep veterans semi-active, the 78th, 90th and 103rd were thus, after the war, fittingly part of the SA-Wehrmannschaften, making them one of the few actual SA-Sturmmänner.

Uniforms:

The trousers were camouflaged and camouflaged reversable cloth covers were part of the kit from the beginning of 1943. Improvised uniforms included using the camouflaged tent, part of every soldier’s kit. In mid to late 1943 the assault infantry was equipped with camouflage smocks and helmet covers, drastically increasing the professional kit they were outfitted with. The camouflage used at this time was of the Splittermuster 41 variety. In 1944 the camouflage pattern was changed to Sumpfmuster 43. In 1945 the pattern changed again to Leibermuster 44, it was a camouflage in its experimental phase and had brighter colours than the previous patterns. For this reason it was rather disliked by the troops. In the 1950s the uniforms used by the Reich underwent radical changes. Rather than having a camouflaged smock, or trousers or helmet cover, the troops were issued with a fully camouflaged uniform and helmet cover, fully disguising the soldiers. A better pattern of Leibermuster, called the 50 was invented and applied to the new uniforms, its colours were darker and better adapt to European terrain. In the 70s the camouflage pattern again changed, this time reverting back to the Leibermuster 44 pattern with black, tan, brown and green colours to better suit the European woodland. Variants of this camouflage included an autumn and winter camouflage. In the 2000s the Reich improved the equipment of the standard soldier significantly with the introduction personal communication sets, knee pads, combat gloves and body armour and hiding the buttons with extra fabirc, the camouflage too was amended with dark brown replacing black in the Leibermuster pattern. Finally, in the 2010s, several uniform pieces on the arms were added and, finally, the camouflage Leibermuster 50 returned with the same woodland, autumn and winter colours used on the 45 pattern. In Africa, arid colours were used on each pattern, the colours hardly changing from their first use in 1942.

                The body armour introduced in 2000 was highly modifiable and allowed the soldier to attach ammunition, grenades and other utilities to it. Along with it, the newly made tactical helmet, called Stahlhelm M2000, was not produced from steel, but rather Kevlar. The material was found to be hard, resistant to heat and explosions and overall the most advanced to produce lightweight and easy to wear combat helmets. Coms sets were found to fit well with the helmet, making it the perfect tool to protect the modern German soldier in heavy combat.
Disclaimer: I do not support any of the views these people might have had, this is just for creative purposes and alt-history curiosity!

Credit to TheRanger1302 for the base uniform, base headgear and the male body, HeerSoldaten for the face masks, DanielRodri for the curved ammunition pouches, communication device on the plate carriers, and overalls for the tank crews.
The recolouring of insignia and the uniform as well as any changes to existing unifom parts were all done by me.

The specific tools used for this work are: www.deviantart.com/theranger13… and www.deviantart.com/theranger13…

Description

Backstory:

The Stosstruppen (English: assault/shock infantry, better known as Sturmtruppen) were a specialised type of infantry seen in almost all divisions the German Reich recruited after 1943. They were an updated version of those assault troops active during World War I, where they were successful in pushing back the Allies on several occasions. On the Western Front they were vital during the battles of Verdun and in lending assistance to the Ottoman Empire during the Arab revolt.

    The very first assault battalions were recruited from the assault engineers, called “pioneers” in the German Imperial Army, as they knew how to handle heavy weaponry like flamethrowers. The battle order for an assault battalion consisted of two pioneer platoons and a 37mm gun platoon, when captain Willy Rohr took command over an assault detachment, it had a machine gun and flamethrower platoon, the infantry support guns previously used were too burdensome and were dropped. Rohr’s tactics consisted of squad-sized Sturmtruppen supported by a number of heavy support weapons and field artillery, the infantry were armed with hand grenades and steel helmets. The captain’s tactics were tested for the first time in November 1915 in the Vosges Mountains near the Franco-German border.

                After the war several Freikorps had adopted the name Sturmabteilung, like Gerhard Rossbach’s Freiwilligen-Sturmabteilung Rossbach. It was also the name given to the NSDAP’s largest paramilitary, simply called the Sturmabteilung (English: Storm Detachment), specifically named this way to invoke the fear the WW1 shock troops commanded. It wouldn’t be until the German-Allied War, that started in 1943, the assault infantry would make a comeback. The Maginot Line had taught the Germans the Allies were very capable of building long- and short-term defences to keep the Reich at bay, it was only because of Guderian’s plan to push through the Ardennes and attack the weak French defences in that area the Germans were victorious. The Oberkommando des Heeres (English: Army High Command, abbreviated as OKH) realised they couldn’t risk forcing the armoured columns into the heavy Allied anti-tank artillery and so began the reinvention of the Stosstruppen.

    Already in 1938 a marine unit was formed by the Kriegsmarine called the Marinestosstruppkompanie (English: assault marine company). This company wasn’t necessarily intended for quick assaults, but was used to capture the military transit depot of the Westerplatte in Danzig, the Hel Peninsula and before that, during the Spanish Civil War, they blew up a radio station on Ibiza and occupied Memelland in Lithuania. The company became part of the 1. Marineinfanterie-Division in the same year as their founding and would become actual assault troops in 1943. The Marinestosstruppkompanie would become the inspiration for shock infantry units across the entire Wehrmacht. Their use of automatic weapons, grenades, man portable anti-tank weapons, infantry guns, mortars and camouflage smocks (camouflage vests) and parkas (vests for the winter) made them efficient at taking and holding enemy strongholds until the main force of infantry could come and reinforce the breach.

    The Heer converted the light infantry columns in each infantry regiment, normally tasked with supply duties in the rear and providing reinforcements, into assault columns. As each regiment had its own artillery and anti-tank companies, the assault columns could be reinforced with platoons of said companies. This meant that per infantry regiment two platoons of shock infantry were present, the reason for this organisation was due to the belief modern warfare would leave little room for heavy fortifications in the future, a belief that would turn out to be well founded.

    The Heer outfitted all of their assault infantry with submachine guns like the MP40 and a larger quantity of grenades than the regular infantryman. The early assault rifles being tested in the field were given to the assault columns for further testing, prototypes like the Maschinenkarabiner 42(W) and Maschinenkarabiner 42(H) were thoroughly tested in early 1943 and would influence the Sturmgewehr 44’s development. It was no surprise then the shock infantry were the first to use the assault rifles as their main weapon. Their kit also included modified bayonets, as the blades couldn’t be fitted onto the Stg 44, the Germans instead developed them further into combat knives capable of easily stabbing the enemy when an infantryman lost their assault rifle. Camouflage uniforms too were distributed amongst the shock infantry for testing, they were at all times the first to receive the latest updates to camouflage or uniform adjustments. It made the assault columns and general shock infantry the most modern and up-to-date branch of the army.

    The plan to fully mechanise the Wehrmacht dated back to 1940, however, when the war between the Western Allies and the Reich began, the plan was only completed for light and regular tank and armoured infantry divisions, not for the rest of the army. The assault infantry did accelerate the full mechanisation plan at least somewhat, because they were considered a worthy trial force to mechanise. They were given the standard Sd.Kfz.251/1 troop carrier in hopes assaults would be faster and more deadly to the enemy when needed, however, due to the real risk of a whole squad being taken out per anti-tank or artillery hit, the preferred tactic for the mechanised shock infantry was to dismount the vehicle before battle and use the half-track’s machine guns for mobile support.

    Perhaps the most successful battles involving assault troops were those fought against Soviet defences during Operation Sea Lion and the German-Soviet War, the former involved shock marines and the latter mainly involved the 78th Assault Division, a unit specially made for long and independent assaults into the USSR. The 78th was far from a regular infantry division, they were reinforced with a mortar battalion, assault gun battalion and anti-air battalion and were fully mechanised. Their role in the invasion of the USSR was one of quickly sieging cities and moving on, leaving consolidation to the infantry divisions. During the winter of 1952, when the war was slowing down and the Germans were digging in and reinforcing defensive positions, the decision was made to establish two more assault divisions like the 78th, these were the 90th and 103rd. These formations were the only ones where shock infantry, mechanised with the Sd.Kfz.256/22 infantry fighting vehicles at that, made up the largest concentration within a division. The concentration of heavy equipment, normally absent in an infantry division, like assault gun and mortar battalions, made them an expert battle order for city sieges, as proven by the battles of Stalingrad, Leningrad and Moscow.

    After the conclusion of the German-Soviet war, the assault infantry remained part of the standard battle order of an infantry division. The assault divisions were put in reserve with sporadic training to keep the members regular. It was believed that with such a vast empire created after their victories the Reich needed to keep potentially hostile cities under their thumb, and, if it were to happen, they needed specialists to siege a rebellious city, hence why the Sturm-Divisionen were not outright disbanded. In popular German culture, legendary actions supposedly performed by the stormtroopers were used as propaganda to exemplify how an Aryan must attack even when faced with overwhelming odds stacked against them in order to achieve victory for the race. The Sturmabteilung was charged with the after-army training of recruits and to keep veterans semi-active, the 78th, 90th and 103rd were thus, after the war, fittingly part of the SA-Wehrmannschaften, making them one of the few actual SA-Sturmmänner.

Uniforms:

The trousers were camouflaged and camouflaged reversable cloth covers were part of the kit from the beginning of 1943. Improvised uniforms included using the camouflaged tent, part of every soldier’s kit. In mid to late 1943 the assault infantry was equipped with camouflage smocks and helmet covers, drastically increasing the professional kit they were outfitted with. The camouflage used at this time was of the Splittermuster 41 variety. In 1944 the camouflage pattern was changed to Sumpfmuster 43. In 1945 the pattern changed again to Leibermuster 44, it was a camouflage in its experimental phase and had brighter colours than the previous patterns. For this reason it was rather disliked by the troops. In the 1950s the uniforms used by the Reich underwent radical changes. Rather than having a camouflaged smock, or trousers or helmet cover, the troops were issued with a fully camouflaged uniform and helmet cover, fully disguising the soldiers. A better pattern of Leibermuster, called the 50 was invented and applied to the new uniforms, its colours were darker and better adapt to European terrain. In the 70s the camouflage pattern again changed, this time reverting back to the Leibermuster 44 pattern with black, tan, brown and green colours to better suit the European woodland. Variants of this camouflage included an autumn and winter camouflage. In the 2000s the Reich improved the equipment of the standard soldier significantly with the introduction personal communication sets, knee pads, combat gloves and body armour and hiding the buttons with extra fabirc, the camouflage too was amended with dark brown replacing black in the Leibermuster pattern. Finally, in the 2010s, several uniform pieces on the arms were added and, finally, the camouflage Leibermuster 50 returned with the same woodland, autumn and winter colours used on the 45 pattern. In Africa, arid colours were used on each pattern, the colours hardly changing from their first use in 1942.

                The body armour introduced in 2000 was highly modifiable and allowed the soldier to attach ammunition, grenades and other utilities to it. Along with it, the newly made tactical helmet, called Stahlhelm M2000, was not produced from steel, but rather Kevlar. The material was found to be hard, resistant to heat and explosions and overall the most advanced to produce lightweight and easy to wear combat helmets. Coms sets were found to fit well with the helmet, making it the perfect tool to protect the modern German soldier in heavy combat.
Disclaimer: I do not support any of the views these people might have had, this is just for creative purposes and alt-history curiosity!

Credit to TheRanger1302 for the base uniform, base headgear and the male body, HeerSoldaten for the face masks, DanielRodri for the curved ammunition pouches, communication device on the plate carriers, and overalls for the tank crews.
The recolouring of insignia and the uniform as well as any changes to existing unifom parts were all done by me.

The specific tools used for this work are: www.deviantart.com/theranger13… and www.deviantart.com/theranger13…