Good websites/books on divisions involved

[Mark_McLeod]

When ever i do a quick battle or make a mission i like to rename my units after historically accurate ones that actually fought in the battles. So my question is does anyone know of any good websites or books where i can read what division served where. i found a good one for Italy but i struggle to find more like it. here is the one i found for Italy http://www.custermen.com/ItalyWW2/ArmyOrg/GermanOrg.htm If anyone knows of any websites like that but for the battle of the bulge, Italy 1943 or just any other area that would fit other combat mission games that would be awesome. Thanks.

[JonS]

The following are all for the US Army, and with a predominantly NWE focus:

1. This is very very helpful: http://www.100thww2.org/  Among other things, click on "the Division", then drill down and down and down into the divisional TOEs, all the way down to platoon level. Obviously it is specific to 100th Div, but US Inf Divs were very cookie-cutter, so the information is equally valid for any of the others.
2. This is also super useful, although a bit spendy: http://www.librarything.com/work/1514854/book/77788117
3. Wikipedia is pretty good - it often has a detailed OrBat for divisions during WWII. For example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/29th_Infantry_Division_(United_States)#World_War_II
4. US Army Center for Military History has detailed OrBats for each of the divisions in Europe, including all off the atts and dets, including when they were att'd and det'd. But I can't seem to connect to the site at the moment (Edit: this is the website. Look for the "Organise by time periods", go to WWII and Europe, then look for the link to the Divisions. It's similar to the info in the link by @rocketman below, with the addition of atts and dets.)

 

Edited May 13, 2017 by JonS

[rocketman]

Check this one out as well: https://www.armydivs.com/

[Mark_McLeod]

these are awesome thanks. does anyone know of any good German ones now?

 

[JonS]

I haven't come across a really good, single source for the Germans. Partly it's the scale of the forces they had involved, and also the extravagant proliferation of confusion with which they organised their divisions - did you know, for example, that of the eleven panzer divisions sent to Normandy, exactly none of them were organised in the same way? The infantry divisions were even more confused and confusing.^

That said ...

1. Wikipedia is pretty good, especially for the more well known and 'sexy' formations
2. This set of books is good-ish, but it may be difficult to find copies
3. Drill in to this site to get some fairly basic info on each of the divisions.
4. Same deal with this one.
5. This site (which led directly to this book) used to be fantastic for the German divisions that participated in Normandy, but it was taken down some 5-10 years ago. If you're familiar with the WayBackMachine you should be able to extract the data though.

 

^ by contrast, the five British-pattern armoured divisions sent to Normandy were all identical (aside from equipment differences - different versions of the Sherman in different divisions, and especially differences in the use of the Cromwell), the ten British-pattern infantry divisions were all identical (aside from some minor B-vehicle differences between the UK and CDN divisions). The US divisions, on the other hand, were even more standardised than that (with the partial exception of 2nd and 3rd Armd Divs, which were themselves identical to each other). In other words; the Germans had more variation in just their panzer divisions than the Allies had across their entire portfolio of all types of division.

Edited May 13, 2017 by JonS

[Mark_McLeod]

Awesome Thanks man

[Sgt Joch]

this can be useful as well:

http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/007/7-8-1/index.html

[Pak40]

Osprey released  a nice Order of Battle series of books. Very good unit diagrams and detailed battle maps. However, I have noticed a few mistakes in a couple of the books, but overall they are a great resource for any battle designer.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=osprey+order+of+battle+ardennes&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aosprey+order+of+battle+ardennes