brummbar Posted March 1, 2002 Share Posted March 1, 2002 Hi everyone. I only acquired CM early this year, but I've been playing it ever since, and I find that one of the pleasures of playing on the German side is the vast range of varying infantry to choose from. However, I don't really know what some of them are meant to represent, and wondered if the experts could explain. First, the Volksturm and Volksgrenadiers. Judging from the game, the Volksturm seems to be a separate organisation, with the Volksgren. integrated into the regular army, and they are differently armed, but since they are both called 'Volks-' is there some connection? What were the differences, in concept, recruitment, use on the battlefield, and so on? And is there any connection with the 'Volksdeutsche' I recently read about - poorly trained men from Romania, Hungary and Alsace, some of them POWs, used as replacements late in the war? Second, the Sicherung squads. Are these meant to be from the Sicherheitdienst (SD)? - I don't think I had realised they were organised into regular army-like platoons, companies etc and used in frontline combat. Finally, the Sturmkompanie. Perhaps given the meaning of 'sturm' these men are supposed to be a unit from one of the fairly rare assault divisions? Or are they something else, and why can I only select a whole company rather than a platoon (or, going the other way, a battalion)? Well maybe all this has been dealt with already, in which case apologies, but I have usually found forum searches distinctly unhelpful. What is more, if I search this forum I can't read the white text of the results! I'm sure someone out there knows all the answers though, so thanks in advance for any clarification. And now I see that my questions are partially answered in a topic just down the list - there's a coincidence considering that I only registered today and that was in part specifically to ask these questions! - but that still leaves the Sicherung and Sturmkompanie one s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingfish Posted March 1, 2002 Share Posted March 1, 2002 Sturmkompanies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foreigner Posted March 1, 2002 Share Posted March 1, 2002 My knowledge of German is rudimentary, but I believe "Volk" (pronounced "Folk") is the word for "People, Nation" - from here "Volkswagen" is translated as "People's car", so every working German "voluntarily" had a part of their wages withheld to finance the construction of the plant to build what would eventually become the "Beetle" - dressed in military fatigues it is known to the CMBO crowd as "Kubelwagen". But I digress... AFAIK Volksturm were "home defence" forces that included men who under normal circumstances would not be considered "fighting material" - underage boys and overage men, people with substandard health. I am not sure if those included able-bodied men not sufficiently trained for regular army duty. I am fairly certain though, that those were hastily assembled and trained to much lower standards than regular army units. Still, they were able to make a strong enough impression in close quarter battles and ambushes. Volksgrenadiers, on the other hand, have always been regular army formations, although they might have had different TO&E. Maybe that was some kind of a honorary designation, or a part of the military tradition. While both of the above denote military units, Volksdeutsch is a generic name for all ethnic Germans living outside Germany. In particular, there was a sizable German community along the Volga in Russia (dating as far back as Catherine the Great - Empress of Russia, born Sophia, a German princess). Of course, when the war broke out, Stalin prompty whisked them away to Middle Asia... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted March 1, 2002 Share Posted March 1, 2002 The currently running thread "Troop quality question, German" has most of the info you need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SGT_Gold Posted March 2, 2002 Share Posted March 2, 2002 Originally posted by Foreigner: My knowledge of German is rudimentary, but I believe "Volk" (pronounced "Folk") Yes, your german is quite bad. Volk is pronounced just like it sounds. The 'W' in VW is pronounced 'vagon'. ked them away to Middle Asia... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted March 2, 2002 Share Posted March 2, 2002 The "V" is pronounced as an "f", the "W" is pronounced as a "v" hence Volkswagen in German is pronounced as we would say folks-vagen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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