32258P SCHEUCH GERMAN CREW

Germany (first as the Weimar Republic, and later as the Third Reich), although it was one of the largest economies in interwar Europe, did not have a stunning degree of motorization in its society. The famous project of a people's car (German: Volkswagen) started shortly before the outbreak of World War II and in fact - for civilian purposes - began to function only after 1945. The German industry as a whole was also clearly inferior to its American competitor in terms of efficiency or the production techniques used. One should also remember about the necessity to import significant amounts of crude oil by the then Germany. All this, of course, influenced the degree of motorization of the Wehrmacht. On the one hand, it had fully mechanized and motorized armored and light divisions. Also, several types of support units in infantry divisions (especially artillery and communications) were fully or mostly motorized, but horse traction was still the main means of transport for supplies in the Wehrmacht. Moreover, despite attempts to unify the German car fleet and introduce successful trucks (eg Opel Blitz) and off-road vehicles (eg Schiwamwagen or Kübelwagen), the number of types of cars used in the Wehrmacht was significant. Of course, it influenced the pace of repairs, transport, etc. Contrary to popular beliefs, it is difficult to call the entire Wehrmacht during World War II a fully motorized or mechanized army. In this field, it clearly gave way to the British Army and the US Army.As in many other armies from the period of World War II, the role of field workshops in the German army and the possibility of restoring damaged or broken vehicles to service was considerable. At the level of the infantry division in 1939, this role was played by the unit supply consisting of 9 columns of trucks, a workshop company and a motorized supply company. In the armored division (post from 1939), this role was played by a quartermaster battalion consisting of 6 light supply columns, two field workshops and a quartermaster company. Due to the large variety of machinery (off-road vehicles, trucks, tracked vehicles, etc.) that existed in the Wehrmacht, these subunits were very important to ensure the efficient operation of an infantry division or an armored division. It is also worth adding that the workshop units in the German army were mostly motorized or mechanized, and also - in mechanized units - had quite specialized equipment, such as tanks of technical facilities (German: Bergepanzer).