Panzer-Division Clausewitz

Panzer-Division Clausewitz With Scott McCorley Evening All welcome to the last panzer division “Clausewitz”, it this article well look at the history as well as three formations and there uses which will include a force based of the three Clausewitz formations that you can choose from and tailor them for each battle stance of Attack, Manoeuvre and Defend  First up a little context a brief history of the unit. Panzer division Clausewitz was named after the German military philosopher Carl von Clausewitz who wrote about the nature of war and its context on the military, one of his most famous quotes is “war is just politics by different means”.

Panzer division Clausewitz was named after the German military philosopher Carl von Clausewitz who wrote about the nature of war and its context on the military, one of his most famous quotes is “war is just politics by different means”. The division itself was formed in central Germany area at the beginning of April 1945 under the command of Generalleutnant Martin Unrein, from the 233rd Panzergrenadier Division and also drawing Panzergrenadier troops from the 233rd Reserve Panzer Division and vehicles from the Panzer training school at Putlos. Other elements came from the reserve brigade of the Großdeutschland division, the including the remnants of the Holstein panzer division, and Panzerkorps Feldherrnhalle. It also consisted of conscripted outdoorsmen and tram workers from the Brandenburg area, and units drawn from Army Group Blumentritt. The general quality of the troops was high, as most of the infantry were front-line veterans who had been posted to reserve divisions due to recovering from injuries. The tank crews were mostly composed of instructors from the officer training schools.

They were however heavily deficient in equipment as only around 20% of the assigned vehicles were available and much of their equipment they possessed was often outdated which included the state of several tanks like the Panzer IIIs or Panzer IVs which were in a bad state of repair.

Some Individual units were equipped with a variety of different vehicles, making maintenance difficult, it also didn’t help that ammunition was also in short supply. In some case there was no artillery pieces, very little signals equipment, and no supply troops.

The Division first saw action in the Northern part of the Eastern front in which it was attempting a local counterattack against the Soviets in Pomerania, however this was repulsed with heavy losses. The unit was then sent to fight British armoured units before being assigned to the German XXXIX Corps.

The division as part of XXXIX Corps was ordered to push south to cut the supply lines of the leading American divisions, which had now reached as far as the Elbe river, and attempt to link up with the 11th SS Panzer Army, which was fighting in the Harz mountains.

Most of the strength of the division was expended in this push, and by the 20th April it had split into small disorganized groups. On the 24th, the divisional commander was captured by American troops. On 28 April, Clausewitz, having by this point been reformed as an Infantry division with railway workers and Hitlerjugend, along with the elements from the divisions Scharnhorst and Theodor Körner, was ordered to attack from the south-west toward the direction of Berlin, as part of Wenck's XX Corps.

They covered a distance of about 24 km (15 mi), before being halted at the tip of Lake Schwielow, south-west of Potsdam and still 32 km (20 mi) from Berlin. So that concludes the history lesson...

Onto the cool stuff the formations as is said before it will be three formations so first up our attack formation.

So this is a very elite force, however it can take full advantage of the night fight rules as the unit has the ability to be scary in the form of 7 panthers who with the use of some scary recon elements can threaten objectives from the get go and when required can unleash the hurt upon unsuspecting foes. Even our infantry in this formation can take advantage of this and can hold an objective or assault one from the cover of darkness. The added use of cheap mobile arty that can perform dual roles is also an advantage as you can use them to plug gaps or better to dig out infantry/ pin them for your panzerstrum unit to assault.

Our Manoeuvre formation.

Now this is quite a beefy formation as it has 12units which the majority are 4+ to hit. It also has 3 templates to lay down hence the OP who can help coordinate fire support. The 40pts of reserves is the stug formation but this still leaves plenty on the table to make an effective defend/attack force with plenty of recon to outmanoeuvre an opponent as well as make them think about unit placement as those three templates can start to make an infantry force hurt with the repeat bombardment and when you finally have everything on the board can make a large push for the objectives.

Our defend formation.

So first up we have 3 tiger 2’s for reserves, and when these big cats show up it will definitely be worth saying here comes the cavalry, as your primary formation will have to hold out till they arrive. With two infantry platoons it enables you to cover objectives and defend them especial with the 7.5cm in ambush as these will make sure to scare your opponent as side shots of these bad boys will make sure to scare things like jumbo Sherman’s and IS2’s. Cheap 12cm mortars help to pin infantry. Last but not least some recon for couther spearhead. So that’s our three formations and some brief history on the last panzer division Clausewitz. These formations are just ones I’ve created but feel free to create your own and have some fun.

Good hunting to all you out there. ~ Scott McCorley (Forewarned Forearmed)