Wehrmacht Size 1.9.1939

[Matt L]

Hi guys,

As the Title suggests, I'm interested in finding out what exactly the size of the Wehrmacht- the Heer in particular- was at the commencement of hostilities on 1.9.1939 (searching with Google, etc. has been futile). I have found one bit of informaion that the size of the force that invaded Poland was:

26 Infanterie-Divisionen
6 Panzer-Divisionen
4 leichte-Divisionen
4 motorizierte-Divisionen

Is this correct? I'd actualy like to know exactly which units these were so I can more accurately estimate the number of men this represents, so if anyone could point me toward a website or something that details this, that would be great.

Of course knowing how much of the serving Wehrmact did not take part in the invasion would be necessary to get an idea of just how many men were available.

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Matt

[Chris Stewart]

Matt,

Not sure if this helps:

Liddell Hart in "History of the Second World War" notes that on mobilisation, Germany had a total of 98 divisions, of which 52 were active. The remaining 46 were mainly recruits/veterans, and only 10 were considered fit for action.

Of this 6 were armoured divisions, 4 were "light" mechanised divisions and 4 were motorised infantry.

I hope this helps some?