When it was published the "Longest Day" by Avalon Hill was touted as a gamy setting new and better standards of research. Particularly it was said to portray a very accurate OB for the German units. If this is true one has to wonder about research in previous games.

There are much more errors in the reinforcement charts than in the initial set up. Some of these are persistent. It is a common belief that German army panzer divisions were authorized two tank battalions, on with 48 Panzer IV and one with 48 Panthers. The SS-Panzer divisions are supposed to have had 59 Panzer IV and 59 Panthers. In fact no such organization ever existed. During the summer 1944 the German panzer divisions, whether SS or Army, had an authorized organization of one panzer regiment with two tank battalions. The total number of tanks was 101 Panzer IV and 79 Panthers. Also it was usually the first battalion in the regiment that was equipped with Panthers (the only exception in Normandy is the 9th panzer division), not the second battalion as it is usually depicted in Longest Day.

6 June:

The 12 SS-Pz.Div. has the wrong number of tanks in its units. The I/25 battalion and I/26 are motorized, not on half tracks. The III/26 should be on half tracks though. The engineer battalion has only one company on half tracks, two companies are motorized. The PzJg battalion should be deleted, it was forming and only one company joined the division, in mid July. The towed 75 mm AT guns should be deleted. The assault gun battalion did not exist. The SP artillery battalino had 12 Wespe (10,5 cm SP howitzer), but also 6 Hummel (15 cm SP howitzer). The rocket artillery battalion was not motorized, only one battery joined the division in Normandy, on a bout 12 June, the remainder arrived after one month. The division had no replacement battalion in Normandy.

762 infantry regiment of 346. Inf.Div. did not exist. The I/857 battalion was actually the Ost battalion 630. Also the 857 infantry regiment should have a 3rd infantry battalion. The 858 infantry regiment had three battalions. The antitamk battalion had one company with fourteen 7,5 cm AT guns (SP) and one company with ten StuG III.

The bicycle battalions 505, 506 and 507 were never sent to Normandy and neither was the 205 tank battalion (it was actually sent to oppos US forces closing in on Paris, but that is far outside the map board used in Longest Day).

The 1 SS rocket artillery battalion did not exist. At most two companies of 654 antitank battalion ever fought in Normandy. Each company had an authorized strength of 14 Jagdpanthers, not 22. Altogether 25 Jagdpanthers fought in Normandy.

 

7 June:

Pz.Lehr division had no Jagdpanthers and no Jagdtigers (this vehicle had not yet entered production) The Panzer regiment had four companies with Panthers (companies 1-4) and four companies with Panzer IV (companies 5-8). The division had no Tigers, but the attached 316. Fkl. company had Tigers. The II. Artillery battalion was missing since it was in Germany to equip with SP howitzers. The AA battalion had 18 8,8 cm Flak guns, not 12.

The 265 infantry division only sent a Kampfgruppe to Normandy. It consisted of two infantry battalions, one artillery battalion and an engineer company. The rest of the division remained in the Lorient area. Thus it most of it never showed up on th emap covered by Longest Day.

Similarly the 275 infantry division only sent a Kampfgruppe to Normandy. It consisted of two infantry battalions, the Füsilier battalion, the engineer battalion and an artillery battalion. The rest of the division was sent to Normandy in mid July.

 

8 June:

The corps units of the II. Parachute Corps are largely wrong. The assault gun battalion and the motorized recon battalion (numbered 12) are correct. Engineer battalion Anger (actually Angers) is correct. The Ost battalion Huber was intended to be sent to Normandy but it had not arrived during June. The 439 Ost battalion should be placed near Isigny during set up. The rest either did not exist or were never sent to Normandy.

3rd Parachute division had no Flak battalion, but as a substitute the Flak battalion belonging to 2nd Parachute division was sent in mid June.

Among the corps units of XLVII Panzer Corps there are some errors. Artillery battalions 151, 861 and 934 were never sent to Normandy, rather they went to th eeastern front. The 217 SP artillery battalion was actually a tank unit, equipped with StuPz IV. Only 28 such vehicles were delivered to the battalion before the battle in Normandy was over. The first company of the battalion arrived at about 20 July. 657 AT battalion had several types of weapons, but the most common was 75 mm AT guns (towed), not 88 mm AT guns. Also the artillery battalions 1192, 1194 and 1198 were located near the Mediterranean coast and did certainly not arrive as early as 8 June in the Paris area. In fact they were not ordered to move to Normandy until 16 - 19 June. The 460 Artillery battalion had four 12,2 cm guns and eight 15,2 cm howitzers. THis battalion received orders to move to Normandy on 10 June.

Many units of the 17. SS-Pz.Gren.Div. did not arrive until later. The Flak battalion and the engineer battalion remained near Saumur to guard and improve crossings over the Loire river. The engineer battalion was sent to Normandy on 10 July, while the Flak battalion (except 1. Battery which remained near Saumur) had arrived at the end of June. The panzerjäger battalion had not received its JagdPz IV tank destroyers. These arrived in July and at the beginning of August the battalion moved towards Normandy. It was engaged in the Laval area on 5 August. One company of the battalion was equipped with twelve Marders and these were sent to Normandy withthe main part of the division. The III. battalion of the artillery regiment had twelve 15 cm howitzers and is missing in the reinforcement chart.

The 77. Infantry division is almost correct. The I./1050 battalion remained in St. Malo until mid June.

 

10 June:

Of course the number of tanks in the 2 Pz Div is wrong. Also the division had no StuG III, but it had 21 JagdPz IV. The I. Artillery battalion had twelve Wespe and six Hummel.

The 937 Artillery battalion should appear in the Paris are, while the 763 Artillery battalion should appear in the Biscay and the 1151 Artillery battalion should appear on the eastern map edge on this turn.

 

 

As you can understand there is a lot of work involved in this. Information on the errors pertaining to reinforcements after 10 June will be added later.