Reply To: German Army lists

Unlike the Allied armed forces the german war establishment did not assign weapons to individuals but to platoons … all platoon small arms would be drawn from the same pool, the gun you drew you maintained but it was not yours it was the platoons.
Where did you got that from? The individual weapon (rifle / AR/pistol) was in the Soldbuch, just have a look in an original one. Or in Heeresdienstvorschriften.

The platoon had no Waffenmeister, that was the guy responsible for repairs and checking that nothing was lost.

I know that in English books some strange / funny / stupid ideas about Wehrmacht are circulating.
Pool weapons are AT ones, Mortars and MG. The things that ever stayed with the unit.

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No infanty platoon was issued an artillery piece or PAK. It could get one together with Crew as support for a mission but that weapon still belonged to the battery.
The German infantry officers Training included Pioneer, artillery, PAK and AA courses but the infantry OR had none. So a cannon would be wasted with a Company.
In BA the guns are not part of the infantry but “in the area”. Since few would buy a full 28 mm battery the single model is a compromise. Representing a battery in effect, in war it tokk a lot of grenades to hit a guy. 😉

But infantry fighting is 1/1 Ratio.

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The FG AR went mostly to Fallschirmjäger, but again: 7.500 only made. Less than 5.000 in front use, the rest in test and Training. (Hundreds in tests, strange)
And the Sturmgewehr? Luftwaffe got 4.320. Nothing like “elite” FJ got AR first.
281.860 made in 1944, most in second half. And in 124.616 in 1945.
But a quarter did not reach front units. Over 100.000 stayed with depot Units in Germany. All wanted the “super rifle” so all with some influence claimed one. Officers, Party members.
Even in the divisions many stayed with staff or support. Most officers entitled to a MP 40 changed. (The Sturmgewehr was on paper for the paper warriors a Maschinenpistole) And the MP 40 was handed back to regimental store, not just given to an OR. And from Regiment it went to home Depot.

Back to FJ Gruppe. Some 10.000 AR of the two types available to the front, depot and training units.
Not much for the enormous number of men serving under FJ Label.
And again, there was no: “Those who need it most get it” in Wehrmacht front units. Nobody gave his personal arm to another guy. The “owner” was responsible for it.