German artillery formed the backbone of Wehrmacht fire support throughout the Second World War, remaining the primary cause of battlefield casualties despite the popular focus on Panzers and aircraft. At the outbreak of hostilities each Infanterie-Division fielded an Artillerie-Regiment consisting of three leichte Abteilungen equipped with the 10,5 cm leFH 18 light field howitzer and one schwere Abteilung armed with the 15 cm sFH 18 heavy field howitzer, for a total of thirty-six light and twelve heavy pieces. These guns, horse-drawn in most formations, provided the continuous barrage needed to break enemy resistance during the Polish campaign of 1939 and the rapid advances through France in 1940. On the Eastern Front from 1941 onward the same Artillerie-Regimenter faced immense challenges of distance, mud and extreme cold; batteries under the command of an Oberst or Oberstleutnant were frequently attached to individual Infanterie-Regimenter for close support, while Heeresartillerie units of the general headquarters pool reinforced critical sectors with additional 10 cm Kanone 18 and 21 cm Mörser 18 batteries. During the defensive battles around Voronezh in 1942 and the subsequent retreat to the Dnjepr, General der Artillerie Ernst-Eberhard Hell, commanding the VII. Armee-Korps, concentrated the fire of several Artillerie-Abteilungen to destroy nearly one thousand Soviet tanks and break through successive encirclements. In Normandy in 1944 Heeresküstenartillerie-Regimenter such as the 1261 under Oberst Gerhard Treipel and independent Abteilungen under Majore employed a mixture of German leFH 18, captured French and Soviet pieces to shell the invasion beaches for days after D-Day. Although outranged by certain Soviet guns and increasingly short of ammunition and prime movers, the crews of the Artillerie-Regimenter continued to deliver devastating concentrations until the final collapse in 1945, demonstrating the enduring tactical importance of well-directed field howitzer fire in both offensive Blitzkrieg and prolonged defensive warfare.
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General der Artillerie Siegfried Thomaschki (1894-1967) was born on 20 March 1894 in Miswalde, East Prussia, as the third child of Protestant pastor Paul Thomaschki and Elisabeth née Schucht. After graduating from the Collegium Fridericianum he entered the Imperial German Army on 4 March 1913 as Fahnenjunker in the 2. Ostpreußisches Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 52, was commissioned Leutnant in 1914 and served throughout the First World War as battery officer and adjutant, earning the Iron Cross Second and First Class while being wounded three times. Remaining in the Reichswehr he advanced through artillery staff and command posts, becoming Oberst and commander of Artillerie-Regiment 3 by 1939. He led the regiment in the Polish and French campaigns, then as Artillerie-Kommandeur 123 on the northern sector of the Eastern Front, receiving the German Cross in Gold. On 26 January 1942 he assumed command of the 11. Infanterie-Division, being promoted Generalmajor on 1 March 1942. Under his leadership the division stubbornly defended the Kirishi bridgehead on the east bank of the Volkhov River, a narrow foothold only four kilometres wide and two kilometres deep, against 154 Soviet assaults between 5 June and 5 September 1942; this epic defence, later nicknamed the “Verdun of the North,” earned him the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 1 November 1942. Further masterful defensive fighting around Sinyavino in July–August 1942, during which the division was again mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht, led to the award of the Eichenlaub on 11 September 1943 while he was Generalleutnant and still commander of the 11. Infanterie-Division. He subsequently served as Höherer Artillerie-Kommandeur 303, briefly commanded Kampfgruppe Thomaschki, and from December 1944 led the X. Armeekorps in the Courland Pocket, rising to General der Artillerie on 1 March 1945. He surrendered to Soviet forces on 8 May 1945, was convicted as a war criminal and held until 1955. Thomaschki died on 31 May 1967 in Bad Neuenahr.
Source :
https://www.junobeach.org/canada-in-wwii/articles/artillery/german-artillery/
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