FIELD FORCES

Evening Star, Issue 25226, 13 July 1944, Page 5

FIELD FORCES

GERMAN ARMY DISPOSITIONS

MANY DIVISIONS BELOW STRENGTH

(Rec. 10.30 a.m.) RUGBY, July 12. Further details of German troop dispositions on the different fronts are announced in London. Among the 60 to 65 German divisions estimated to be in France, Belgium, and Holland, are nine armoured divisions known to be in Normandy. About half of all the German armoured divisions, including S.S. panzers, but not panzer grenadiers are estimated to be on fronts other than the Russian. Tho total number of such armoured divisions is thought to be about 30.

German claims to have a central strategic reserve are not believed. At most there are five divisions in Germany, and Austria, probably not _so many,'and they are not real field units. Of 50 divisions in Italy, the Balkans, and Hungary, 26 are on the Italian front, and 10 to 12 in Yugoslavia. Tfc is thought that there may now be eight in Finland. Of a total of at most. 180 to 185 German divisions in the east, a large number are at verv low strength. In addition, Rumania has about 20 on the Russian front and five at home, but • some of these are more like brigades. Hungary has 15 so-called divisions facing the Russians, and 15 more at home, but they are all more like brigades than divisions. Bulgaria has three divisions in Greece, seven in Yugoslavia, and 12 at home. These satellite _ troops are of varying quality and reliability. Moreover, it is significant that most German divisions now contain numbers of foreigners drafted into them. These facts lend weight to the theory that the German High Command has committed itself to a reckless gamble by weakening the Russian front in the hope of shattering the Allied .invasion in the west.