Normandie Defense / Juni 1944 (Newville, PA)

For the event we are portraying the members of Nr. 5 Kompanie, Gren. Regt. 915 / 352nd Infantry Division just after the D-Day landings.

The 352nd Inf. Div.was formed 5 November 1943 in St. Lô. Most of the officers assigned to this new division were combat veterans, some even fought at Stalingrad. It was most likely that the division would be deployed on the Eastern front, as a result the 352 would train to fight the Red Army, which meant learning to conduct successful operations while outgunned, outnumbered, & surrounded most of the time. The men which served in the 352 were just out of training camps. Most were boys (17-18 years old) and "volksdeutshe." The later are legally regarded as German citizens, although they spoke bad, little or no German at all (Polish corridor provinces & of Alsace-Lorraine). 

When the Division was ordered to occupy part of the coastal positions previously held by the 716th Div. (soon to be known as Omaha Beach), GR 915 was put in reserve along with the 352 Fusilier Batt. When they arrived in their new sector, they found the coastal defenses to be almost nonexistent.  So, the grenadiers in the 352 took part in the combined training & assigned duties. For example; the mornings were in most cases allotted for construction of defenses. In general this meant filling sandbags, digging trenches, and the like. But when wood was needed for any construction, tactical training was worked into these details. Soldiers were given a 30 km forced march in full gear & packs to the Bois de Bretel, cut the needed wood and load them on transports, then march back under the same combat conditions. The plan was to toughen the men up & prepare them for counter attack situations