Scenario

We will be portraying the Nr. 5 Kompanie, Gren. Regt. 915 / 352nd Infanterie Division in Normandie prior to the Allied Invasion.

The 352nd was formed in St. Lo, Normandy, on December 5th 1943.  The division was built around the surviving elements of the 321st Infantrie Division (which had been destroyed at Kursk), the 268th Infanterie Division, and Grenadier Regiment 546 (which were mostly survivors from the fighting in Stalingrad). Along with the above, other recovering veterans from all theaters of the war who were in rest camps in France were assigned to the 352nd.  It was these men that formed the base of the division.  The Grenadier Regiments under its command included GR 914, 915, and 916.

Most of the recruits were born in the years 1925 and 1926 (from the Niedersachsen area). Many were also "volksdeutshe," which are legally regarded as German citizens, although they spoke bad, little or no German at all (Polish corridor provinces & of Alsace-Lorraine). Considerable problems were experienced when training them, mostly due to shortage of supplies. Lack of ammunition meant that before March, the soldiers were only given three opportunities to fire their weapons live. Artillery units had no sights for their guns as well as no harnesses for the horses to transport them.  Most transportation of supplies was done by horse drawn wagons.  Training eventually did proceed better, but was hampered by the time spent on construction of coastal fortifications. On average a soldier spent nine hours on such work each day, while training only accounted for three hours.

Since most of the officers were combat experienced veterans, their knowledge of actual combat experience was passed down to the new men during the training.  Initially, it was believed that the division would be deployed on the Eastern Front, so training was geared to prepare for this. In other words, the division would be trained to fight outnumbered, out gunned, surrounded for most of the time and never to surrender. However, as early as January 1944, the division was assigned the security of the St. Lo sector which was to include a part of the Normandy Coast.  It is this time we will be portraying.

Some things we are looking to do is based on a basic German one day camp set-up in the hedgerows of Normandie (tree line on the farm). We are a detachment of the GR 915 on training maneuvers for the weekend.  We will be "ruffing it" so to speak for troops on occupation duty.  

We will be camping off site at another location on Friday night. Saturday morning we will depart on a 16 km (10 mile) march to the event site.  Those with period European bicycles are allowed to ride them, those without will be on foot.  This will be in full gear!  It was a great success last year with everyone at the event stopping what they were doing to watch us march in.  If you can buy, borrow, or steal a period bike, this is the weekend to have it.  We will not rush the march like last year.  We will take our time to allow all to really take in this aspect of the impression.

When we arrive at the Living History site, we are planning a mail call, equipment display (laid out so as not to look like a modern set-up), lots of training, period German rations, etc... This is a good time to do laundry in the field and mend those worn out items.  All there activities will of course be based on public interaction & education. Some of us are planning on bringing our German army bicycles as well, so if you have one bring it!  This is a good site to ride.