Festungs-MG-Batl. im Eifel (Fort Indiantown Gap, PA)

For our scenario, we portrayed displaced gun crews of 1./Festungs-Flak-Bataillon 823 in January of 1945.  Fortress troops were, for all intents and purposes, second rate when compared to their main-line counterparts.  They manned static defensive positions and were only meant for limited actions.  Fortress troops received standard German army training and utilized the same tactics as their field-grade counterparts, but had an advantage in their static situations as they would routinely reherse attacks on their fortifications.  They were often top-heavy with automatic weapons, infantry guns, mortars, and MP44s for the infantry elements.  Research and extrapolation suggests they received sub-prime, outdated, or reissued equipement and may have retained a larger portion of their issued items from earlier service.  The men in these units may have been a mix of green recruits, slightly older men, and men who have been around for awhile in various other roles.  Probably not the combat hardened veterans found in their front line counterparts, unless perhaps earlier injuries or other situations landed them here.

The unit began as Festungs-Machinegewehr-Bataillon 823 in Wehrkreis X (we usually represent troops from XI, but there were none of this type serving in the area of the Bulge...)  They were "super heavy" machine gun troops that used single and quad-barrelled 20mm cannons.  They were quickly redesignated Festungs-Fla-Batl 823 on 9.Nov.1944 and deployed to the Eifel region as fortress troops.  As the tide turned in Jan. of 45 they were absorbed into II./leichte Heeres-Flakartillerie-Brigade 502 to continue the fight.  It is the eve of this transition that we were portraying.