The German Field Army groups had no fixed organization. During the first two years of World War II, there were five army groups: two (Nord and Sud) for the Polish campaign, and three more (A-B-C) for the Western campaigns. Each Army Group (Heeresgruppe) was composed of two or three armies with perhaps 400,000 men. There were 14 armies, each Army (Armee) was composed of three or four corps with about 200,000 men, and, from June 1940, two reinforced Armored Corps, called Panzergruppe or Armored Groups (von Kleist and Guderian) each one controlling three motorized corps. Altogether, there were 33 corps (1-13,17,21,23-30,38,40,42-4,46-9), each Corps (Korps) with two to five infantry divisions and perhaps 60,000 men; and seven motorized corps, each Motorized Corps (Korps(mot)) with two or three armored and motorized divisions, and one (XV) with three light divisions. One cavalry division and the four mountain divisions came directly under the control of their respective armies.
During the Blitzkrieg period 143 infantry divisions were formed, their quality depending on the "Wave" (Welle), to which they belonged. In addition to the 35 well-established peacetime 1st Wave divisions (1-46 series), there were divisions of elderly veterans or untrained reservists or recruits hastily assembled from occupied Poland and Czechoslovakia, as well as the nine Replacement Divisions (Ersatzdivisionen) of the 10th Wave (270-280 series). Each infantry division (Infanteriedivision) of 16,977 men was made up of three infantry regiments plus divisional support units: one four-battalion artillery regiment; a reconnaissance battalion, with mounted, bicycle and support squadrons; an anti-tank battalion; an engineer battalion; a signals battalion; and divisional services – up to ten motorized and horse-drawn transport columns; a medical company, a motorized field hospital and veterinary company; a Military Police Troop and a Field Post Office.
An infantry regiment with 3,049 men (Infanterieregiment) had three infantry battalions, a 180-strong infantry gun company and a 170-strong anti-tank company. A battalion (Bataillon) of 860 men had three rifle companies and a 190-strong machine gun (actually a support) company. A 201-strong rifle company (Schutzenkompanie) had three rifle platoons, and each 50-strong rifle platoon (Schutzenzug) was composed of a platoon staff, a light-grenade-launcher team and four rifle sections, each section (Schutzengruppe) having ten men.
