Panzerfaust has also provided his notes on the organization and equipment of the Kurstenjager (Coastal Raiders) of the Division Brandenburg I have included the platoon organization tables at the end of the page to give a "base unit" which can be built up to suit any particular scenario. Any errors on those tables are mine, not Panzerfaust's.

 

German WWII Kurstenjager (1943-1945)

Table of Organization & Equipment:

By Panzerfaust

The Coastal Ranger is just a unique option for anyone who wants to role play a German special forces unit circa 1943-45.This unit was part of the elite Brandenburgers who themselves provide a lot of specialist options.

The Rangers were formed by the Heer in December of 42 after the Kriegsmarine under Raeder refused the mission.A company was formed from the ranks of the Heer Wasserpionieren (water engineers).Using Italian experience and methods the Germans started building an aquatic special operations group of commandos/marines,frogmen,and explosive attack boats. By late 1943 a composite battalion had been formed.

The unit was deployed mainly in the Med and Black sea.And enjoyed some spectacular successes leading many to believe that had they and their navy counterparts been formed before the war or early in it they might have tipped the blance to Germany's favor hands down.

A sailboat raid in Tunis,attacking soviet shipping,and destroying bridges earned these men fearsome reputations but the most telling instance was in the capture of the Aegean islands of Kos and Leros that had been surrendered by their former Italian allies. Spearheading the assaults to take these islands the rangers were forced to come ashore against a ready and numerically superior enemy,due to broken codes.Even so they fought to and won their objectives and the islands fell, prolonging the war and keeping Turkey neutral.

Little standard applies to these units although their training was relatively normal in most regards.Only specialist training at sites like La Spezia and Agra island were unique over standard Brandenburger procedures.Weaponry varied with very little emphasis on heavy weapons as these troops were raiders and scouts.

A typical mission might have been:

19 men,1 officer in 2-3 boats with the mission of scouting a coastline or capturing a prisoner or two.Weapons would range from pistols and MPs to a handful of captured allied weapons such as Enfields or Brens. Later weapons like the Panzerfaust were issued on a limited basis .Assault detachments had a wide range of demolition gear available as well as access to heavier weapons such as MG42s or mortars.(note the units always had at least one MG34 or 42 handy).

In World War 2 nearly a million experienced german troops were wasted protecting the Reich's coastline from allied threats such as the Commandos and not available at key battles like Kursk or D-Day.Later in the war less than 100 German frogmen alone tied up several thousand allied troops in protecting bridges and waterways.This type of warfare in WW2 gets glossed over for the more dramatic Blitzs but was crucial to the war efforts of both sides. And its fun to run as a scenario instead of the standard SEAL team rescuing POWs in Vietnam or SAS clearing terrorists out of an Embassy.

 

Kurstenjager Team	#	Weapon FP Value	Total FP Value	Morale Grade
				Elite
Team Commander (MP44)	1	2	2
Raiders (MP44)	18	2	36
Machinegunner (MG 42)	1	13	13
Total	20		51