The German Army Pamphlet 25a/16: The Assault Platoon of the Grenadier-Company is a key document on the tactical employment of the Sturmgewehr 44 (StG 44). It was originally published in November 1944 under the title Merkblatt 25a/16: Der Sturmzug der Grenadier-Kompanie.

This book will feature the German original text side by side to the English translation to give you the most authentic historic reproduction of this document. The translation itself is kept as close and accurate to the original as possible, both in content and format. At the same time, we will add additional remarks where necessary. This will make the book more readable in our time as especially the ‘military German’ from the 1940s can otherwise result in ambiguous explanations. With our annotations, we will bring this document into the 21^st Century.

Since the pamphlet itself references many different German army publications, we aim to include a fair number of them to provide further reading, context, and explanations. Additionally, we will add the predecessor pamphlet the Preliminary Pamphlet 25a/16: The M.P.-Platoon of the Grenadier-Company as well. For a full list and context see the What You Get section.

What you get

Included Documents

• The precursor of the Pamphlet, the Preliminary Pamphlet 25a/16: The M.P.-Platoon der Grenadier-Company from February 1944 titled Vorläufiges Merkblatt 25a/16 Der M.P.-Zug der Grenadier-Kompanie. This was the basis for the large-scale troop trial of the MP 43/1, one of the several names given to the Sturmgewehr StG 44.
• An excerpt from the German Army Regulation 130/2a: The Rifle Company titled H.Dv. 130/2a: Die Schützenkompanie detailing curated tactical formations with graphics. From the same regulation we also include various sample Battle Plans (Kampfplan).
• Documents detailing firing exercises for the StG 44 from the German Army Regulation 240/2 from December 1944. To our knowledge, this regulation was never completely published, and we double-checked this with an institution in Germany as well. During our research, we found three drafts in the German Military Archives in Freiburg. As such we took the latest draft dated December 1944 and transcribed it. Since two images are missing – they contain the handwritten remark that the original is located in Wünsdorf (a key location for the Wehrmacht in WW2), we want to commission an artist to recreate those two images as close to the original art style as possible.
• The referenced training exercises from the Pamphlet 25/3: Instructions for Close Combat and Hand Grenade Training from April 1944 titled Merkblatt 25/3: Anleitung für den Nahkampf und die Handgranatenausbildung.

Additional Content

You will also receive a legend for all the tactical symbols found in the 1944 Army Regulation. Since we encountered some inconsistencies and changes that might be either errors in the documents themselves (something late-war documents are known for), our legend will provide clarity. A legend for map symbols is included as well.

A well-referenced glossary will provide additional detail for the key terminology and data, e.g., size of a company, platoon, and additional illustrations.

Finally, there will be a short overview on the various predecessors of the Sturmgewehr 44. Since the naming changes have resulted in some confusion, this will provide further clarity. The book will also contain a short guide of the various weapons mentioned throughout the documents.

Risks and Challenges

The current status of the project is as follows:

• The German text of the documents is fully transcribed and the majority of the graphics are in their finalized state.
• The glossary, tactical and map symbols are close to finalization.
• The Sturmgewehr naming and weapon guide is work in progress.

Certain challenges present themselves which we want to share with you.

• This is our second major translation project. We have previously successfully translated and crowdfunded the German Army Regulation 470/7 - The Medium Tank Company from 1941. As such we know that there are certain challenges associated with this project. For example, some errors (for example in spelling) can creep into any piece of work. Likewise, the original formatting of the original will be kept, resulting in a handful of pages that look somewhat 'empty'.
• We are self-publishing. In our last project this worked very well. However, our book printer has recently changed their platform. While we have already received test prints with no problems, we hope that any further (admittedly unlikely) change will not happen at an inconvenient time such as the final stages of this project, as this could result in delays.
• Due to Covid-19 it is hard to tell if there will be major delays in shipping, production or other interruptions in the future. Since we use an international company for printing this should not be an issue since they print in several locations across the world. Yet, especially for the signed copies there could be major delays, since we are located in different countries (United Kingdom and Austria).
• This time there will be five photographs of original artwork involved for this project. For this we require a license and permission from the German Military Archives. It is unlikely that this will be a problem, but it should be mentioned as a potential risk if we cannot secure a license. In the worst case we would hire an artist for reproductions.
• During our last project (German Army Regulation 470/7 the Medium Tank Company from 1941) one of our supporting expert notified us that the terminology we used for the English translation would be likely confusing to current members of the US military, since the terminology had changed from the 1940ies. As such we adopted the terminology and added a short essay on the various differences. We will make sure to get at least one current military expert for proofreading the translation as well, yet, we can never be certain that every element is caught.
• Privacy notice: Your shipping addresses will be processed by the fulfilment center and/or printing company, indiegogo and us.

Team

Bernhard "MHV" Kast

Bernhard Kast better known on YouTube as Military History Visualized with 572 000 Subscribers and 71 Million Views. Bernhard has a M.A. in History and M.Sc. in Computer Science both from the University of Salzburg Austria.

Christoph "Military Aviation History" Bergs

Christoph Bergs better known on YouTube as Military Aviation History with 208 000 Subscribers and 30 Million Views. Christoph has a MA in History and Int. Relations from Dundee University. He is currently a PhD Candidate at King’s College London.

Supporting Experts

As with the previous project, we are looking to get support from experts (i.e. active/former military US infantry) for proof-reading and a German military historian for reviewing the glossary and overviews.