Doppleganger said:
Großdeutschland (GD) was one of the finest German formations of WW2. Along with the premier Waffen-SS formations and other 'elite' formations like 1st, 2nd and 7th Panzer Divisions, GD was often used as a spearhead or as a fire brigade on the Eastern Front. For example, it was GD that Manstein used along with the II SS Panzer Korps to recapture Khar'kov in 1943. As a result of this, it sustained very heavy casualties at times, but I'm not sure whether it had whole regiments wiped out through irrecoverable losses (MIA and KIA). Certainly though, regiments were wiped out (more than a few times) due to wounded and some MIA/KIA.
I can quite believe that regiment-sized formations were wiped out during the Battle of Stalingrad though. BTW, and sorry for being such a stickler, it is Paulus and not von Paulus.
The discussion of particularly WWI or WWII losses and replacements is an important one. I want to raise a couple of points. First a primer, however: (I use the WWII German Army as an example)
Quick List of Military Formations: (reverse order with English equivalent)
Lower:
a. Trupp, Gruppe or Section (10-20) [composed of several men]
b. Zug or Platoon (30-40 men) [composed of several Sections]
c. Kompanie or Company (100-200 men) [composed of several Platoons].
d. Bataillon or Battalion (500-1000) [composed of several Companies].
e. Regiment (2000-6000 men) [composed of several Battalions].
f. Brigade (5000-7000 men) [composed of several Battalions].*
*normally attached independently to Corps or Army HQ, although not the case in later years.
Upper:
g. Division (10-20 thousand men) [1-4 Regiments or several Brigades].
h. Korps or Corps (40,000 or more men) [2 Divisions and higher]
i. Armee or Army (60,000 or more men) [1 Corps and higher]
j. Armeegruppe or Army Group (60,000 or more men) [Multiple Corps, etc]
k. Heeresgruppe or Army Group (Large) [Multiple Armies]
http://www.feldgrau.com/org.html
(1) The separation into lower and upper is important. A Division represented the first formation that contained all of the things necessary for fighting purposes. This does not just include artillery, flak, or the weapons and fighting men themselves. A division also included other things of extreme importance...like cooks, doctors, engineers, truck drivers, mechanics, general staff officers, quartermasters, etc. "Good food", a friend of mine and retired officer of the British Army once said, "is the most important requirement". For these reasons, a division was not just a bunch of guys with guns or dudes in tanks. The actual number of men directly involved in the fighting was (unless we are talking about the Soviets) surprisingly low.
Here is the breakdown of the 12th SS (22,000 men in total)
25.SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment Hitlerjugend (mechanized infantry)
26.SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment Hitlerjugend (mechanized infantry)
12.SS-Panzer-Regiment (armour)
12.SS-Artillerie-Regiment (artillery)
12.SS-Kradschutzen-Regiment (reece)
12.SS-Aufklarung-Abteilung (reece)
12.SS-Kradschutzen-Regiment (reece)
12.SS-Panzerjäger-Abteilung (anti-tank)
12.SS-Werfer-Abteilung (artillery)
12.SS-Flak-Abteilung (flak)
12.SS-Pioneer-Abteilung (engineer)
12.SS-Panzer-Nachrichten-Abteilung (signals)
12th SS Divisional Support Units
It is interesting to note that this armoured division only included one tank and two mechanized infantry regiments. In WWII, for obvious reasons, these types of regiments took the highest losses when in extreme battle conditions. When historians write that the the 12th SS was bled white at the Falaise Gap (1944), they are generally referring to these regiments. Therefore, the fighting strength of a division could "disappear" even though the bulk of the men involved survived and retreated. Replacements then fleshed out the core fighting regiments and the division reappeared. [The regular Wehrmacht had an excellent replacement system developed on regional structures or "Wehrkreise"].
It should be borne in mind that regular losses were part and parcel of the war. If a German company of 120 men lost 1 man per day, it was theoretically replaced three time a year.
Encirclements were the exception to this trend. When the Soviets encircled the 6th Army in Stalingrad, for example, the Germans faced the loss of entire divisions. These types of losses could not be easily replaced. Not only did all of the equipment vanish in the fires of war, but the necessary specialists (most of whom were killed by the Soviets) were gone as well. New divisions had to be created...an expensive undertaking.