Introduction:
__Hello here everyone, I've just made this guide to give some historical depth about the two teams who you play as in Day of Defeat: Source, mainly just the infantry divisions the allies & axis are from. Mostly talking about an unknown answer that I'll go over shortly in this guide. So let's get started. :)

About the Game & What you Do:
__So as we know obviously in Valve's DoD:S, you have only two factions you can play as; the United States Army of the allied forces or you can be the German Wehrmacht (German Army) of the Nazi Third Reich of the Second World War. The objective is simple HAAA-not really to capture and secure multiple points all across the battlefields to gain victory over the opposing team. However, unlike DoD:S, in the first Day of Defeat game you can be the British as well giving you 3 factions to be. So now all that's out of the way I'll get down to the main part of this guide.

3rd Infantry Division - Broad Story:
__Also nicknamed the "Marne Division", was the only U.S. infantry division to battle the German Army on all fronts, known to have fought in North Africa, Itatly, Normandy France, & Germany, from North Africa to all the way of the Western front of Europe. The 3rd Infantry Division was also known to be the first combat unit to ingage in offensive ground battle operations. They have fought in places across in Tunisia, Sicily, Naplels-Foggia, Rome-Arno, Southern France, Rineland, and Central Europe. Their division's insignia/logo is a diagnal white & blue striped square on the side of their helmets, unlike most U.S. Army infantry divisions that wear greens jackets & brown pants, this division wore the standard Olive Drab helmets, Tan jackets and Brown pants as shown above.

December 22, 2019 UPDATE ON THE GERMANS
They're Not From Any Division Nor Unit At All:
__So it turns out these Germans actually aren't from any Division or Unit at all, they're just supposed to be generic plain looking German Army troops, this is confirmed thanks to my two contributors of this guide for finally answering this unsolved mystery, so these generic non-unit Germans do have a unique uniform color design however as oppose to the real/actual Wehrmacht units. These German Soldiers wear very dark-smudgy-brownish color Stahlhelm helmets, Medium-Gray jackets, Darker-Gray pants, and boots are blackish-brown color. The only logo that appears on the German outfits, is that lone standard Wehrmacht decal seen on the left side of their helmets. Valve's possible reason as to why they didn't make the Germans any specific unit is probably because they didn't want to take the time to research all the German units that fought the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division, which is understandable because let's face it it would be a real pain in the butt to research all the German I.D. units and completely add over dozens of different models and textures for the sake of a WW2 PvP multiplayer FPS game. I mean sure it takes away the History feel of the game but the Germans look cool though for the purpose they're serving.




So Thanks to ricefield_man (*my 1st contributor*) he's got some information though on what divisions the generic Germans are supposed to represent though here's the info he's been able to crack:

This is what he found:
Italian Campaign
Anzio - Mission Brief
"January, 1944, Italy. The Allies have prepared a simple, fast beach assault to capture the city of Anzio. Little did they know that the Germans were already there, waiting."
Based in the Italian Campaign, according to Wikipedia, only Heer divisions were present.

Avalanche - Mission Brief
"September, 1943, Italy. After establishing a beachhead at Salerno, the American advance towards the hills was stopped by a vicious German counterattack on September 13."
Not sure about this map, seems to be also apart of the Italian Campaign as well, probably only Heer divisions.

Palermo - Mission Brief
"American landing forces in Sicily, under General George S. Patton, have driven to the outskirts of Palermo. His tanks cannot enter this part of the city until the Germans are cleared. He sends the infantry forward to do the job."
Again, apart of the Invasion of Sicily, probably some presence of SS divisions. There were also Fallschirmjager divisions there too.

West European Campaign
Argentan - Mission Brief
"American landing forces in Sicily, under General George S. Patton, have driven to the outskirts of Palermo. His tanks cannot enter this part of the city until the Germans are cleared. He sends the infantry forward to do the job."
Based in the West European Campaign, the only SS division that was there was the 2nd SS Panzer Division.

Colmar - Mission Brief
"Reports indicate two critical military targets just behind military lines. Destruction of these objectives will enable our forces to take the city and push enemy troops back across a critical threshold."
The mission brief for this map doesn't have any historical significance, therefore I can't give any information.

Donner - Mission Brief
"June, 1944, Normandy. The Allies struggle through the hedgerow country towards the key town of Saint Lo - the intersection for roads to key cities such as Caen and Carentan."
Also probably based in the West European Campaign too, most likely some SS presence within this battle.

Flash - Mission Brief
"October, 1944. Allied troops have advanced into what appears to be a small, quiet village. A few platoons are ordered forward to check out the situation."
Most likely set near France, Caen or Carentan. SS divisions would probably be here too.

Jagd - Mission Brief
"Allied troops have entrenched defenses setup throughout the town of Jagd. If these defenses fall, the Axis will control another critical point in the push forward."
Again, can't give a definitive answer.

Kalt - Mission Brief December, 1944, Western Front
"The half-frozen town of Kalt became the setting for some of the most brutal fighting of the war - firefights raging

COMMENTS SECTION:
Wadiyatalkingabeet (Joey) Dec 17 @ 11:01am
The German dudes ain’t supposed to resemble any actual unit, almost all the Stalhems would have those insignias on them, the uniform tho isn’t accurate to the time zone

J.S.T.- Luigi (8th Anniversary) [author] Dec 17 @ 5:54pm
Oh.....wait so.... the Germans aren't actually from any unit?

Wadiyatalkingabeet (Joey) Dec 18 @ 6:27am
Nah

Wadiyatalkingabeet (Joey) Dec 18 @ 6:41am
They are just supposed to represent some sort of German unit

ricefield_man Dec 18 @ 10:29pm
According to this video about German Uniforms from 1939 - 1945, the helmet decals were removed on 28th of August 1943. Day of Defeat: Source is set in 1944.

https://youtu.be/JpiaXnyvWZI?t=381

COMMENTS SECTION:
J.S.T.- Luigi (8th Anniversary) [author] 22 minutes ago
oh crap. O.O

So...wait...I don't get it, the Americans in this game are 3rd Infantry Division, why the heck would they just not make the Germans a specific unit like the Americans? Could it be possible just because the U.S. 3rd I.D. very likely fought more than one German unit? This my only reason as to why they made the Germans not any specific unit I'd assume?

ricefield_man [author] 3 minutes ago
No clue. The German's zeltbahn, which is the camo role on their back, seems to be in an SS camouflage pattern.

ricefield_man [author] 3 hours ago
Here is a link to my semi-research:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/10IUxqdjgOSyTa-bla_ebnAhSgus7VUwlD14q7HB7iHU/edit?usp=sharing

ricefield_man [author] 3 hours ago
*I'm excited what we can research (As a community)
Also just to add, Since Avalanche was set in 1943, I guess the decals are legal now lol.

Also, we should look at the original maps that DOD:S takes place in.
I have went through DOD:S files and found the map htmls which appear before you choose your team (\Steam\steamapps\common\Day of Defeat Source\dod\resource\maphtml).




CONVERSATION:
[11:44]
Wadiyatalkingabeet:
yo

[11:44]
J.S.T.- Luigi (8th Anniversary):
yo-yo
I just watched that video you sent me about the DoD:S Germans
(* My bad It was actually my 2nd contributor that sent me the video lol *)
so
is really true then? The Germans are just supposed to be like Generic German troops?

[11:46]
Wadiyatalkingabeet:
yea

[11:46]
J.S.T.- Luigi (8th Anniversary):
......
Well I guess that explains why I haven't found any information of what the Germans are supposed to be in that game...

[11:48]
Wadiyatalkingabeet:
ye

[11:48]
J.S.T.- Luigi (8th Anniversary):
hmmm
you know
I don't know if you read my response to your comments but I'm assuming Valve didn't make them a specific German Unit is probably because the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division might have fought more than one German unit on all fronts
I'm guessing that
or maybe Valve just got lazy with the Germans

[11:51]
Wadiyatalkingabeet:
probably did

[11:51]
J.S.T.- Luigi (8th Anniversary):
I'm thinking it's either one of these two
my first assumption would make plenty of historic sense actually.
cause in the war I'm sure Hitler wasn't like: "Oh hey the U.S. 3rd I.D. boys are fighting over here now let's get our SAME German boys to go fight them again." xD
lmao
I'm sure the U.S. 3rd I.D. probably fought more than one German unit in World War 2 for sure.

[11:58]
Wadiyatalkingabeet:
true

[11:59]
J.S.T.- Luigi (8th Anniversary):
so that's probably why they made them generic looking

[12:00]
J.S.T.- Luigi (8th Anniversary):
they probably just didn't want to take all that time to try and research the colors/insignias to all the handful of German units that fought the U.S. 3rd I.D

Comments Section:


Immanuel Kunt Jun 15, 2020 @ 10:28pm
I mean my guess was that they didn't want to put Nazi imagery in the game, so they didn't have Swastikas or directly call them Nazis because you would have to be piece of ♥♥♥♥ to really actually wanna play as Nazi filth. That and the game would not be allowed in Germany because they have laws that forbid Nazi imagery in video games, meaning Nazis cannot be referenced, they cannot be depicted, nor can you depict Hitler or any Swastikas or SS insignia.

J.S.T.- Luigi [author] Jun 15, 2020 @ 10:40pm
Oh snap, you know what Emanuel Kunt, you actually have a good point there, but the only thing is though is I don't think the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division didn't really fight any SS units as far as I'm aware of.

J.S.T.- Luigi [author] Jun 15, 2020 @ 10:40pm
Unless they did come across SS units that is.

Immanuel Kunt Jun 15, 2020 @ 11:05pm
Yeah I mean it could've hurt sales if people played the game and they saw Swastika icons above their teammates while shooting at American soldiers. Not that I'm ever truly okay with sniping American soldiers in DoD:S as it is, but I probably would never wanna play as straight-up Nazis. Calling them the Wehrmacht helps soften the image a little, along with using the Iron Cross. Maybe the 3rd Infantry *did* face SS, maybe they didn't I would have to read up on that, but I feel like more than anything Valve didn't want to out-right call the Germans Nazis if they were gonna put their name on it.

J.S.T.- Luigi [author] Jun 15, 2020 @ 11:51pm
Hmm, yeah I guess that's a good point, well then I guess that explains the reason why the Eagle Shield on the side of the DoD:S German's helmets is just a blank white basic shape instead of the actual Swastika on it. This is a very good point now that you've brought this up actually, this may be also why they didn't make the Germans have a accurate Helmet, Jacket, Pants colors as well.

Immanuel Kunt Jun 15, 2020 @ 11:56pm
Yeah that would explain the uniform, I didn't notice that with regards to the helmet, I must admit WWII is not my forte, but I feel like if trying to make the Germans look less like Nazis was the idea, Valve probably could've gotten away with making their uniform have the right colors and everything down to the T, but just remove Nazi or SS symbols, that's really all I would've done in the same situation. It's not like the uniforms themselves are a symbol of evil and hatred, just the Swastika and SS insignia.

J.S.T.- Luigi [author] Jun 16, 2020 @ 12:42am
Yeah for sure, but like I said VALVE probably gave them a weird uniform color just because it would be a pain in the butt to make like 8-10 different historically accurate uniform skins, so they made up their own uniform skin to make them look generic and universal.

isopropyl-alco Jan 24, 2021 @ 9:51pm
They didn't make proper uniforms because there was no time. They had invited playtesters shortly before release and they hated the game. So Valve didn't have much time to remake it.

J.S.T.- Luigi [author] Jan 24, 2021 @ 11:49pm
Oh, so that also explains it I guess....well that changes everything about this topic in my guide.

isopropyl-alco Jan 25, 2021 @ 12:12am
You’ll understand this if you’re familiar with Half-Life: Source. Originally, DoD:S was just a straight DoD port the the source engine. Nothing new, it looked and played the exact same just on another engine like Half-Life: Source. The testers hated it and Valve had to quickly remake it.

J.S.T.- Luigi [author] Jan 25, 2021 @ 12:22am
o.O

Oh dang, well....thanks a lot to the haters.....:steamsalty:

ABGH78 Feb 26, 2021 @ 7:33am
0_0

J.S.T.- Luigi [author] Feb 28, 2021 @ 4:45am
"o_o" is right, I didn't even know that was reason.

Kiba Jun 19, 2021 @ 7:08pm
It's sad to know that, while the U.S side had research put into what division to represent in this (admittedly half-baked) WW2 game, none of that research went into looking into what division to represent for the Wehrmacht. I'm very passionate about the distinction between the Nazi soldiers and the Wehrmacht (they aren't the same), so to know that they were basically ignored research-wise, it hurts a little.

J.S.T.- Luigi [author] Jun 19, 2021 @ 7:12pm
yeah, it is annoying to deal with that, it would've been cool if they had different uniform colors for all the German Units the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division went up against at all these places in this game, it would've made the game's historical aesthetics way more satisfying. :alliedstar::ironcross::steamthumbsup:

Kiba Jun 19, 2021 @ 7:15pm
Yeah, that would've been really cool. They could've at least put one of them in the game, sure it wouldn't be historically accurate to have one division constantly be up against another for every major battle, but hey, it's better than having the generic soldiers they have.

But, knowing how rushed the game was, I can't really blame them that much.


Kiba Jun 19, 2021 @ 7:16pm
(and ♥♥♥♥ the playtesters that made this game worse, DOD original was way better)

J.S.T.- Luigi [author] Jun 19, 2021 @ 7:16pm
yeah agreed.

isopropyl-alco Jul 7, 2021 @ 7:42pm
I would have rather had something new and nice looking than a straight boring port of the game to Source. We did miss out on British and the extra classes but if it was a straight port the game would probably be dead by now.

isopropyl-alco Jul 7, 2021 @ 7:45pm
Another reason the sudden change was good is because the original dod:s was going to be a straight Source port just like Half-Life: Source. We all know that after the Steampipe update Half-Life: Source became an awful buggy mess. That happened in 2013 and that was past the time Valve would be willing to update the game. If they didn't change the game it would end up being an awful buggy mess and a dead game.


Darth Malgus Jul 8, 2021 @ 5:59am
Didnt have enough Steam points for an award, you still did a good job explaining!
(I am new to the game)

J.S.T.- Luigi [author] Jul 8, 2021 @ 11:59am
oh nice.

Raz Rizki Aug 11, 2021 @ 5:00am
CAW


J.S.T.- Luigi [author] Aug 11, 2021 @ 11:58am
I don't know what CAW stands for but I'll agree with you anyway lol. :steamthumbsup::steamlaughcry:


J-R Apr 11 @ 11:59am
Either the Germans represent many divisions, Or more likely Valve didn't want to get bogged down in picking a division which potentially could get them Flak (ha) from people in the community. Lets face it, if they were SS, some people would feel offended (Yeah its only a simple pvp fps but people really like to get offended)

J.S.T.- Luigi [author] Apr 11 @ 1:47pm
Oh yeah, that's true, that would be another good reason why they just made them look really generic cause people these days do choose to get offended by the simplest things.


Swagcat of Shimano Jun 11 @ 5:24am
Interesting read. It would be great if there was more Day of Defeat content.

J.S.T.- Luigi [author] Jun 11 @ 9:34pm
Yeah, it would be nice to see Valve develop this game more, but eh, I guess that's where modding comes in though right?....

Hume Sep 9 @ 12:44pm
My guess to why the German unit is just generic, is not because the devs did not want to research the actual units that fought in these areas, but because DODS being a multiplayer shooter just set in WW2. They were definitely not going to make an SS unit, and they try to steer clear of Nazi emblems like the Reich eagle. So it makes it pretty much impossible to make the German side any specific unit. So just make a generic looking obvious German unit.

Company of Heroes did the same thing specially with COH1. Where as games like Call of Duty, Medal of Honour and Wolfenstein don't have such a big problem making more accurate looking German units, as you cannot fight as a German in those games, only against them.

Ein zufälliger Kraut 23 hours ago
you have a lot of spelling errors for german words like Wehrmacht and Stahlhelm

J.S.T.- Luigi [author] 21 hours ago
@Ein zufälliger Kraut, uuggghhh.... I figured I got some spelling ERRORs in this guide, this was my very first guide I ever made after all, I'll fix them now.

@Hume, that is actually a good point there, I never really thought too much of that but antother use in the comments actually pointed out the same hypothesis as you in the comments on the previous pages here but just not to a form like you just mentioned, but what you pointed out makes good sense too.

Hume 1 hour ago
@J.S.T.- Luigi, thanks! It's just my opinion, since playing especially WW2 games since the '90s. The only games that have any sort of track record for keeping things like the Swastika in the game, are those games where you fight against them, never for them. I do not think I have ever come across a game where you can play as the Germans, FPS/ RTS, etc, and had accurate emblems and decals.

Company of Heroes 1 German soldiers looks absolutely ridiculous. While the Allied factions look fine. CoH2 did a little better. CoH3 even better, but still, very inaccurate, which has to be on purpose. Valve just went with a very generic approach. Day of Defeat 1, the original mod, even has more accurate-looking German uniforms. But then again, it was a mod after all. Not a full release by a huge company like Valve.

Anyway, I enjoyed reading your research into the matter. So thank you!

J.S.T.- Luigi [author] 50 minutes ago
Yeah that makes a lot of sense actually, my first ww2 game back in the 2001s was Call of Duty 2, something I noticed as a 10 year old in 2007 with that game to back you point is in the campaign the 3rd Reich has accurate emblems, then in Multiplayer mode the NAZI swastikas are replaced with the German Iron Cross, I never really understood as a kid why they did that but I decided to not really think anything of it cause I never bothered plating MP mode due to it not having bots. :steamlaughcry:

So again I can understand now why game companies do that, and now I understand or realize this isn't a new movement by SJWs lol, this is actually something that video game companies have been doing for decades it turns out! So once again I appreciate the detail you have been putting in. :steamthumbsup:

Hume 40 minutes ago
J.S.T.- Luigi, now that you mention it, about CoD multiplayer, I almost forgot about that in the early 2000s, as someone who only played single-player games or bots (DoD Sturmbot, the bots were incompetent, but it was probably one of my favourite games ever!), you had the choice to play as Germans yes. Also Wolfenstein Enemy Territory. But the Swastikas were always replaced by the Balkenkreuz. I think it was a combination of "political correctness" I, rather want to call it human decency or something, so as to not have players associate with an obvious, and probably the most, evil organization in recent human history, and, for sales. Back then Germany, for example, did not yet include games under the "it's a form of art" laws. Meaning developers had to always make a special version just for Germany where they remove any references to Nazis, even in Wolfenstein games.

Part 1/2. 1000 character limit.

Hume 39 minutes ago
That has changed in recent years though. But I don't see anyone creating a game where you have the option to fight for the German army using accurate decals etc, not anytime soon anyway. Maybe in another 100 years or so.

Part 2/2. 1000 character limit. Sorry just had to do it like this.

J.S.T.- Luigi [author] Just now
Oh wow, yeah that makes a whole ton of sense actually, I never really thought about the policies with Germany to that prior to realizing that 5-6ish years ago from 12-11-2022. o.O

Feedback:
__Well there you have it, the Germans aren't any specific unit, thanks to the help of this dude that answered our unsolved question about the Germans in this and now we know who the Germans are:







they're not any unit lol.












OUTDATED, ANSWER HAS BEEN CONFIRMED:

UNKOWN Division - Broad Story:
__There's not actually any information about what infantry division that the Germans are from, after looking all over the internet, google, Day of Defeat: Source sites, even historical sites about what the German infantry division(s) fought the U.S. 3rd Infantry in World War 2 and I still got nothing. But these Germans seem interesting though because of their uniform colors, their helmets are a very dark-smugy-brownish color, Medium-Gray jackets, Darker-Gray pants, and boots are blackish-brown color. However there's no specifiec logo on them anywhere the only logo that appears on the German outfits, is that lone standard Wehrmacht decal seen on the left side of their helmets. With these observational and odd fact has left not only me, but possibly you as well this question: "What division are the Germans in Day of Defeat: Source?" Could they be the 94th Infantry Division? The 243rd Static Infantry Division? 709th Static Infantry Division? 716th Static Infantry Division, 916th Grenadier Regiment, 352nd Infantry Division, 91st Infantry Division, 10th Infantry Division, 13th Infantry Division, 14th Infantry Division, 12th Infantry Division, 1st Infantry Division, 305th Infantry Division, 121st Infantry Division, 33rd Infantry Division, 334th Infantry Division, 110th Infantry Division, 102nd Infantry Division, 161st Infantry Division, 2nd Infantry Division 349th Infantry Division, or the 141st Reserve Division? My only answer to this question is that, as long as we live, we most likely may never know and untill some one can find the answer. The question to this will most likey remain a mystery untill then. Who knows? The only people who will know is the team that made Day of Defeat: Source.

__Well that's all everyone, personally I've went nuts trying to figure out the German side, I've done everything I could to find the answer, so to this day since 2006 is when this game came out, we'll never know the un-answered question. If you guys want to try & search for the answer be my guest, but I've given up though. This is my very first guide I have ever made btw. What do you guys think of my guide? Comment below to let me know what you thought about this guide, or better yet comment below if you found the answer.






J.S.T.- Luigi