the assault was based around battalion-strength infantry assault groups supported by a platoon of engineers and a few assault guns. two pioneer battalions were attached to each division to spearhead the attack and break through fixed and fortified defences. the eight battalions of liv corps each contained around 386 men on average, and were equipped with 10–12 flame throwers, 28–30 mine detectors, 3,000 kg of high explosives, 2,200 hand grenades, and 500 smoke grenades. the 300th panzer battalion, a remote-controlled tank unit using the goliath tracked mine, was made available for destroying fortifications. the total number of artillery pieces came to 785 german and 112 romanian medium and heavy guns. most of these were under the command of liv corps, the main assault force. to increase this arsenal, a number of super-heavy artillery pieces were made available. three 600 mm karl-gerät self-propelled mortars ("thor", "odin", and one other) and one 800 mm gun ("schwerer gustav"), delivering 1.4 and 7 ton shells, respectively, and capable of destroying any fortification. however, the karl-gerät guns only had a range of between 4–6,000 meters, which made them vulnerable to counter-battery fire. moreover, only 201 rounds of 600 mm and 48 round of 800 mm ammunition were available. most of it was used up before the infantry assault.