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Copyright © 2007 by Samuel W. M itcham, Jr.
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This is a revised and expanded edition of HITLER’S LEGIONS by Samuel W. M itcham, Jr., originally published in one volume by Stein and Day. Copyright © 1985
by Samuel W. M itcham, Jr.
Cover design by Tracy Patterson
Cover photo courtesy of HITM Archive, www.hitm-archive.co.uk
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
M itcham, Samuel W.
German order of battle / Samuel W. M itcham, Jr.
p. cm. — (Stackpole military history series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8117-3416-5
ISBN-10: 0-8117-3416-1
1. Germany. Heer. Infanterie. 2. Germany. Heer—History—World War, 1939–1945. 3. World War, 1939–1945—Regimental histories—Germany. 4. Germany—
History, M ilitary—20th century. I. Title.
D757.3.M 57 2007
940.54'1343—dc22
2007 014285
eBook ISBN: 9780811744904
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. The German Division
2. The Wehrkreise System
3. The 1st–290th Infantry Divisions
Index
Introduction
As a young graduate student recently discharged from the U.S. Army, I started writing a book entitled
Hitler’s Legions: The Order of Battle of the German Army, World War II in the mid-1970s and
finished it seven years later. Since that time, a huge amount of literature on the order of battle of the
German armed forces and their commanders has become available—so much so that Hitler’s Legions
became obsolete. The purpose of this book, and its companion volumes, is to replace the original, to
present the order of battle of the German ground forces in World War II, and to trace each division
from inception to destruction. I also (insofar as is possible) have listed the divisional commanders
and the dates they held command. If they were promoted, killed, or wounded during their tenure, I
have included this information as well. I only regret that I was not able to give a short biography of
each commander, as I did in Panzer Legions and in the endnotes of some of my earlier books.
I would like to thank Chris Evans, the history editor at Stackpole Books, for suggesting this project,
and David Reisch at Stackpole for all of his help. I would also like to thank Melinda Matthews, the
head of the interlibrary loan department at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, for her usual superb
job in tracking down reference material, as well as anyone else who provided useable information
for this project. Sincere appreciation is also extended to Paul Moreau and Dr. Donny Elias for their
help and encouragement. Most of all, I would like to thank my long-suffering wife, Donna, and my
kids, Lacy and Gavin, for all that they have had to put up with during this process.
Dr. Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr.
Monroe, Louisiana
Map 1
Map 2
Map 3
Map 4
CHAPTER 1
The German Division
THE DIVISIONAL STAFF
German divisions in World War II varied remarkably in strength, composition, organization,
transport, equipment, and even in racial composition. The division staffs of most combat units,
however, were very similar and were divided into three operational groupings: the
Führungsabteilung, or tactical detachment; the Quartiermeister, or supply group; and the
Adjutantur, or personnel group.
The tactical group included the chief of operations (or Ia) and the chief intelligence officer (Ic) as
well as their respective staffs. The Ia served as chief of staff in division-sized units or lower, and the
Ic was directly subordinate to him. (The term “chief of staff” was normally reserved for corps-level
headquarters or higher.) Besides the intelligence officer, various other combat-oriented subordinates
worked for the chief of operations, including the Ia for artillery, air liaison officers, and others. This
tactical headquarters was also known as the division’s command post (CP).
The supply headquarters, which was physically separated from the CP, was headed by the Ib (chief
supply officer, or divisional quartermaster). It included the IVa (chief administrative officer), the IVb
(chief medical officer), the IVc (chief veterinary officer), and the V (motor transport officer). All of
these officers were in charge of their own sections. Most of them were not General Staff officers;
however, to hold an I-type position (i.e., Ia, Ib, or Ic), an officer had to be at least a probationary
member of the General Staff.
The third operational grouping was the personnel, or Adjutantur, group, which was headed by the
IIa, the chief personnel officer or adjutant. Subordinate to him were the IIb or second personnel
officer (who was also referred to as “Adjutant Two”), the III (chief judge advocate), the chaplain
(IVd), and various other sections necessary for the smooth functioning of the staff headquarters, such
as motor pools, security detachments, and the like. In the U.S. Army this organization would have
been called a Headquarters Company, and indeed many German divisions had a Staff Company
(although not all of them did). The IIa section handled all officer personnel matters while the IIb was
responsible for enlisted personnel matters. The IIb routed requests for replacements through the IIa
and was subordinate to him in all matters.
The III and IVd, the motor pool officer, also commanded their own sections under the overall
direction of the IIa.
In addition to the three major groups, divisions had special staffs with officers and sections
assigned on a temporary or permanent basis. These might include a commander of divisional supply
troops (subordinate to the Ib on most matters), the senior military police officer, the commander of
projector (i.e., rocket-launcher) troops, the gas protection officer and, after July 20, 1944, the
National Socialist guidance officer. Most division headquarters also had a motorized mapping
detachment and a motorcycle messenger platoon, which bore the same numbers as the division.
One very important special staff officer was the senior artillery commander
(Artilleriekommandanteur, or Arko). He was attached to the division on a temporary basis and was
responsible for recommending the allocation of attached General Headquarters artillery units (i.e.,
those loaned to the division from a corps or higher headquarters) within the division. His command
was also called an Arko.
When no General Headquarters artillery units were attached to the division (which was the
exception, rather than the rule), the division artillery commander (Artillerieführer, or Arfü) was
responsible for all artillery matters; however, if an Arko was present, he normally commanded the
divisional artillery forces, while the Arfü directed the division’s organic artillery regiment.
Arkos were corps-level General Headquarters (GHQ) units which were often detached to the
divisional level. Higher-level artillery headquarters and units (i.e., units found at the army and army
group levels) were commanded by a higher artillery command, which was called a Harko (Höherer
Artilleriekommandeur). The commander himself was also called the Harko.
THE INFANTRY LINE REGIMENTS
German divisions were organized in any number of ways. However, infantry units were the most
numerous. The total German Army and Waffen-SS strength in 1941, for example, was 163 infantry
divisions (including four light and six mountain divisions), one cavalry division, nine security
divisions, fourteen motorized infantry divisions, and twenty-one panzer divisions. In addition, all of
the panzer divisions (except those in Africa) had at least two motorized infantry regiments (which
were later redesignated panzer grenadier regiments). Because of the numerical predominance of
infantry-type units in the Wehrmacht, they will be discussed as the rule.
Early in the war, each German infantry division had three infantry regiments of three battalions
each, an artillery regiment, a signal battalion, an anti-tank battalion, an engineer battalion, and a
reconnaissance battalion, which was changed to a fusilier battalion (or a company) in many divisions
created or reorganized after 1942. (Fusilier units were usually equipped with bicycles. This fact,
however, did not apply to infantry regiments, which were occasionally given the honorary title
“Fusilier,” but without any changes to their mobility.) Similarly, many divisions created after 1942
had only two infantry regiments, and a signal company instead of a signal battalion.
Infantry regiments—which were renamed grenadier regiments by Führer order on October 15,
1942—consisted of two or three infantry battalions, an infantry howitzer company, and an anti-tank
company. The earlier in the war a division was formed, the more likely it was to have three
regiments, and the more likely these regiments were to have three battalions, for a total of nine
infantry battalions per division. As Hitler made known his requirement for more and more divisions,
the strength of each level of command declined remarkably. After 1941, for example, the
establishment level of an infantry company was reduced from 180 to 80, and as the war dragged on,
most companies were well below establishment. It is easy to see, then, why it is difficult to
generalize about the strength of a German division: a 1939 division of three regiments—each with
three infantry battalions consisting of companies of 180 men each—would be much stronger than a
1944 two-regiment Volksgrenadier (people’s infantry) division with only four infantry battalions in
all (and these with companies of fewer than eighty men each). Besides these reductions, the
divisional units—signal, tank destroyer, engineer, and reconnaissance battalions—were often
downgraded from battalion to company-sized units later in the war.
Infantry battalions normally consisted of three infantry companies and either a machine-gun
company or heavy weapons company. As late as 1944 most infantry companies had three rifle
platoons and one heavy machine-gun section (or an 81mm mortar section), except in Volksgrenadier
divisions, where the grenadier companies had two submachine-gun platoons and one rifle platoon.
The machine-gun company—present in most mountain, light, and panzer grenadier divisions—
included 81mm mortars and heavy machine guns. In infantry and panzer divisions, this unit was
replaced by the heavy weapons company, which consisted of infantry howitzer or 120mm mortar
platoons, as well as heavy machine-gun platoons or sections.
The first eight companies in the two-battalion regiments—or the first twelve in three-battalion
regiments—were organic to the battalions (i.e., were one of the three infantry companies or the
battalion’s heavy weapons company and were under the command of the battalion commander). The
ninth company (or 13th Company in three-battalion regiments) was an infantry howitzer company
directly under regimental control. Even in two-battalion regiments, it usually bore the designation
13th Company. In such cases, no “9th Company,” “10th Company,” “11th Company,” or “12th
Company” existed. The equipment of this unit was varied. In Volksgrenadier divisions it included
two platoons of 120mm mortars and one platoon of infantry howitzers. Infantry howitzer companies of
earlier-vintage divisions had more howitzer units and fewer mortar sections than divisions that were
mobilized later in the war.
The 10th Company in two-battalion regiments (or 14th Company in three-battalion regiments) was
the infantry anti-tank company, which was equipped with 37mm anti-tank guns or with short-range
75mm and 150mm anti-tank guns. Later they were equipped with Panzerfausts (individually carried,
single-shot, disposable anti-tank weapons) or other anti-tank weapons similar to the bazooka. The
14th Company in Volksgrenadier divisions was called a tank destroyer company, and was equipped
solely with Panzerfausts.
THE ARTILLERY REGIMENT
In infantry and light (or Jäger) divisions, the artillery regiments consisted of four battalions, numbered
I, II, III, and IV. I, II, and III battalions were equipped with towed or horse-drawn 105mm howitzers,
while IV battalion had 150mm howitzers. Battalions normally consisted of three batteries of four guns
each—forty-eight guns per regiment. As with all other German military formations, the rule for this
type of organization was violated with increasing frequency after 1943; many units, for example,
were outfitted with captured foreign equipment.
The artillery regiments in panzer and motorized divisions were more mobile and often selfpropelled. Panzer artillery regiments, however, usually had only three battalions: I and II were
equipped with 105mm howitzers, and III was armed with 150mm howitzers.
Mountain artillery regiments normally consisted of four battalions. I, II, and III battalions were
equipped with 75mm mountain howitzers and IV with 105mm mountain howitzers, which were lighter
than normal howitzers of the same caliber.
Divisional artillery units frequently were reinforced by units from the GHQ artillery pool at corpslevel or above. As already discussed, these units, as well as the organic divisional artillery regiment,
were commanded by the Arko. The Arko might bring an assortment of units with him, including GHQ
observation units, light, medium, heavy, or super-heavy batteries or battalions, which might be horsedrawn, motorized, tractor-drawn, self-propelled, railway-transported, or even fixed, in extremely
rare cases. Other artillery units often attached to the division included armored assault-gun battalions,
which consisted of a headquarters battery and three six-gun batteries equipped with 75mm selfpropelled assault guns that were employed as if they were tanks. Flak (Fliegerabwehrkanone, or
anti-aircraft cannon) battalions (organic to many panzer and SS panzer divisions) were occasionally
attached to divisions and included three 88mm gun batteries and two 20mm gun batteries. Light antiaircraft (Fliegerabwehr, or Fla) battalions were also occasionally attached, or were even organic, to
some divisions.
DIVISIONAL UNITS
The primary units organic to the divisional headquarters were the reconnaissance, anti-tank, engineer,
and signal battalions. Divisional reconnaissance battalions were remarkably varied, even relatively
early in the war. Generally speaking, however, there were two major types in 1942: those found in
infantry divisions and those in motorized, light, and panzer divisions. Infantry reconnaissance
battalions normally consisted of three companies: one mounted, one motorcycle, and one motorized
(heavy weapons) company. Light, motorized, and panzer divisional reconnaissance battalions
normally were completely motorized.
From 1943 onward, newly organized divisions incorporated fusilier battalions, which were
organized like infantry battalions except that they were more mobile. Usually they were equipped
with bicycles.
The divisional anti-tank battalions were variously equipped, but normally consisted of short-range
37mm, 75mm, and 150mm anti-tank guns. Originally designated Panzer Abwehr units (tank defense or
anti-tank units), they were redesignated Panzerjäger (tank hunter or tank destroyer) battalions on
April 1, 1940. Later in the war, they were more and more frequently equipped with hand-carried
Panzerfausts or self-propelled assault guns, or sometimes combinations of the two. These selfpropelled assault guns were turretless, open-topped, tracked, and armed with a gun mounted on the
hull. There usually were eighteen assault guns per battalion (and thirty-one assault guns in an assault
gun brigade, which was a type of unit independent of the divisions). Many early-model assault guns
(i.e., 1940 or 1941 types) were mounted on Panzer Mark III (PzKw III) chassis and might employ a
low-velocity 75mm or 105mm gun or a low-velocity 105mm howitzer. These were gradually
replaced by long-barrel, high-velocity 75mm guns and carried both solid (anti-tank) and high
explosive shells. They continued to be mounted on the PzKw III chassis, however. These assault guns
were extremely important to the German Army in World War II. Not only did they provide many
divisions with excellent anti-tank protection, but they debilitated many enemy (especially Russian)
armored units as well. By early 1944, for example, the assault gun arm claimed to have destroyed
20,000 enemy tanks. The assault-gun arm was an integral part of the artillery branch, which supplied
the officers and training. It was in no way subordinate to the panzer branch—much to the chagrin of
Colonel General Heinz Guderian, the chief of the panzer inspectorate in 1943.
As the war went on and casualties mounted (especially in Russia), many reconnaissance units were
seriously depleted by casualties. Often they were merged with the division’s tank destroyer battalions
to form schnelle (mobile or fast) battalions. These units had the dual missions of conducting
reconnaissance and providing anti-tank defense. They were organized any number of ways. The 227th
Schnelle Battalion of the 227th Infantry Division, for example, had four bicycle squadrons
(companies), armed mainly with light machine guns; a motorized tank destroyer company, equipped
with a dozen 37mm anti-tank guns; and a heavy company, with an armored car platoon, two
motorcycle platoons, two tank destroyer platoons (with three 37mm anti-tank guns each), and an
engineer platoon. The 236th Schnelle Battalion of the 162nd Infantry Division, on the other hand,
controlled three motorized tank destroyer companies (one armed with towed 37mm guns and two with
50mm guns); one bicycle squadron; and a signals platoon. Other divisions had almost every
conceivable variation in between by 1942.
As the war dragged on, reconnaissance battalions were often replaced with fusilier battalions.
They were equipped mainly with bicycles and armed with light machine guns, or with 50mm and/or
80mm mortars and light machine guns
The combat engineer battalions included assault, construction, demolition, and bridging troops.
They were skilled at penetrating minefields and fortified areas, as well as in delaying enemy
advances when Hitler allowed his divisions to conduct timely and well-organized retreats—which
occurred only rarely. The engineer battalions frequently suffered even higher rates of casualties than
their infantry counterparts.
Nondivisional engineer battalions were frequently attached to divisions for specific operations.
Divisional engineer battalions could, on occasion, be transferred to the GHQ pool or attached to
other divisions, although most corps commanders preferred to respect the unit integrity of the division
whenever possible.
The division signal battalion had three constituent units: a headquarters detachment, a telephone
company, and a radio company. It could, if necessary, be augmented by GHQ units, such as telegraph
companies or interception units.
DIVISIONAL SUPPORT UNITS
Each German division had its own organic supply and transport echelons under the IIa. These units
included supply companies, transport units, motor transport units, the divisional trains, repair units,
and others. The variation of the German divisional supply echelons are such that generalization is
difficult.
Medical units (Sanitätsabteilunge, or medical detachments) were allocated on the basis of one per
division. They consisted of one or two medical companies, a field hospital, and two or three
ambulance platoons, often grouped together under an ambulance company. They usually bore the
divisional auxiliary number, which was usually the same as that of the division; for example, the
304th Medical Unit belonged to the 304th Infantry Division.
TABLE 1: THE VEHICLES OF A TYPICAL GERMAN INFANTRY DIVISION PRIOR TO
1943: HORSE VS. MOTOR
Motor
Vehicles
HorseDrawn
Vehicles
Divisional Headquarters (including
administrative, supply, medical, police, postal,
and veterinary units)
253
245
Reconnaissance Battalion
30
3
Signal Battalion
103
7
Artillery Regiment
105
229
Anti-Tank Battalion
114
0
Engineer Battalion
87
19
Three infantry regiments (3,250 men each, and
each with 683 horses, 6 small infantry guns, 2
large infantry guns, 12 anti-tank guns)
75 (x3)
210 (x3)
911
1,133
TOTALS:
17,000 men, 5,375 horses
A division of this size would require 53 tons of hay daily, as well as 54 tons of food, 20 tons of gasoline and diesel, one ton of lubricants, 10 tons of ordnance stores,
and 12 tons of other stores, excluding baggage and ammunition.
After 1943, the proportion of horse-drawn vehicles per division increased as the number of motor vehicles and amount of fuel available to each division declined.
SOURCE: Deighton: p. 175
Each division in the German Army, with the exception of the panzer and motorized divisions, had a
veterinary company. Since the average German division had 3,000 to 6,000 horses and mules, which
carried supplies, ammunition, troops, the wounded, artillery, and other important items, the
significance of a good veterinary company is apparent. Table 1, for a “typical” German infantry
division prior to 1943, shows the number of horse-drawn motorized vehicles, and this table may even
overstate the number of motor vehicles in the typical division. The reliance that German infantry units
placed on the horse has long been underestimated by historians.
Divisional headquarters also controlled a number of what might be termed miscellaneous units,
including a bakery company, a military police detachment, a slaughter unit (for animals), and a field
post office unit. Other formations, such as railway repair companies, depot units, smoke units,
bridging sections, and others, might be attached to the division on an as-needed basis.
The supply troops of the 24th Infantry Division were fairly typical. The 24th Divisional Supply
Troops included the 1st through 8th Motorized Light Supply Columns, the 24th Motorized
Maintenance Platoon, the 24th Motorized Supply Company, the 24th Divisional Administration Unit,
the 24th Motorized Field Bakery, the 24th Motorized Butcher Company, the 24th Medical Battalion
(including the 1/24th Medical Company and the 2/24th Motorized Medical Company), the 24th
Motorized Field Hospital, two ambulance companies (1/ and 2/24th), the 24th Veterinary Company,
the 24th Motorized Military Police Troop, and the 24th Motorized Field Post Office.
Almost every German division also had a divisional staff company (equivalent to the headquarters
company in the U.S. Army), a motorized mapping detachment, and a motorcycle messenger platoon.
These mapping and motorcycle units bore the number of the division (for example, the 78th Mapping
Detachment and the 78th Motorcycle Messenger Platoon belonged to the 78th Infantry Division).
TYPE 44 DIVISIONS
Beginning in the autumn of 1943, a new divisional organization was introduced: the Type 44 division.
It was based on three grenadier regiments of two battalions each—or six infantry battalions per
division instead of nine. Typically, a division was taken out of the line and reorganized, with the III
Battalion of each grenadier regiment being abolished and reconnaissance units becoming fusilier
(bicycle) units. Also, tank destroyer and signal battalions were frequently (though not always)
downgraded to companies. The Type 44 division thus was smaller and had less equipment and fewer
motorized vehicles than its predecessors.
THE VOLKSGRENADIER DIVISIONS
In late 1944, the Volksgrenadier (People’s Grenadier) division was organized. They lacked the
manpower and heavy equipment of earlier infantry divisions and were often equipped with obsolete
or foreign equipment. Most of them, for example, had a battalion of 75mm guns, instead of the modern
105mm howitzers, which were in short supply by 1944. Their infantry units, however, were well
equipped with submachine guns, and they had a large number of shoulder-fired Panzerfaust and
Panzerschreck anti-tank weapons.
Volksgrenadier divisions are covered in the infantry chapters in Volumes One and Two.
PANZER DIVISIONS
The panzer divisions in the Polish and French campaigns of 1939 and 1940 possessed many more
men and tanks than those that fought after 1940. The 1st through 5th and 10th panzer divisions
consisted of two panzer regiments of two battalions each and had between 13,000 and 14,000 men.
Others (numbered 6th through 9th) had one regiment of three battalions each and had about 12,000
men. The 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th Panzers (formerly light divisions) were equipped mainly with captured
Czechoslovakian tanks. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 10th Panzer Divisions had to give up their
second panzer regiments in the fall of 1940 to create new, smaller panzer divisions in order to satisfy
Hitler’s illogical demands for more (but weaker) armored units. The number of tanks per division
declined from around 320 in 1939 to 230 in 1940 and fewer than 190 in 1941. By 1943 the
establishment of a panzer division required about 165 tanks (although none serving on the Eastern
Front had that many), and by the end of 1944 it was reduced to fifty-four, and the panzer regiment
reduced from three to two battalions per regiment.
In 1939, before the war began, Germany also had seven panzer brigades: the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th,
8th, and 6th. They controlled two panzer regiments and belonged to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 10th, 4th, and
5th Panzer Divisions, respectively. The 6th Panzer Brigade was an independent formation—i.e., it
had no divisional headquarters. Between April 1939 and November 1, 1942, all seven were
dissolved or were upgraded to divisional status.
Between June 27, 1943, and the end of the war, the German Army created eighteen additional
panzer brigade headquarters, numbered 10, 18, 21, and 100 through 115. They attempted to employ
small, independent panzer brigades on the Western Front in 1944, but this experiment proved to be a
costly failure. All of the panzer brigades had ceased to exist by the end of the war. Most were
absorbed by existing panzer divisions, although two of the panzer brigade staffs were used to form
Panzer Division Norway and Panzer Division Döberitz in 1944–45.
The motorized infantry strength of the panzer division also declined as the war wore on. In 1940,
for example, each panzer division had a motorized infantry brigade consisting of two motorized
infantry regiments of two battalions each plus a motorcycle battalion. Gradually the motorized
infantry brigade headquarters was phased out.
Other than these differences, the panzer division was similar in organizational structure to the
German infantry division. Most of the panzer and panzer grenadier divisions also had a motorcycle
battalion not found in infantry, mountain, or jäger divisions and an anti-aircraft battalion was added
after 1940. There was, of course, no veterinary company in armored units.
Panzer divisions are covered in Volume Three.
MOTORIZED (PANZER GRENADIER) DIVISIONS
German motorized infantry divisions were redesignated panzer grenadier divisions on June 23, 1943.
Originally they consisted of three motorized infantry regiments of three battalions each. In late 1940,
however, they had to give up their third regiments so the High Command could form new motorized
divisions, dropping the number of motorized infantry battalions per division from nine to six.
Eventually—from 1941 on—they added a panzer or assault-gun battalion of thirty to fifty tanks or
guns each. Also, many of the line battalions traded their trucks for armored half-tracks. The support
units in the panzer grenadier units were similar to those found in panzer formations.
Motorized and panzer grenadier divisions are covered in Volume Three.
MOUNTAIN DIVISIONS
Mountain divisions were similar to infantry divisions except in training and in that the mountain
division’s equipment was lighter. Their artillery and anti-tank guns were also lighter and of smaller
caliber. They had three regiments of three battalions each. Many of these battalions had five
companies: three mountain jäger, one machine gun, and one heavy weapons. Their reconnaissance
units were equipped with bicycles.
Mountain divisions are covered in Volume Two.
JÄGER (LIGHT) DIVISIONS
These units were similar to mountain divisions in organization and equipment, except that they had
only two regiments. They were created as pursuit divisions. The exceptions were the 90th Light and
l64th Light Afrika divisions, which were used, and partially equipped, for desert warfare.
Jäger divisions are covered in Volume Two.
LIGHT DIVISIONS
The original light divisions were formed beginning in 1934–36, and four (numbered 1st through 4th)
were in existence when the Wehrmacht invaded Poland in 1939. They consisted of two motorized
rifle regiments, a tank battalion, a reconnaissance regiment, and numerous supporting units. They
proved to be too unwieldy in Poland, and in the winter of 1939–40, all four were converted into
panzer units.
Light divisions are covered in Volume Two.
SECURITY DIVISIONS
These units were formed from 1941 on and consisted of two security (or infantry) regiments, which
were also known as local defense regiments. They were initially not authorized to have artillery and
were designed to guard key towns and cities, headquarters, and other installations in Russia, and
occasionally they were involved in anti-partisan operations.
After operations began in Russia, some of the security divisions acted upon their own initiative,
incorporated captured Soviet artillery pieces into their units, and set up their own (unauthorized)
artillery batteries. OKH (the High Command of the Army) accepted this fact, and some of the
batteries were even officially sanctioned after 1941. Generally speaking, however, security divisions
did not officially have artillery or armored units. Most of the security divisions were eventually
caught up in front-line fighting on the Eastern Front. The only security division found in the West was
the 325th, which spent virtually its entire existence in Paris.
Security divisions are covered in the infantry chapters of Volumes One and Two.
MISCELLANEOUS ARMY DIVISIONS
The Nazi army had an incredible number of miscellaneous or special purpose divisions, including
Reserve, Replacement, Field Training, Coastal Defense, Air Landing, Fortress, Cavalry, and other
divisions. They shall be discussed in turn.
These divisions are covered in Volume Two.
LUFTWAFFE UNITS
Luftwaffe ground divisions were of three types: parachute, Luftwaffe field, and flak. The parachute
units were made up of specially trained volunteers and were excellent combat formations, although
after the Battle of Crete in 1941 they were used almost exclusively as infantry divisions. The
Luftwaffe field divisions, on the other hand, were made up of drafted excess air force personnel who
were poorly trained for the infantry role and thus did poorly in ground combat. Flak divisions were
assigned to armies or army groups and served throughout the area of operations. A number of these
divisions had territorial responsibilities within Germany.
The Hermann Goering Parachute Panzer and Parachute Panzer Grenadier Divisions were tactically
under the control of the army and administratively under the control of the Luftwaffe. (This was also
often the case with other Luftwaffe ground units as well.) They will be discussed under their army
categories, even though they were technically Luftwaffe units.
Luftwaffe units are covered in Volume Two.
SS DIVISIONS
A total of forty-two Waffen-SS (armed SS) divisions were used as ground combat units during the
war, even though many of these formations were not even made up of Germans. Their performance
varied considerably. The most effective of these forces were the German SS panzer divisions, which
were larger than their army counterparts because each had six motorized rifle battalions per division,
as compared to four in the army panzer units. They also received the best equipment Germany could
manufacture on a priority basis. Their officers, however, tended to be younger, less experienced, and
less well trained than their army counterparts, although their enthusiasm and zeal often made up for
these deficiencies, and they gained experience as the war progressed. The major deficiency of the
German SS division was their lack of qualified General Staff officers. This inadequacy was never
fully redressed. On the other hand, the men of the German SS divisions fought with a fanaticism not
demonstrated by the average infantry division. The foreign SS divisions varied in quality from good
to virtually useless. In general, the organization of the Waffen-SS divisions was similar to the army
divisions, and they normally fought under army command, although they were responsible to the office
of the Reichsführer-SS in administrative and disciplinary matters.
Waffen SS divisions are covered in Volume Three.
S ources*
Len Deighton, Blitzkrieg: From the Rise of Hitler to the Fall of Dunkirk (1979): p. 175 (hereafter cited as “Deighton”); Richard L. DiNardo, Mechanized Juggernaut or
Military Anachronism? Horses and the German Army of World War II (1991); Gordon A. Harrison, Cross-Channel Attack, United States Army in World War II,
European Theater of Operations, Office of the Chief of M ilitary History (1951): 240 (hereafter cited as “Harrison”); Burkhart M ueller-Hillebrand, Das Heer, 1933–
1945 (1954–69), 3 volumes; Oskar M unzel, Die deutschen Gepanzer Truppen bis 1945 (1965); George F. Nafziger, The German Order of Battle: Infantry in World
War II (2000): 33, 68–69 (hereafter cited as “Nafziger 2000”); Albert Seaton, The Russo-German War, 1941–45 (1970) (hereafter cited as “Seaton”); G. Tornau and F.
Korowski, Sturmartillerie Fels in der Brandung (1965); United States Army M ilitary Intelligence Service, “Order of Battle of the German Army,” War Department
(1942) (hereafter cited as “OB 42”); Ibid 1943 (hereafter cited as “OB 43”); Ibid 1944 (hereafter cited as “OB 44”) and Ibid 1945 (hereafter cited as “OB 45”).
* For complete bibliography, see Volume Three.
CHAPTER 2
The Wehrkreise System
The German Wehrkreis, or military district, had special significance for the German Army division,
because it had responsibility for recruiting, drafting, inducting, and training German soldiers, as well
as for mobilizing divisions and providing them with training and trained replacements. Each German
division was normally associated with a single Wehrkreis. These military districts date back to
imperial times, but the World War II–era Wehrkreise (the plural form of Wehrkreis) go back to 1919,
when the Reichswehr functioned as the Armed Forces Command for the Weimar Republic, which had
replaced the imperial government of the kaiser after World War I. When Hitler rose to power in
1933, he did away with the Republic, dissolved the old Reichswehr, and established the Wehrmacht
(armed forces). Four high commands oversaw the military expansion and later helped direct Hitler’s
war: the High Command of the Army (Oberkommando des Heeres, or OKH); the High Command of
the Navy (Oberkommando der Marine, or OKM); the High Command of the Luftwaffe
(Oberkommando der Luftwaffe, or OKL, which was officially established in 1935); and later the
High Command of the Armed Forces (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht , or OKW), which was
established from the War (formerly Defense) Ministry on February 4, 1938. Hitler, however, had the
foresight to retain the Wehrkreise system, which already had written contingency plans for the
substantial enlargement of the army. At first the various Wehrkreise worked directly under OKH, but
in August 1939 the Home Army (or Replacement Army) was created to oversee and coordinate the
functions of the Wehrkreise; however, it did little to change their actual operations until the fall of
1942. The Wehrkreise have not received the attention of many historians because they did their jobs
so quietly, but ever so thoroughly. The Wehrkreise grew in number during the expansion program,
from seven in 1932 to nineteen in 1943. Map 5 shows the Wehrkreise as they existed in 1939, and
Map 6 shows them in late 1944. Map 7 shows the general regions of Germany.
Although they lost some of their training missions from late 1942 until 1944, the Wehrkreise were
still the primary headquarters to which the German divisions looked for training and—more important
as the war went on—replacements. The Wehrkreise were also responsible for rebuilding and refitting
shattered divisions, a responsibility that also took on more importance as the war continued.
The German Army was mobilized in “waves” of divisions, a process that continued throughout the
war. This process was conducted by the Wehrkreise, under the supervision of the Replacement Army.
Table 2 shows how this process worked for infantry divisions from 1934 until October 1944. After
that point the data becomes extremely jumbled, which is to be expected, considering the state Nazi
Germany was in by late 1944. Despite the confusion, however, the “wave” system continued to
function almost to the end. There were thirty-five numbered mobilization waves in the 1934–March
1945 period.
TABLE 2: GERMAN MOBILIZATION WAVES FOR INFANTRY DIVISIONS, 1934–45
Wave
Formed
Number of
divisions
Division
Series
Comments
1
1934–
1938
39
1–46
Peace-time army units
2
Aug
1939
15
52–87
From reservists
3
Sep
1939
20
206–246
Landwehr (older
personnel)
4
Aug
1939
14
251–269
From reserve units
5
Sep
1939
5
93–98
Reservists
6
Nov
1939
4
81–88
All disbanded, 1940
—-
Nov
1939
5
—-
Frontier Guard Units
(1)
7
Jan
1940
14
161–199
From reserve units (2)
8
Feb
1940
10
290–299
Positional units;
Western Front
Oberrhein
Feb
1940
4
554–557
Disbanded, 1940
9
Mar
1940
10
351–399
Mostly 1940 draft class
Formed from
—-
Jun
1940
4
(3)
Replacement units in
Poland
9
270–280
Formed from
Replacement units
10
Jun
1940
—-
Jun
1940
9
351–395
Formed after French
campaign; older
personnel
11
Oct
1940
10
121–137
For Operation
“Barbarossa”
12
Oct
1940
10
97–113
For Russian campaign
13
Nov
1940
9
302–327
For use in occupied
Western Europe
14
Nov
1940
8
332–342
For use in occupied
Western Europe
15
May
1941
15
702–719
Static; for West and
Balkans
16
Jun
1941
4
201–204
Security divisions
—-
Dec
1941
1
416
For use in Denmark;
older age men
17
Dec
1941
4
328–331
For use in Russia
18
Jan
1942
5
383–389
For use in Russia
19
Apr
1942
4
370–377
Static; For use in
France
20
June
1942
3
38, 39, 65
Assigned to English
Channel coast
—-
Sep
1942
5
343–348
Static divisions for use
in France
Kreimhilde
Nov
1942
3
326–338
Germany, later France
—-
Nov
1942
3
23, 369,
373
Croatia
—-
Feb
1943
13
Various
Bore numbers of
divisions destroyed at
Stalingrad
Brunhilde
& Gisela
Div.s
May
1943
3
282, 355,
356
France
—-
Jun
1943
5
Various
Bore numbers of
divisions destroyed in
Tunisia
—-
Jul–Sep
1943
7
242–266
Static divisions for use
in France
21
Nov–
Dec
1943
10
349–367
New type (n.A.44)
divisions (4)
22
Dec
1943
271–278
From remnants of
disbanded units; used
in West
23
Feb
1944
—-
Grenadier regiments;
later absorbed by 25th
Wave
24
Apr
6
—-
3
68, 331,
From reserve divisions
1944
389
Magen
Jul
1944
1
70
For troops with
stomach problems
25
Feb
1944
6
77–92
For use in West
26
May
1944
4
Named
Shadow divisions;
absorbed by reformed
divisions
27
Jun
1944
5
59–237
Formed from shadow
divisions
Krim
May
1944
3
50, 73, 98
Bore numbers of units
destroyed in the
Crimea; used in Russia
28
Jul
1944
4
Various
Formed from shadow
divisions
29
Jul
1944
13
541–562
Grenadier (later
Volksgrenadier)
divisions
30
Aug
1944
6
12–563
Volksgrenadier
divisions
31
Aug
1944
12
560–572
Grenadier divisions
absorbed later by 32nd
Wave
Sep
1944
Several
divisions of
any previous
wave reformed
as
Volksgrenadier
Divisions
32
Reserve and Security
—-
Oct
1944
33
Jan
1945
—-
Jan
1945
148–462
divisions reformed as
infantry divisions
10
85–716
Burned out divisions
reformed as “Inf Div
45” units
10
Reserve,
training and
replacement
divisions
converted
to infantry
divisions
9
34
Feb
1945
4
Shadow
divisions
converted
to infantry
or VG
divisions
—-
Feb
1945
4
Named
Northern Germany
35
Mar
1945
8
Varied
Four RAD (Reich
Labor Service) and
four infantry div.s
—-
Apr
1945
3
Varied
Rhine sector
NOTES:
(1) Five infantry divisions (50th, 60th, 72nd, 205th and 311th) were formed from frontier guard, Landwehr and police units from October 1939 to January 1, 1940.
These units had no “wave” number. Four independent infantry regiments, numbered 125, 253, 326, and 347, were also formed.
(2) Includes 199th Infantry Division, which was activated in Norway in October 1940. Its three infantry regiments were formed with the other Wave 7 units in early
1940.
(3) Included divisions numbered 100, 200, 300, and 400. All four were dissolved in August 1940.
(4) Divisions assigned to France, Poland, Italy, and the Balkans.
SOURCE: Georg Tessin, Deutsche Verbände und Truppen, 1918–1939 (1974). Georg Tessin, Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im
Zweiten Weltkrieg, 1939–1945 (1979–1986), Vol. 1: 43–103.
Although the strengths of the German infantry divisions fluctuated wildly as the war progressed, the
TOE (Table of Organization and Equipment) strength of the early divisions was fairly standard. The
typical first-wave divisions (those formed prior to mobilization) had 534 officers, 102 Beamte
(officials or warrant officers), 2,701 non-commissioned officers (NCOs—sergeants and corporals),
and 14,397 privates—for a total of 17,734 men. Of these, 78 percent were active duty personnel; 12
percent were Reservist I (with at least one year’s active duty); 6 percent were Reservist II (somewhat
older men who reached age eighteen in the “White Years” [1920–1934], when Germany was
forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles from having a military draft); and 4 percent were Landwehr
(men from the older age groups but with World War I experience).
Second-wave divisions had slightly fewer men: 491 officers, 98 Beamte, 2,273 NCOs, and 12,411
privates—for a total of 15,273 men. Usually second-wave infantry regiments had a heavy mortar
company instead of an infantry gun company. Second-wave divisions did not usually have a field
replacement battalion. Only 6 percent of its men were peacetime active-duty personnel; 83 percent
were Reservist Is.
The standard third-wave division was more like a first-wave division in terms of TOE and had
17,901 men, but less than 1 percent of them were peacetime active-duty personnel. About 12 percent
were Reservist Is, 46 percent were Reservist IIs, and 42 percent were Landwehr. Fourth-wave
divisions had 15,019 men, of whom 9 percent were active-duty personnel, 21 percent were Reservist
Is, 46 percent were Reservist IIs, and 24 percent were Landwehr. Thus the average German infantry
division on the eve of the outbreak of World War II had a total of about 16,000 men. With attached
GHQ (General Headquarters units), some divisions easily topped 20,000 men. This total, of course,
dropped considerably as the war progressed. By late 1944, many corps could not boast 20,000 men.
Prior to the general mobilization of June 1939, each Wehrkreis had two components in its
headquarters: a tactical component, which became a corps headquarters upon mobilization and which
went to the front, and a second or deputy component, which remained at home to direct training and
replacement activities in the territory. This component consisted primarily of older soldiers who
were no longer able to endure the physical hardships of field campaigns, but who were well trained
and perfectly capable of efficiently administering their territories. Table 3 reflects this well, for it
shows the Wehrkreis system as it existed in 1942, along with its commanders and their ages. Note
that the youngest Wehrkreis commander was fifty-eight, and the average commander was in his midsixties—ten to twelve years older than a corps commander at the front. Similar conditions existed in
the subordinate posts. Many positions in the military districts were held by older officers—many of
them World War I veterans—who were no longer fit for the rigors of active campaigning but who
were competent military administrators.
TABLE 3: WEHRKREIS COMMANDERS IN 1942
Wehrkreis
Commander in 1942 (Age in parentheses)
I
General* Peter Weyer (63)
II
General Max Fohrenbach (70)
III
General Baron von Dalwigk zu Lichtenfels (66)
IV
General Erich Wollwarth (70)
V
General Erwin Osswald (60)
VI
General Glokke (58)
VII
General Edmund Wachenfeld (64)
VIII
General Hans Halm (63)
IX
General Rudolf Schniewindt (64)
X
General Walter Raschick (60)
XI
General Wolfgang Muff (62)
XII
General Albrecht Steppuhn (63)
XIII
General Friedrich von Cochenhausen (63)
XVII
General Alfred Streccius (64)
XVIII
General Hubert Schaller-Kallide (60)
XX
General Max Bock (62)
General
Gouvernement
(Poland)
General Walter Petzel (59)
*German general officer ranks began with major general. Divisions were commanded by major generals and lieutenant generals and, occasionally, by colonels.
Wehrkreise and corps were normally commanded by full generals (three stars on the American scale). Higher headquarters were usually commanded by colonel generals
and field marshals. See Appendix 1 in Volume 3 for a table comparing German Army, Waffen-SS, and U.S. Army ranks.
Three Wehrkreise were special-function headquarters and had no territorial responsibilities or
deputy components. Wehrkreis XIV controlled the German motorized infantry divisions; Wehrkreis
XV controlled the light divisions; and Wehrkreis XVI was responsible for the administration and
training of Hitler’s panzer divisions. When they were upgraded to corps headquarters in mid-1939,
these Wehrkreise ceased to exist as such, and their training and replacement functions were taken
over by the remaining Wehrkreise.
The Replacement Army (or Home Army) was created in Berlin on August 26, 1939, to direct and
coordinate the activities of the Wehrkreise, which had been directly under the High Command of the
Army (OKH) until that time. From its beginning until July 20, 1944, it was commanded by Colonel
General Friedrick “Fritz” Fromm and then by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler from July 21, 1944,
until the end of the war. Colonel Count Claus von Stauffenberg, Fromm’s one-eyed, one-armed chief
of staff, was the officer who attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler on July 20, but succeeded only in
wounding him. The effective but weak-kneed and vacillating Fromm turned against the conspirators
and, about midnight on July 20, executed von Stauffenberg, former chief of the Army General Staff
Colonel General Ludwig Beck, and three other officers. This action did not save him, however. Hitler
relieved him of his command, imprisoned him, and had him executed for cowardice on March 19,
1945. None of this, however, disrupted the function of the Wehrkreise, which continued to provide
new divisions and to rebuild old ones until they were overrun by the Allied armies at the end of the
war. Their effectiveness can be gauged by the fact that the German Army grew from 100,000 men in
1935 to more than 4,000,000 by early 1944, and had already suffered more than 2,000,000 casualties
by that date. It is certainly not an exaggeration to state that, had it not been for the Wehrkreise system,
the Third Reich never would have been able to keep its forces in the field for as long as it did.
Because of the close relationship that existed between each German division and its Wehrkreis,
particularly early in the war, a brief description of the organization and operational history of each
Wehrkreis is provided in Volume 3. This discussion, however, may be skipped by those who are
more interested in the histories of the individual divisions. Also, the home Wehrkreis of each
division will be noted in subsequent chapters, because that suggests where many and possibly most of
the division’s personnel originated, as well as where its replacements came from. Table 4 shows the
location of each Wehrkreis in 1942.
TABLE 4: THE WEHRKREISE AND THEIR TERRITORIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Wehrkreis
Headquarters
Territorial Extent
I
Königsberg
East Prussia; extended in 1939 to include
Memel and portions of northern Poland
II
Stettin
Mecklenburg and Pomerania
III
Berlin
Altmark, Neumark, and Brandenburg
IV
Dresden
Saxony and part of Thuringia; later annexed
part of northern Bohemia
V
Stuttgart
Wuerttemberg and part of Baden; extended in
1940 to include Alsace
VI
Munster
Westphalia and Rhineland; later extended into
eastern Belgium
VII
Munich
Southern Bavaria
VIII
Breslau
Silesia and Sudetenland; later parts of Moravia
and southwestern Poland
IX
Kassel
Hessen and part of Thuringia
X
Hamburg
Schleswig-Holstein and northern Hanover;
extended in 1940 to include part of Danish
Slesvig
XI
Hanover
Braunschweig (Brunswick), Anhalt, and most
of Hanover
XII
Wiesbaden
Eifel, the Palatinate, and the Saar; part of
Hesse; extended after the fall of France to
include Lorraine, including the Nancy area
XIII
Nuremberg
Northern Bavaria; extended in 1938 to include
part of western Bohemia
Berlin
No territorial responsibilities; ceased to exist
as a Wehrkreis in 1939; later became
Headquarters, XIV Panzer Corps
Berlin
No territorial responsibilities; ceased to exist
as a Wehrkreis in 1939; later became
Headquarters, 3rd Panzer Army
XIV
XV
XVI
Berlin
No territorial responsibilities; ceased to exist
as a Wehrkreis in 1939; later became
Headquarters, 4th Panzer Army
XVII
Vienna
Northern Austria; extended in 1939 to include
the outhern districts of Czechoslovakia
XVIII
Salzburg
Southern Austria; extended in 1941 to include
the northern parts of Slovenia
XX
Danzig
The former Danzig Free State, the Polish
Corridor, and the western part of East Prussia
General
Gouvernement
Warsaw
Created in 1943 and included central and most
of southern Poland
Bohemia and
Moravia
Prague
Most of what was formerly Czechoslovakia;
created in late 1942
NOTE: The territorial adjustments made by Reichsführer-SS Himmler in late 1944 are not included in this table; they were relatively minor in any event.
The division was the basic tactical unit on the battlefield; however, the divisions were directed by
corps headquarters, which were, in turn, controlled by army headquarters, which were more often
than not directed by army groups. Appendix 3 in Volume 3 provides a thumbnail sketch of the higher
headquarters employed by the German Army and the Waffen-SS in World War II.
Notes and S ources: Fromm’s official title from 1939 to 1944 was chief of Army Equipment and Commander-in-Chief, Replacement Army. Sources on the
Wehrkreise system and its effects on the German war effort include Robert Goralski, World War II Almanac, 1931–1945 (1972); Werner Haupt, Die deutschen
Infanterie-Divisionen, Vol. 2; Aufstellungswelle-Sommer 1939 (1992): 7–8, 63–64, 123–24 (hereafter cited as “Haupt, Infanterie”); Kriegstagebuch des
Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Wehrmachtfuehrungsstab), Bücher I–IV (1961); Nafziger 2000; Georg F. Nafziger, The German Order of Battle, Panzers and
Artillery in World War II (1999) (hereafter cited as “Nafziger 1999”); Georg Tessin, Verbände and Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten
Weltkrieg, 1939–1945 (1973–80), Vol. 1 (hereafter cited as “Tessin”); U.S. Army M ilitary Intelligence Division, “The German Replacement Army (Ersatzheer),” U.S.
War Department (1945) (hereafter cited as “RA “); OB 42; OB 43; OB 45.
CHAPTER 3
The 1st–290th Infantry Divisions*
1ST GRENADIER DIVISION EAST PRUSSIA
Composition: Grenadier Regiment East Prussia 1, Grenadier Regiment East Prussia 2, Artillery
Regiment East Prussia 1, Fusilier Company East Prussia 1, Tank Destroyer Battalion East Prussia 1,
Engineer Company East Prussia 1, Signal Company East Prussia 1
Home Station: Sensburg, Wehrkreis I
This 29th Wave Division was formed on July 24, 1944, in the Prussian Eylau area. On August 6, it
was redesignated 561st Grenadier Division. Its 1st Grenadier Regiment became the 1141st Grenadier
Regiment in the new division; its 2nd Grenadier Regiment became the 1142nd, and its artillery
regiment became the 1561st Artillery Regiment. All of its divisional units received the number 1561,
except the reconnaissance company, which became the 561st Fusilier.
S ources: www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de, Andreas Altenburger, webmaster (hereafter cited as “Lexikon”); Tessin, Vol. 14: 189.
1ST INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 1st Infantry Regiment, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 43rd Infantry Regiment, 1st Artillery
Regiment, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Anti-Tank (later Tank Destroyer) Battalion, 1st Engineer
Battalion, 1st Signal Battalion, 1st Field Replacement Battalion, 1st Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Königsberg, later Insterburg, Wehrkreis I
This division—made up almost entirely of East Prussians—was formed by the expansion of the
historic 1st Infantry Regiment in October 1934, shortly before Hitler officially reintroduced
conscription in Germany. From October 1934 to October 1935, it operated under the code name
Artillieführer I (Artillery Commander—sometimes translated as Artillery Command I, or Arko 1). It
officially became the 1st Infantry Division on October 15, 1935. It maintained a strong traditionalist
flavor and had as its divisional symbol the Hohenzollern coat of arms—the emblem of the ruling
family of Imperial Germany from 1871 to 1918.
The divisional headquarters moved to Insterburg in 1936. In 1939, the division invaded northern
Poland as part of Army Group North. It fought well there, as well as in Belgium and France the
following year, where it suffered 1,051 casualties, including 234 killed. Among the dead was Prince
Wilhelm of Prussia, who was serving as a first lieutenant. The 1st Infantry was earmarked to take part
in the invasion of Great Britain in 1940 and was posted along the Atlantic coast of France until
September, when the invasion was cancelled and it was transported back to East Prussia.
In June 1941, the 1st Infantry Division crossed into Russia with Army Group North and was
heavily engaged in the Baltic States during the drive on Leningrad. By October 1941, its strength had
been reduced by two-thirds; nevertheless, it continued to fight on the northern sector of the Russian
Front, primarily as a part of the 18th Army, for more than two years. During this time, it took part in
the Battle of Lake Peipus, the Battles of Lake Ladoga, and the Battle of the German Corridor (east of
Leningrad), as well as the siege of Leningrad itself. In October 1943, the 1st Infantry was attached to
Army Group South and fought in the Battle of Krivoi Rog in the Dnieper campaign in southern Russia.
Later it saw action in the Ukraine and was encircled with the 1st Panzer Army between the Bug and
the Dnestr rivers in March 1944. In the subsequent breakout it formed the rear guard of the XXXXVI
Panzer Corps and suffered heavy casualties. (See Appendix 4 in Volume 3 for a chronological outline
of the ground war in Europe during World War II.) Later, after a period of rest and rebuilding, it was
sent to the central sector in August 1944. The survivors of the 1st Infantry remained with Army Group
Center and ended the war fighting the Soviets in the division’s home territory of East Prussia,
including the battles of Schlossberg, Königsberg, Samland, and Pillau.
Commanders of the East Prussian 1st Infantry Division included Lieutenant General Georg von
Küchler (assumed command October 1, 1934), Major General/Lieutenant General Walter Schroth
(assumed command October 1, 1935), Major General/Lieutenant General Joachim von Kortzfleisch
(January 1, 1938), Major General/Lieutenant General Philipp Kleffel (April 15, 1940), Major
General Dr. Friedrich Altrichter (July 12, 1941), Kleffel (returned September 4, 1941), Major
General/Lieutenant General Martin Grase (January 16, 1942), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant
General Ernst-Anton von Krosigk (July 1, 1943), Colonel Hans-Joachim Baurmeister (May 10,
1944), von Krosigk (returned June 8, 1944), Major General/Lieutenant General Hans Schittnig
(October 1, 1944), Lieutenant General Henning von Thadden (February 28, 1945), and Colonel Egon
Overbeck (April 26, 1945–end.)
Notes and S ources: Königsberg is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Insterburg is now Cherniakhovsk, Russia. The 1st Field Replacement Battalion became the III/336th
Infantry Regiment (161st Infantry Division) in January 1940. Schroth was promoted to lieutenant general on April 1, 1936. Kortzfleisch was promoted to lieutenant
general on June 1, 1939. Kleffel became a lieutenant general on June 1, 1941. Grase made lieutenant general on January 1, 1943. Krosigk was promoted to major general
on September 1, 1943, and to lieutenant general on August 1, 1944. Schittnig reached the rank of lieutenant general on January 1, 1945. Henning von Thadden was
wounded in action on April 26, 1945, and died in the field hospital at Vordingborg, Denmark in M ay 1945.
Paul Carell, Scorched Earth (1971 edition): 242, 525 (hereafter cited as “Carell 1971”); Theodor Hartmann, Wehrmacht Divisional Signs, 1938–45 (1970): p. 9
(hereafter cited as “Hartmann”); Wolf Keilig, Die Generale des Heeres (1983): 343 (hereafter cited as “Keilig”; Robert M . Kennedy, The German Campaign in Poland
(1919), United States Department of the Army Pamphlet 20-255 (1956): 10B, 74 (hereafter cited as “Kennedy”); Erich von M anstein, Lost Victories (1958), 483
(hereafter cited as “M anstein”); Nafziger 2000: 37; Werner Richter, Die 1. Ostpreussische Infanterie-Division (M unich, 1975), ff. 1; Harrison E. Salisbury, The 900
Days: The Siege of Leningrad (1969), p. 351 (hereafter cited as “Salisbury”); Tessin, Volume 2: 20–21; OB 42: 73; and Earl F. Ziemke, Stalingrad to Berlin: The
German Defeat in the East (1966): 250 (hereafter cited as “Ziemke 1966”).
1ST LIGHT DIVISION
See 6th Panzer Division (Volume Three).
1ST MARINE DIVISION
Composition (February 1945): 1st Marine Rifle Regiment (301st–304th Naval Security
Battalions), 2nd Marine Rifle Regiment (305th–308th Naval Security Battalions), 3rd Marine Rifle
Regiment (309th–312th Naval Security Battalions), 4th Marine Rifle Regiment (313th–316th Naval
Security Battalions)
Home Station: See below
Created in Stettin in February 1945 by the order of Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz, the commanderin-chief of the German Navy, this division was built around Marine (Naval) Security Brigade
“North.” It was turned over to Army Group Vistula by March 1, 1945, and assigned a defensive
sector on the Oder River near Stettin, northeast of Berlin. The army, meanwhile, reorganized it into a
division with three regiments—the 1st, 2nd, and 4th Marine—each with two battalions. It also
included the 1st Marine Division Fusilier Company (later Battalion); the 1st Marine Division
Artillery Regiment (with only one battalion); the 1st Marine Division Tank Destroyer Battalion; the
1st Marine Division Signal Battalion; and the 1st Marine Division Field Replacement Battalion. It
fought its only battle in April 1945, when the Russians made their final push on the capital of the
Reich. The 1st Marine was quickly destroyed in this drive. Those who escaped this debacle managed
to surrender to the British in early May 1945.
The term “marine” in the German military of 1945 did not carry with it the connotation of elitism
that it did (and does) to the American. The commander of Army Group Vistula felt that Grand
Admiral Karl Dönitz, the commander-in-chief of the Navy, was simply trying to impress Hitler by
offering him this division—that Dönitz could not believe this improvised formation would help the
army group in its predicament. This conclusion probably was correct: these men were trained sailors,
not trained infantrymen, and were virtually useless in land battles against the Soviets.
The brigade/division commanders were Rear Admiral Hans Hartmann (November 7, 1944) and
Army Major General Wilhelm Bleckwenn (February 28, 1945).
Notes and S ources: Stettin is now Szczecin, Poland. Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume IV, p. 1,898; Cornelius Ryan, The Last Battle (1966), p. 271; Tessin, Volume
2: 58.
2ND GRENADIER DIVISION EAST PRUSSIA
Composition: Grenadier Regiment East Prussia 3, Grenadier Regiment East Prussia 4, Artillery
Regiment East Prussia 2, Fusilier Company East Prussia 2, Tank Destroyer Battalion East Prussia 2,
Engineer Company East Prussia 2, Signal Company East Prussia 2
Home Station: Stablack, Wehrkreis I
This division was formed on July 24, 1944, in Troop Maneuver Area Stablack. On July 27, it was
redesignated 562nd Grenadier Division. Its 3rd Grenadier Regiment became the 1144th Grenadier
Regiment in the new division; its 4th Grenadier Regiment became the 1145th, and its artillery
regiment became the 1562nd Artillery Regiment. All of its divisional units received the number 1562,
except the reconnaissance company, which became the 562nd Fusilier.
S ources: Lexikon; Tessin, Vol. 14: 189.
2ND INFANTRY DIVISION
See 12th Panzer Division (Volume Three).
2ND LIGHT DIVISION
See 7th Panzer Division (Volume Three).
2ND MARINE DIVISION
Composition: 5th Marine Grenadier Regiment, 6th Marine Grenadier Regiment, 7th Marine
Grenadier Regiment, 2nd Marine Artillery Regiment, 2nd Marine Division Fusilier Battalion, 2nd
Marine Division Tank Destroyer Battalion, 2nd Marine Division Engineer Battalion, 2nd Marine
Division Field Replacement Battalion
Home Station: Glückstadt
Hurriedly formed in the Schleswig-Holstein region of northern Germany from excess naval
personnel in March 1945, this division was sent to the Western Front in the zone south of Bremen on
the Weser River on April 7. Here it fought against the British and took part in the retreat to the Elbe.
It surrendered to the British at the end of the war. The division’s original commander, Vice Admiral
Ernst Scheurlen, assumed command on February 11 and was killed in action on April 8. He was
temporarily succeeded by his senior regimental commander, Naval Captain (Kapitän zur See)
Werner Hartmann, until Scheurlen’s permanent replacement, Army Colonel Count Werner von
Bassewitz-Levetzow, arrived on April 10. Bassewitz led the division in the retreat from the Weser
and surrendered its remnants to the British when the war ended the following month.
Notes and S ources: Hartmann normally commanded the 6th M arine Grenadier Regiment.
Tessin, Volume 2: 129. Also see forum.axishistory.com and Lexikon.
3RD INFANTRY DIVISION
See 3rd Motorized Division (Volume Three).
3RD LIGHT DIVISION
See 8th Panzer Division (Volume Three).
3RD MARINE DIVISION
Composition: 8th Marine Grenadier Regiment, 9th Marine Grenadier Regiment, 10th Marine
Grenadier Regiment, 234th Artillery Regiment, 3rd Marine Division Fusilier Battalion, 3rd Marine
Division Tank Destroyer Battalion, 3rd Marine Division Engineer Battalion, 3rd Marine Division
Signal Battalion, 3rd Marine Division Field Training Battalion
Home Station: Waren
The 3rd Marine Division was formed from the 126th and 128th Naval Security Battalions and the
survivors of the army’s veteran 163rd Infantry Division who had escaped the disaster at Kolberg. The
division was sent to Pomerania, where it formed part of the 3rd Panzer Army and where the army’s
234th Artillery Regiment was assigned to it. It fought in the Swinemuende sector, in the
Sachsenhausen (Oranienburg) Bridgehead, and at Lindow, near Berlin. It surrendered to the Russians
near Kyritz after the capital of the Third Reich fell.
Its commanders were Colonel von Witzleben (April 1–3, 1945) and Colonel/Major General Fritz
Fullriede (April 3, 1945–end).
S ources: Dermont Bradley, Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand and M arcus Roevekamp, Die Generale des Heeres (1993–Present), Vol. 4: 151–53 (hereafter cited as “Bradley
et al.”; Christopher Chant, ed., The Marshall Cavendish Illustrated Encyclopedia of World War II (1972), Volume 17: 2376 (hereafter cited as “Chant”); Lexikon;
Ryan: 271; Tessin, Vol. 2: 198.
4TH INFANTRY DIVISION
See 14th Panzer Division (Volume Three).
4TH LIGHT DIVISION
See 9th Panzer Division (Volume Three).
5TH INFANTRY DIVISION
See 5th Jaeger Division (Volume Two).
5TH LIGHT DIVISION
See 21st Panzer Division (Volume Three).
6TH INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION
Composition: 18th Infantry Regiment, 37th Infantry Regiment, 58th Infantry Regiment, 6th Artillery
Regiment, 6th Reconnaissance Battalion, 6th Anti-Tank (later Tank Destroyer) Battalion, 6th Engineer
Battalion, 6th Signal Battalion, 6th Field Replacement Battalion, 6th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Bielefeld, Wehrkreis VI
This Rhineland-Westphalian division was created at Münster in the Reichsheer reorganization of
1921. Its personnel were mainly Westphalians but included some East Prussians and Rhinelanders.
Cadres from the 6th Infantry Division were later used to form several other divisions. The 6th was
sent to the Saar sector (Western Front) when World War II broke out and first saw heavy action in
France in 1940, where it earned a reputation as an effective fighting unit. It remained in western
France on garrison duty until March 1941, when it was sent to East Prussia. In June 1941 it took part
in the invasion of Russia as part of the 9th Army, Army Group Center. The division took part in heavy
fighting on the drive to Moscow but managed to cross the Volga River at Kalinin, north of the Russian
capital, in late November. It was in an exposed position when the Soviet winter offensive began,
holding sixteen miles of frontage when the average division supposedly could hold only six miles
successfully against a determined assault. The 6th nevertheless repulsed several Soviet attacks and
gave ground only gradually, while both inflicting and sustaining heavy casualties.
German 88mm anti-aircraft gun in action. Although originally designed for air defense, it also proved to be an excellent anti-tank gun. A
similar model formed the main battle gun for the Tiger tanks. This gun has already knocked out about a dozen enemy tanks, as seen by
the victory bands on the barrel of the gun.
HITM ARCHIVE
The 6th Infantry remained with Army Group Center for the next two and a half years. In 1942 it
fought in the defensive battles of the Rzhev salient and in March of the following year took part in the
9th Army’s brilliant retreat from the Rzhev bulge, a maneuver that freed a dozen divisions from a very
exposed position. In July 1943, after a brief rest period at Smolensk, it saw action at Kursk and Orel
and in the defensive battles on the middle Dnieper. It was smashed near Mogilev during the Soviet
summer offensive of 1944, which also shattered Army Group Center. Most of the division was
surrounded with the XXXV Corps and forced to surrender.
Enough of the 6th escaped, however, for the High Command to recommission a skeleton division in
the autumn of 1944. It was organized in Troop Maneuver Area ( Truppenübungsplatz) Sennelager
(near Paderborn) from Rhinelanders and Westphalians. The new division included 1,100 survivors of
the old 6th Infantry Division (mostly returning wounded) plus the entire 552nd Grenadier Division,
with which it was merged to form the 6th Volksgrenadier Division. It included the 18th, 37th and 58th
Grenadier Regiments, the 6th Artillery Regiment, and the 6th Engineer Battalion. Its grenadier
regiments, however, only had two understrength battalions each. Initially designated the 6th Grenadier
Division on July 25, 1944, it became the 6th Volksgrenadier Division on October 9. Meanwhile, it
added the 6th Fusilier Battalion, the 6th Fla (light anti-aircraft) Company, the 6th Tank Destroyer
Battalion and the 1006th Assault Gun Battalion to its table of organization. The rebuilt 6th—which
was never more than a battle group—was sent back to the Eastern Front and took part in the retreat
through Poland. It fought at Warsaw and Radom and was in action on the Vistula in December 1944.
In the last campaign the remnants of the 6th Volksgrenadier fought in Silesia and Bohemia, and was
part of Field Marshal Ferdinand Schoerner’s army group, which was surrounded by the Russians at
Deutsch-Brod, east of Prague, Czechoslovakia, in late April and May 1945. It surrendered to the Red
Army on May 8, 1945.
Commanders of the 6th Infantry/Volksgrenadier Division were Major General Wilhelm Keitel
(assumed command October 1, 1934), Major General/Lieutenant General Walter Kuntze (September
15, 1935), Lieutenant General Baron Arnold von Biegeleben (March 1, 1938), Colonel Elder
Alexander von Daniels (acting commander, July 26, 1940), Biegeleben (returned, August 13, 1940),
Colonel Alexander von Hartmann (October 11, 1940), Major General Hans-Joachim von Stumpfeld
(October 12, 1940), Lieutenant General Helge Auleb (October 14, 1940), Colonel/Major
General/Lieutenant General Horst Grossmann (January 7, 1942), Major General Egon von Neindorf
(December 16, 1943), Colonel Alexander Conrady (January 12, 1944), Colonel Guenther Klammt
(January 19, 1944), Grossmann (February 1944), Lieutenant General Walter Heyne (May 19, 1944),
Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Otto-Hermann Brücker (July 15, 1944), and Major
General Friedrich-Wilhelm Liegmann (May 4, 1945).
Notes and S ources: The 6th Field Replacement Battalion was sent to the 196th Infantry Division in January 1940, where it became the I/362nd Infantry Regiment (I
Battalion/362nd Infantry Regiment). Kuntze was promoted to lieutenant general on August 1, 1936. Baron von Biegeleben died of natural causes in France on October
11, 1940. Horst Grossmann was promoted to major general on January 1, 1942, and to lieutenant general on January 1, 1943. Hans-Walter Heyne was captured on
June 29, 1944. Brücker was promoted to major general on October 1, 1944, and to lieutenant general on April 20, 1945.
Paul Carell, Hitler Moves East, 1941–43 (1966): 196, 357 (hereafter cited as “Carell 1966”); Carell 1971: 25–26, 309, 314, 597; Horst Grossmann, Geschichte der
rheinisch-westfälischen 6. Infanterie-Division, 1939–1945 (1958): ff. 1; Kennedy: 10B; Lexikon; M anstein: 134; Nafziger 2000: 40–41; Tessin, Vol. 3: 13–14; OB 42:
73; OB 43: 126.
7TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 19th Infantry Regiment, 61st Infantry Regiment, 62nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Artillery
Regiment, 7th Reconnaissance Battalion, 7th Anti-Tank (later Tank Destroyer) Battalion, 7th Engineer
Battalion, 7th Signal Battalion, 7th Field Replacement Battalion, 7th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Munich, Wehrkreis VII
The 7th Infantry was a Bavarian unit, originally formed in the Reichsheer reorganization of 1921.
The division which distinguished itself on so many World War II battlefields, however, originated
from that part of the division which was codenamed “Artillery Leader VII” in October 1934. It
officially became the 7th Infantry Division on October 15, 1935, some months after Hitler denounced
the Treaty of Versailles and began Germany’s military expansion. After 1940, the 638th Infantry
Regiment, a volunteer force of French legionnaires under Colonel Roger Labonne, was attached to the
division. Called “a good fighting division” by American intelligence, the 7th Infantry was heavily
engaged in southern Poland in September 1939. It was then posted to the Lower Rhine in October. In
the French campaign the following year, the 7th fought the British Expeditionary Force in Belgium but
went into reserve after the fall of Dunkirk and was not subsequently engaged in the West. In
December 1940, each of the division’s grenadier regiments gave up a battalion to the 97th Infantry
Division. These were never replaced.
The division was on occupation duty in northern France until April 1941, when it was sent back to
Poland. In June it took part in the invasion of Russia with Army Group Center and fought in the siege
of Mogilev on the upper Dnieper, as well as in the battles of Bialystok, Minsk, Smolensk, and
Vyasma (Vjasma). Later it was involved in the final thrust toward Moscow and in the ensuing Russian
counteroffensive that saved Stalin’s capital. The division spent 1942 on the relatively quiet central
sector at Gshatsk and Spas-Demyansk and took part in the Kursk offensive as part of the 9th Army. It
managed to escape the near-annihilation of Army Group Center in the summer of 1944 and conducted
a fighting retreat across the Bug and Narev (Narew) and through Poland that fall. It finally was cut off
by the last Soviet offensive and ended the war isolated behind Russian lines on the Hela peninsula, at
the mouth of the Vistula, where it surrendered on May 8, 1945.
The 7th Infantry’s divisional commanders included Major General Otto Tscherning (assumed
command April 1, 1934), Major General/Lieutenant General Franz Halder (October 1, 1934), Major
General/Lieutenant General Otto Hartmann (October 1, 1936), Major General Karl Bornemann (April
1, 1938), Major General Eugen Ott (August 1, 1939), Major General/Lieutenant General Baron
Eccard von Gablenz (October 1, 1939), Major General Ernst Pauer von Arlau (December 13, 1941),
Major General Hans Jordan (December 29, 1941), Colonel Edmund Hoffmeister (October 20, 1942),
Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Fritz-Georg von Rappard (November 1, 1942), Colonel
Wilhelm Rademacher (April 7, 1943), Rappard (April 26, 1943), Colonel Carl Andre (October 2,
1943), Major General Gustav Gihr (December 1, 1943), and Rappard (December 8, 1943–end).
After the 199th Grenadier Regiment of the 57th Infantry Division was destroyed, the 7th Division’s
19th Grenadier Regiment bore the honorary title “Infantry Regiment List,” in honor of Adolf Hitler’s
World War I regimental commander.
Notes and S ources: The 7th Field Replacement Battalion became the III/339th Infantry Regiment of the 167th Infantry Division in January 1940. Halder was
promoted to lieutenant general on August 1, 1936. He later served as chief of the General Staff (1938–42). Hartmann became a lieutenant general on M arch 1, 1938.
Gablenz reached the same rank on August 1, 1940. Rappard was promoted to major general on November 1, 1942, and to lieutenant general on M ay 1, 1943. He
surrendered the division to the Soviets, who hanged him in 1946. Colonel Alois Weber reportedly briefly served as acting commander of the division in August 1944.
Carell 1966: 86, 330, 350; Carell 1971: 26; Chant, Volume 18: 2381, 2393; Hartmann: 10; Wilhelm Hertlein, Chronik der 7. Infanterie-Division (1984); Keilig: 147,
160; Andris Kursietis, Wehrmacht at War, 1939–45 (1998), 88 (hereafter cited as “Kursietis”); M anstein: 52; M ehner, Vol. 12: 451; Nafziger 2000: 42–43; Tessin,
Vol. 3: 56–57; OB 42: 73; OB 43: 127; OB 45: 141.
8TH INFANTRY DIVISION
See 8th Jäger Division (Volume Two).
9TH INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION
Composition (1942): 36th Infantry Regiment, 57th Infantry Regiment, 116th Infantry Regiment, 9th
Artillery Regiment, 9th Reconnaissance Battalion, 9th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 9th Engineer
Battalion, 9th Signal Battalion, 9th Field Replacement Battalion, 9th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Giessen, Wehrkreis IX
This peacetime division was formed in Giessen in October 1934 under the codename “Infantry
Leader V” and consisted of soldiers from Hessen-Nassau. It officially became the 9th Infantry
Division on October 15, 1935. Upon mobilization in August 1939, it was sent to the Saar Front and
helped guard Germany’s exposed western flank while Germany’s main armies overran Poland. It
later fought well in western Luxembourg, Belgium and France as part of Panzer Group von Kleist
(1940). It was on occupation duty in western France until March 1941, when it was transferred to
southern Poland. Beginning in July 1941, the 9th Infantry spent three years on the southern sector of
the Eastern Front. It crossed the Bug, fought at Zhitomir and in the breaching of the Stalin Line in July,
and in the 1941 Ukraine campaign that climaxed with the fall of Kiev. It then pushed on across the
Donets, faced the Soviet winter offensive of 1941–42, and fought at Isjum (Izyum) (May 1942), on the
Crimea (July), at Rostov (August), and in the Caucasus campaign of 1942–43. Later it fought at
Novorossisk and in the Kuban, as well as at Melitopol (1943) and in the Nikopol Bridgehead. It was
down to battle group strength by October 23, 1943, when it was reorganized. Each of its infantry
regiments (now dubbed grenadier regiments) lost their III Battalions, and its reconnaissance battalion
became a fusilier battalion (indicating the presence of a large number of bicycles). In May 1944 it
was involved in the Second Battle of Uman, and in August it was cut off and almost completely
destroyed at Kischinev in the Romanian debacle.
The remnants of the veteran division were sent to the Ossboel-Esbjerg area of Denmark, where
they absorbed the partially formed Dennewitz (584th) Grenadier Division. The 9th reemerged in the
Ardennes offensive in late 1944 as a Volksgrenadier division; however, its former esprit de corps
was gone. The 9th continued to fight in the West, opposing the American thrust across Luxembourg
and then southern Germany, but with little success. In April 1945, the remnants of the unit (which
consisted mainly of the divisional commander and his staff, since almost all of the combat units had
been destroyed) were attached to the 352nd Volksgrenadier Division and defended Franconia and
Nuremberg as part of the XIII SS Corps. After this battle the survivors of the division surrendered to
the Americans on May 8, 1945.
The commanders of the 9th Infantry/Volksgrenadier included Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant
General Erwin Osswald (assumed command, April 1, 1934), Major General/Lieutenant General
Erich Lüdke (October 1, 1934), Osswald (March 7, 1936), Lieutenant General Georg von Apell
(November 4, 1938), Lieutenant General Erwin Vierow (August 1, 1940), Major General/Lieutenant
General Baron Siegmund von Schleinitz (January 6, 1941), Major General/Lieutenant General
Friedrich Hofmann (August 20, 1943), Colonel Otto-Hermann Brücker (May 1, 1944),
Colonel/Major General Werner Gebb (June 16, 1944), and Colonel/Major General of Reserves
Werner Kolb (November 1, 1944–end).
Notes and S ources: In January 1940, the 9th Field Replacement Battalion was transferred to the 169th Infantry Division and was used to form the 378th Infantry
Regiment. Osswald was promoted to major general on M ay 1, 1934, and to lieutenant general on April 1, 1936. Lüdke became a lieutenant general on November 1,
1935. Schleinitz was promoted to lieutenant general on December 1, 1942. Hofmann reached the same rank on December 1, 1943. Gebb was promoted to major general
on July 1, 1944. He was captured by the Russians in August 1944 and, like a great many officers taken prisoner on the Eastern Front, joined the anti-Nazi National
Free Germany Committee. He died in a Soviet prison in 1952. Werner Kolb was promoted to major general of reserves on February 1, 1945.
Carell 1966: 557; Hugh M . Cole, The Ardennes: The Battle of the Bulge, United States Army in World War II, European Theater of Operations, Office of the Chief of
M ilitary History (1965): 641–42 (hereafter cited as “Cole 1965”); M anstein: 423, Oberkommando des Heeres (German Army High Command), Chief of the
Replacement Army (Ersatz), “Frontnachweiser,” 15 December 1944 (hereafter cited as “Frontnachweiser”); Tessin, Vol. 3: 131–33; OB 42: 71; OB 43: 127; OB 44:
177–78; OB 45: 141–42.
10TH INFANTRY DIVISION
See 10th Panzer Grenadier Division (Volume Three).
11TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 2nd Infantry Regiment, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 44th Infantry Regiment, 11th
Artillery Regiment, 11th Reconnaissance Battalion, 11th Anti-Tank Battalion, 11th Engineer
Battalion, 11th Signal Battalion, 11th Field Replacement Battalion, 11th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Allenstein, Wehrkreis I
Formed in October 1934 by the expansion of the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the old Reichswehr, the
11th Infantry consisted of personnel from East Prussia and the Rhineland. It was initially codenamed
Staff, Infantry Leader I but was redesignated 11th Infantry Division on October 15, 1935. It
participated in the Polish campaign, where it fought as part of the 3rd Army, Army Group North. In
January 1940, its 11th Field Replacement Battalion became the II/364th Infantry Regiment of the
161st Infantry Division. After the French campaign, in which it played a minor role, it was transferred
to the Atlantic coast of France until March 1941, when it returned to East Prussia. The 11th took part
in the initial invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 and, except for a brief period of rest and
reorganization in Greece in 1943, remained in the East until the end of the war. The division took part
in the sweep across the Baltic States in 1941, the Siege of Leningrad, the Battle of Zoltsy, and in the
fighting north of Lake Ladoga. Later, it helped repulse the Soviet offensive south of Lake Ladoga in
1943.
After rebuilding in Greece (where it was reduced from nine to six grenadier battalions), it went
back into action in northern Russia, fought in the battles of Narva, Pernau, and Riga, and took part in
the withdrawal from Leningrad to western Latvia. Finally, it was cut off in the Courland Pocket when
the Russians penetrated to the Baltic Sea in the fall of 1944 and was still there when Adolf Hitler
committed suicide on April 30, 1945. A few days later, however, much of the division (along with a
good part of the 14th Panzer Division) was evacuated from the Courland Pocket by the German Navy
on the last available ships and sent to Kiel, thus avoiding Russian captivity. It was selected for
evacuation by Colonel General Karl Hilpert, the commander-in-chief of Army Group Courland,
because of its outstanding service as a “fire-fighter” division in the desperate winter battles of 1944–
45, during which the Soviets made six unsuccessful attempts to crush the pocket. The remainder of the
division surrendered to the Red Army on May 8, 1945.
The 11th Infantry was commanded at various times by Major General/Lieutenant General Günther
von Niebelschütz (assumed command October 1, 1935), Lieutenant General Max Bock (April 1,
1937), Major General/Lieutenant General Herbert von Böckmann (October 26, 1939), Colonel/Major
General/Lieutenant General Siegfried Thomaschki (January 26, 1942), Major General Karl-Albrecht
von Groddeck (July 10, 1943), Thomaschki (July 30, 1943), Lieutenant General Karl Burdack
(September 7, 1943), Lieutenant General Hellmuth Reymann (April 1, 1944), and Major
General/Lieutenant General Gerhard Feyerabend (November 18, 1944–end).
Notes and S ources: Niebelschütz was promoted to lieutenant general on October 1, 1935. Böckmann was promoted to lieutenant general on August 1, 1940.
Thomaschki was elevated to major general on M arch 1, 1942, and to lieutenant general on January 1, 1943. Feyerabend became a lieutenant general on M arch 1, 1945.
Werner Buxa, Weg und Schicksal der 11. Infanterie-Division (1952); Carell 1971: 260; Kennedy: 74; Kursietis: 92; M anstein: 196; Nafziger 2000: 48; Tessin, Vol. 3:
198–99; Juergen Thorwald, Defeat in the East (1980): 288 (hereafter cited as “Thorwald”); OB 45: 142.
11TH MARINE DIVISION
Composition: 111th Marine Rifle Regiment, 112th Marine Rifle Regiment, 113th Marine Rifle
Regiment, assorted divisional troops
The 11th Marine Division was formed in the Netherlands in March 1945. Its 111th Regiment came
from the 14th Schiffs-Stamm-Abt. (14th Ships Cadre Battalion) at Berda; the 112th was the former
16th Cadre Battalion at Bergen op Zoom; and the 113th descended from the 20th Ships Cadre
Battalion at Ede. The divisional staff was the former Staff, 2nd Ships Cadre Regiment at Beverloo. It
was attached to the army’s Corps Detachment Diestel of the 25th Army. The division was never
properly formed and as of April 12 was still badly organized. For that reason it was disbanded and
its infantry battalions were handed over to army units. The commander of the 11th Marine Division
was Naval Captain Hans Ahlmann.
S ources: Axis History Forum, forum.axishistory.com; Tessin, Vol. 3: 213.
12TH INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION
Composition: 27th Fusilier Regiment, 48th Infantry Regiment, 89th Infantry Regiment, 12th
Artillery Regiment, 12th Reconnaissance Battalion, 12th Anti-Tank (later Tank Destroyer) Battalion,
12th Engineer Battalion, 12th Signal Battalion, 12th Field Replacement Battalion, 12th Divisional
Supply Troops
Home Station: Schwerin, Wehrkreis II
A Mecklenberg unit stationed in Pomerania prior to the start of the war, the 12th Infantry was
formed in Schwerin under the codename Infantry Leader II (Infanterieführer II), a term which (in
German) referred to the deputy (infantry) commander of the 2nd Infantry Division or to his
headquarters. (Prior to 1935, each German infantry division had two deputy commanders: an infantry
leader and an artillery leader.) The division was officially designated the 12th Infantry Division on
October 15, 1935, and was sent to East Prussia in late July 1939. It participated in almost every
major campaign of World War II. The 12th Infantry Division distinguished itself in Poland and later
in the French campaign where it beat back a French attempt to cut the “panzer corridor,” and relieve
the main British and French armies, which were trapped in Belgium. The 12th remained in France on
occupation duty until May 1941, when it was sent back to East Prussia. In June the 12th invaded
Russia with the 16th Army and played a part in the capture of Dvinsk and the sweep across northern
Russia, but was checked outside Leningrad. The next year, the division was the main force in the
relief of the II Corps trapped in the Demyansk Pocket. The division spent most of the Russian
campaign in the northern sector, fighting at Demyansk, Nevel, and Vitebsk. By September 1943, its
three grenadier regiments each had only two battalions left. It was smashed by the Soviet summer
offensive of 1944 and was forced to surrender to the Russians in July 1944, after Army Group Center
had been annihilated in the Minsk-Vitebsk encirclements. None of the combat elements of the 12th
Infantry Division escaped the disaster that overtook the army group.
The 12th Infantry was rebuilt in East Prussia in the late summer and autumn of 1944, and was
brought up to a strength of 14,800 men. It was also fully equipped, which was rare for a rebuilt unit in
the fifth year of the war. Redesignated a Volksgrenadier division, the 12th was sent to Aachen on the
Western Front in mid-September, under the command of Colonel Gerhard Engel, Hitler’s former
adjutant who turned out to be a very capable combat commander. The 12th fought in the Ardennes as
part of the I SS Panzer Corps, and American military intelligence reported that it was the best infantry
division in the 6th Panzer Army. It remained on the Western Front after the 6th Panzer Army went
East, and in February 1945 was opposing the U.S. 9th Army’s advance across the Roer. By now,
however, the 12th Volksgrenadier was a burned-out force, and its resistance was crumbling. It ended
up in the Ruhr Pocket, where it was finally destroyed along with the rest of Army Group B in April
1945.
The division’s last commander, Major General König, was captured at Wuppertalon April 18,
1945. He had assumed command only six days before. Previous commanders of the division were:
Lieutenant General Wilhelm Ulex (assumed command October 1, 1935), Major General/Lieutenant
General Albrecht Schubert (October 12, 1936), Major General Ludwig von der Leyen (March 10,
1940), Major General/Lieutenant General Walter von Seydlitz-Kurzbach (March 10, 1940), Colonel
Karl Hernekamp (January 1, 1942), Major General/Lieutenant General Baron Kurt-Jürgen von
Lützow (March 9, 1942), Colonel Wilhelm Lorenz (July 11, 1942), Major General Edgar Roehricht
(July 15, 1942), Lützow (July 20, 1942), Colonel Gerhard Müller (October 2, 1942), Lützow
(December 1942), Lieutenant General Curt Jahn (May 25, 1944), Lieutenant General Rudolf Bamler
(June 1, 1944), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Gerhard Engel (June 28, 1944), Major
General Guenther Rohr (November 1, 1944), Engel (November 1944), Colonel Rudolf Langhäuser
(January 1, 1945), Engel (February 1945), and König (April 12, 1945).
Notes and S ources: The 12th Field Replacement Battalion became the III/303rd Infantry Regiment of the 162nd Infantry Division in January 1940. Schubert was
promoted to lieutenant general on M arch 1, 1938. Leyer reached that rank on June 1, 1938. Walter von Seydlitz-Kurzbach was promoted to lieutenant general on
December 1, 1941. Baron von Luetzow became a lieutenant general as of January 1, 1943. General Bamber was captured at the end of June 1944. Like von SeydlitzKurzbach and von Lützow, he joined the National Free Germany Committee. Colonel Gerhard M üller commanded the division briefly in 1942, but the exact dates are
not clear. Gerhard Engel, who had been Hitler’s adjutant since 1937, was promoted to major general on November 1, 1944, and to lieutenant general on April 1, 1945.
He was seriously wounded in the latter stages of the Battle of the Bulge (on January 1, 1945), but returned to duty in February 1945. König was simultaneously
commander of the 272nd Volksgrenadier Division.
British M ilitary Intelligence Interrogation Report CSDIC (U.K.), SRGG 1197 (c), dated 4 M ay 1945, Air University Archives, Historical Research Center, M axwell
Air Force Base, Alabama (hereafter cited as “Air University Files”); Carell 1966: 596; Carell 1971: 288, 301; Guy Chapman, Why France Fell: The Defeat of the
French Army in 1940, 1968: 130 (hereafter cited as “Chapman”); Cole 1965: 81,132; Hartmann: 10–11; Keilig: 82; Kennedy: 74; Kursietis: 93; Lexicon; Charles B.
M acDonald, The Last Offensive, United States Army in World War II, The European Theater of Operations, Office of the Chief of M ilitary History (1973): 27, 159;
Charles B. M acDonald, The Siegfried Line Campaign, United States Army in World War II, The European Theater of Operations, Office of the Chief of M ilitary
History (1963): 71, 87–88, 283, 410 (hereafter M acDonald’s Siegfried Line will be cited as “M acDonald 1963” and his Last Offensive as “M acDonald 1973”);
Nafziger 2000: 50–51; Hermann Teske, Bewegungskrieg: Führungsprobleme einer Infanterie-Division im Westfeldzug, 1940 (1955); Tessin, Vol. 3: 234–36; OB 42: 74;
OB 43: 128; OB 44: 178; OB 45: 142–43.
13TH INFANTRY DIVISION
See 13th Panzer Division (Volume Three).
14TH INFANTRY DIVISION
See 14th Motorized Division (Volume Three).
14TH LANDWEHR DIVISION
Composition: 33rd Landwehr Infantry Regiment, 40th Landwehr Infantry Regiment, 59th Landwehr
Infantry Regiment, 182nd Landwehr Infantry Regiment, 14th Landwehr Artillery Battalion, 14th
Landwehr Reconnaissance Battalion, 14th Landwehr Anti-Tank Battalion, 14th Landwehr Engineer
Battalion, 14th Landwehr Signal Battalion
Home Station: Wehrkreis V
This division was activated at Karlsruhe, Offenburg, Freiburg and Mülheim on August 26, 1939, to
guard parts of Germany’s western border against France attack while the main armies overran
Poland. Its men were older age (Landwehr) personnel with limited training. The division staff came
from the 7th Army Depot at Freiburg. The 33rd Landwehr Infantry Regiment was attached to the 35th
Infantry Division until September 25, 1939.
A German half-track (with crew inside) tows an 88mm anti-aircraft gun into position.
HITM ARCHIVE
The 14th Landwehr was posted to the Upper Rhine as part of the 7th Army during the “Phony War”
of 1939–40. It was redesignated the 205th Infantry Division on January 1, 1940, and its 40th, 59th,
and 182nd Regiments became the 335th, 353rd, and 358th Infantry Regiments, respectively. On
January 17, 1940, the 33rd Landwehr became the 326th Infantry Regiment of the 198th Infantry
Division. All of the 14th Landwehr’s other units were transferred to the 205th Infantry Division,
except the 14th Reconnaissance Battalion, which was dissolved. The commander of the 14th
Landwehr Division, Major General/Lieutenant General Ernst Richter, became commander of the
205th Infantry Division.
Notes and S ources: Richter was promoted to lieutenant general on October 1, 1939.
Keilig: 275; Tessin, Vol. 3: 295; Peter Schmitz, Klaus-Juergen Thies, Guenter Wegmann, and Christian Zweng, Die deutschen Divisionen, 1939–1945 (1993), Band
(Volume) 3: 117–18 (hereafter cited as “Schmitz et al.”).
15TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 81st Infantry Regiment, 88th Infantry Regiment, 106th Infantry Regiment, 15th
Artillery Regiment, 15th Reconnaissance Battalion, 15th Anti-Tank Battalion, 15th Engineer
Battalion, 15th Signal Battalion, 15th Field Replacement Battalion, 15th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Würzburg (1935–36), then Frankfurtam Main, Wehrkreis IX
The 15th Infantry Division was formed on October 2, 1934, under the codename “Artillery Leader
V” with troops recruited from the Main-Franconia region. It was designated 15th Infantry Division on
October 15, 1935. Later it was augmented with Austrians after that country became part of the Reich.
The division did not participate in the invasion of Poland and was relatively lightly engaged in
France. In November 1940, three of its infantry battalions were detached to the 113th Infantry
Division; all three were reformed as new battalions. The division first saw heavy action in the
Russian campaign of 1941, where the 15th took part in the Battle of Minsk, the siege of Mogilev, and
the battles of Smolensk, Yelnya (Jelnja), Vyasma (Vyazma), and Moscow as part of Army Group
Center. Later it foughts in the Battle of the Yelnya Bend and Gshatsk before being rotated back to La
Rochelle, France, prior to the start of the Soviet winter offensive.
The 15th Infantry remained in France until after the fall of Stalingrad, but in early February 1943,
the High Command ordered the division to embark for Russia. On February 9, it was on the Atlantic
coast; nine days later it was back in action on the Eastern Front, where it remained for the rest of the
war. After fighting at Kharkov and in the Donets as part of the 4th Panzer Army, the division suffered
heavy losses at the Battle of Dnepropetrovsk in the summer of 1943. Reorganized as a six grenadier
battalion unit, it fought in the battles of the southern Ukraine (including Krivoy Rog and Uman) and, in
August 1944, was encircled at Kischinev, Romania, west of the lower Dnestr. It broke out, but
suffered such serious losses that it had to be completely rebuilt. All of its grenadier regiments were
reduced to two understrength battalions. Nevertheless, the 15th Infantry—now at battle group strength
—was back in the line by October, opposing the Soviet advance through northern Hungary and
Slovakia. By March 1945 it was reportedly in remnants. The next month it was surrounded—along
with most of Army Group Center—in the large pocket at Deutsch-Brod (just north of Brunn [Brno]
and east of Prague) and was there when the war ended. It surrendered to the Soviets on May 5.
Commanders of the 15th Infantry Division included Lieutenant General Friedrich-Wilhelm “Fritz”
Brandt (assumed command October 15, 1935), Major General/Lieutenant General Emil von Leeb
(March 15, 1936), Major General Walter Behschnitt (April 1, 1939), Major General/Lieutenant
General Friedrich-Wilhelm von Chappuis (October 6, 1939), Lieutenant General Ernst-Eberhard Hell
(August 12, 1940), Colonel Alfred Schreiber (January 8, 1942), Colonel Bronislaw Pawel (January
8, 1942), Schreiber (January 23, 1942), Pawel (February 3, 1942), Major General/Lieutenant
General Erich Buschenhagen (June 18, 1942), Colonel Rudolf Hirt (September 30, 1943),
Buschenhagen (October 2, 1943), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Rudolf Sperl
(November 20, 1943), Colonel Ottomar Babel (August 21, 1944), and Colonel/Major General Hans
Laengenfelder (October 17, 1944).
Notes and S ources: The 15th Field Replacement Battalion became the III/392nd Infantry Regiment of the 169th Infantry Division in January 1940. In December
1943, the 81st Grenadier Regiment was attached to the 1st Hungary Army and was replaced by the 1236th Grenadier Regiment. The unit was redesignated the 81st
Grenadier Regiment in M arch 1944. Leeb was promoted to lieutenant general on August 1, 1937. Chappuis was promoted to lieutenant general on January 1, 1940.
Buschenhagen reached the same rank on M ay 1, 1943. Colonel Hirt’s normal position was commander of the 15th Artillery Regiment. Sperl was promoted to major
general on February 1, 1944, and to lieutenant general on August 1, 1944. Laengenfelder became a major general on January 1, 1945. He was captured on M ay 10,
1945, and was in Soviet prisons until October 1955. The town of Deutsch-Brod was later renamed Havlickuv-Brod and is in the Czech Republic.
Carell 1966: 86, 92; Carell 1971: 200, 205; Keilig: 59; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1145–46; Lexikon; Nafziger 2000: 54; Scheibert: 157; Tessin, Vol. 4: 6–7;
OB 43: 128; OB 44: 179; OB 45: 144. For part of the Hungarian campaign of late 1944/early 1945, the remnants of the 27th Hungarian Light Infantry Division were
under the division’s command (Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume IV: 1884).
16TH INFANTRY DIVISION (#1)
Composition: 60th Infantry Regiment, 64th Infantry Regiment, 79th Infantry Regiment, 16th
Artillery Regiment, 16th Reconnaissance Battalion, 16th Anti-Tank Battalion, 16th Engineer
Battalion, 16th Signal Battalion, 16th Field Replacement Battalion, 16th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Münster, Wehrkreis VI
This peacetime division formed in October 1934, and was made up of Westphalians and Prussians.
Initially codenamed “Commandant of Münster,” it became the 16th Infantry Division on October 15,
1935. It was sent to the Lower Rhine in September 1939 and was stationed on the Saar Front that
winter. The 16th Infantry took part in the invasion of France in 1940, pushed through Luxembourg, and
supported the panzers in the decisive Battle of Sedan in May. After this campaign it returned to
Germany and was divided: part formed the nucleus of the 16th Panzer Division and part the base for
the 16th Motorized Infantry Division. It ceased to exist on August 6, 1940. Its commanders included
Major General Gotthard Heinrici (assumed command October 1, 1937), Major General Heinrich
Krampf (February 1, 1940), and Colonel/Major General Hans Valentin Hube (June 1, 1940).
See also 16th Panzer Division and 116th Panzer Grenadier Division, both in Volume Three.
Notes and S ources: The 16th Field Replacement Battalion was transferred to the 196th Infantry Division as the III/362nd Infantry Regiment in January 1940. Hube
was promoted to major general on June 1, 1940.
Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume II: 1453; Nafziger 2000: 55; Tessin, Vol. 4: 30–31; OB 45: 144.
16TH INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION (#2)
Composition: 21st Grenadier Regiment, 223rd Grenadier Regiment, 225th Grenadier Regiment,
1316th Artillery Regiment, 1316th Fusilier Battalion, 1316th Engineer Battalion, 1316th Tank
Destroyer Battalion, 1316th Signal Battalion, 1316th Field Replacement Battalion, 1316th Divisional
Supply Troops
Home Station: Wehrkreis VIII
The second 16th Infantry Division was formed behind the Western Front on August 4, 1944, when
the remnants of the 16th Luftwaffe Field Division and the 158th Reserve Division were consolidated
under its headquarters. The division was short on equipment and training but was well led by reserve
officers. It covered the northern flank of the 19th Army on their retreat from the Bay of Biscay to
Dijon, while most of the Allied forces were tied down in the Battle of Falaise; however, the division
did lose two battalions to French partisans. The next month the 16th Infantry was trapped between the
3rd and 7th U.S. armies west of the Moselle and was smashed. Only about 1,000 of its 7,000
remaining soldiers escaped the encirclement. On October 9, 1944, the division was reformed in the
Vosges Mountains under its old unit numbers and reinforced with miscellaneous support troops,
mainly from the Staff, 30th Fortress Regiment, the 437th Replacement and Training Battalion, and the
49th Fortress Machine Gun Battalion, as well as elements of the 158th Reserve Division, but it never
again amounted to more than a battle group. It was nevertheless designated the 16th Volksgrenadier
Division and sent back to the line. It fought in southern Alsace and suffered heavy losses in
Himmler’s disastrous counteroffensive near Strasbourg. The remnants of the 16th Volksgrenadier
fought in the last campaigns on the Upper Rhine, the Saar, and Tübingen in southern Germany and
surrendered to the Americans at the end of the war on May 8, 1945.
Its commanders included Lieutenant General Ernst Haeckel (assumed command August 5, 1944),
Colonel Tillessen (November 1944), Colonel Eberhard Zorn (November 15, 1944), Colonel
Alexander Moeckel (December 29, 1944), Colonel Friedrich Trompeter (March 25, 1945), and
Colonel Robert Kaestner (April 6, 1945).
Notes and S ources: Alexander M oeckel was promoted to major general on M arch 1, 1945. He was killed in action near Karlsruhe 25 days later. Colonel Trompeter,
commander of the 225th Grenadier Regiment and senior regimental commander, assumed temporary command of the division.
M artin Blumenson, Breakout and Pursuit, United States Army in World War II, European Theater of Operations, Office of the Chief of M ilitary History (1960): 561,
567 (hereafter cited as “Blumenson 1960”); Hugh M . Cole, The Lorraine Campaign, United States Army in World War II, European Theater of Operations, Office of
the Chief of M ilitary History (1950) (hereafter cited as “Cole 1950”); Nafziger 2000: 55–56; Tessin, Vol. 4: 32–33; RA: 130; OB 45: 144.
16TH MARINE DIVISION
Composition: See below.
The 16th Marine Division was formed from excess naval personnel in the Netherlands in last
weeks of the war. Organized in March 1945, it included the 161st, 162nd and 163rd Marine
Regiments—which were formed from the 6th Ships Cadre Battalion (Schiffs-Stamm-Abt.) at
Steenwijk, the 10th Ships Cadre Battalion at Assens and the 24th Ships Cadre Battalion at Groningen,
respectively. The division staff was the former Staff, 4th Ships Cadre Regiment. Naval Captain Carl
Hollweg was the division commander.
Almost as soon as it received it, the army disbanded the 16th Marine. Its 4th Cadre Regiment and
6th Cadre Battalion were used to form the 604th Grenadier Regiment and the 219th Fusilier
Grenadier Battalion of the 219th Infantry Division, its 10th Cadre Battalion was used to form the
219th Grenadier Regiment and 703rd Fusilier Battalion of the 703rd Infantry Division, and the 24th
Cadre Battalion became the 579th Grenadier Regiment of the 703rd Infantry Division. The 16th
Marine Division ceased to exist on April 12, 1945.
S ources: Lexikon; Tessin, Vol. 4: 44.
17TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 21st Infantry Regiment, 55th Infantry Regiment, 95th Infantry Regiment, 17th
Artillery Regiment, 17th Reconnaissance Battalion (Bicycle), 17th Anti-Tank Battalion, 17th
Engineer Battalion, 17th Signal Battalion, 17th Field Replacement Battalion, 17th Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Nuremberg, Wehrkreis XIII
This Bavarian division was created in the initial German military build-up of 1934 by the
expansion of the 21st Infantry Regiment at Nuremberg. It was codenamed “Infantry Leader VII” until
October 15, 1935, when it became the 17th Infantry. It fought its first battles in southern Poland and
soon acquired a reputation as an effective combat unit. Later it did equally well in the invasion of
France and was in the forefront of Army Group Center’s last thrusts toward Moscow in the winter of
1941–42. (Earlier it had fought at Brest-Litovsk, Bialystok and Gomel, among other places.) The 17th
was exhausted after the Soviet winter offensive and was sent to France to rest and rebuild in the
summer of 1942. It returned to Russia in February 1943, after the fall of Stalingrad brought the
German southern sector to the verge of collapse. In the spring of 1943 it took part in the battles
around Juchnov and Gshatsk. After the German defeat at Kursk in July, the 17th Infantry fought on the
Mius, the lower Dnieper, at the Nikopol Bridgehead and in the southern Ukraine, where it again
suffered heavy casualties. It was reorganized as a Type 44 division (with six grenadier battalions) in
October 1943. It was defending in southern Poland in late 1944 and was smashed on the Vistula in
January 1945. In March, it was defending the Hirschberg–Bad Warmbrunn zone of Silesia and
consisted of the 95th Grenadier Regiment (two battalions), the 1246th Grenadier Regiment, the 17th
Division Fusilier Regiment and assorted divisional troops. (The 1246th Grenadier Regiment
consisted of the Staff and students of the Army NCO School at Bruenn [Brno], which the division had
absorbed.) The division absorbed elements of the defunct 88th and 291st Infantry Divisions that same
month. Remnants of this veteran division were surrounded in Czechoslovakia in late April 1945 and
surrendered there.
Commanders of the division included Major General/Lieutenant General Herbert Lock (assumed
command April 1, 1939), Lieutenant General Ernst Guentzel (October 28, 1941), Major
General/Lieutenant General Gustav-Adolf von Zangen (December 25, 1941), Colonel/Major
General/Lieutenant General Richard Zimmer (April 1, 1943), Colonel Otto-Hermann Brücker
(February 1944), Colonel Georg Haus (March 15, 1944), Brücker (April 16, 1944), Zimmer again
(May 1944), and Colonel/Major General Max Sachsenheimer (September 28, 1944–end).
Notes and S ources: The 17th Field Replacement Battalion was transferred to the 183rd Infantry Division in January 1940, and became the II/343rd Infantry
Regiment. Lock was promoted to lieutenant general on M arch 1, 1940. Zangen was promoted to lieutenant general on January 1, 1943. Zimmer was promoted to major
general on June 1, 1943, and to lieutenant general on January 1, 1944. Sachsenheimer became a major general on December 1, 1944.
Carell 1966: 196; Kennedy: 74; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1146; Nafziger 2000: 57–58; Tessin, Vol. 4: 57–59; RA: 204; OB 43: 128–29; OB 45: 145.
18TH INFANTRY DIVISION
See 18th Motorized Division (Volume Three).
18TH VOLKSGRENADIER DIVISION
Composition: 293rd Grenadier Regiment, 294th Grenadier Regiment, 295th Grenadier Regiment,
1818th Artillery Regiment, 18th Fusilier Battalion, 1818th Engineer Battalion, 1818th Tank Destroyer
Battalion, 1818th Signal Battalion, 1818th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Wehrkreis V
Not to be confused with the original 18th Infantry Division, which was converted into a motorized
(later panzer grenadier) division and sent to the Eastern Front in 1941, this division was formed in
Denmark on September 2, 1944, chiefly from excess naval personnel transferred to the army,
members of the 571st Grenadier Division, and the remnants of the badly mauled 18th Luftwaffe Field
Division, so all branches of the armed forces were represented in its ranks. The new Volksgrenadier
division first saw combat in the West in October 1944 when it was assigned a sector of the Ardennes
east of St. Vith. In mid-December it attacked the U.S. 106th Infantry Division and destroyed most of
it, inflicting upon the U.S. Army the greatest disaster it suffered in the European Theater of Operations
in World War II. The division later suffered heavy losses west of St. Vith in the Battle of the Bulge. It
was still fighting two months later, however, opposing the Allied drive on the Pruem. The 18th
Volksgrenadier Division effectively ceased to exist as a separate combat unit in March 1945, when
its combat units were attached to the 26th Volksgrenadier Division and its staff was placed under the
battle commandant of Bonn. The remnants of the 18th Volksgrenadier finally surrendered to the
Western Allies near Kassel at the close of hostilities.
It was commanded by Colonel/Major General Hoffmann-Schönborn (assumed command September
1944) and Lieutenant General Walter Botsch (February 5, 1945).
Notes and S ources: Hoffmann-Schönborn was promoted to major general on December 1, 1944.
Keilig: 147; “Frontnachweiser,” 15 December 1944; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume IV: 1891; Tessin, Vol. 4: 88–90; OB 45: 145. Thanks also to Dr. Krollspell of
the Axis History Forum (forum.axishistory.com) for a personal communication.
19TH INFANTRY DIVISION
See 19th Panzer Division (Volume Three).
19TH VOLKSGRENADIER DIVISION
Composition: 59th Grenadier Regiment, 73rd Grenadier Regiment, 74th Grenadier Regiment,
119th Artillery Regiment, 119th Fusilier Battalion, 119th Engineer Battalion, 119th Tank Destroyer
Battalion, 119th Signal Battalion, 119th Field Replacement Battalion, 119th Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Oksbol, Denmark, Wehrkreis IX
Originally designated the Division “Jutland,” the 19th Infantry was activated on August 8, 1944, at
Oksbol, Denmark, as the 19th Grenadier Division. Upgraded to Volksgrenadier status on October 9, it
included survivors of the 19th Luftwaffe Field Division, which had been smashed on the Western
Front in July. By September 1944, the 19th Infantry was with Army Group B in France and in
November was conducting a fighting withdrawal across the Moselle. At that time it had a strength of
8,500, high for the German Army in the last half of 1944. In late 1944, the division absorbed the few
members of the 77th Infantry Division who had not been captured or killed in Normandy, in the fall of
Cherbourg, or at Dinand. The 19th fought in the battles in the Saar and in the retreat across
southwestern Germany and into Franconia, where it finally surrendered at the end of the war.
Commanders of the 19th Volksgrenadier Division were Lieutenant General Paul Elfeldt (August
1944), Lieutenant General Walter Wissmath (August 1944), and Colonel/Major General Karl
Britzelmayr (November 23, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Britzelmayr was promoted to major general on December 1, 1944.
Keilig: 51–52; Tessin, Vol. 4: 115; OB 45: 146. Also see M acDonald 1973.
20TH INFANTRY DIVISION
See 20th Motorized Division (Volume Three).
21ST INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 3rd Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Regiment, 21st Artillery
Regiment, 21st Reconnaissance Battalion, 21st Anti-Tank Battalion, 21st Engineer Battalion, 21st
Signal Battalion, 21st Field Replacement Battalion, 21st Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Mohrungen, Wehrkreis I
The 21st Infantry was created in 1935 when the 3rd Infantry Regiment “Deutsch Eylau” was
expanded. From October 1934 until October 10, 1935, it operated under the codename “Commandant
of Elbing.” In the invasion of Poland the 21st was led by Lieutenant General Hans-Kuno von Both,
who had assumed command on November 10, 1938. Later it was commanded by Major
General/Lieutenant General Otto Sponheimer (November 1, 1939), Major General Gerhard Matzky
(January 10, 1943), Colonel Hubert Lamey (November 1, 1943), Matzky (December 1, 1943), Major
General Franz Sensuss (March 1, 1944), Lieutenant General Hermann Foertsch (March 28, 1944),
Major General Heinrich Goetz (August 22, 1944), Colonel Scharenberg (October 1944), Colonel
Friedrich Beyse (December 12, 1944), Goetz (January 14, 1945), and Major General Karl Koetz
(April 1, 1945).
The 21st Infantry took part in the French campaign pushing through the Ardennes and Luxembourg
and forcing the Aisne, the Marne, and the Saone. It remained in France until September 1940, when it
was sent to East Prussia. The 21st crossed into Russia with Army Group North, swept through the
Baltic States, fought in the battles of Tilsit, Volkhov and Grusino, and broke through the Soviet
defensive positions on the Msta River, the last natural barrier before Leningrad. The division spent
the next three years in northern Russia, participated in the Siege of Leningrad, fought in the Battle of
Volkhov (1942), and in the Second Battle of Lake Ladoga in early 1943. It was reorganized as a sixgrenadier-battalion (Type 44) division on October 2, 1943. After distinguishing itself during the
retreat from Leningrad, the 21st was transferred by Army Group Center in the fall of 1944. It was
smashed in the Russian invasion of East Prussia, but the survivors of the unit continued to resist—at
battle group strength—until the fall of the Third Reich. The remnants of the 21st Infantry Division
were still in East Prussia (in the Hela sector) at the end of the war.
Notes and S ources: The 21st Field Replacement Battalion became the III/371st Infantry Regiment of the 161st Infantry Division in January 1940. A new 21st Field
Replacement Battalion was created in 1940. Sponheimer was promoted to lieutenant general on July 1, 1941. M atzky reached the same rank on April 1, 1943. General
Goetz was seriously wounded on September 25, 1944.
Baron Christop von Allmayer-Beck, Die Geschichte der 21. (ostpr./westpr.) Infanterie-Division (1960); Carell 1966: 251, 417–21; Carell 1971: 260; Hartmann: 12;
Keilig: 47, 110, 329; Kennedy: 74; Nafziger 2000: 62–63; H. H. Podzun, Weg und Schicksal der 21. Infanterie-Division (1951); Horst Scheibert, Die Traeger des
deutschen Kreuzes in Gold—Das Heer (1983): 42; Tessin, Vol 4: 156–57; RA: 20; OB 43: 129; OB 44: 180; OB 45: 146.
22ND INFANTRY (LATER AIR LANDING) DIVISION
Composition: 16th Infantry Regiment, 47th Infantry Regiment, 65th Infantry Regiment, 22nd
Artillery Regiment, 22nd Reconnaissance Battalion, 22nd Anti-Tank (later Tank Destroyer) Battalion,
22nd Engineer Battalion, 22nd Signal Battalion, 22nd Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Oldenburg and Delmenhorst, Wehrkreis X
Originally an infantry division, the 22nd was created in Bremen on October 15, 1935, by the
expansion of the 16th Infantry Regiment of the old Reichswehr. The personnel were from Lower
Saxony. Later the division was converted into an air landing force—which in the Nazi period meant
that they followed paratrooper and glider units into action in transport planes as soon as a workable
airstrip could be secured. This, in turn, meant that they had lighter artillery and less heavy equipment
than a standard infantry division. Elements of the 22nd were involved in the occupation of the
Sudetenland in 1938. The next year the 16th Regiment of the division fought in Poland while the other
two regiments were stationed on the West Wall.
In the French campaign of 1940 elements of the division took part in the glider-borne assault on the
key Belgian fortress of Eben Emael, while other divisional forces landed at The Hague, Rotterdam,
Moerdijk, and Dordrecht. In the Dutch capital, the division failed in its mission to capture the royal
family, and the divisional commander, Lieutenant General Count Hans von Sponeck, was seriously
wounded in the attempt. In the Russian invasion the 22nd Air Landing was equipped as a standard
line unit and fought as a regular infantry force under the 11th Army, Army Group South. Attacking out
of Romania, it was the first German division to penetrate the Dnieper line and also fought on the
Pruth, Dnestr, and Bug. It overran the Perekop Isthmus and took part in the initial assault on
Sevastopol, where it suffered heavy losses. On June 28, 1942, combat elements of the 22nd Air
Landing, along with the 24th Infantry Division, crossed a thousand-yard-wide stretch of North Bay in
rubber rafts and landed in the Russian rear, east of the city. Russian resistance in Sevastopol, which
had been fierce, crumbled rapidly after this highly successful surprise attack.
A German artillery piece in a camouflaged position.
HITM ARCHIVE
Following the clearing of the Crimea in early July, the 22nd Air Landing was returned to Germany,
once more re-equipped as an air landing division and was sent to Crete where, as Field Marshal von
Manstein bitterly complained, “though one of our best formations—it was to lie more or less idle for
the rest of the war.” Eventually the 22nd was equipped as a motorized air landing division, although
it was never used as such nor officially redesignated panzer grenadier. Part of the division—the 47th
Grenadier Regiment—went to Tunisia in late 1942 and was captured there when the African Front
collapsed in May 1943. The rest of the division remained in Crete until 1944. In autumn 1944, the
High Command constructed a second 47th Grenadier Regiment and sent it to Crete. A few weeks later
the 22nd was finally evacuated to the mainland, as part of the general withdrawal from the
Mediterranean and lower Balkans. It fought the Soviets and Tito’s partisans in Montenegro and in the
Sarajevo area and was still on the front line in Steiermark, Austria when Germany surrendered. It
was redesignated a Volksgrenadier division on March 26, 1945, even though it was never organized
as such.
Commanders of the 22nd Air Landing included Lieutenant General Adolf Strauss (October 15,
1935), Major General/Lieutenant General Count Hans von Sponeck (October 1, 1938), Major
General Ludwig Wolff (October 10, 1941), Major General/Lieutenant General Friedrich-Wilhelm
Müller (August 1, 1942), Major General Heinrich Kreipe (February 15, 1944), Lieutenant General
Helmut Friebe (May 1, 1944), and Lieutenant General Gerhard Kühne (April 16, 1945–end).
Notes and S ources: Sponeck was promoted to lieutenant general on February 1, 1940. He was executed by the Gestapo on July 23, 1944. M üller was promoted to
lieutenant general on April 1, 1943. General Kreipe was abducted by British Commandos on April 26, 1944. The senior regimental commander directed the division
from April 26 to M ay 1, 1944.
Carell 1966: 291–92, 308, 505; Roger Edwards, German Airborne Troops, 1939–45 (1974): 136 (hereafter cited as “Edwards”); Hartmann: 57; M anstein: 260;
Friedrich-August M etzsch, Die Geschichte der 22. Infanterie-Division, 1939–1945 (1952); Tessin, Vol. 4: 176–77; OB 42: 75; OB 45: 146–47.
23RD INFANTRY DIVISION
See 26th Panzer Division (Volume Three).
23RD INFANTRY DIVISION (#2)
Composition: 9th Grenadier Regiment, 67th Grenadier Regiment “von Seeckt,” 68th Fusilier
Grenadier Regiment, 23rd Artillery Regiment, 23rd Fusilier Battalion, 23rd Anti-Tank Battalion,
23rd Engineer Battalion, 23rd Signal Battalion, 23rd Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Potsdam, Wehrkreis III
The second 23rd Infantry Division was assembled in Denmark and Potsdam on October 23, 1942.
It adopted the regimental numbers of the original 23rd, which had been converted into the 26th Panzer
Division shortly before. Cadres for the new division were provided by the old 23rd Infantry (now
26th Panzer) Division. The 67th Grenadier Regiment received the honorary title “von Seeckt” to
honor Colonel General Hans von Seeckt, who had created the Reichswehr in the early 1920s. The
68th Regiment received the honorary title “Fusilier” in late 1942, but its organization and equipment
were no different from that of a standard grenadier regiment.
The new division was sent into action on the Eastern Front in early 1943 and fought on the northern
sector. It was involved in the siege of Leningrad from February to August 1943. Because of heavy
casualties, three of its grenadier battalions were dissolved in September 1943. Briefly sent to Army
Group Center in the fall of 1943, it fought in the defensive Battle of Nevel but was returned to Army
Group North in February 1944 after the Russians broke the siege of Leningrad. Later the division
withdrew through Estonia, and defended Saareman Island (Osel) in autumn 1944, against
overwhelming Russian landings. It was, however, successfully evacuated by the German Navy. After
this battle, the 9th Grenadier Regiment was disbanded. By October, it was defending in the Courland
Pocket, but in January 1945, the remnants of this veteran but depleted division were evacuated by sea
to northern Germany and sent to Army Group Center in East Prussia, where it remained until the fall
of Berlin. It surrendered to the Russians.
Commanders of the second 23rd Infantry Division included Colonel/Major General Friedrich von
Schellwitz (November 15, 1942), Colonel Horst von Mellenthin (July 15, 1943), Schellwitz (August
7, 1943), Horst von Mellenthin (August 20, 1943), Colonel/Major General Paul Gurran (September
1, 1943), Major General/Lieutenant General Walter Chales de Beaulieu (February 22, 1944), and
Lieutenant General Hans Schirmer (September 11, 1944–end).
Notes and S ources: Schellwitz was promoted to major general on January 1, 1943. Horst von M ellenthin was the brother of M ajor General Friedrich William (F. W.)
von M ellenthin, the famous author and a General Staff officer in his own right. Gurran was promoted to major general on October 1, 1943. He was wounded in action
on February 22, 1944 and died in the hospital at M ajevo on April 22, 1944. Chales de Beaulieu was promoted to Lieutenant General on M ay 1, 1944, but was relieved
of his command by Colonel General Schoerner for his (Chales’s) previous association with anti-Nazi conspirator General Eric Hoepner, who was hanged in August
1944.
Keilig: 222; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume III: 9, 260; Volume IV: 1889; Friedrich Wilhelm von M ellenthin, German Generals of World War II (1977): 136–38
(hereafter cited as “M ellenthin 1977”); Nafziger 2000: 66–68; Seaton: 232; Tessin, Vol. 4: 192–93; OB 45: 147.
24TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 31st Infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 102nd Infantry Regiment, 24th
Artillery Regiment, 24th Reconnaissance Battalion, 24th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 24th Engineer
Battalion, 24th Signal Battalion, 24th Field Replacement Battalion, 24th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Chemnitz, Wehrkreis IV
Created in Hitler’s original military expansion, the 24th Infantry was formed on October 15, 1935,
and was in action from the first battle until the end of the war. It took part in the invasion of Poland as
part of Army Group South. An Allied intelligence document reported that its “morale and fighting
value [are] very high, to judge by the French campaign.” After fighting in France (and remaining there
on occupation duty until April 1941), it crossed into Russia in June, fought its way across eastern
Galacia and the Ukraine and into the Crimea with von Manstein’s 11th Army, and took part in the
Siege of Sevastopol for several months. With the 22nd Air Landing Division it was involved in the
amphibious assault that led to the fall of the city in early July 1942. Transferred to Army Group North
with the 11th Army, the division helped repulse the Russian counteroffensives in the Lake lImen area
in the latter part of 1942. The 24th remained in the northern sector of the Eastern Front for the
remainder of the war. It was reorganized as a Type 44 division in September 1943, when each of its
grenadier regiments were reduced to two battalions each. It was part of the 18th Army when the
Soviets broke the Siege of Leningrad in mid-January 1944. Unlike several other divisions, the 24th
kept its composure and was later officially cited for its bravery in the withdrawal through the Baltic
States. In July 1944 it held its line against the Russian summer offensive, withdrew into western
Latvia at its own pace in October 1944, and fought in the six battles of the Courland Pocket (1944–
45).
Commanders of the 24th Infantry included Major General/Lieutenant General Werner Kienitz
(assumed command October 15, 1935), Lieutenant General Sigismund von Förster (April 1, 1938),
Major General/Lieutenant General Friedrich Olbricht (November 10, 1938), Major
General/Lieutenant General Justin von Obernitz (February 15, 1940), Colonel/Major
General/Lieutenant General Hans von Tettau (June 14, 1940), Colonel Ernst Anton von Krosigk
(February 14, 1943), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Kurt Versock (March 1, 1943),
Major General Walter Wissmath (June 10, 1943), Versock (July 6, 1943), Colonel Kurt Opelt
(February 19, 1944), Colonel Herbert von Wagner (February 21, 1944), Lieutenant General Baron
Hans von Falkenstein (February 24, 1944), Versock (June 3, 1944), and Colonel/Major General
Harald Schultz (September 3, 1944–end).
Notes and S ources: The 24th Field Replacement Battalion was transferred to the 162nd Infantry Division in January 1940. Here it was redesignated I/329th Infantry
Regiment. Kienitz, Olbricht and Obernitz were all promoted to lieutenant general, on April 1, 1937, January 1, 1939, and June 1, 1940, respectively. Tettau became a
major general on M arch 1, 1940, and a lieutenant general on M arch 1, 1942. Versock became a major general on M ay 1, 1943, and a lieutenant general on November 1,
1943. Schultz was promoted to major general on December 1, 1944. He was in Soviet prisons until October 1955.
Carell 1966: 304, 503; Keilig: 92, 315, 354; Kennedy: 74 and M ap 7; Lexikon; M anstein: 243, 260; Nafziger 2000: 68–69; Salisbury: 538; Scheibert: 270; Seaton: 264;
Tessin, Vol. 4: 208–210; Hans von Tettau and Kurt Versock, Geschichte der 24. Infanterie-Division, 1935–1945 (1956); RA: 72; OB 42: 76; OB 43: 129; OB 44: 181;
OB 45: 148; Ziemke 1966: 261.
25TH INFANTRY DIVISION
See 25th Motorized Division (Volume Three).
26TH INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION
Composition: 39th Infantry Regiment (later 39th Fusilier Regiment), 77th Infantry Regiment, 78th
Infantry Regiment, 26th Artillery Regiment, 26th Reconnaissance Battalion, 26th Anti-Tank Battalion,
26th Engineer Battalion, 26th Signal Battalion, 26th Field Replacement Battalion, 26th Divisional
Supply Troops
Home Station: Cologne, Wehrkreis VI
Activated on April 1, 1936, this division was made up mainly of Westphalian-Rhinelanders, with
some East Prussians. It was known as the “Dom” (Cathedral) Division, because of its divisional
emblem, patterned after the Great Cathedral at Cologne (Köln). It did not take part in the invasion of
Poland and was only lightly engaged in the Western campaign of 1940, fighting in Luxembourg and in
the Aisne and Champagne sectors. It was on occupation duty on the Franco-Belgian border until May
1941, when it was sent to Poland. The 26th got its first serious test in the Russian campaign of 1941,
where it performed well. It distinguished itself when it crossed the Volga between Moscow and
Leningrad, and stormed Rzhev, along with the 206th Infantry Division. It was heavily engaged against
the Russian winter offensive of 1941–1942. Although relatively undamaged in the defensive fighting
on the central sector in 1942, the 26th again suffered heavy casualties in the Battle of Kursk, Hitler’s
last major offensive on the Eastern Front. Shortly thereafter, it was reorganized as three two-battalion
regiments. It opposed the Soviet offensive after the failure of the Kursk operation, fought at Orel
(1943) and in the defense of Smolensk, and conducted itself brilliantly in the defense of Kovel in July
1944.
Although it managed to escape destruction in the Russian summer offensive that smashed Army
Group Center that year, the division was finally overrun near the East Prussian border in September
1944, and had to be withdrawn from the line. It was rebuilt in September and October 1944, in the
Warthelager Maneuver Area in western Poland, where it was fleshed out with naval and Luftwaffe
personnel, and recruits from Westphalia and the Rhineland formerly assigned to the 582nd
Volksgrenadier Division. Its grenadier regiments were reduced from three to two battalions each and
its reconnaissance battalion became a fusilier company. Redesignated a Volksgrenadier division on
September 17, it was sent to the Luxembourg sector of the Western Front in November. The new
Volksgrenadier division suffered heavy casualties in the Battle of the Bulge, where it took part in the
siege of Bastogne as part of the XXXXVII Panzer Corps of the 5th Panzer Army. It also performed
well in this campaign. At the end of the offensive the division had a combat strength of only 1,782
men; nevertheless, it remained in action and opposed the Allied drive on Pruem in February 1945. It
finished the war on the Western Front and surrendered to the Americans in the Harz Mountains in
May 1945.
Commanders of the 26th Infantry/Volksgrenadier Division included Lieutenant General Fritz Kühne
(assumed command March 7, 1936), Lieutenant General Sigismund von Förster (November 10,
1938), Major General Walter Weiss (January 15, 1941), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General
Friedrich Wiese, (April 15, 1942), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Johann de Boer
(August 5, 1943), Colonel Frommberger (July 1944), and Colonel Heim Kokott (August 10, 1944–
end).
Notes and S ources: The 26th Field Replacement Battalion was transferred to the 196th Infantry Division and became the III/362nd Infantry Regiment in January
1940. Wiese was promoted to major general on September 1, 1942, and to lieutenant general on January 1, 1943. De Boer became a major general on October 1, 1943,
and a lieutenant general on April 1, 1944. Kokott was promoted to major general on January 1, 1945.
Carell 1966: 196, 357; Carell 1971: 305; Cole 1965: 632; Kursietis: 108; Lexikon; M acDonald 1973: M ap IV and 5–6; Nafziger 2000: 71–73; “Frontnachweiser,” 15
December 1944; Tessin, Vol. 4: 237–38; RA: 100; OB 43: 130; OB 44: 181; OB 45: 148.
27th INFANTRY DIVISION
See 17th Panzer Division (Volume Three).
28TH INFANTRY DIVISION
See 28th Jäger Division (Volume Two).
29TH INFANTRY DIVISION
See 29th Motorized Division (Volume Three).
30TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 6th Infantry Regiment, 26th Infantry (later Fusilier) Regiment, 46th Infantry
Regiment, 30th Artillery Regiment, 30th Reconnaissance Battalion (Bicycle), 30th Anti-Tank
Battalion, 30th Engineer Battalion, 30th Signal Battalion, 30th Field Replacement Battalion, 30th
Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Lübeck, Wehrkreis X
Created by the expansion of the 6th Infantry Regiment of the old Reichswehr in on October 1, 1936,
the 30th consisted of men recruited from Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany. It was earmarked
for the attack on Prague in 1938, before British Prime Minister Chamberlain gave in to Hitler’s
demands in the infamous Munich accords that abandoned Czechoslovakia, leaving the rump state to
eventually capitulate without a fight. In 1939, the division, led by Major General Kurt von Briesen,
crossed into Poland as part of Army Group South and, near Radom on September 9, faced the most
massive breakout attempt launched by the Polish Army in World War II. The 30th was strained to the
breaking point and only a desperate counterattack personally led by von Briesen with his last
reserves turned back the Poles. Briesen’s left arm was shattered in the fighting and had to be
amputated. Shortly afterward Hitler and Colonel General Wilhelm Keitel, the chief of the Armed
Forces High Command, visited the 30th and awarded its commander the Knight’s Cross, the first such
award presented to a divisional commander in the war. Therefore the 30th was nicknamed the
“Briesen Division.” (Briesen himself was promoted and eventually was killed in action leading LII
Corps on the Eastern Front on November 20, 1941.)
Meanwhile, the division fought in Belgium, Flanders and France in 1940 and remained in France
until May 1941, when it was transferred to the East. The 30th Infantry was with Army Group North
from 1941 until the end of the war. It fought in the Battle of Dvinsk (1941) and was encircled at
Demyansk with II Corps in January 1942. It was not relieved for more than a year. During that time,
three of its grenadier battalions were disbanded due to high casualties. After it was freed in February
1943, the Briesen Division fought at Staraja Russa, in the Leningrad withdrawal, in the retreat through
the Baltic States, and in the six battles of the Courland (Kurland) Pocket. It finally surrendered in the
Courland Pocket on May 8, 1945.
Commanders of the division included Major General/Lieutenant General von Briesen (assumed
command March 1, 1938), Lieutenant General Franz Böhme (July 1, 1939), Briesen (July 19, 1939),
Lieutenant General Kurt von Tippelskirch (January 5, 1941), Lieutenant General Thomas-Emil von
Wickede (June 5, 1942), Lieutenant General Paul Winter (August 9, 1943), Major General Gerhard
Henke (October 29, 1943), Lieutenant General Wilhelm Hasse (November 5, 1943), Lieutenant
General Hans von Basse (March 15, 1944), Colonel/Major General Otto Barth (August 15, 1944),
and Major General/Lieutenant General Albert Henze (January 30, 1945).
Notes and S ources: The 30th Field Replacement Battalion was transferred to the 170th Infantry Division in January 1940 and became the II/401st Infantry
Regiment. Briesen was promoted to lieutenant general on August 1, 1939. Barth was promoted to major general on November 9, 1944. Henze became a lieutenant
general effective M ay 1, 1945.
Hans Breithaupt, Die Geschichte der 30. Infanterie-Division, 1939–1945 (1955). Carell 1966: 19, 427; Carell 1971: 288; Hartmann: 12–13; Keilig: 41, 51; Kennedy:
M ap 7; Lexikon; M anstein: 56, 184; Nafziger 2000: 76–77; Tessin, Vol. 4: 282–83; RA: 160; OB 43: 130–31; Plocher 1943: 414; OB 44: 182; OB 34: 149.
31ST INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADLER) DIVISION
Composition: 12th Infantry Regiment, 17th Infantry Regiment, 82nd Infantry Regiment, 31st
Artillery Regiment, 31st Reconnaissance Battalion, 31st Anti-Tank Battalion, 31st Engineer
Battalion, 31st Signal Battalion, 31st Field Replacement Battalion, 31st Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Brunswick (Braunschweig), Wehrkreis XI
Recruited mainly from the Brunswick (Braunschweig) area of north-central Germany, this division
was activated on October 1, 1936, and fought in southern Poland in 1939. Shifted to the Western
Front, it was engaged in heavy fighting in Belgium and France the following year. It returned to
Poland in September 1940. In 1941 it took part in the Russian invasion with the 2nd Panzer Army in
the central sector, fighting in the battles for Bialystok, Minsk, Smolensk, Vyasma, and Bryansk, as
well as in Guderian’s unsuccessful attempt to encircle Tula (southeast of Moscow) in late 1941. It
suffered serious losses in the Russian winter offensive of 1941–42. Remaining on the defensive with
Army Group Center in 1942, it fought in the Battle of Kursk in July 1943, as part of 9th Army. Later
that year, the 31st took part in the battles of the middle Dnieper and in the subsequent retreats through
Russia. It was down to battle group strength by October and had been reorganized as a six grenadier
battalion unit (with three grenadier regiments). In June 1944, it faced the gigantic Russian summer
offensive as part of 4th Army and was finally overwhelmed and virtually destroyed in the fighting.
Lieutenant General Wilhelm Ochsner, the divisional commander, was taken prisoner along with most
of his men.
The 31st was resurrected in Germany that fall, using returning wounded and new recruits. It was
initially designated the 31st Grenadier Division, but was merged with the 550th Grenadier Division
to form the 31st Volksgrenadier Division. It returned to combat in September 1944, as part of Army
Group North. It was officially commended for its conduct in the early battles of the Courland Pocket.
In early 1945, it was evacuated by sea to northern Germany and fought with Army Group Vistula in
the final campaigns. It was isolated on the Hela peninsula and was forced to surrender to the Russians
in May 1945.
Divisional commanders of the 31st Infantry/Volksgrenadier included Major General/Lieutenant
General Rudolf Kämpfe (April 1, 1937), Major General Kurt Kalmuekoff (May 22, 1941), Major
General Gerhard Berthold (August 15, 1941), Colonel Friedrich Hossbach (January 21, 1942),
Berthold (returned February 28, 1942), Major General/Lieutenant General Kurt Pflieger (April 16,
1942), Colonel Hermann Flörke (April 1, 1943), Lieutenant General Friedrich Hossbach (May 16,
1943), Colonel Hans-Joachim von Stolzmann (August 2, 1943), Major General/Lieutenant General
Wilhelm Ochsner (September 25, 1943), Colonel Ernst König (late June 1944), and Colonel/Major
General Stolzmann (July 1, 1944–end).
Notes and S ources: The 31st Field Replacement Battalion was transferred to the 181st Infantry Division and became the II/359th Infantry Regiment in January 1940.
Rudolf Kaempfe was promoted to lieutenant general on January 1, 1938. General Kalmuekoff was killed in action at Swonco on August 13, 1941. Gerhard Berthold
was killed in action on April 14, 1942. Pflieger was promoted to lieutenant general on October 1, 1942. Ochsner was promoted to lieutenant general on June 1, 1944.
He was a Soviet prisoner until 1955. Stolzmann was promoted to major general on October 1, 1944. The division was commanded by its senior regimental commander
from August 13 to 15, 1941 and April 14 to 16, 1942, following the deaths of Generals Kalmuekoff and Berthold, respectively.
Carell 1966: 111, 341; Carell 1971: 22, 26, 597; Rolf Hinze, Geschichte der 31. Infanterie-Division (1997); Friedrich Hossbach, Infanterie im Ostfeldzug, 1941/42 (31.
Infanterie-Division) (1951); Keilig: 161; Kennedy: 71 and M ap 7; Lexikon; Nafziger 2000: 78–79; Tessin, Vol. 5: 1–3; OB 43: 130; OB 45: 149–50. Also see
Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume IV: 1898.
32ND INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 4th Infantry Regiment, 94th Infantry Regiment, 96th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Artillery
Regiment, 32nd Reconnaissance Battalion, 32nd Anti-Tank (later Tank Destroyer) Battalion, 32nd
Engineer Battalion, 32nd Signal Battalion, 32nd Field Replacement Battalion, 32nd Divisional
Supply Troops
Home Station: Köslin, Wehrkreis II
Known as the “Lion Division” from its unit emblem, this division consisted mainly of Pomeranians
and Prussians. Formed by the expansion of the 4th Infantry Regiment of the old Reichswehr on
October 1, 1936, the 32nd Infantry Division fought well throughout its career, and its effectiveness
was praised in secret Allied intelligence documents. It attacked from Pomerania into Poland in
September 1939 and helped sever the Danzig Corridor. Transferred to the Western Front with the 4th
Army in October 1939, it turned back a French attempt to breach the so-called “Panzer Corridor” that
extended from the German frontier to the coast of the North Sea in May 1940. It was sent from France
to East Prussia in October.
During the invasion of Russia in 1941, it fought in the battles of Dvinsk, Kholm, Lake Ilmen, and
the Valdai Hills, and was tied down in the battles around Demyansk from January 1942 to February
1943. It was encircled much of this time and had to be resupplied by air. Three of its infantry
battalions were disbanded in 1942, due to heavy casualties. The 32nd remained on the northern sector
during the defensive battles of 1943 and was briefly transferred to Army Group Center in January
1944, where it fought at Nevel. Hurried back to the northern sector after the Russians broke the siege
of Leningrad on January 18, the Lion Division was cited for its excellent conduct in the retreat
through the Baltic States. Finally withdrawn into the Courland Pocket, it took part in the desperate
battles in western Latvia in the winter of 1944–45, before being evacuated to Germany by sea in early
1945. The division was finally cut off in the Hela peninsula by the final Soviet offensives and
surrendered to the Red Army on May 8, 1945.
Its commanders were Major General/Lieutenant General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst (assumed
command October 1, 1936), Lieutenant General Franz Böhme (July 19, 1939), Major General Baron
Eccard von Gablenz (October 1, 1939), Boehme (December 1, 1939), Lieutenant General Wilhelm
Bohnstedt (June 15, 1940), Colonel Max Ilgen (January 24, 1942), Colonel Karl Hernekamp (March
1, 1942), Major General/Lieutenant General Wilhelm Wegener (June 1, 1942), Major General Alfred
Thielmann (June 27, 1943), Wegener (returned July 1943), Lieutenant General Hans Boeckh-Behrens
(September 15, 1943), Colonel Franz Schlieper (February 1, 1944), Boeckh-Behrens (returned June
1, 1944), Colonel Georg Kossmala (August 1944), and Boeckh-Behrens (August 1944 to May 8,
1945).
Notes and S ources: The 31st Field Replacement Battalion was assigned to the 162nd Infantry Division in January 1940, and became the III/314th Infantry Regiment.
Falkenhorst was promoted to lieutenant general on August 1, 1937. Wegener was promoted to lieutenant general on M arch 1, 1943. General Boeckh-Behrens died in
Russian captivity on February 13, 1955.
Carell 1966: 76–77,427; Carell 1971: 288; Chant, Volume 18: 2393; Chapman: 130; Alister Horne, To Lose a Battle: France, 1940, 1969: 525 (hereafter cited as
“Horne”); Keilig: 44, 85; Kennedy: 74 and M ap 7; Lexikon; Nafziger 2000: 79–81; Tessin, Vol. 5: 14–15; Juergen Schroeder and Joachim Schultz-Naumann, Die
Geschichte der pommerschen 32. Infanterie-Division, 1935–1945. (1962); OB 42: 77; OB 43: 131; OB 44: 183; OB 45: 150.
33RD INFANTRY DIVISION
See 15th Panzer Division (Volume Three).
34TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition (1939): 80th Infantry Regiment, 105th Infantry Regiment, 107th Infantry Regiment,
34th Artillery Regiment, 34th Reconnaissance Battalion, 34th Anti-Tank Battalion, 34th Engineer
Battalion, 34th Signal Battalion, 34th Field Replacement Battalion, 34th Divisional Supply Troops.
The 105th Infantry Regiment became the 253rd Infantry Regiment in September 1939.
Home Station: Koblenz, Wehrkreis XII
The 34th Infantry Division was formed on April 1, 1936, from Rhinelanders and Hessians. It
remained on the Western Front during the Polish campaign but fought in France the following year. It
was stationed in Belgium from July 1940 to May 1941, when it was sent east. In 1941 it joined in the
invasion of the Soviet Union as part of Army Group Center and was heavily engaged at Minsk,
Smolensk, Gomel, and Vyasma; in the Battle of Moscow; and against the Russian Winter Offensive of
1941–42. The 34th Infantry fought around Juchnow in the defensive battles on the central sector in
1942, took part in the bitter defensive battles for Kharkov in January 1943, fought at Orel in July and
August, and distinguished itself in the third battle for Kharkov in August 1943. The following month,
its grenadier regiments each lost a battalion due to heavy casualties. The division performed well in
the retreat through the northern Ukraine in the spring of 1944, fighting at Cherkassy and Uman, among
others.
After three years of more or less continuous action on the Eastern Front, however, the division was
pretty well burned out by summer. Sent back to Germany, it absorbed Shadow Division Neuhammer,
but its grenadier regiments still had only enough men to form two battalions each. In July it was
transferred to northwestern Italy, where it was part of the rear-area Army Detachment von Zangen
(later the Ligurian Army), which was made up of Italian units and third-rate German formations. In
October 1944, the 34th Infantry was on duty on the French-Italian frontier, guarding against a possible
attempt by Eisenhower to take the German armies in Italy in the rear. The division remained with the
Ligurian Army for the rest of the war and was still in northern Italy when World War II ended. It
surrendered to the Americans at Coumo, Italy. It was never committed to the front-line fighting in
Italy, the way it had been in Russia.
Commanders of the 34th included Major General/Lieutenant General Hans Behlendorff (assumed
command July 19, 1939), Major General Werner Sanne (May 11, 1940), Behlendorff (November 1,
1940), Major General Friedrich Fürst (October 18, 1941), Major General/Lieutenant General
Theodor Scherer (September 5, 1942), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Friedrich
Hochbaum (November 2, 1942), Lieutenant General Theobald Lieb (May 31, 1944), and Colonel
Ferdinand Hippel (1945).
Notes and S ources: The 34th Field Replacement Battalion became the III/315th Infantry Regiment of the 167th Infantry Division in January 1940. Behlendorff was
promoted to lieutenant general on February 1, 1940. He was seriously wounded on M ay 11, 1940. Scherer was promoted to lieutenant general on November 1, 1942.
Hochbaum was promoted to major general on January 1, 1943, and to lieutenant general on July 1, 1943. Colonel Ferdinand Hippel commanded the division briefly in
1945, apparently while Lieb was on leave, but the exact dates are not made clear by the records.
Bradley et al., Vol. I: 277–78; Carell l966: 414–15; Ernest F. Fisher, Cassino to the Alps, United States Army in World War II, M editerranean Theater of Operations,
Office of the Chief of M ilitary History, 1977: 293, 303 (hereafter cited as “Fisher”); Hartmann: 13; Keilig: 204, 355; Kursielis: 112; Lexikon; M ehner, Vol. 12: 461;
Nafziger 2000: 81–82; Telford Taylor, Sword and Swastika: Generals and Nazis in the Third Reich, 1969: 165 (hereafter cited as “Taylor”); Tessin, Vol. 5: 35–36;
RA: 188; OB 43: 131; OB 45: 150–51.
35TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 34th Infantry (later Fusilier) Regiment, 109th Infantry Regiment, 111th Infantry
Regiment, 35th Artillery Regiment, 35th Reconnaissance Battalion, 35th Anti-Tank Battalion, 35th
Engineer Battalion, 35th Signal Battalion, 35th Field Replacement Battalion, 35th Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Karlsruhe, Wehrkreis V
Formed on October 1, 1936, this first-wave division consisted mainly of troops from Baden and
Wuerttemberg. Sent to the West Wall in 1939, the 35th first saw action in Belgium in May 1940 and
later fought against the British Expeditionary Force around Dunkirk. From July 1940 to April 1941, it
occupied a sector of the English Channel coast in Belgium. It was sent to East Prussia in May 1941
and invaded the Soviet Union the following month as part of Army Group Center, fighting at Smolensk
and Vyasma, among other battles. It was with General Hoepner’s 4th Panzer Group during the final
drive on Moscow. When the mid-October thaw came, the men of the 35th trudged eastward through
knee-deep mud. Their infantry companies were down to a strength of 30 men; nevertheless they
crossed the Ruza River (October 20) and took Volokolanisk (October 27) along with 1,800 prisoners.
Their supplies and ammunition were exhausted by this time so the division went over to the
defensive. Stalled before the Russian capital in December, the 35th suffered heavy casualties once
more against the Soviet winter offensive of 1941–42, losing more than 2,500 men—1,000 of them due
to severe frostbite. Although in reality a burned-out force by then, the division remained in the line in
the Gshatsk sector until early 1943.
German infantry in camouflaged uniforms. This photograph was probably taken in 1944 or 1945 as both men are armed with light
machine guns, which were not common in the German Wehrmacht until after 1943.
HITM ARCHIVE
In the early spring of 1943, it took part in the Rzhev withdrawal and was heavily engaged in the
defensive fighting on the central sector that summer and the following winter. In November 1943, it
was rebuilt was a Type 1944 division and now consisted of the 34th Fusilier, 109th Grenadier and
111th Grenadier Regiments, all with two battalions; the 35th Fusilier (reconnaissance) Battalion; the
35th Artillery Regiment; and assorted divisional troops. It fought against the massive Soviet summer
offensive of 1944 and suffered such heavy casualties in the Battle of Bobruisk in July 1944 that it had
to be taken out of the line for the first time in three years. Sent to Poland, it absorbed the 1034th and
1042nd March Battalions and was hurriedly thrown back into the line. It fought at Brest, Modlin, and
in the retreat to the Vistula. After the fall of Danzig, the 35th Infantry Division was largely destroyed
during the retreat to the Hela peninsula. Here the remnants of the division surrendered to the Russians
at the end of the war.
Commanders of the division included: Major General/Lieutenant General Hans Wolfgang Reinhard
(assumed command November 24, 1938), Lieutenant General Walther Fisher von Weikersthal
(November 25, 1940), Major General Baron Rudolf von Roman (December 1, 1941), Colonel/Major
General/Lieutenant General Ludwig Merker (September 10, 1942), Colonel/Major General Otto
Drescher (April 1943), Merker again (June 8, 1943), Lieutenant General Johann-Georg Richert
(November 5, 1943), Major General Gustav Gihr (April 9, 1944), and Richert (May 11, 1944–end).
Notes and S ources: Reinhard was promoted to lieutenant general on October 1, 1939. M erker was promoted to major general on October 1, 1942, and to lieutenant
general on April 1, 1943. Drescher was promoted to major general on June 1, 1943. General Richert was hanged in M insk on January 30, 1946.
Hans Baumann, Die 35 Infanterie Division im Zweiten Weltkrieg (1964): 114–17 Carell 1966: 330; Carell 1971: 309; Hartmann: 13–14; Keilig: 275, 282; Lexikon;
M ehner, Vol. 12: 451; Seaton: 188; Tessin, Vol. 5: 44–45; RA: 86; OB 42: 77; OB 43: 132; OB 44: 183; OB 45: 151. For some excellent photographs of the division in
Russia, see Kameradschaftsdienst 35. Inf. Div., Die 35. Infanterie-Division, 1935–1945, Deutsche Infanterie-Divisionen im Bild (1980).
36TH INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION
See 36th Panzer Grenadier Division (Volume Three).
38TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 108th Infantry Regiment, 112th Infantry Regiment, 138th Artillery Regiment, 138th
[combined] Tank Destroyer and Reconnaissance Battalion, 138th Engineer Battalion, 138th Signal
Battalion, 138th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Munsterlager, Wehrkreis XI
Formed on July 8, 1942, this division was transferred to the The Hague in the Netherlands in
August, then was sent into 15th Army’s reserve in northern France, and was finally given a sector of
the Atlantic coast at St. Nazaire under 7th Army in 1943. Its infantry regiments were redesignated
grenadier battalions on October 15, 1942. Sent to the Russian Front in the spring of 1943, it was
virtually destroyed in the Donets battles, in the retreat to the Dnieper and at Krivoy Rog. The
remnants of the 38th Infantry Division were assigned to the 276th Infantry Division in October.
Commanders of the 38th were Lieutenant General Friedrich-Georg Eberhardt (assumed command
June 30, 1942) and Colonel/Major General Kurt Eberding (August 25, 1943–end).
Notes and S ources: From September 10 to November 14, 1943 (when it ceased to exist), the 38th Infantry Division was under the operational control of the 62nd
Infantry Division. Kurt Eberding was promoted to major general on September 1, 1943.
Carell 1966: 183; Keilig: 87; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume II: 1383,1390; Volume III: 8, 732; Nafziger 2000: 84–85; Tessin, Vol. 5: 72; RA: 46; OB 43: 132; OB
44: 184; OB 45: 152.
39TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 113th Infantry Regiment, 114th Infantry Regiment, 139th Artillery Regiment, 139th
Reconnaissance Battalion, 139th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 139th Engineer Battalion, 139th Signal
Battalion, 139th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Wehrkreis IV
Formed in Troop Maneuver Area Elsenborn in northwestern Germany on July 10, 1942, the 39th
Infantry consisted mainly of Poles and other non-Germans. It was soon transferred to the Netherlands,
where it performed garrison duties on the Schelde until being sent to Russia in early 1943. The
division was heavily engaged on the southern sector near Kharkov from April to August, was
involved in the retreat to the Dnieper, was down to battle group strength by autumn 1943, and suffered
such heavy losses in the lower Dnieper campaign that it had to be downgraded on October 23. Its men
were incorporated into the 106th Infantry Division as Division Group 39. Its headquarters was sent to
the Peloponnesus, where it eventually became the Staff, 41st Fortress Division. The 39th was never
considered a first-class combat division.
Its commanders included Lieutenant General Hugo Hoefl (assumed command July 10, 1942),
Lieutenant General Ludwig Löweneck (December 31, 1942), Colonel Maximilian Hünten (May 15,
1943), and Major General Paul Mahlmann (September 3, 1943).
S ources: General Löweneck was killed in an accident on the Eastern Front on M ay 14, 1943.
Keilig: 144; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume II: 1383; Volume III: 1156; Nafziger 2000: 86–87; Tessin, Vol. 5: 79; RA: 100; OB 43: 132; OB 45: 152.
41ST FORTRESS (LATER INFANTRY) DIVISION
Composition (1944): 938th Grenadier Regiment, 965th Grenadier Regiment, 733rd Grenadier
Regiment, 1009th Fortress Infantry Battalion, 1012th Fortress Infantry Battalion, 919th Army Coastal
Artillery Regiment, 141st Fusilier Battalion, 141st Engineer Battalion, 141st Signal Battalion, 309th
Army Anti-Aircraft Battalion, 141st Divisional Suppy Troops
Home Station: Schweidnitz, Wehrkreis VIII
The 41st Fortress Division was formed in Bruck on December 11, 1943, was sent to Greece, and
was assigned the mission of guarding the Peloponnesus, that strategic isthmus connecting northern and
southern Greece. Originally a two-regiment division, the 41st incorporated the 733rd Grenadier
Regiment of the 133rd Fortress Division into its table of organization in September 1944. The 41st
formed the rear guard of Army Group F when the Germans evacuated Greece in the fall of 1944,
clashing with royalist guerrillas and the 2nd British Airborne Division during the retreat to Corinth. It
was engaged in continuous small but bitter rear-guard actions as the Nazis retreated through Serbia
and Croatia.
In January 1945, it was upgraded to infantry division status and fought the regular Soviet forces
between the Drava and the Sava Rivers in early 1945. It now consisted of the 1230th (formerly
733rd) Grenadier Regiment, the 1231st (formerly 938th) Grenadier Regiment, the 1232nd (formerly
965th) Grenadier Regiment, the 141st Artillery Regiment and assorted divisional troops, including
the 141st Tank Destroyer Battalion (the former Alarm Regiment Athens). The 41st Infantry was still
serving on the southern sector of the Eastern Front when the war ended. It surrendered to the
Yugoslavs on May 8, 1945.
The division’s commanders included Major General Frank Krech (assumed command November
20, 1943), Major General/Lieutenant General Dr. Fritz Benicke (May 1, 1944), and Major
General/Lieutenant General Wolfgang-Rudiger Hauser (July 30, 1944–end).
Notes and S ources: General Krech was killed in action on April 27, 1944. The division was temporarily commanded by its senior regimental commander until Dr.
Benicke arrived. He was promoted to lieutenant general on M ay 1, 1944. Hauser was promoted to lieutenant general on M arch 1, 1945. He was a prisoner in
Yugoslavia until October 1951.
Chant, Volume 15: 2045; Lexikon; Tessin, Vol. 5: 95–96; OB 45: 153–54.
44TH INFANTRY DIVISION “HOCH UND DEUTSCHMEISTER”
Composition (1943): 131st Grenadier Regiment, 132nd Fusilier Grenadier Regiment, 134th
Grenadier Regiment (Reichsgrenadier Regiment Hoch und Deutschmeister), 95th Artillery Regiment,
44th Fusilier Battalion, 46th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 80th Engineer Battalion, 64th Signal Battalion,
44th Field Replacement Battalion, 44th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Vienna, Wehrkreis XVII
Formed in Vienna on April 1, 1938, from soldiers of the former Austrian Army, the 44th was
created by the expansion of the historic 4th Viennese Regiment “Hoch und Deutschmeister,” which
traced its ancestory back to 1526. The division initially included the 131st, 132nd, and 134th Infantry
Regiments, the 96th Artillery Regiment, and the 46th Anti-Tank, 80th Engineer, 64th Signal, and 44th
Field Replacement Battalions. It crossed into Poland in 1939, took part in the attack on Krakow
(Kracow) and later advanced across the Vistula. As part of the 6th Army in France it did less well,
leading a U.S. intelligence officer to report that its “morale [is] less high than that of the other
Austrian divisions.” It remained in France until March 1941 and formed part of the 1st Panzer Group
(later Army) in the initial advance into southern Russia. In 1941 and 1942, the Viennese division
fought in the Ukraine, at Zhitomir, Kiev, and Kharkov, in the Donets, and in the initial advance toward
the Caucasus, until being attached to the 6th Army for the drive on the Volga. In mid-November 1942,
the remnants of the virtually destroyed 534th, 535th, and 536th Infantry Regiments of the recently
dissolved 384th Infantry Division were attached to the 44th Division, which was cut off in Stalingrad
with Paulus’s army soon after. The original 44th ceased to exist on January 31, 1943, three days
before the last remnants of the 6th Army surrendered.
A second 44th Infantry Division was recruited in Austria, in 1943, to replace the division
destroyed at Stalingrad. It was given the honorary title “Reichsgrenadier Division Hoch und
Deutschmeister.” After a training period in Belgium, it was sent to northern Italy in August 1943,
where it formed part of Field Marshal Rommel’s ad hoc Army Group B. In December it was sent into
action on the Italian Front south of Rome and remained on the front line for more than a year. It fought
in the battles of Cassino and the Gothic Line, and launched a counterattack at Monte Battaglia in
September 1944, which was described as “terrific” by the American commander. By all accounts an
excellent fighting unit, the 44th was sent to the Hungarian sector of the Eastern Front in February
1945, where it was soon reduced to Kampfgruppe (regimental) strength in heavy fighting and was
largely destroyed at Jenoe on March 23. The remnants of the division nevertheless remained on the
southern sector of the Eastern Front until the end of the war. They then managed to disengage from the
Red Army and surrendered to the Americans north of Linz on May 8, 1945.
Commanders of the Hoch und Deutschmeister Division included Lieutenant General Albrecht
Schubert (assumed command April 1, 1938), Major General/Lieutenant General Friedrich Siebert
(October 1, 1939), Major General/Lieutenant General Heinrich Deboi (May 2, 1942), Lieutenant
General Dr. Franz Beyer (February 1943), Lieutenant General Dr. Fritz Franek (January 1, 1944),
Lieutenant General Bruno Ortner (May 1, 1944), Lieutenant General Hans-Günther von Rost (June 25,
1944), and Colonel Hoffmann (March 23, 1945).
Notes and S ources: In January 1940, the 44th Field Replacement Battalion was transferred to the 164th Infantry Division and became the III/443rd Infantry
Regiment. Siebert was promoted to lieutenant general on April 1, 1941. Deboi was promoted to lieutenant general on December 1, 1942, and was captured when
Stalingrad fell. He remained in prison until 1953. General von Rost was killed in action at Jenoe on M arch 23, 1945. Colonel Hoffmann was the senior regimental
commander.
Carell 1966: 472, 490; Fisher: 64, 82, 351; Garland and Smyth: 282–88; Hartmann: 14–15; Keilig: 64, 284; M anstein: 52; Nafziger 2000: 88–91; Anton Schimak, Karl
Lamprecht and Friedrich Dettmer, Die 44. Infanterie-Division: Tagebuch der Hoch- und Deutschmeister (1969); Tessin, Vol. 5: 116–17; RA: 220; OB 42: 77; OB 43:
132; OB 44: 185; OB 45: 153.
45TH INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION
Composition: 130th Infantry Regiment, 133rd Infantry Regiment, 135th Infantry Regiment, 98th
Artillery Regiment, 45th Reconnaissance Battalion, 45th Anti-Tank Battalion, 81st Engineer
Battalion, 65th Signal Battalion, 45th Field Replacement Battalion, 45th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Linz, Wehrkreis XVII
When Hitler annexed Austria in 1938, the 4th Austrian Division was redesignated 45th Infantry and
incorporated into the Nazi Army on April 1. A year and a half later it was in action in Poland, on the
right wing of Army Group South. In 1940 it participated in the French campaign and was on
occupation duty in Belgium until May 1941. The following month it was in the initial attack on the
Soviet Union. The Austrian division suffered heavy casualties in the reduction of the fortress of
Brest-Litovsk in June and July 1941. Later it fought at Pinsk, Gomel and at Tula (behind and south of
Moscow) as part of the 2nd Panzer Army. It put up fierce resistance against the Soviet
counteroffensive of December 1941, but was eventually forced to retreat. On December 12 Army
Chief of the General Staff Halder reported the division unfit for combat for lack of supplies. The next
day its main withdrawal route was cut by the Russians, and part of the division was encircled and
dispersed; much of its artillery had to be abandoned because its horses starved or froze to death. The
45th nevertheless remained in the line, fought on the southern sector of the Eastern Front in 1942 (at
Orel and Voronesch), and was on the central sector throughout 1943. It suffered serious casualties in
the Battle of Kursk in July 1943, when Hitler’s last major offensive in the East was turned back. That
autumn the division fought in the defense of Sozh, Bryansk, and Gomel, and in the subsequent retreats
in the central sector. The 45th Infantry was largely destroyed near Bobruisk in the Russian summer
offensive of 1944, along with most of the rest of Army Group Center.
The very few survivors of the 45th were used as the cadre of the 45th Grenadier Division, which
was formed in the Dollersheim Maneuver Area. The new 45th merged with the 546th Grenadier
Division (a Sperrdivision, or blocking division) and, as of July 18, 1944, included the 130th, 133rd,
and 135th Grenadier Regiments (each with only two battalions), as well as the 98th Artillery
Regiment and assorted divisional troops. The 45th Grenadier Division, however, was still
understrength, so it was allowed to absorb the 1132nd Grenadier Regiment on September 22. Sent
back to Poland, the division was renamed the 45th Volksgrenadier Division on October 21. It was in
action on the Eastern Front by autumn, fought in the battles of Warsaw and Radom in early 1945, was
pushed into Silesia, and finally capitulated at Königgrätz, Czechoslovakia, in May 1945. By this time,
only one of its grenadier regiments (the 130th) was still extant and, on April 20, 1945, it was
redesignated Division Group 45 and was placed under the operational control of the Führer
Grenadier Division.
The commanders of the 45th included Major General/Lieutenant General Friedrich Materna
(assumed command April 1, 1938), Major General Gerhard Körner (October 25, 1940), Major
General/Lieutenant General Fritz Schlieper (May 1, 1941), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant
General Fritz Kühlwein (February 27, 1942), Colonel/Major General Baron Hans von Falkenstein
(April 25, 1943), Colonel/Major General Joachim Engel (November 30, 1943), Major General
Gustav Gihr (February 27, 1944), Engel (June 1, 1944), Colonel/Major General Richard Daniel (July
19, 1944), and Major General Erich Hassenstein (March 1945).
Notes and S ources: In January 1940, the 45th Field Replacement Battalion was transferred to the 297th Infantry Division and became the II/135th Infantry
Regiment. By 1943, the reconnaissance battalion had three bicycle squadrons and a heavy squadron. Friedrich M aterna was promoted to lieutenant general on June 1,
1939. General Körner was killed in an accident on April 27, 1941. Who commanded the division from October 1 to 25, 1940, and April 27–30, 1941, is not clear.
Schlieper was promoted to lieutenant general on November 1, 1941. Kühlwein was promoted to major general on April 1, 1942, and to lieutenant general on January 1,
1943. Baron von Falkenstein was promoted to major general on M ay 1, 1943. Engels was promoted to major general on June 1, 1944, and was captured by the
Russians in July. He joined the National Free Germany Committee and died in a Soviet prison in June 1948. Daniel was promoted to major general on October 1, 1944,
and was seriously wounded on M arch 18, 1945. General Hassenstein committed suicide on M ay 2, 1945.
Carell 1966: 33, 344–45; Carell 1971: 597; Keilig: 64; Kennedy: 74 and M ap 7; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1146; Volume IV: 1876; Rudolf Gschoepf, Mein
Weg mit der 45. Infanterie-Division (1955); M ellenthin 1977: 42–43; Nafziger 2000: 91–93; Seaton: 224, citing Halder, Kriegstagebuch, Volume III: 340; Tessin, Vol.
5: 124–26; RA: 220; OB 42: 78; OB 43: 133; OB 44: 185; OB 45: 154.
46TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 42nd Infantry Regiment, 72nd Infantry Regiment, 97th Infantry Regiment, 114th
Artillery Regiment, 46th Reconnaissance Battalion, 52nd Anti-Tank Battalion, 88th Engineer
Battalion, 76th Signal Battalion, 46th Field Replacement Battalion, 46th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Karlsbad, Wehrkreis XIII
Formed from Sudetenland personnel on November 24, 1938, this division fought in Poland (1939)
and in France (1940) and was on the Atlantic coast until February 1941. It fought in Yugoslavia in
April and took part in the Russian campaign, attacking through the Ukraine in July 1941 and
penetrating the Perekop Isthmus in the northern Crimea in September. While the bulk of the 11th Army
lay siege to the naval fortress of Sevastopol on the southwestern side of the Crimean peninsula, the
46th Infantry Division, now under Lieutenant General Kurt Himer, defended the eastern approaches to
the Crimea on the Kerch peninsula. In the Russian winter offensive of 1941–42 it was attacked by two
full Soviet armies. Ordered to hold at all costs, General Himer and his corps commander, General
Count Hans von Sponeck, decided to retreat against orders rather than to allow the division to be
slaughtered. This action so infuriated Field Marshal Walther von Reichenau that he stripped the
division of its banners and its honors. Hitler ordered both von Sponeck and Himer relieved of their
commands. Within two weeks Field Marshal Reichenau was dead, and his successor, Field Marshal
Fedor von Bock, ordered the banners returned and restored Himer to his command.
Officially restored to honor, the division took part in the Siege of Sevastopol and in the Caucasus
campaign of 1942–43, where it formed the rearguard of the XXXIX Mountain Corps in the subsequent
retreat. Later it fought in the Kuban, the Donets, at Belgorod and Isjum, in the Battle of
Dnepropetrovsk (where it was seriously damaged), and in the retreat through the southern Ukraine,
where it again took heavy casualties. It was reduced from nine to six grenadier battalions in
September 1943. Despite its reduced numbers, the 46th Infantry distinguished itself in the withdrawal
through Transylvania and the Carpathians. In late 1944 the division—now at regimental strength—
was in action on the Slovak-Hungarian frontier. It was reorganized and redesignated a Volksgrenadier
division in March 1945. The remnants of the 46th surrendered to the Russians in the Deutsch-Brod
sector of Czechoslovakia on May 8, 1945.
The commanders of the 46th Infantry included Major General/Lieutenant General Paul von Hase
(assumed command August 1938), Major General/Lieutenant General Karl Kriebel (July 24, 1940),
Lieutenant General Kurt Himer (September 17, 1941), senior regimental commander (March 26 to
April 5, 1942), Major General/Lieutenant General Ernst Haccius (April 5, 1942), Colonel Karl von
Le Suire (February 13, 1943), Lieutenant General Arthur Hauffe (February 26, 1943), Major
General/Lieutenant General Kurt Röpke (August 20, 1943), Colonel Hugo Ewringmann (July 10,
1944), and Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Erich Reuter (August 26, 1944–end).
Notes and S ources: In January 1940, the 46th Field Replacement Battalion became part of the 183rd Infantry Division and was redesignated I/330th Infantry
Regiment. Hase was promoted to lieutenant general on April 1, 1940. Kriebel was promoted to lieutenant general on August 1, 1940. He was either wounded or fell ill
in September 1941; in any case, he did not return to active duty until July 1942. Unlike Count von Sponeck, who was executed on Himmler’s orders after the July 20
attempt on Hitler’s life failed, General Himer was not shot for retreating against orders, but his career was ruined just the same. He was mortally wounded on M arch
26 and died in the hospital at Simferopol on April 4, 1942. Haccius was promoted to lieutenant general on January 1, 1943, and was killed in action in the northern
Caucasus on February 11, 1943. Röpke was advanced to lieutenant general on February 1, 1944. Erich Reuter was promoted to major general on November 9, 1944,
and to lieutenant general on April 20, 1945. He was a Soviet prisoner until 1955.
Carell 1966: 297, 316–22, 482, 485; Keilig: 121, 129, 187, 274; Kennedy: 74 and M ap 7; M anstein: 134; Nafziger 2000: 93–95; Tessin, Vol. 5: 133–34; RA: 204; OB
43: 133; OB 45: 154–55.
47TH INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION
Composition: 103rd Grenadier Regiment, 104th Grenadier Regiment, 115th Grenadier Regiment,
147th Artillery Regiment, 47th Fusilier Battalion, 147th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 147th Engineer
Battalion, 147th Signal Battalion, 147th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Bonn, Wehrkreis VI
The 47th Infantry Division was formed in the Calais area of France from the 156th Reserve
Division on February 1, 1944. Initially engaged in Normandy, it was withdrawn before the front
collapsed and thus escaped encirclement at Falaise. Later it suffered heavy losses at Mons and was
forced to reform in the vicinity of Aarhus, Denmark. It merged with the 577th Grenadier Division on
September 17, 1944, to form the 47th Volksgrenadier Division. It retained its original three grenadier
regiments (although they were reduced from three to two battalions each), along with its artillery
regiment and the normal divisional support units. Its fusilier battalion, however, became the 47th
Fusilier Company. It was committed to the Battle of Aachen in September, where it again suffered
serious casualties. In January 1945, it went into the attack in Himmler’s ill-fated offensive against
Strasbourg. Later it engaged in fighting in the Rhineland east of Aachen and, in late March, was
virtually destroyed during the American advance through the Germersheim area of Bavaria. The
remnants of the 47th Volksgrenadier surrendered to the Americans near Muensingen at the end of the
war.
Its divisional commanders included Lieutenant General Otto Elfeldt (February 1, 1944), Major
General Carl Wahle (July 30, 1944), Lieutenant General Siegfried Macholz (September 4, 1944), and
Lieutenant General Max Bork (September 18, 1944).
See also 156th Reserve Division.
Notes and S ources: General Wahle was captured near M ons on September 4, 1944.
Carell 1971: 595–98; Chant, Volume 17: 2277, 2368; Harrison: M ap VI; Keilig: 81; M acDonald 1963: 411; M ehner, Vol. 12: 456; Nafziger 2000: 95–96;
“Frontnachweiser,” 15 December 1944; Tessin, Vol. 5: 142–43; RA: 100; OB 45: 155.
A German field artillery piece.
HITM ARCHIVE
48TH INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION
Composition: 126th Grenadier Regiment, 127th Grenadier Regiment, 128th Grenadier Regiment,
148th Artillery Regiment, 148th (later 48th) Fusilier Battalion, 148th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 148th
Engineer Battalion, 148th Signal Battalion, 148th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Hanover, Wehrkreis XI
Formed in the West Flanders area of Belgium from the 171st Reserve Division on February 1,
1944, this unit included many Poles and other non-Germans. Its grenadier regiments were small and
only had two battalions each. Initially posted on the Belgian coast, the 48th was transferred to France
after the collapse of the Normandy Front and first engaged the Allies in the Chartres area in August.
Inexperienced in battle, inadequately trained, and not particularly loyal to the Third Reich, the 48th
Infantry did not perform well in combat. It was defeated at Chartres, Metz, and later in the Siegfried
Line battles. Severely damaged by Patton’s 3rd Army, it finally collapsed altogether and had to be
temporarily absorbed by the 559th Infantry Division in November. Reorganized in Slovakia and
eastern Austria in early 1945, it was redesignated a Volksgrenadier division and sent to the Eastern
Front. It fought as part of the 8th Army as the Russians successfully drove on Vienna and ended the
war at battle group strength on the lower Danube sector of the Eastern Front, north of Vienna. Part of
the division surrendered to the Soviets, part to the Americans.
Commanders of the 48th Infantry/Volksgrenadier were Lieutenant General Casper (assumed
command February 1, 1944), Major General Gerhard Kegler (October 1, 1944), Colonel Arnold
Scholz (October 1944), and Casper (January 30, 1945–end).
See also 171st Reserve Division.
Notes and S ources: General Casper fell ill in the fall of 1944 and had to be relieved.
Blumenson 1960: 570, 584–85; Cole 1950: 48, 357, 365; Harrison: M ap VI; Hartmann: 15; Keilig: 59; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1145; Volume IV: 1904;
Kursietis: 116; Nafziger 2000: 96–97; Tessin, Vol. 5: 149; RA: 172; OB 45: 155.
49TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 148th Grenadier Regiment, 149th Grenadier Regiment, 150th Grenadier Regiment,
149th Artillery Regiment, 49th Fusilier Battalion, 149th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 149th Engineer
Battalion, 149th Signal Battalion, 149th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Braunschweig (Brunswick), Wehrkreis XI
This division was formed in the Boulogne area of France from the 191st Reserve Division on
February 1, 1944. First in combat in northern France in August 1944, the division took part in the
withdrawal to Paris and into the Low Countries and was smashed at Mons (near the Albert Canal) by
Field Marshal Montgomery’s soldiers. The divisional commander, Lieutenant General Siegfried
Macholz, tried to reorganize his shattered units at Hasselt, but managed to assemble only 1,500 men
—mostly support troops who had no anti-tank guns and only one piece of artillery: a Russian 122mm
howitzer. Only one regimental headquarters—the 148th Grenadier—could be located. Soon (on or
about September 4) Macholz (who had commanded the division since its formation) was replaced by
Lieutenant General Erich Baessler. The division was briefly withdrawn from the line and, on October
19, 1944, absorbed the 31st and 57th Fortress Machine Gun Battalions, the 302nd and 505th Infantry
Regiments (from OB West), the 1423rd Fortress Infantry Battalion, a grenadier replacement and
training battalion, and the I, VI, XI and XVIII Landwehr Fortress Battalions. The 49th Infantry was
soon back in action north of Aachen but was withdrawn after the city fell and was disbanded shortly
afterwards (on November 23, 1944). The survivors of the division were sent to the 246th
Volksgrenadier Division. The divisional staff was sent to Metz and used to form the Staff, VII Panzer
Corps.
See also 191st Reserve Division.
Notes and S ources: The date General Baessler assumed command of the 49th Infantry is not made clear by the records.
Cole 1950: 192, 430; Cole 1965: 35; Harrison: M ap VI; Keilig: 18; M acDonald 1963: 97–98, 282, 297, 500; Nafziger 2000: 97; Tessin, Vol. 5: 156; RA: 172; OB 45:
156.
50TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 121st Infantry Regiment, 122nd Infantry Regiment, 123rd Infantry Regiment, 150th
Artillery Regiment, 150th Reconnaissance Battalion, 150th Anti-Tank Battalion, 150th Engineer
Battalion, 150th Signal Battalion, 150th Divisional Supply Troops. The 150th Field Replacement
Battalion was formed in 1942.
Home Station: Kuestrin, Wehrkreis III
Originally formed as the Kuestrin Frontier Command in the Oder-Warta basin of eastern Germany,
this headquarters was upgraded to infantry division status on August 26, 1939, and its frontier troops
were inducted into the active army for the invasion of Poland. Initially the 50th Infantry was small for
a division. Its infantry regiments only had 11 companies each, instead of the standard 14. This
deficiency was corrected during the winter of 1939–40. Meanwhile, the 50th was lightly engaged in
the Polish campaign of 1939 and fought in the French and Balkans campaign (i.e., northern Greece).
Later it crossed into southern Russia, where it fought at Odessa and Nikolajew, and was involved in
breaching the Perekop Isthmus in the northern Crimea and in the reduction of Sevastopol (1941–42).
Later, in the fall of 1942, the 50th Infantry took part in the Caucasus campaign and narrowly avoided
being cut off in the Kuban bridgehead by marching across the Sea of Azov on the ice, because the land
routes had been cut off or threatened by the Russians.
After the retreat to the lower Dnieper, the 50th Infantry was returned to the Crimea, where, in April
1944, it faced an exact reversal of roles from that of 1941: it was defending the Perekop Isthmus
against a Russian attack. Finally defeated after suffering heavy losses, it retreated back to Sevastopol,
where the divisional commander, Major General Friedrich Sixt, was seriously wounded and had to
be evacuated by air on May 1. Eight days later his replacement, Colonel Paul Betz, was killed in
action. In the evacuation of the Crimea by the German Navy, most of the 50th was left behind; most of
these were made prisoner, except for the officers, who were brutally murdered by the Russians after
they had surrendered. Only 2,800 men from the division managed to escape by sea. They were
transported to Romania, reformed, and sent back into action with Army Group Center in July. Its
grenadier regiments, however, now only had two weak battalions each. The burned-out division
suffered heavy losses against the Soviet summer offensive of 1944 but was still in combat in late
1944, when it was defending a sector in East Prussia. It was largely destroyed in the Heligenbeil
Pocket in March 1945. The remnants of the division escaped to the Hela Pocket, where they
surrendered to the Red Army in May. During the war, this tough division suffered 33,700 casualties
(more than twice its maximum strength), including 6,000 killed, 23,000 wounded, and 4,700 missing.
These totals exclude those who surrendered at the end of the war.
Leaders of the division included Lieutenant General Konrad Sorsche (August 26, 1939), Lieutenant
General Karl Hollidt (October 25, 1940), Major General August Schmidt (January 31, 1942),
Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Friedrich Schmidt (March 1, 1943), Colonel Hermann
Boehme (July 26, 1943), Major General/Lieutenant General Sixt (July 3, 1943), Lieutenant Colonel
Konrad Stephanus (May 1, 1944), Betz (May 2, 1944) , Colonel Guenther Biermann (May 10, 1944),
Major General Alexander von Pfuhstein (May–June 1944), Colonel/Major General Georg Haus (July
1, 1944), Major General Kurt Domansky (April 18, 1945), and Colonel Ribbert (April 28, 1945).
Notes and S ources: Kuestrin is now Kostrzyn, Poland. Schwerin/Warthe is now Skwierzyna, Poland. Friedrich Schmidt was promoted to major general on M arch 1,
1942 and to lieutenant general on M arch 1, 1943. He was killed in action in the Kuban on June 26, 1943. Colonel Betz was posthumously promoted to major general.
M ajor General Dr. Hermann Hohn was designated as commander of the 50th Infantry on M ay 26, 1944, but apparently never assumed command of the division. He
was taking a training course in Germany at the time and returned to the 72nd Infantry Division, which he had commanded the year before. Georg Haus was named
divisional commander on June 5, but did not actually arrive at divisional headquarters until July 1, 1944. He was promoted to major general on October 1, 1944. He
was killed in action at Stutthof (near Gdansk), East Prussia, on April 18, 1945. General Domansky was also killed at Stutthof on April 28. Colonel Ribbert, who was
normally commander of the 121st Grenadier Regiment, was acting commander of the 50th Infantry when it surrendered.
Carell 1966: 297, 482, 503, 509; Carell 1971: 142, 538–58; Chant, Volume 7: 907; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 56–57; Keilig: 32; Kennedy: 74 and M ap 7; Lexikon;
M anstein 24; Hermann Plocher, “The German Air Force Versus Russia, 1943,” United States Air Force Historical Studies: Number 155, Aerospace Studies Institute,
Air University (1967); published in hardback form by Arno Press (1968): 322 (herafter cited as “Plocher M S” with the appropriate year); Tessin, Vol. 5: 162–63; RA:
46; OB 42: 78; OB 45: 156. For the divisional veteran’s association’s website, see http://50-infanterie-division.de.
52ND INFANTRY (LATER FIELD TRAINING AND SECURITY) DIVISION
Composition (1939): 163rd Infantry Regiment, 181st Infantry Regiment, 205th Infantry Regiment,
152nd Artillery Regiment, 152nd Reconnaissance Battalion, 152nd Anti-Tank Battalion, 152nd
Engineer Battalion, 152nd Signal Battalion, 152nd Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Kassel, Wehrkreis IX
The staff of this division was formed from the reserve personnel of Infantry Command IX on
August 26, 1939. The 52nd was originally a three-regiment infantry division, with its regiments
coming from the 29th Motorized, 9th Infantry and 15th Infantry Divisions, respectively. It was sent to
the Saar sector (Western Front) when the war broke out. Elements of the 52nd reportedly took part in
the invasion of Norway (April 1940) while most of its units fought in the French campaign in May
and June. It was on occupation duty in France until June 1941, when it was sent to Army Group
Center in Russia. The 52nd remained on the line for more than two years, fighting at Bobruisk,
Bryansk, and Moscow, against the Soviet winter offensive of 1941–42, and at Juchnow, SpassDemensk, Orel, and Nevel before suffering such heavy losses in the defensive Battle of Smolensk in
the fall of 1943 that it had to be withdrawn. (Meanwhile, each third grenadier battalion was
disbanded due to heavy casualties.)
Instead of rebuilding the 52nd as an infantry division, the High Command of the Army decided to
convert it into a field training unit, and it was stripped of most of its artillery. On December 3, 1943,
it was formally redesignated a field training division. It now consisted of the 565th, 566th, and 567th
Grenadier Regiments (two battalions each) and a handful of division support units. (Its tank destroyer
battalion, for example, had been reduced to a company.) The 52nd was stationed in White Ruthenia
from November 1943 to June 1944. On April 12, 1944, the division was disbanded as a combat unit.
The divisional staff, however, was transferred to Army Group North, where it was redesignated 52nd
Security Division and controlled the 57th, 89th, and 611th Security Regiments in the Baltic States. In
April 1945 it became Fortress Command Libau as part of the 18th Army’s reserve. It surrendered to
the Red Army in May 1945.
Commanders of the division included Major General Karl Adolf Hollidt (August 26, 1939), Major
General/Lieutenant General Hans-Juergen von Armin (September 8, 1939), Major General/Lieutenant
General Dr. Lothar Rendulic (October 5, 1940), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Rudolf
Peschel (November 1, 1942), Major General Albert Newiger (December 10, 1943), and Lieutenant
General Baron Albert Digeon von Monteton (September 5, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Armin was promoted to lieutenant general on December 1, 1939. Rendulic was promoted to lieutenant general on December 1, 1941. Peschel was
promoted to major general on December 1, 1942 and to lieutenant general on June 1, 1943. Digeon was hanged in Riga on February 3, 1946.
Carell 1966: 196; Carell 1971: 309; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 9–11; Keilig: 13, 70, 241, 253; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume III: 1888; Volume IV; 1897; Lexikon;
Seaton: 366–67, 591; Tessin, Vol. 5: 176–78; OB 45: 157. Also see Thorwald, Defeat in the East, and Lothar Rendulic, Gekämpft Gesiegt (1957).
56TH INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION
Composition: 171st Infantry Regiment, 192nd Infantry Regiment, 234th Infantry Regiment, 156th
Artillery Regiment, 156th Reconnaissance Battalion, 156th Anti-Tank Battalion, 156th Engineer
Battalion, 156th Signal Battalion, 156th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Dresden, Wehrkreis IV
The 56th Infantry, known as the Swords (“Schwerter”) Division from its unit emblem, was formed
upon mobilization on August 26, 1939. Its men were mostly Saxon reservists. Its 171st Infantry
Regiment came from the 24th Infantry Division, its 192nd Infantry Regiment came from the 4th
Infantry Division, and its 234th Infantry Regiment was from the 14th Infantry Division. The divisional
staff was the former Staff, Infantry Leader IV in Dresden. It was with the 14th Army in Poland, where
its primary mission seems to have been rounding up Polish stragglers. In Belgium the following year
it had a much tougher task for it was involved in heavy fighting against the British Expeditionary
Force. The 56th acquitted itself well. It remained in Belgium after the fall of Dunkirk and returned to
Poland in September. In the meantime, it contributed cadres for the formation of the 294th and 304th
Infantry Divisions.
In 1941 the division was in the spearhead of Army Group Center, crossing the Bug River on rubber
rafts. The 56th took part in the advance on and retreat from Moscow (fighting in the battles of Kovel,
Kiev and Bryansk on the way) and remained on the central sector of the Russian Front for the rest of
the war. It held a sector near Orel throughout 1942, and suffered heavy casualties in the Battle of
Kursk in July 1943. The division temporarily ceased to exist on November 2, 1943, when its Staff
was redesignated Corps Detachment D. It controlled Division Group 56 (the former members of the
56th Infantry Division); Division Group 262 (the former 262nd Infantry Division); the 761st
Grenadier Brigade; and assorted divisional troops, which bore the number 156. Corps Detachment D
fought at Smolensk and Vitebsk, and was smashed in the Soviet summer offensive of 1944.
Briefly withdrawn in the autumn of 1944, the 56th was recreated in East Prussia on September 10,
1944, when Staff, Corps Detachment D became Headquarters, 56th Infantry Division, once more.
Division Group 56 became the 171st Grenadier Regiment, Division Group 262 became the 192nd
Grenadier Regiment, and the 761st Grenadier Brigade became the 234th Grenadier Regiment. Each
grenadier regiment in the new division had only two battalions. The division also included the 156th
Artillery Regiment (with two battalions instead of the normal four), the 156th Fusilier Battalion, the
156th Tank Destroyer Battalion, the 156th Engineer Battalion, the 156th Signal Battalion, and the
156th Field Replacement Battalion. During this process, the division absorbed the 1067th and 1068th
Grenadier Regiment, the 1041st March Battalion and several artillery battalions. The 56th Infantry
Division returned to Army Group Center as a Volksgrenadier division and was destroyed in the
Battle of the Heiligenbeil Pocket in March 1945. The divisional staff was evacuated to Pomerania,
where it was used to form Staff, Division Ulrich von Hutten.
The commanders of the 56th Infantry Division/Corps Detachment D/56th Volksgrenadier Division
included Major General Karl Kriebel (assumed command August 15, 1939), Lieutenant General Paul
von Hase (July 24, 1940), Major General/Lieutenant General Karl von Oven (November 15, 1940),
Colonel/Major General Otto Lüdecke (January 24, 1943), Lieutenant General Vincenz Müller
(September 15, 1943), Major General Bernhard Pampel umbenannt (“called”) Pamberg (June 1,
1944), and Major General/Lieutenant General Edmund Blaurock (July 15, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Heiligenbeil is now M amonova, Russia. In 1942, the 156th Reconnaissance Battalion became the 156th Fusilier Battalion, and consisted of two
grenadier companies, a bicycle squadron and a heavy weapons company. Oven was promoted to lieutenant general on July 1, 1941. Lüdecke became a major general on
April 1, 1943. Blaurock was promoted to lieutenant general on April 1, 1945.
Carell 1966: 18; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 12–14; Keilig: 36, 233, 256; Kennedy: M ap 10; M ehner, Vol 8: 554; Vol. 9: 390; Nafziger 2000: 101–3; Tessin, Vol. 5: 204–
05; RA: 72; OB 43: 134; OB 45: 157.
57TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 179th Infantry Regiment, 199th Infantry Regiment, 217th Infantry Regiment, 157th
Artiliery Regiment, 157th Reconnaissance Battalion, 157th Anti-Tank Battalion, 157th Engineer
Battalion, 157th Signal Battalion, 157th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Bad Reichenhall, Wehrkreis VII
Created from Bavarian reserve personnel in the summer of 1939, this division was activated upon
mobilization on August 26, 1939. It received its 179th and 199th Infantry Regiments from the 7th
Infantry Division and the 217th Infantry Regiment from the 217th Infantry Division. The Headquarters
was the former staff of Infantry Leader VII, 7th Infantry Division. The new division “distinguished
itself in southern Poland and in operations on the lower Somme,” to quote an Allied intelligence
report. It was this Bavarian division that blunted General Charles de Gaulle’s attempts to annihilate
the German bridgehead at Abbeville. Despite de Gaulle’s later grossly exaggerated claims of a
significant success, his French 4th Armored Division was, in fact, smashed, along with another
French mechanized division, at a time when France could not afford the loss. A few days later the
German 18th Army took Paris, which was virtually without armored protection. After fighting in
France, the 57th Infantry was stationed in Normandy until April 1941, when it was sent to Poland.
In June 1941 it took part in the sweep across southern Russia, fighting at Brody, Uman, Krivoy Rog
and Kharkov. The division remained on the southern sector, taking part in the Battle of Voronesch in
1942, and suffering heavy losses at the battles of Kursk and Kharkov (1943). It participated in the
Dnieper withdrawal (1943) and was encircled at Cherkassy in February 1944. It broke out but with
heavy loss of equipment and life. Briefly sent to the rear (to Debica, Poland) to regroup, the 57th was
rebuilt as a Type 44 division (with six grenadier battalions). Its artillery was partially re-equipped
with captured French guns. The division soon returned to the front, but this time to Army Group
Center just in time for the Russian summer offensive of 1944. It was surrounded at Mogilev (east of
Minsk) along with the rest of the 4th Army’s XXVII Corps, and was destroyed during the first week
of July 1944. Soon afterward the 57th Infantry was officially disbanded. Its survivors were
incorporated into the II/57th Divisional Group of Corps Detachment G.
The division’s commanders included Major General/Lieutenant General Oskar Bluemm
(November 10, 1938), Major General Anton Dostler (September 26, 1941), Bluemm (April 10,
1942), Lieutenant General Friedrich Siebert (October 10, 1942), Colonel/Major General Otto
Fretter-Pico (February 20, 1943), Lieutenant General Vincenz Müller (September 1, 1943), and
Colonel/Major General Adolf Trowitz (September 19, 1943).
Notes and S ources: General Bluemm was named Infantry Leader VII on November 10, 1938. He was promoted to lieutenant general on April 1, 1940. Fretter-Pico
was promoted to major general on M arch 1, 1943. Trowitz was promoted to major general on November 1, 1943. He was captured on July 7, 1944, and joined the
National Free Germany Committee while in captivity. He was not released until 1955.
Carell 1971: 594–97; Hartmann: 15; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 15–17; Keilig: 38, 95; Kennedy: 133 and M ap 10; Kursietis; 118; Nafziger 2000: 103–4; Tessin, Vol. 5:
211–12; RA: 116; OB 42: 79; OB 43: 134; OB 45: 158.
58TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 154th Infantry Regiment, 209th Infantry Regiment, 220th Infantry Regiment, 158th
Artillery Regiment, 158th Reconnaissance Battalion, 158th Anti-Tank Battalion, 158th Engineer
Battalion, 158th Signal Battalion, 158th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Oldenburg, Wehrkreis X
Mobilized in Hamburg on August 26, 1939, this former reserve division received infantry cadres
from the 22nd and 30th Infantry Divisions. It staff came from the Staff, Infantry Commander 22 at
Lüneburg. The new division was sent to the Saar sector in September 1939 and was only slightly
involved in the French campaign, where it fought in Luxembourg, Verdun and Toul. It was on
occupation duty in Belgium until April 1941, when it was sent to East Prussia. It was first heavily
engaged in 1941 on the northern sector of the Russian Front, where it broke through the Stalin Line,
swept through the Baltic States, fought at Lake Peipus, and took part in the siege of Leningrad. The
next year it took part in the Battle of Volkhov (south of Leningrad) from March through July, before
being switched to the Oranienbaum sector, where it remained until November 1942. Meanwhile, in
July 1942, its I/154th Infantry Regiment, III/209th Infantry Regiment, and III/220th Infantry Regiment
were disbanded. Their survivors were assigned to the extant battalions in their regiments. The
division, meanwhile, remained on the northern sector of the Eastern Front until the fall of 1943, when
it was sent to Nevel (Newel) on the extreme southern flank of the army group. It was hurriedly rushed
back to the north in January 1944, but arrived too late to prevent the Soviets from breaking the siege
of Leningrad. It lost one-third of its men and all its heavy equipment in the withdrawal from the city. It
nevertheless fought on the Narva, at Dünaburg, and at Memel. In February 1945, the 58th returned to
the central sector and was cut off in the Samland region of East Prussia in March 1945. It ended up on
the Hela peninsula, where it surrendered in May.
Commanders of this Saxon division included Major General/Lieutenant General Iwan Heunert
(August 26, 1939), Major General Dr. phil. Friedrich Altrichter (September 4, 1941), Colonel/Major
General/Lieutenant General Karl von Graffen (March 27, 1942), Lieutenant General Wilhelm Berlin
(May 1, 1943), von Graffen (June 6, 1943), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Curt Siewert
(September 15, 1943), and Colonel Fritz Klasing (April 13, 1945).
Notes and S ources: Heunert was promoted to lieutenant general on October 1, 1940. Karl von Graffen was promoted to major general on July 1, 1942 and to
lieutenant general on January 1, 1943. Siewert became a major general on December 1, 1943, and a lieutenant general on July 1, 1944. He was wounded in action on
April 13, 1945, and was medically evacuated back to the Reich.
Carell 1966: 287–88; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 18–20; Keilig: 324; M anstein: 196; Nafziger 2000: 105–6; Salisbury: 351; Tessin, Vol. 5: 219–20; Ziemke 1966: 258,
262; OB 42: 79; OB 43: 135; OB 45: 158.
59TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 1034th Grenadier Regiment; 1035th Grenadier Regiment, 1036th Grenadier
Regiment, 159th Artillery Regiment, 59th Fusilier Battalion, 159th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 159th
Engineer Battalion, 159th Signal Battalion, 159th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Wehrkreis II
Formed on an emergency basis on June 26, 1944, at the Gross Born Maneuver Area, this division
was in action on the Western Front by August. Its ranks were filled by troops on furlough from
Norway or the Eastern Front. The commitment of such ad hoc divisions to combat with inadequate
training (as a unit) and severe equipment shortages is indicative of the desperate situation Germany
faced after the Battle of Normandy and the subsequent encirclement of the 7th and 5th Panzer armies
in the Falaise Pocket in western France. The 59th fought in the Calais and Dunkirk areas and suffered
heavy losses in the 15th Army’s withdrawal to the North Brabant area of Holland. By mid-September
the division’s total strength was 1,000 infantrymen, a few engineers, a field replacement battalion,
eighteen anti-tank guns, and thirty howitzers; nevertheless it fought against the elite U.S. 101st
Airborne Division in Operation Market-Garden and succeeded in delaying the advance of the British
XXX Armored Corps to Arnhem, where the British 1st Airborne Division was being smashed by the
II SS Panzer Corps.
In October, the 59th Infantry Division was in Army Group B’s reserve during the Battle of the
Scheldt. It took part in the retreat across the Maas and was finally taken out of the line to rest and refit
in November. Despite its shortages in every department, the 59th was back on the front line in
December, fighting near Aachen, in the Siegfried Line battles. In February 1945, it defended Juelich
and opposed the 9th U.S. Army’s attempts to cross the Roer. Eventually transferred to the 5th Panzer
Army, the 59th fought against both the 1st and 3rd U.S. armies as they drove on the Rhine. Little
remained of the stubborn emergency division as the Battle of the Ruhr Pocket began, and this remnant
surrendered to the Americans at the end of the battle in April 1945, as German resistance in the West
disintegrated and the Allies closed in on the industrial heart of the Third Reich.
The division’s commanders included Lieutenant General Walter Poppe (July 5, 1944) and
Lieutenant General Hanskurt Hoecker (February 1945).
S ources: Cole 1965: 613; Keilig: 144; M acDonald 1963: 125, 216–17; M acDonald 1973: 153, 189; Tessin, Vol. 5: 226; RA: 32; OB 45: 159.
60TH INFANTRY DIVISION
See 60th Panzer Grenadier Division (Volume Three).
61ST INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 151st Infantry Regiment, 162nd Infantry Regiment, 176th Infantry Regiment, 161st
Artillery Regiment, 161st Reconnaissance Battalion, 161st Anti-Tank Battalion, 161st Engineer
Battalion, 161st Signal Battalion, 161st Field Replacement Battalion, 161st Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Insterburg, Wehrkreis I
Formed from reservists on August 8, 1939, this East Prussian division received the 151st, 162nd
and 176th Infantry Regiments from the East Prussian 1st, 11th and 21st Infantry Divisions,
respectively. Its Staff was the former Staff, Infantry Leader I (sometimes translated as Infantry
Commander I), one of the two deputy commanders of the 1st Infantry Division. The new division
fought in northern Poland in 1939 and took part in the siege of Warsaw. The next year it was part of
Army Group B when it overran Belgium and captured Dunkirk. The 61st Infantry Division spent the
rest of 1940 on occupation duty in Brittany before returning to East Prussia at the end of January
1941.
A German infantryman (Landser) in action on the Eastern Front. He is carrying a Mauser rifle and a stick grenade.
HITM ARCHIVE
It remained with Army Group B (which was redesignated Army Group North) for the invasion of
Russia in 1941. It fought in the drive on Leningrad, took part in the Battle of the Valday Hills,
opposed the Soviet winter offensive of 1941–42, and was later engaged in the siege of Leningrad.
Three of its infantry battalions were disbanded in June and July 1942, due to heavy casualties. In the
winter of 1942–43, the 61st Infantry fought in the Second Battle of Lake Ladoga where it rescued the
227th Infantry Division, which had been encircled by elements of two Russian armies near
Schlüsselburg. It stayed in the Volchov/Leningrad area throughout 1943. When the Russian winter
offensive of 1944 began on January 17, the 61st was the only reserve division in the 18th Army,
which was besieging the city. Committed to battle, the 61st was unable to prevent the Soviets from
finally breaking the siege on January 28. It nevertheless distinguished itself in the Narva battles and in
the retreat through the Baltic states. Meanwhile, it absorbed the remnants of the 9th Luftwaffe Field
Division on April 2. It was shifted to Army Group Center after the Center’s disastrous defeats in June
and July 1944. The division served with the XXXIX Panzer Corps in the retreat through Poland and,
by January 1945, was cut off in East Prussia, where it remained—at battle group strength—until April
10, 1945. On that date Königsberg was overrun by the Red Army and the 61st was finally destroyed.
It had been reorganized and redesignated 61st Volksgrenadier Division in October 1944.
Commanders of the 61st Infantry/Volksgrenadier Division included Lieutenant General Siegfried
Haenicke (August 8, 1939), Colonel Franz Scheidies (March 27, 1942), Major General Werner
Hühner (April 8, 1942), Major General/Lieutenant General Guenther Krappe (February 1, 1943),
Colonel Gottfried Weber (April 30, 1943), Krappe (May 1, 1943), Major General Johann Albrecht
von Blücher (December 1943), Krappe (resumed command February 1, 1944), and Lieutenant
General Rudolf Sperl (December 11, 1944).
Notes and S ources: The division received the 161st Field Replacement Battalion in August 1941. It was dissolved in June 1943. Franz Scheidies was promoted to
major general on April 1, 1942 and was killed in action west of Gluschitza on April 7, 1942. Hühner was promoted to lieutenant general on January 1, 1943. Krappe
became a lieutenant general on October 1, 1943. General Sperl was captured by the Red Army on April 10, 1945, the day Königsberg fell.
Carell 1966: 419; Carell 1971: 260, 265; Hartmann: 16; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 21–23; Walter Hubatsch, Geschichte der 61. Infanterie-Division (2nd ed., 1961);
Keilig: 152, 184, 328; Kennedy: M ap 10; Nafziger 2000: 107–8; Salisbury: 538; Tessin, Vol. 5: 239–41; RA: 20; OB 44: 189; OB 45: 159.
62ND INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION
Composition: 164th Infantry Regiment, 183rd Infantry Regiment, 190th Infantry Regiment, 162nd
Artillery Regiment, 162nd Reconnaissance Battalion, 162nd Anti-Tank Battalion, 162nd Engineer
Battalion, 162nd Signal Battalion, 162nd Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Glatz, Wehrkreis VIII
Made up of Silesian reservists, this division was formed in the summer of 1939. It included cadres
provided by the 8th, 18th and 28th Infantry Divisions. Its headquarters was the former Staff, Artillery
Commander VIII. Activated on August 26, 1939, the 62nd Infantry fought well in Poland, Belgium and
France, and returned to Poland in July 1940. In June 1941 it was on the southern sector of the Russian
Front, fighting at Kholm, in the Dnieper crossings, and at Kiev. In 1942 it was in the Battle of
Kharkov, on the Don, and in the Donetz. In late 1942 it was used to stabilize the 3rd Romanian Army,
which was in the process of disintegrating under heavy Soviet attacks. Later, with Army Detachment
Hollidt, the 62nd suffered heavy losses in the retreat from Stalingrad, where it tried to stabilize the
Italian 8th Army. During this retreat, the division lost so many men that its 183rd and 190th Grenadier
Regiments had to be dissolved. It took part in the Kursk offensive of July 1943 and, following this
reversal, was involved in the withdrawal to and from the Dnestr, where it again sustained high
casualties.
Reorganized on November 2, 1943, it now included the 179th and 354th Grenadier Regiments
(with two understrength battalions each), Division Group 38 (a regimental sized unit which was all
that was left of the 38th Infantry Division), and the standard divisional troops. (The 354th Grenadier
Regiment was formerly part of the 286th Security Division.) It was reorganized again on March 3,
1944, when it was combined with the 123rd Infantry Division to form Corps Detachment F. It reemerged as a separate division on July 20, 1944, when Corps Detachment F was redesignated 62nd
Infantry Division. It remained on the front line until August 1944, when it was virtually destroyed at
Jassy, Bessarabia (Romania). The remnants of the division were withdrawn in September 1944 to
refit and reorganize in the Neuhammer Maneuver Area, where the Headquarters of the 62nd was
reactivated on September 22, as a Volksgrenadier division. It was restocked with inexperienced
recruits from the 583rd Volksgrenadier Division. In November 1944, the 62nd Volksgrenadier
Division was transferred to the Western Front, where it fought in the Eifel battles, the Ardennes
offensive, and the Battle of Monschau, where it was “virtually wiped out” by the U.S. 9th Infantry
Division. Nevertheless the remnants of the 62nd were reorganized and recommitted to action as part
of the 5th Panzer Army. It fought at Bonn and in the Battle of the Remagan Bridgehead, and was
finally finished off in the Ruhr Pocket, less than a month before the end of the war. It surrendered to
the Americans near Düsseldorf.
Its commanders included Major General/Lieutenant General Walter Keiner (assumed command
August 26, 1939), senior regimental commander (September 17–23, 1941); Lieutenant General
Rudolf Friedrich (assumed command September 23, 1941), Colonel/Major General Richard-Heinrich
von Reuss (September 15, 1942), Colonel Erich Gruner (December 23, 1942), Major
General/Lieutenant General Helmuth Huffmann (January 31, 1943), senior regimental commander
(November 5–15, 1943), Colonel/Major General Count Botho von Hülsen (November 15, 1943),
Major General Louis Tronnier (March 10, 1944), Colonel/Major General Friedrich Kittel
(November 1, 1944), Colonel Fritz Warnecke (December 1944), Kittel (January 1945), and Colonel
Arthur Juettner (March 10, 1945).
Notes and S ources: Keiner was promoted to lieutenant general on September 1, 1940. He was severely wounded on September 17, 1941. His permanent replacement
arrived on September 23. Reuss was promoted to major general on December 1, 1942. During the retreat from Stalingrad, he was killed in action on December 22, 1942.
Huffmann was promoted to lieutenant general on August 1, 1943. Who was the acting divisional commander from November 5 to 15, 1943, is not known. Botho von
Hülsen was promoted to major general on December 1, 1943. General Tronnier was captured in August 1944 and died in a Soviet prison in 1952, even though he joined
the National Free Germany Committee.
Cole 1965: 175; Hartmann: 16–17; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 24–26; Keilig: 170, 362; Kennedy: 74; M anstein: 297–98, 322, 388; M acDonald 1973: 69, 194; Nafziger
2000: 109–11; “Frontnachweiser,” 15 December 1944; A. Reinicke, H. G. Hermann and Friedrich Kittel, Die 62. Infanterie-Division, 1938–1944/Die 62. VolksGrenadier-Division, 1944–1945 (1968); Tessin, Vol. 5: 246–48; OB 42: 80; OB 43: 135; OB 45: 160.
63RD INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 160th Grenadier Regiment, 492nd Grenadier Regiment, 625th Grenadier Regiment,
63rd Fusilier Battalion
This division was formed on April 12, 1945, on the Dutch coast, in the rear area of OB West. Its
grenadier regiments were formed from the navy’s 14th, 16th and 24th Ships Cadre Battalions
(Schiffs-Stamm-Abt.) respectively. The division staff was the former Corps Detachment Diestel (also
the former Special Administrative Divisional Staff 331), which basically absorbed the 11th Marine
Division and was then redesignated 63rd Infantry Division. Lieutenant General Erich Diestel was the
commander of the 63rd but became acting commander of Army Detachment Kleffel in April. He was
replaced as commander of the 63rd by Colonel Polster. The division was not completely formed
when the war ended; it never saw combat.
S ources: Lexikon; M ehner, Vol. 12: 446; Tessin, Vol. 3: 213; Vol. 5: 253.
64TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 1037th Grenadier Regiment, 1038th Grenadier Regiment, 1059th Grenadier
Regiment, 164th Artillery Regiment, 64th Fusilier Battalion, 164th Tank Destroyer Company, 164th
Engineer Battalion, 164th Signal Battalion, 164th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Bonn, Wehrkreis VI
Formed at the Wahn Maneuver Area near Cologne, this static, emergency unit consisted mainly of
men on leave from the Eastern Front. It was a Type 44 division, except that its artillery regiment had
only three battalions. Thrown into the line at Abbeville, France, in August 1944, it fought in the Battle
of the Albert Canal and was left isolated when the 15th Army withdrew behind the Scheldt. On
October 2 the division commander, Major General Kurt Eberding, had a total of 2,350 infantrymen,
plus more than 8,500 support and miscellaneous service troops, many of whom were not organic to
the division. Eberding hedgehogged, incorporated his service troops into the infantry and, despite
overwhelming odds, chose to fight the entire Canadian II Corps, rather than surrender. This decision
led to the month-long Battle of the Breskens Pocket, in which the 64th Infantry Division was gradually
crushed. General Eberding was captured on November 2, and the fighting ended the next day. The
64th Infantry had been totally destroyed but had bought valuable time for the German Army; it had, in
fact, given Hitler enough time to launch the Ardennes Offensive.
S ources: M acDonald 1963: 219, 221; Hans Speidel, Invasion, 1944 (1968): 41 (hereafter cited as “Speidel”); Tessin, Vol. 5: 258–59; RA: 100; OB 45: 160.
65TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 145th Infantry Regiment, 146th Infantry Regiment, 147th Infantry Regiment, 165th
Artillery Regiment, 165th Motorcycle Battalion, 165th Reconnaissance/Tank Destroyer Battalion
(combined), 165th Engineer Battalion, 165th Signal Battalion, 165th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Saarbrücken, Wehrkreis XII
Originally a two-regiment division (each regiment had three battalions), the 65th was created on
July 7, 1942, trained in Troop Maneuver Area Bitsch, and was sent to Antwerp in the fall. In the
summer of 1943 it underwent a massive personnel exchange with the regiments of the 265th Infantry
Division before being sent to Italy in August 1943. After crossing the border with Rommel’s ad hoc
Army Group B, it was in action in October, holding the Sangro River line against elements of
Montgomery’s 8th Army. In the winter fighting in southern Italy, the inexperienced 65th was mauled
by the British, to the point where Lieutenant General Siegfried Westphal, chief of staff of Army Group
C, reported that “to all intents and purposes [it] no longer existed.” Nevertheless, on October 27,
1943, the survivors of the division were reorganized as a Type 44 division and were given a third
regimental headquarters—the 147th. The other two regiments were reduced from a strength of three to
two infantry battalions each. In January 1944 the 65th Infantry (minus one regiment on attached duty at
Genoa) was hurried back into action against the Allied landing at Anzio. A month later the division,
led by Lieutenant General Dr. Georg Pfeiffer, formed part of the I Parachute Corps’ attack at Anzio
(Nettuno) and remained in the line until the German front was finally broken and Rome fell. After the
retreat from Anzio, the 65th withdrew to Pisa, reformed, and absorbed the personnel of the Mielau
Shadow Division. Thus reinforced, the division fought in the Battles of the Gothic Line and Po River,
and remained on the Italian Front until the end of the war. The division ceased to exist on April 22,
1945, when its last commander, Lieutenant General Hellmuth Pfeiffer, was killed in action near
Finale on the southern bank of the Po. Some of its survivors surrendered to the Americans, others to
the British at Trient.
The divisional commanders included Major General Hans Boemers (assumed command July 7,
1942), Lieutenant General Wilhelm Rupprecht (January 1, 1943), Colonel/Major General Gustav
Heistermann von Ziehlberg (May 21, 1943), Ernst Guenther Baade (November 27, 1943), and Major
General/Lieutenant General Hellmuth Pfeiffer (December 1, 1943).
Notes and S ources: Heistermann was promoted to major general on August 1, 1943. He was severely wounded in the left arm on November 27, 1943. Pfeiffer was
promoted to lieutenant general on June 1, 1944.
Blumenson 1969: 63–64, 206, 258; Fisher: 302 and M ap III; Keilig: 15–16; Alfred Kesselring, A Soldier’s Record (1970): 228; Kursietis: 121; Nafziger 2000: 111–12;
Frido von Senger und Etterlin, Neither Fear nor Hope, George M alcolm, trans. (1963; reprint ed., 1989) (hereafter cited as “Senger”); Tessin, Vol. 5: 263–64; RA: 188;
OB 43: 136; OB 44: 189; OB 45: 160–61; Wilhelm Velten, Vom Kugelbaum zur Handgranate: Der Weg der 65. Infanterie-Division (1974).
68TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 169th Infantry Regiment, 188th Infantry Regiment, 196th Infantry Regiment, 168th
Artillery Regiment, 168th Reconnaissance Battalion, 168th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 168th Engineer
Battalion, 168th Signal Battalion, 168th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Guben, Wehrkreis III
Organized from second-wave reservists in the summer of 1939, the 68th Infantry was mobilized on
August 26, fought in southern Poland, and took part in the French campaign. The division returned to
Poland in July 1940, after the fall of Paris, and went into Russia with Army Group South in July
1941, but was not heavily engaged until the Russian winter offensive of 1941–42. The 68th Infantry
remained on the southern sector of the Eastern Front for the rest of the war and suffered heavy losses
in the winter of 1941–42, in the withdrawal from Kiev (1943), at Zhitomir (1943–44), and in the
battles of the northern Ukraine (1943–44). Three of its infantry battalions had been dissolved by July
1942.
Sent back to Troop Maneuver Area Demba in February 1944, it was partially rebuilt. By now,
however, its grenadier regiments had only two understrength battalions each. The 68th Infantry
returned to action in March and was with the 1st Panzer Army when it was encircled and broke out of
the pocket east of the Dnestr in March and April 1944. In the fall of 1944 the 68th Infantry fought in
Slovakia and in southern Poland and in January 1945 was involved in the Baranov Bridgehead
disaster, when the Red Army broke the German defense west of the Vistula. In February and March it
took part in the defense of Upper Silesia. The division surrendered with Army Group Center in
Czechoslovakia in May 1945.
Its commanders included Colonel/Major General Georg Braun (assumed command August 26,
1939), Major General/Lieutenant General Robert Meissner (November 16, 1941), Colonel/Major
General/Lieutenant General Hans Schmidt (January 24, 1943), and Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant
General Paul Scheuerpflug (October 25, 1943).
Notes and S ources: The 188th Grenadier Regiment absorbed the 1st Alarm Regiment on January 14, 1943. Braun was promoted to major general on December 1,
1939 and was killed on November 14, 1941, when partisans blew up his headquarters at Kharkov. M eissner was promoted to lieutenant general on October 1, 1942.
Hans Schmidt was promoted to major general on April 1, 1943, and to lieutenant general on October 1, 1943. (He is not to be confused with General of Infantry Hans
Schmidt, who commanded the 260th Infantry Division and IX Corps.) Paul Scheuerpflug was promoted to major general on January 1, 1944, and to lieutenant general
on August 1, 1944. According to M ehner (Vol. 12: 452), Lieutenant General Georg M aisel was the last commander of the 68th Infantry Division. M ost sources,
however, list Scheuerpflug, who died at the Auschwitz hospital in Poland on August 8, 1945.
Carell 1971: 233; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 27–29; Keilig: 304–5; Kennedy: 74 and M ap 7; Kursietis: 121; M anstein: 526; Nafziger 2000: 112–13; Tessin, Vol. 5: 279–
80; RA: 46; OB 42: 80; OB 44: 190; OB 45: 161; Ziemke 1966: 279–80.
69TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 159th Infantry Regiment, 193rd Infantry Regiment, 236th Infantry Regiment, 69th
Artillery Regiment, 169th Reconnaissance Battalion, 169th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 169th Engineer
Battalion, 169th Signal Battalion, 169th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Detmold, Wehrkreis VI
The North Rhineland-Westphalian 69th Infantry Division was made up of Ruhr area reservists
mustered in upon mobilization on August 26, 1939. Its headquarters was the former Staff, Artillery
Commander 16 in Münster. In April 1940, the division landed in Norway and captured the cities of
Stavanger and Bergen. Later that year it occupied the western coast of Norway from Nordfjord (100
miles north of Bergen) to Egersund. In 1941, its 193rd Infantry Regiment went to northern Finland on
temporary assignment to the 210th Infantry Division and did not rejoin the 69th until 1943. The parent
unit, meanwhile, was transferred to the Eastern Front in the spring of 1943. At first lightly engaged on
the northern sector near Leningrad, the 69th was later involved in the retreats on the northern sector in
1944, before being sent to Army Group Center in autumn 1944. After the retreat through Poland, the
division fought in East Prussia and was part of the 3rd Panzer Army in the Battle of Tilsit on January
19–21, 1945. Here, near where Napoleon made his famous pact with Czar Alexander, the 69th
Infantry Division was virtually wiped out. The divisional commander, Lieutenant General Siegfried
Rein, died with his men. The remnants of the unit retreated into the fortress of Königsberg, where they
also were destroyed on April 12, 1945.
Commanders of the 69th Infantry Division were: Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General
Hermann Tittel (August 26, 1939), Major General/Lieutenant General Bruno Ortner (September 29,
1941), Major General/Lieutenant General Siegfried Rein (February 1, 1944), Colonel Grimme
(January 20, 1945), and Colonel/Major General Kaspar Völker (February 9, 1945).
Notes and S ources: Tilsit is now Sovetsk, Russia. Tittel was promoted to major general on October 1, 1939, and to lieutenant general on September 1, 1941. Ortner
was promoted to lieutenant general on October 1, 1942. Rein was promoted to lieutenant general on August 1, 1944, and was killed in action on January 20, 1945.
Völker was promoted to major general on April 1, 1945.
Chant, Volume 16: 2228; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 30–31; Keilig: 356; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume III: 7, 260, 734, 1158; Volume IV: 1897; M ehner, Vol. 12:
452; Tessin, Vol. 5: 285–86; OB 42: 80; OB 43: 136; OB 44: 190; OB 45: 161–62; Ziemke 1959: 34; also see Thorwald: 89–104, for an account of the Battle of
Königsberg.
70TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 1018th Grenadier Regiment, 1019th Grenadier Regiment, 1020th Grenadier
Regiment, 170th Artillery Regiment, 170th Fusilier Battalion, 170th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 170th
Engineer Battalion, 170th Signal Battalion, 170th Field Replacement Battalion, 170th Divisional
Supply Troops
Home Station: Wehrkreis VI
Nicknamed the “White Bread Division” because most of its 7,500 soldiers had stomach problems
and required special diets, this static division was mustered in on Walcheren Island, Holland, on July
17, 1944. Cadres of the 165th Reserve Division were also transferred to the division, along with the
divisional staff and the Staff, 5th Reserve Artillery Regiment. The grenadier battalions of the 70th
were former security battalions. The former 1203rd and 1205th Security Battalions became the I and
II Battalions, 1018th Grenadier Regiment; the 1211th and 1212th Security Battalions became the I and
II/1019th Grenadier Regiment; and the 1213th and 1214th Security Battalions became the two
battalions of the 1020th Grenadier Regiment. The 70th Artillery Regiment had only three battalions,
instead of the standard four. The 70th Infantry remained on the island in the Scheldt until November
1944, when it was attacked by the 1st Canadian Army. The ailing soldiers fought surprisingly well,
for it took Montgomery’s veteran forces nine days to defeat them. The divisional commander,
Lieutenant General Wilhelm Daser, was captured on November 9, and the fighting ended shortly
thereafter. Almost all of the division’s soldiers were either killed or taken prisoner.
Notes and S ources: General Daser was the only commander the 70th Infantry Division ever had. He was the former commander of the 165th Reserve Division. He
was promoted to lieutenant general on August 1, 1944. The British Official History states General Daser surrendered on November 6, and the last resistance ended two
days later.
Chant, Volume 15: 2086–87; L. F. Ellis, Victory in the West, Volume II, The Defeat of Germany (1968): 123; Keilig: 64; M acDonald 1963: 219; Speidel: 41; Tessin, Vol.
5: 291–92; OB 45: 162.
71ST INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 191st Infantry Regiment, 194th Infantry Regiment, 211th Infantry Regiment, 171st
Artillery Regiment, 171st Reconnaissance Battalion, 171st Anti-Tank Battalion, 171st Engineer
Battalion, 171st Signal Battalion, 171st Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Hildesheim, Wehrkreis XI
This reserve division was recruited mainly from the Hanover area and was called up for active
duty on August 26, 1939. It staff was the former Staff, Infantry Commander 19. Sent to the Saar area
while Hitler overran Poland, the 71st first saw major action in France, where it distinguished itself at
Sedan and in the advance to Verdun. It returned to Germany in October as part of the High
Command’s reserve, and served as a training unit in the Königsbrück Troop Maneuver Area from
then until March 1941. Sent to Russia in June 1941, the division fought in the drive on Kiev and
suffered heavy losses. Rotated back to Belgium and France to rest and refit in November 1941, it
returned to Stalino in southern Russia in the spring of 1942. Assigned to the 6th Army, the 71st
Infantry Division fought at Kharkov and in the Battle of the Izyum Pocket in May, in the Battle of
Voronezh in June and July, and in the Battle of the Kalach Pocket in August. It was trapped in the
Stalingrad Pocket in November and was largely destroyed in the subsequent street fighting. The
division commander, General von Hartmann was among those killed; in the last week of the battle he
reportedly deliberately exposed himself to enemy fire, preferring death to a Siberian prison camp.
Very few of his men survived Soviet captivity.
A second 71st Infantry Division was formed in Denmark on February 17, 1943. Initially sent to
Istria, Slovenia, on garrison duty, the 71st crossed into northern Italy as part of the II SS Panzer Corps
in the fall of 1943 and was sent to the front after the Anzio (Nettuno) landings in January 1944. Later
it took part in the Battle of Cassino. The 71st was heavily engaged for three months and had only 100
combat effectives left by May 18. Sent to the rear to rebuild, it went back into action in July. The 71st
fought in the Battles of the Gothic Line and suffered heavy losses in the Rimini area. Withdrawn to the
Venezia-Giulia area of northern Italy to refit, it was transferred to the southern sector of the Eastern
Front in late 1944 and fought in the Hungarian and Austrian campaigns. It was still in the East when
the war ended but managed to disengage and escape to the west. It surrendered to the British at St.
Veith in May 1945.
Its commanders included Major General Wolfgang Ziegler (assumed command August 26, 1939),
Major General/Lieutenant General Karl Weisenberger (October 15, 1939), Major General Friedrich
Herrlein (February 15, 1941), Major General/Lieutenant General Alexander von Hartmann (March
28, 1941), Colonel Max Schrank (January 23, 1942), Hartmann (April 1, 1942), Colonel/Major
General Fritz Roske (January 25, 1943), Major General Bernhard Pampel umbenannt von Papenau
(February 17, 1943), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Wilhelm Raapke (March 15, 1943),
and Major General Eberhard von Schuckman (January 1, 1945).
Notes and S ources: General Ziegler died in Heidelburg on October 14, 1939, of natural causes. Karl Weisenberger was promoted to lieutenant general on January 1,
1940. Hartmann was promoted to lieutenant general on April 1, 1942. Roske was promoted to major general on January 27, 1943, and was captured when Stalingrad
fell. He spent the next 12 years in Soviet prisons. Raapke was promoted to major general on June 1, 1943, and to lieutenant general on April 1, 1944.
Blumenson 1969: 361; Carell l966: 491; Fisher: 46, 86, 278, 302; Hartmann: 17; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 32–34; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume III: 1160;
Nafziger 2000: 115–16; Hans Noelke, ed., Die 71. Infanterie-Division im Zweiten Weltkrieg, 1939-–1945 (1984); John Shaw et al, Red Army Resurgent (1979): 189
(hereafter cited as “Shaw”); Tessin, Vol. 6: 1–3; RA: 172; OB 43: 136–37; OB 45: 162.
72ND INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 105th Infantry Regiment, 124th Infantry Regiment, 266th Infantry Regiment, 172nd
Artillery Regiment, 172nd Reconnaissance Battalion, 72nd Anti-Tank (later 172nd Tank Destroyer)
Battalion, 172nd Engineer Battalion, 172nd Signal Battalion, 315th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Koblenz, later Heidelberg, Wehrkreis XII
Originally created as the Trier Frontier Command, the 72nd was reorganized as an infantry
division on September 19, 1939. Most of its troops were Rhinelanders and Bavarians. Sent to the
West Wall during the “Phony War” of 1939–April 1940, it was not considered a very good fighting
unit in the early part of the conflict. After being lightly engaged in France, it spent three months in
Brittany and three months in Paris, before being sent to Romania in January 1941. The division took
part in the Balkans campaign in the spring of 1941 (fighting in Greece) and then crossed into Russia
as a part of Army Group South. It fought in the Crimea and in the subsequent siege of Sevastopol
before being transferred to Army Group Center in September 1942. On the central sector it took part
in the winter fighting of 1942–43, in the Rzhev withdrawal, and in the Battle of Kursk.
Transferred back to the southern sector, it fought at Orel and Bryansk, in the Dnieper bend battles,
at Kiev, and in the southern Ukraine. It was finally encircled at Cherkassy with the IX Infantry Corps.
During the battle and eventual break-out attempt, General Stemmermann, the corps commander,
personally assumed command of the division. When he was killed by an anti-tank shell, all order
disappeared in the 72nd. Perhaps half of the division escaped. Reformed in the spring of 1944, its
grenadier regiments were each reduced from three to two battalions each. The 72nd was in Poland in
the summer and was officially cited for its performance in the Vistula defensive battles in August. It
suffered very heavy casualties in southern Poland and was smashed in the Battle of the Baranov
Bridgehead on January 12, 1945, as the Russians drove on Breslau and Silesia. It rallied quickly and
was soon back in combat on the Oder, although it was now a Kampfgruppe. Most of the division
finally surrendered to the Russians in Czechoslovakia on May 8, 1945, although small elements did
escape through the mountains to the west.
Commanders of the division included Major General/Lieutenant General Franz Mattenklott
(assumed command August 26, 1939), Major General Helge Auleb (July 25, 1940), Mattenklott
(returned September 4, 1940), Major General/Lieutenant General Philipp Müller-Gebhard
(November 6, 1941), Colonel/Major General Curt Souchay (July 10, 1942), Müller-Gebhard
(November 24, 1942), Colonel Count Ralph von Oriola (February 17, 1943), Müller-Gebhard (May
3, 1943), Lieutenant General Erwin Menny (November 1, 1943), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant
General Dr. Hermann Hohn (November 20, 1943), Lieutenant General Gustav Harteneck (March 25,
1944), Colonel Karl Arning (June 10, 1944), Hohn (July 1, 1944), Major General Werner
Kampfhenkel (April 20, 1945), and Lieutenant General Hugo Beisswaenger (May 1, 1945).
Notes and S ources: M attenklott was promoted to lieutenant general on February 1, 1940. M üller-Gebhard was promoted to lieutenant general on January 1, 1942.
Souchay was promoted to major general on August 1, 1942. Hohn was promoted to major general on M arch 1, 1944, and to lieutenant general on January 30, 1945.
Carell 1971: 309; Chant: Volume 16: 2232; Hartmann: 18; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 60–62; Keilig: 27, 149, 162; Lexikon; M anstein: 34, 260; M ehner, Vol. 12: 452;
Nafziger 2000: 116–18; Franz Pesch, Hans M ay, M atthias Roth and Jupp Steffen, Die 72. Infanterie-Division, 1939–1945 (1982); Tessin, Vol. 6: 9–10; OB 43: 137;
OB 45: 163.
73RD INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 170th Infantry Regiment, 186th Infantry Regiment, 213th Infantry Regiment, 173rd
Artillery Regiment, 173rd Reconnaissance (later Bicycle) Battalion, 173rd Tank Destroyer Battalion,
173rd Engineer Battalion, 173rd Signal Battalion, 173rd Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Erlangen, Wehrkreis XIII
This division probably saw as much combat as any German infantry division in World War II. It
was formed around cadres from the 17th Infantry Division and its headquarters was the former Staff,
Artillery Commander 17 at Nuremberg (one of the two deputy commanders of the 17th Infantry
Division). After being created in the initial mobilization on August 26, 1939, the 73rd was lightly
engaged in Poland and France. Attached to Stumme’s XXXX Motorized Corps, the 73rd swept
through the Balkans and invaded Russia in July 1941. It fought in the Crimea, the subsequent Siege of
Sevastopol, on the Mius River, in the advance across the Don, and in the Caucasus campaign. The
division retreated into the Kuban bridgehead after the tide of the war in Russia turned against
Germany and in January 1943 was heavily engaged against the Soviet amphibious landings at
Novorossiysk (Novorossisk), in which it was primarily responsible for checking the surprise Russian
attack.
Shortly afterward the 73rd Infantry—now at battle group strength—was pulled out of the
bridgehead and sent north, where it fought at Melitopol and on the lower Dnieper. Returned to the
Crimea in early 1944, it was smashed in April and May during the retreat to Sevastopol. Part of the
division escaped by sea when the fortress fell, but much of it was trapped in the city; General
Boehme, the division commander, was captured when his tactical headquarters was overrun by the
Russians. The 73rd was reformed in eastern Hungary the summer of 1944 and was reduced to six
understrength grenadier battalions.
It reappeared in combat in September, when it helped crush the Polish Home Army in the Warsaw
uprising. Later the division was sent to Army Group Center, where it held a bridgehead on the eastern
bank of the Vistula until it was struck by the entire Soviet 47th Army. Under this massive attack the
veteran division finally collapsed and was largely destroyed at Thorn on January 30, 1945;
nevertheless, the remnants of the 73rd Infantry were still in action in February 1945, opposing the
Russian winter offensive in eastern Germany. It fought in West Prussia and was finally effectively
destroyed in the Battle of Danzig in early April 1945. The division commander was transferred
elsewhere, the few surviving combat units were absorbed by other units, and the staff was withdrawn
into OKH reserve. It boarded the Goya for the trip back to the Reich and most of it went down with
the ship when it was sunk by the Soviets on April 17. The post of division commander remained
vacant and the staff was headed by Major (General Staff) Lang. Apparently no decision as to what to
do with the remnants of this headquarters had been made when the war ended.
Commanders of the 73rd Infantry Division included Lieutenant General Friedrich von Rabenau
(August 26, 1939), Lieutenant General Bruno Bieler (September 29, 1939), Major General/Lieutenant
General Rudolf von Bünau (November 1, 1941), Colonel Erich Gruner (May 1943), Lieutenant
General Rudolf von Bünau (June 3, 1943), Lieutenant General Hermann Boehme (September 7,
1943), Major General Johannes Nedtwig (December 1, 1943), Boehme (returned, January 1, 1944),
Lieutenant General Dr. Fritz Franek (June 26, 1944), Colonel Kurt Haehling (July 30, 1944), and
Colonel/Major General Franz Schlieper (September 7, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Buenau was promoted to lieutenant general on September 1, 1942. Boehme was captured on M ay 31, 1944. He joined the National Free
Germany Committee while a prisoner of war. He remained in Soviet prisons until 1955. Dr. Franek was captured by the Russians on July 29, 1944, and remained a
prisoner until 1949. Schlieper was promoted to major general on December 1, 1944.
Carell 1966: 296, 503, 535; Carell 1971: 172, 538–58; Hartmann: 18–19; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 35–37; Keilig: 302; Kennedy: 74; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume
III: 731; Lexikon; M ehner, Vol. 12: 452; Nafziger 2000: 118–19; Tessin, Vol. 6: 15–16; OB 43: 137–38; OB 44: 192; OB 45: 163–64; Ziemke 1966: 344.
74TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 1031st Grenadier Regiment, 1032nd Grenadier Regiment, 1033rd Grenadier
Regiment, Artillery Battalion Milowitz, Engineer Battalion Milowitz
This division was activated and began forming on January 27, 1944, in Troop Maneuver Area
Milowitz in the Protectorate (formerly Czechoslovakia). It was planned for the new division to
absorb Shadow Division Milowitz under the direction of the 173rd Reserve Division. This process
was cancelled on February 28, however, and the troops were sent to Army Group South, the 320th
Infantry Division and the 389th Infantry Division. The Staff of the 74th Infantry was eventually used to
form the Staff, 237th Infantry Division. The grenadier regiments of the 74th Infantry were never
completely formed.
S ources: Lexikon; Tessin, Vol. 6: 20.
75TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition (1939): l72nd Infantry Regiment, 202nd Infantry Regiment, 222nd Infantry Regiment,
l75th Artillery Regiment, 175th Reconnaissance Battalion, 175th Anti-Tank Battalion, 175th Engineer
Battalion, 175th Signal Battalion, 175th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Neustrelitz, Wehrkreis II
Originally recruited in the Schwerin area of Prussia, this reserve division was formed upon
mobilization on August 26, 1939, around cadres provided by the 12th Infantry Division. It served on
the Saar Front (1939–40), in the French campaign opposite the Maginot Line (1940), and on the
Eastern Front (1941–45). Assigned to Army Group South, it fought at Kholm, Kiev (1941), Belgorod
(1941–42), and Voronezh (1942–43), and was not particularly distinguished in the early phases of the
war in the East. Later it performed quite well in the Kiev withdrawal, in the retreat across the
northern Ukraine, and in the battles on and around the Dnestr. It suffered heavy losses in the Battle of
Kiev in the fall of 1943, at Cherkassy (February–March 1944) and in the Brody sector (April–June
1944). Meanwhile, on October 2, 1943, it was reorganized as a Type 44 division. By the end of the
year, it only had five grenadier battalions. Attached to 1st Panzer Army, it fought in the Carpathians,
in the Beskiden district (in the Polish Carpathians) and in Upper Silesia. It was crushed at Bohemian
Ostrau in early 1945 and ended the war in the pocket east of Prague in May 1945.
Commanders of the 75th Infantry Division included Major General/Lieutenant General Ernst
Hammer (assumed command August 26, 1939), Major General Erich Diestel (September 5, 1942),
Lieutenant General Helmuth Beukemann (September 15, 1942), Major General Karl Arning (July 10,
1944), and Colonel/Major General Lother Berger (April 6, 1945).
Notes and S ources: The division spent the period July 1940 to June 1941 in Poland. Hammer was promoted to lieutenant general on November 1, 1940. Berger
became a major general on April 20, 1945.
Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 38–39; Nafziger 2000: 119–20; Tessin, Vol. 6: 24–25; RA: 32; OB 42: 81; OB 43: 138; OB 44: 192; German Order of Battle, 1944, Arms
and Armour Press, London, 1975: D 64 (hereafter cited as “OB 44b”); OB 45: 164; Ziemke 1966: 279.
76TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: l78th Infantry Regiment, 203rd Infantry Regiment, 230th Infantry Regiment, 176th
Artillery Regiment, 176th Reconnaissance Battalion, 176th Anti-Tank Battalion, 176th Engineer
Battalion, 176th Signal Battalion, 176th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Brandenburg, Wehrkreis III
Formed from Prussian reservists upon mobilization on August 26, 1939, this division’s staff was
the former Staff, Infantry Commander 23, one of the two deputy commanders of the Potsdamer 23rd
Infantry Division. It was initially sent the Saar in September 1939 and first saw heavy action in
Belgium and France, where it fought very well. Transferred to Poland in late 1940 and to Romania in
the spring, it invaded Russia in 1941 and served on the southern sector from the beginning. It took part
in the sweep across the Ukraine, the winter battles of 1941–42 in which Army Group South had to
retreat from Rostov, the Izyum counteroffensive of May 1942, and the German victories at Voronezh
and Kalack, which almost won the war on the southern sector for Germany. The 76th took part in the
street fighting in Stalingrad and was encircled there in November 1942. It fought on the heavily
attacked western perimeter from then until January 31, 1943, when it was destroyed. Lieutenant
General Karl Rosenburg, the divisional commander, was among those taken prisoner when the city
fell.
A second 76th Infantry Division was built in the spring of 1943, to replace the division destroyed
at Stalingrad. Its unit numbers remained the same as the original 76th, except that its 230th Regiment
was given the honorary title 230th Fusilier Grenadier Regiment, and its l76th Reconnaissance
Battalion was replaced by the 76th Fusilier Battalion. The new division was initially based in
Brittany, France, before crossing into Italy in August 1943. That winter it was transferred to the
southern sector of the Eastern Front, where it fought at Krivoy Rog, in the Nikolajev Bridgehead, and
on the Dnieper bend, and suffered heavy losses in the Dnieper withdrawal in March 1944. It
absorbed the remnants of the 5th Luftwaffe Field Division that same month. Even so, it had to cut its
number of infantry battalions from nine to six. Continuing in action on the Eastern Front, the 76th
retreated across the Ukraine and Romania, and fought in the Hungarian campaign, where it was
virtually destroyed in the Battle of Oradea (October 8–12, 1944) when it and the 23rd Panzer
Division defended the city for five days against the Soviet 6th Guards Tank Army. The remnants of
the division were sent to Slovakia and then Moravia, where they were reorganized. The division—
now a Kampfgruppe—was surrounded with the 1st Panzer Army at Deutsch-Brod (east of Prague) at
the end of April 1945. They surrendered to the Russians after Hitler committed suicide on April 30,
1945.
Divisional commanders of the 76th Infantry included Major General/Lieutenant General
Maximilian de Angelis (assumed command August 26, 1939), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant
General Carl Rosenburg (January 26, 1942), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Erich
Abraham (February 17, 1943), Colonel Otto-Hermann Brücker (July 1944), Abraham (August 1944),
Major General/Lieutenant General Siegfried von Rekowski (October 17, 1944), Colonel Dr. Baron
Wilhelm-Moritz von Bissing (February 8, 1945), and Major General Erhard-Heinrich Berner
(February 14, 1945).
Notes and S ources: General de Angelis was promoted to lieutenant general on June 1, 1940. Rosenburg was promoted to major general on April 1, 1942, and to
lieutenant general on December 1, 1942. He was captured at Stalingrad on January 31, 1943, and remained in Soviet prisons until 1955. Abrahams became a major
general on June 1, 1943, and a lieutenant general on January 1, 1944. Rekowski was promoted to lieutenant general on December 1, 1944. Berner was a Soviet prisoner
until 1955.
Garland and Smyth: 282–83; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 40–42; Keilig: 8, 273; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1146; Lexikon; Jochen Loeser, Bittere Pflicht: Kampf
und Untergang der 76. Berlin-Brandenburgischen Infanterie-Division (1986); M anstein: 553; M ellenthin 1956: 225; Nafziger 2000: 121–22; Seaton: 494; Tessin, Vol.
6: 29–31; RA: 46; OB 42: 81; OB 43: 138; OB 44: 193; OB 45: 164–65.
77TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 1049th Grenadier Regiment, 1050th Grenadier Regiment, 177th Artillery Regiment,
77th Fusilier Battalion, 177th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 177th Engineer Battalion, 177th Signal
Battalion, 177th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Ulm, Wehrkreis V
A German sergeant reading a topographic map. The item around his neck is a gask mask container.
HITM ARCHIVE
Organized in the Muensingen Maneuver Area in Poland in the winter of 1943–44, the 77th Infantry
Division was activated on January 15, 1944, and included troops from previously established
reinforced infantry regiments and veterans of the 355th Infantry Division and the defunct 364th
Infantry Division. (A reinforced infantry regiment usually had an organic artillery battalion.) The
division staff was largely from the 355th Infantry Division and the Home Army provided the 1021st
Grenadier Regiment, which was redesignated 1049th Grenadier Regiment. Most of its men were from
Wuerttemberg. It traveled to Caen in Normandy in January and February 1944, and was on the French
coast between the Cotentin and Brittany peninsulas on D-Day. Quickly engaged on the exposed left
flank of the German front, it faced the bulk of two American corps that soon cut the German forces in
the Cotentin in half. Isolated in the northern sector of the peninsula, the division was ordered to retire
in the direction of Cherbourg. Realizing that this order was tantamount to sacrificing the unit, Major
General Stegmann led his division in a breakout against Hitler’s direct orders. Approximately half of
the men of the 77th Infantry escaped; Stegmann, however, was killed by an American fighter-bomber,
which riddled his body with 20mm shells as it strafed the vehicle in which he was riding. His death
in action probably saved him from later execution by the Nazis. Reserve Colonel Rudolf Bacherer,
the senior regimental commander, assumed command of the 77th Infantry Division and completed the
escape. The division had no chance to rest and recover, however, since Hitler refused to believe the
major invasion in the West had come and refused to significantly reinforce Field Marshal Rommel’s
Army Group B with infantry units. The burned-out division therefore remained on the front lines and
by late July had repulsed a number of heavy American attacks but had taken severe casualties in the
process. SS General Hausser, the commander of the 7th Army, listed the division as practically
destroyed; still, it continued to resist until August 15, 1944, when it was surrounded and destroyed at
St. Malo. Colonel Bacherer surrendered the 4,000 survivors of the division at the end of this battle.
Commanders of the 77th Infantry were Lieutenant General Walter Poppe (February 1, 1944),
Bacherer (April 25, 1944), Stegmann (May 1, 1944), and Bacherer (June 18, 1944).
S ources: Blumenson 1960: 401–4, 442; Carell 1973: 186–89; Chant, Volume 12: 1668, 1671; Harrison: M ap VI; Nafziger 2000: 122–23; Tessin, Vol. 6: 36; RA: 86;
OB 45: 165.
78TH INFANTRY (LATER ASSAULT) DIVISION
Composition (1941): 195th Infantry Regiment, 215th Infantry Regiment, 238th Infantry Regiment,
178th Artillery Regiment, 178th Reconnaissance Battalion, 178th Anti-Tank Battalion, 178th
Engineer Battalion, 178th Signal Battalion, 178th Field Replacement Battalion, 178th Divisional
Supply Troops
Home Station: Tübingen, Wehrkreis V
A Wuerttemberg division formed at Stuttgart on mobilization from reservists, its headquarters was
the former Staff, Artillery Commander 5. It was initially sent to the Upper Rhine in September and
was in OKH reserve in northern France in May 1940. It was on occupation duty in northern France
until April 1941, when it was sent to Poland. By June it was on the Eastern Front, where it served
with Army Group Center in the initial campaign. The division fought at Bialystok and Smolensk and
distinguished itself in the battles of Bialowieza and the Yelnya bend. It also fought in the Battle of
Moscow and against the Soviet winter offensive of 1941–42. During that period it dropped the 238th
Infantry Regiment from its table of organization and received the 14th Infantry (later Sturm) Regiment
from the 5th Infantry Division. The 78th fought in the Rzhev salient and remained on the central sector
of the Russian Front. It acquired such an excellent combat record that it was given the honorary title
“Sturm” (Storm or Assault) division on January 1, 1943. In 1943 it took part in the Battle of Kursk
and in the successful defense of Smolensk and Orscha, before being crushed near Minsk in the
massive Soviet summer offensive of 1944. The division’s commander, Lieutenant General Hans
Traut, and most of his men were captured.
The 78th was reformed at the Muensingen Troop Maneuver Area in late July 1944 by absorbing the
543rd Grenadier Division (a Sperr, or blocking, unit). It was redesignated the 78th Volksgrenadier
Division on October 9, 1944, returned to action in Galacia (southern Poland) in autumn, and again
suffered heavy casualties. The division was again largely destroyed in January 1945, when it
attempted to block the Russian drive into Upper Silesia. The remnants of this veteran division
remained in action despite its losses and finally surrendered at Deutsch-Brod, Czechoslovakia, with
the rest of Army Group Center, in May 1945.
Commanders of the 78th Infantry/Sturm/Volksgrenadier Division included Lieutenant General Fritz
Brand (assumed command August 26, 1939), Lieutenant General Curt Gallenkamp (October 1, 1939),
Major General Emil Markgraf (September 29, 1941), Major General/Lieutenant General Paul
Voelkers (November 19, 1941), Lieutenant General Hans Traut (April 1, 1943), Colonel Heribert
von Larisch (November 1, 1943), Traut (February 15, 1944), Lieutenant General Siegfried Rasp (July
12, 1944), Colonel Alois Weber (September 23, 1944), Major General Harald von Hirschfeld
(December 1, 1944), Major General Hans Schrepffer (January 18, 1945), Major General Wilhelm
Nagel (January 20, 1945), Colonel Gerhard Matthias (April 1945), and Major General Erich
Geissler (May 1, 1945).
Notes and S ources: The division added the 189th Assault Gun Company and the 293rd Army Anti-Aircraft Battalion in 1942–43. Voelkers was promoted to
lieutenant general on September 1, 1942. Traut was a prisoner of war until 1955. General von Hirschfeld was killed in an air attack on January 18, 1945.
Carell 1966: 330, 350; Carell 1971: 26, 30, 588–97; Chant, Volume 16: 2231–32; Hartmann: 19; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 43–45; Kursietis: 125; M ehner, Vol. 6: 538,
Vol. 12: 452; Nafziger 2000: 123–26; Tessin, Vol. 6: 40–42; RA: 86; OB 42: 82; OB 43: 138; OB 45: 165–66; Fritz Vetter, Die 78. Infanterie- und Sturmdivision,
1938–1945: Eine Dokumentation in Bildern (1981).
79TH INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION
Composition: 208th Infantry Regiment, 212th Infantry Regiment, 226th Infantry Regiment, 179th
Artillery Regiment, 179th Reconnaissance Battalion, 179th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 179th Engineer
Battalion, 179th Signal Battalion, 179th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Koblenz, later Metz, Wehrkreis XII
This Rhinelander reserve division was assembled upon mobilization on August 26, 1939. Its staff
was the former headquarters of Infantry Commander 34. The men of its 208th Infantry Regiment came
from the 34th Infantry Division, the soldiers of 212th Infantry Regiment came from the 36th Infantry
Division, and the 226th Infantry Regiment was the former 115th Infantry Regiment of the 33rd Infantry
Division. The 79th Division first saw action in the Saar Front against the French in 1939–40. Lightly
engaged in the annihilation of the French Army in May and June 1940, it was on occupation duty in
France until April 1941, when it was sent back to Germany. It joined Army Group South in Russia in
July 1941 and fought its way through the Ukraine and across the Dnieper. It took part in the Battle of
Kiev, where several Soviet armies were encircled and destroyed, and later opposed the Russian
winter offensive of 1941–42. In 1942 the 79th Infantry fought in the Battle of Kharkov, in the
encirclement of 200,000 Russians at Izyum, in the Battle of Voronezh, and in the encirclement at
Kalack, where another Russian army was destroyed. The division was itself surrounded with 6th
Army in the Stalingrad Pocket in November 1942 and destroyed in late January 1943. Shortly before
the fall, however, the Luftwaffe flew part of the division staff and elements of the 179th Infantry
Regiment out of the pocket. They would make the nucleus of a new division.
A second 79th Infantry Division was created at Stalino in the spring of 1943 and was quickly sent
to the southern sector of the Russian Front, which had undergone crisis after crisis since November
1942. The division was initially engaged in the Kuban bridgehead in the summer of 1943 before
being evacuated via the Crimea to the lower Dnieper, where it was involved in heavy fighting in the
Nikopol Bridgehead (November 1943–January 1944). At first the combat ability of the 79th was
considered low, but its rating improved with experience. It took part in the retreats through the
Ukraine and into Romania in 1943 and 1944. The division absorbed the 1001st March Battalion in
early 1944, but still had to disband three of its infantry battalions in June. In late August 1944,
Romania defected from the Axis, leaving the rebuilt 6th Army and much of Army Group South
Ukraine—including the 79th Infantry—cut off. The division tried to cut its way through Russian lines
with General Mieth’s IV Corps but was destroyed by the Red Army near the village of Chitcani on the
Berlad River. General Mieth died in this battle. Only one soldier from the division made good his
escape, reaching German lines in Hungary 12 days after the division was destroyed.
A third 79th Infantry Division was formed as a Volksgrenadier unit in the Thorn area of Wehrkries
XX (Poland) on October 27, 1944. Most of its new recruits were transferred from the partially
formed 586th Volksgrenadier Division. Transferred to the Western Front in December 1944, it was
about half its authorized strength in the Battle of the Bulge, where it formed part of the LXXXV Corps
of the 7th Army. In this campaign the 79th had very little artillery, but its infantrymen proved to be
formidable opponents and were highly praised by U. S. Army Intelligence. By February 1945 the
division was with the LIII Corps (7th Army) in western Germany and fought in the battles of the
Vianden Bulge and Bitburg. The remnants of the 276th Volksgrenadier Division were attached to the
79th near the end of the war, while the 79th VG retreated across the Mosel and Rhine. Its survivors
surrendered to the Americans around Heidelburg and Darmstadt at the end of the war.
Commanders of the 79th Infantry/Volksgrenadier Division included Major General/Lieutenant
General Strecker (assumed command August 26, 1939), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General
Richard von Schwerin (January 14, 1942), Colonel/Major General Heinrich Kreipe (June 3, 1943),
Colonel Andreas von Aulock (October 19, 1943), Major General/Lieutenant General FriedrichAugust Weinknecht (October 25, 1943), Major General Erich Weber (October 1944), Colonel
Reinherr (dates uncertain), Colonel Kurt Hummel (March 1945), Lieutenant Colonel Cord von Hobe,
Colonel Reymann, and Colonel Seeher (dates uncertain).
Notes and S ources: Strecker was promoted to lieutenant general on June 1, 1940. Schwerin was promoted to major general on June 1, 1942, and to lieutenant general
on December 1, 1942. Kreipe was promoted to major general on September 1, 1943. Weinknecht was promoted to lieutenant general on June 1, 1944. He was captured
on August 29, 1944, and remained in Soviet prisons until 1955.
Cole 1965: 535–36; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 46–47; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume IV: 1901; Lexikon; M acDonald 1973: M ap V; Nafziger 2000: 126–28;
“Frontnachweiser,” 15 December 1944; M ellenthin 1956: 225; W. Rehm, Jassy, 1959; Scheibert: 24; Seaton: 478–82; Tessin, Vol. 6: 46–48; RA: 188; OB 43: 139; OB
44: 194; OB 44b: D66; OB 45: 166.
80TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 872nd Grenadier Regiment, 873rd Grenadier Regiment, 874th Grenadier Regiment
Home Station: Bamberg, Wehrkreis XIII
Formation of the 80th Infantry Division began in Bamberg on May 5, 1943. A few days later, the
334th Infantry Division (along with the rest of Army Group Afrika) was destroyed in Tunisia. Hitler
ordered that the next divisions created by the Replacement Army use the designations of the recently
destroyed divisions. Accordingly, the 80th Infantry Division was used to form the new 334th Infantry
Division.
S ources: Lexikon; Tessin, Vol. 6: 52.
81ST INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 161st Infantry Regiment, 174th Infantry Regiment, 189th Infantry Regiment, 181st
Artillery Regiment, 181st Bicycle Squadron, 181st Tank Destroyer Battalion, 181st Engineer
Battalion, 181st Signal Battalion, 181st Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Görlitz, later Breslau, Wehrkreis VIII
Formed from Silesians in the Neuhammer Troop Maneuver Area on December 1, 1939, the 81st
Infantry first saw combat in France in 1940, when it was lightly engaged in mopping up operations.
Remaining in France on garrison duty for over a year, the division was hurriedly sent to Russia in
December 1941, after the Soviet winter offensive began. Thrown into action on the exposed northern
wing of Army Group Center as soon as it detrained, the 81st was involved in heavy defensive fighting
from the outset. In January 1942, it was outflanked and encircled at Tripalevo but managed to hold out
against repeated Russian attacks and was eventually rescued. The Silesian unit fought in the battles
around Demyansk in November 1942 through February 1943, and, in the last two months of 1942,
knocked out an amazing total of 170 Soviet tanks. It fought in the Siege of Leningrad (January–
November 1943), at Nevel and in the retreat from Leningrad. By September 1943, it had lost so many
men that it was down to six grenadier battalions and its artillery regiment had only three batteries left.
After distinguishing itself in the retreat through the Baltic States (in which the 161st Grenadier
Regiment was destroyed), it was trapped in the Courland Pocket, where it remained until the end of
the war.
Its divisional commanders included Major General/Lieutenant General Friedrich Wilhelm von
Loeper (assumed command December 1, 1939), Major General Hugo Ribstein (October 5, 1940),
Major General Erich Schopper (December 10, 1941), Colonel Gottfried Weber (March 1, 1943),
Schopper (March 13, 1943), Weber (June 1, 1943), Schopper (returned June 30, 1943), Lieutenant
General Vollrath Lübbe (April 5, 1944), Colonel of Reserves Dr. Ernst Meiners (July 1, 1944), and
Colonel Franz-Eccard von Bentivegni (July 10, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Loeper was promoted to lieutenant general on September 1, 1940. Ribstein was apparently wounded on December 8, 1941. He died at
Halberstadt on December 26. The senior regimental commander led the division from December 8 to 10, when General Schopper arrived. He was promoted to
lieutenant general on January 1, 1943. Bentivegni was promoted to major general on August 1, 1944, and to lieutenant general on January 30, 1945. He was released
from prison in 1955.
Carell 1966: 384–85; Carell 1971: 288–89; Hartmann: 19–20; Werner Haupt, Die 81. Infanterie-Division: Geschichte einer schlesischen Division (1985); Nafziger
2000: 128–30; Tessin, Vol. 6: 56–57; RA: 130; OB 42: 82; OB 43: 139; OB 45: 166–67.
82ND INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 158th Infantry Regiment, 166th Infantry Regiment, 168th Infantry Regiment, 182nd
Artillery Regiment, 182nd Bicycle Squadron, 182nd Tank Destroyer Battalion, 182nd Engineer
Battalion, 182nd Signal Battalion, 182nd Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Frankfurt-on-the-Main, Wehrkreis IX
Mobilized on December 1, 1939 at Truppenübungsplaetzen (Troop Maneuver Areas)
Hammelburg and Wildflecken, this reserve division was outfitted with Czech equipment. It was
stationed in France in 1940, was sent home on furlough during the Christmas season of 1940, and was
on garrison duty in the Netherlands from early 1941 until the spring of 1942. Transferred to Army
Group South in May 1942, it remained on the Russian Front for the next two years. It fought at Kursk
and Voronezh and in the actions around Kiev before being encircled at Cherkassy in February 1944.
Breaking out with heavy losses, it was encircled (along with the 1st Panzer Army) in the KamenetzPodolsk Pocket (the “Hube Pocket”). It broke out with the rest of the army but had been so reduced by
casualties that it was downgraded to Divisiongruppe 82 (Division Group 82) and was assigned to the
254th Infantry Division on May 10, 1944. This unit (the 82nd Division Group) was destroyed at
Brody later that year.
Commanders of this division included Major General/Lieutenant General Josef Lehmann
(December 1, 1939), Major General Friedrich Hossbach (April 1, 1942), Lieutenant General Alfred
Baentsch (July 6, 1942), Lieutenant General Karl Faulenbach (January 31, 1943), Major
General/Lieutenant General Walter Heyne (March 15, 1943), Colonel Friedrich-August Weinknecht
(May 1, 1943), and Heyne (June 3, 1943).
Notes and S ources: Lehmann was promoted to lieutenant general on June 1, 1941. General Baentsch was killed in the Battle of Voronezh on January 31, 1943. Walter
Heyne was promoted to lieutenant general on December 1, 1943.
Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1123, 1127; Volume III: 1131; Nafziger 2000: 130–31; Tessin, Vol. 6: 62–63; RA: 144; OB 43: 139; OB 45: 167. Also see
Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume III: 1877, 1888.
83RD INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 251st Infantry Regiment, 257th Infantry Regiment, 277th Infantry Regiment, 183rd
Artillery Regiment, 183rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 183rd Tank Destroyer Battalion, 183rd
Engineer Battalion, 183rd Signal Battalion, 183rd Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Hamburg, Wehrkreis X
The 83rd Infantry was formed on December 1, 1939, in Troop Maneuver Area Bergen and
consisted of reservists from northern Germany (Wehrkreise II, X, XI, and XX). It initial strength was
15,552 men. It fought in France in June 1940, and spent Christmas of 1940 at home on furlough. It
remained in France on occupation duty throughout 1941 but was hurriedly transferred to the central
sector of the Russian Front at the end of the year. Here it was split into several emergency combat
groups and was not fully reunited under its own divisional headquarters for six months. It fought in the
defensive battles of Army Group Center in 1942 and most of 1943 (including Velish, Veliki Luki, and
Nevel) and was transferred to Army Group North in autumn 1943. By now, it was down to four
grenadier battalions and the 251st and 277th Grenadier Regiments had been consolidated into the
547th Grenadier Regiment. Neither of its surviving regiments had an infantry gun company. The
division took part in the Leningrad withdrawal, the Narva defensive battles, the retreat through the
Baltic States, and the first of the six battles of the Courland Pocket, in which all Soviet attempts to
crush Army Group North (later Courland) were repulsed. The veteran infantry division was
transferred to the Vistula and ended the war on the Hela peninsula. It surrendered to the Russians in
May 1945.
Commanders of the 83rd included Major General Kurt von der Chevallerie (December 1, 1939),
Major General/Lieutenant General Alexander von Zülow (December 10, 1940), Colonel Fritz-Georg
von Rappard (February 4, 1942), Colonel/Major General Adolf Sinzinger (March 16, 1942),
Lieutenant General Theodor Scherer (November 2, 1942), Colonel Wilhelm/Major
General/Lieutenant General Wilhelm Heun (March 1, 1944), Colonel Heinrich Goetz (June 29,
1944), Heun (August 22, 1944), Major General of Reserves Maximilian Wengler (March 27, 1945),
and Colonel Helmuth Raatz (April 26, 1945).
Notes and S ources: Zuelow was promoted to lieutenant general on October 1, 1941. Sinzinger became a major general on April 1, 1942. Heun was promoted to major
general on M ay 1, 1944, and to lieutenant general on November 9, 1944. Goetz reached the rank of major general on August 1, 1944. Wengler was killed in action at
Neutief/Pillau on April 26, 1945.
Carell 1966: 384–85; Keilig: 139; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume II: 1362, 1369, 1375; Volume III: 6, 259, 1158; Lexikon; M ehner, Vol. 12: 452; Nafziger 2000:
132; Tessin, Vol. 6: 68–69; Reinhard Tiemann, Geschichte der 83. Infanterie-Division, 1939–1945 (1960); RA: 160; OB 43: 140; OB 44: 195; OB 45: 167.
84TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 1051st Grenadier Regiment, 1052nd Grenadier Regiment, 1062nd Grenadier
Regiment, 184th Artillery Regiment, 84th Fusilier Battalion, 184th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 184th
Engineer Battalion, 184th Signal Battalion, 184th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Aachen, Wehrkreis VI
This division was formed in northern France on February 4, 1944, primarily from recently
activated 1022nd and 1032nd Grenadier Regiments (reinforced infantry regiments), which became the
1051st and 1052nd Grenadier Regiments, and the remnants of the 332nd and 355th Infantry Divisions.
Each of the grenadier regiments of the 84th initially had an artillery battalion. These were later
assigned to the 184th Artillery Regiment, and the III/184th Artillery Regiment and the 84th Fusilier
Battalion were added later. By May the division’s training was complete, and it was transported to
the Rouen area of France to await the Allied invasion. Sent to Normandy in late July, it fought in the
Battles of Mortain and Vire before being encircled at Falaise along with the bulk of the 5th Panzer
and 7th armies. In the subsequent break-out attempt only about one infantry regiment escaped; the
divisional commander was among those captured. The 84th was sent to the Somme River area in the
rear of the 7th Army to reform and was reinforced with miscellaneous local defense and security
units, including a Luftwaffe field battalion.
Pronounced fit for combat in September, despite the fact that it only had four grenadier battalions,
it was attached to the II Parachute Corps, 1st Parachute Army, and fought against the U.S. 82nd
Airborne Division in the Nijmegen area during Operation Market-Garden, the Allies’ disastrous first
attempt to breach the Rhine defenses. The 84th Infantry suffered serious casualties in the fighting and
was at only battle group strength by November 1944. In December, an ad hoc infantry regiment was
assigned to it as the 1062nd Grenadier Regiment. The division remained on the front line in the
northern sector of the Western Front and was fighting in the Kleve area of the Netherlands in January
1945. In late March the division was finally smashed by a series of heavy British air and ground
attacks and was overrun in the Wesel Bridgehead west of the Rhine. Many of the division’s senior
officers were captured along with most of the LXXXVI Corps’ staff. The 84th withdrew to the
Lueneberg Heide and was disbanded shortly thereafter.
Its commanders included Lieutenant General Erwin Menny (February 10, 1944), Colonel/Major
General Heinz Fiebig (August 21, 1944–end), and Colonel Siegfried Kossack (1945).
Notes and S ources: The III/184th Artillery Regiment was not added to the division’s TOE until November 1944. When the division was disbanded, the 184th
Artillery Regiment became the 584th Artillery Regiment z.b.V. General M enny was captured at Falaise on August 21, 1944. Fiebig was promoted to major general on
December 1, 1944. Colonel Kossack, the commander of the 1051st Grenadier Regiment and senior regimental commander, reportedly briefly commanded the division in
1945, probably while Heinz Fiebig took a short leave.
Blumenson 1960: 21, 324, 552, 582; Bradley et al., Vol. 3: 466–67; Keilig; 90; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume III: 1890. 1900; Lexikon; M acDonald 1963: M ap V;
M acDonald 1973: 313; Nafziger 2000: 133–34; Tessin, Vol. 6: 75–76; M ehner, Vol. 12: 452; 75–76; RA: 100; OB 45: 168.
85TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 1053rd Grenadier Regiment, 1054th Grenadier Regiment, 185th Artillery Regiment,
85th Fusilier Battalion, 185th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 185th Engineer Battalion, 185th Signal
Battalion, 185th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Idar-Oberstein, Wehrkreis XII
Created on February 2, 1944 from the remnants of several disbanded units and elements of recently
organized infantry regiments, the 85th Infantry Division had six infantry battalions and two artillery
battalions to begin with. It trained at Troop Maneuver Area Doeberitz and was camped in the rear
area of 15th Army in northern France on D-Day. Sent to Normandy in early August, it suffered heavy
losses in the Battle of the Falaise Pocket and subsequent breakout and, by August 17, had been
reduced to a total strength of one and a half infantry battalions, two pieces of field artillery, and a few
miscellaneous support troops. The 85th took part in the withdrawal from France while simultaneously
receiving reinforcements from miscellaneous army units and the remnants of two other infantry
divisions. In September it fought against Allied paratroopers in Operation Market-Garden. In October
and November 1944 the division (still only at battle group strength) took part in the Battle of the
Scheldt with the 15th Army in Holland. Later it fought in the defensive battles near Aachen (where it
suffered heavy losses) and north of Schmidt. It was disbanded on April 4, 1945 and its men were
used to form Division Potsdam. Its commander for most of its existence was Lieutenant General Kurt
Chill. Major General Helmuth Bechler commanded it from February 5 to March 15, 1945, when he
was seriously wounded in the Huertgenwald.
Its last commander was apparently Colonel of Reserves Erich Lorenz.
S ources: Blumenson 1960: 531, 582; Chant, Volume 14: 1855; Keilig: 24, 60, Kursietis: 128; Lexikon; M acDonald 1963: 124, 216–17; 599; M ehner, Vol. 12: 456;
www.das-ritterkreuz.de; Tessin, Vol. 6: 80–81; RA: 41; OB 45: 168; also see Speidel: 41.
86TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 167th Infantry Regiment, 184th Infantry Regiment, 216th Infantry Regiment, 186th
Artillery Regiment, 186th Reconnaissance Battalion, 186th Anti-Tank Battalion, 186th Engineer
Battalion, 186th Signal Battalion, 186th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Detmold, later Herford, Wehrkreis VI
Formed in the general mobilization of 1939 around cadres provided by the 6th Infantry Division,
this Westphalian division first saw action in 1939 on the Saar Front, where it was lightly engaged.
Later it fought in France and was on garrison duty there until July 1941, when it was sent to Army
Group Center in Russia. It fought at Vyasma and in the Battle of Moscow and suffered heavy
casualties. It remained on the central sector of the Eastern Front, where it took part in the defensive
battles of the Rzhev salient in 1942–43, in the Rzhev withdrawal (1943), and in the Battle of Kursk,
where it distinguished itself. It also suffered so many losses that the High Command decided to
disband it, effective November 2, 1943. The Staff and the signal battalion were sent to Denmark to
form the 361st Infantry Division. Most of the rest of the division was assigned to Corps Detachment E
as Division Group 86. The corps detachment fought in the Pripyet marshes and at Gomel and Warsaw
before being absorbed by the 251st Infantry Division in October 1944.
Divisional commanders of the 86th Infantry included Major General/Lieutenant General Joachim
Witthöft (August 26, 1939) and Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Helmuth Weidling
(January 1, 1942–November 4, 1943). Colonel Martin Bieber was named commander of Division
Group 86.
Notes and S ources: Witthöft was promoted to lieutenant general on October 1, 1940. Weidling was promoted to major general on February 1, 1942, and to lieutenant
general on M arch 1, 1943.
Carell 1966: 196, 357; Carell 1971: 26, 309; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 48–49; Keilig: 374; Tessin, Vol. 6: 86–87; OB 43: 140; OB 45: 169.
87TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 173rd Infantry Regiment, 185th Infantry Regiment, 187th Infantry Regiment, 187th
Artillery Regiment, 187th Reconnaissance Battalion, 187th Anti-Tank Battalion, 187th Engineer
Battalion, 187th Signal Battalion
Home Station: Weissenfels, Wehrkreis IV
This division, which consisted mainly of Thuringian and Saxon reservists, was mobilized on
August 26, 1939, as part of the 2nd Wave. Its headquarters was the former Staff, Infantry Commander
24, and its cadres were from the 14th Infantry, 24th Infantry and 1st Panzer Divisions. The new
division first saw combat in Belgium and France as part of the 6th Army. It fought very well and was
given the honor of being the first German unit to enter Paris in June 1940. It was on occupation duty in
France until March 1941, when it was sent to East Prussia. In June, it crossed into Russia with Army
Group Center, where it fought at the Bialystok, Smolensk, Vyasma, the Yelnya bend, and the Battle of
Moscow and against the Soviet winter offensive of 1941–42, among others. The 87th spent most of
June 1942 to February 1943 in the Rzhev salient. Meanwhile, its reconnaissance and tank destroyer
battalions were consolidated into a single schnelle (mobile) battalion. On November 16, 1943, the
division was encircled near Malashkinki. It escaped on December 16, but only after it lost all of its
heavy equipment and weapons and was reduced to a strength of 5,000 men. Withdrawn from the line,
it was rebuilt as a Type 44 division, with six grenadier battalions. In the spring of 1944 the 87th
Infantry Division was transferred to Army Group North and was involved in the retreat through the
Baltic States, the defense of the Narva, and the six battles of the Courland Pocket. While in Courland,
the 185th Grenadier Regiment was disbanded. The division surrendered to the Soviets in western
Latvia in May 1945.
Leaders of the 87th Infantry included Major General/Lieutenant General Bogislav von Studnitz
(assumed command August 26, 1939), Major General Walther Lucht (February 17, 1942), Studnitz
(March 1, 1942), Major General/Lieutenant General Werner Richter (August 22, 1942), Lieutenant
General Walter Hartmann (February 1, 1943), Major General/Lieutenant General Baron Mauritz von
Strachwitz (November 20, 1943), Major General Gerhard Feyerabend (August 1944), Major General
Helmuth Walter (September 1944), and Strachwitz (January 16, 1945–end).
Notes and S ources: Studnitz was promoted to lieutenant general on August 1, 1940. Richter became a lieutenant general on M arch 1, 1943. Strachwitz was promoted
to lieutenant general on August 1, 1944. He died in a Soviet prison in 1953.
Benoist-M echin: 241; Carell 1966: 92, 330, 350; Carell 1971: 309; Horne: 563; Keilig: 336, 338; Kursietis: 128; Nafziger 2000: 137–38; RA: 72; OB 42: 83; OB 43:
140; OB 45: 169.
The face of a tired German infantryman shows the strain of combat.
HITM ARCHIVE
88TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 245th Infantry Regiment, 246th Infantry Regiment, 248th Infantry Regiment, 188th
Artillery Regiment, 188th Reconnaissance Battalion, 188th Anti-Tank Battalion, 188th Engineer
Battalion, 188th Signal Battalion
Home Station: Erlangen, later Laun, Wehrkreis XIII
Made up mainly of Bavarian and Austrian reservists, this division was formed in Troop Maneuver
Area Grafenwoehr on December 1, 1939. Its 245th Infantry Regiment came from Wehrkreis XIII, its
246th Infantry Regiment came from Wehrkreis VII, and Wehrkreis XVII contributed the 248th Infantry
Regiment. Each Wehrkreise also contributed at least one battalion of artillery. Contrary to the normal
German practice, the 13th Company in each infantry regiment was a heavy mortar unit. The division
took part in the last stages of the French campaign of 1940 and then spent a year and a half on garrison
duty, mainly in France. In January 1942, however, the 88th was rushed to the Russian Front, where it
fought on the southern sector in the advances and retreats of 1942–43, including Kharkov, Kursk
(1942), Voronezh (1942–43), and Sumy (1943).
The 188th Bicycle Squadron, meanwhile, was expanded into the 188th Ski Battalion during the
winter of 1942–43. The division suffered heavy losses in the withdrawal from Kiev and Zhitomir in
the fall of 1943 and on November 2, 1943, was reorganized to include the 245th and 248th Grenadier
Regiments and included Division Group 323 (the former 323rd Infantry Division). The 246th
Grenadier Regiment was disbanded. Even so, the 245th and 248th Regiments had only two battalions
each. The division was surrounded with General Wilhelm Stemmerman’s XI Corps at Cherkassy in
February 1944. Along with the 57th Infantry Division, the 88th formed the rearguard in the breakout
under Stemmerman’s personal command; however, when he was killed by an anti-tank shell, all order
vanished. Perhaps half of the 88th Infantry escaped in the rout. The survivors were reorganized in
southern Poland and were back in action by June, but with only six weak grenadier battalions. Again
badly damaged by the Russian summer offensive of 1944, the Bavarian division rallied and was cited
for its tough defense of the Vistula bend. It absorbed the 1133rd Grenadier Brigade on August 15,
1944, and continued to serve on the Eastern Front until January 1945, when it was destroyed in the
Soviet breakout from the Baranov Bridgehead. The division was overrun and ceased to exist on
January 27, 1945. Its survivors were assigned to the 17th Infantry and 6th Volksgrenadier Divisions.
Commanders of the 88th included Major General Georg Lang (December 1, 1939), Major
General/Lieutenant General Friedrich Gollwitzer (February 2, 1940), Major General Eduard Aldrian
(October 1942), Gollwitzer (November 1942), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Heinrich
Roth (March 10, 1943), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Count Georg von Rittberg
(November 12, 1943), and Colonel Carl Anders (January 12, 1945).
Notes and S ources: Gollwitzer became a lieutenant general on October 1, 1941. Roth was promoted to major general on June 1, 1943, and to lieutenant general on
October 1, 1943—a rapid promotion indeed. He was critically wounded on November 5, 1943 and died in Zhitomir the following day. Count von Rittberg promoted to
major general on February 1, 1944, and to lieutenant general on August 1, 1944. He was taken prisoner on the Eastern Front on January 13, 1945. His replacement,
Colonel Anders, was captured on January 27, 1945 and was promoted to major general on January 30. Apparently word of his capture had not reached Berlin.
Lexikon; Nafziger 2000: 138–39; Tessin, Vol. 6: 98–100; RA: 116; OB 42: 83; OB 43: 141; OB 45: 169–70; Ziemke 1966: 230–38.
89TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 1055th Grenadier Regiment, 1056th Grenadier Regiment, 189th Artillery Regiment,
89th Fusilier Battalion, 189th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 189th Engineer Battalion, 189th Signal
Battalion
Home Station: Lüneburg, Wehrkreis X; 1945: Neumünster
Known as the “Horseshoe Division” from its unit symbol, this division was created in Troop
Maneuver Area Bergen (near Celle) on January 15, 1944, from personnel in the reinforced infantry
regiments of the Replacement Army. (Reinforced infantry regiments usually had an organic artillery
battalion., in addition to their three infantry battalions.) It trained in Norway from March to June
1944, and returned to the European mainland about the time of the D-Day invasion. Initially posted
with the 15th Army in the Rouen-La Havre area, it was ordered to Normandy in late June and
immediately suffered heavy losses. At the same time, however, it added the 189th Fusilier Battalion,
the 189th Field Replacement Battalion and a fourth artillery battalion. Near Falaise on August 8, it
collapsed under the pressure of heavy British air and ground attacks and had to be taken out of the
line. It was encircled at Falaise (along with the bulk of the 5th Panzer and 7th Armies) and broke out,
but with heavy losses. Both of its grenadier regiments were destroyed. The remnants of the division
were withdrawn to the Netherlands and reinforced with the 1063rd Grenadier Regiment (two
battalions). The Staffs, 1055th and 1056th Grenadier Regiments were reformed and, in September
and October, absorbed the V and XIV Landwehr Fortress Battalions, the 1403rd Fortress Infantry
Battalion, the 18th, 37th, 58th, and 317th Infantry Replacement and Training Battalions, and the 253rd
Engineer Replacement and Training Battalion. It now had three two-battalion regiments, but its tank
destroyer battalion had only one company.
Sent to join the 7th Army near Aachen, the 89th suffered heavy casualties in these early battles of
the Siegfried Line and by the end of October was once again a complete wreck. One of its grenadier
regiments was destroyed, and another had only 350 men, despite the fact that Colonel Roesler, the
divisional commander, had already incorporated his artillerymen, engineers, and service troops into
the infantry. Field Marshals von Rundstedt and Model both requested that the division be dissolved,
but Hitler refused to allow it. Instead, in early November, it received some replacements and a flak
company but, despite these additions, the strength of the 89th during the Ardennes offensive was not
impressive. Again fighting near Aachen in January 1945, the 89th Infantry faced the Allied
counteroffensive that followed the Battle of the Bulge. It was smashed in the Eifel and retreated into
southern Germany in March 1945. The few remnants of the division that survived continued to serve
on the Western Front until the end of the war. At least part of the division was interned in Switzerland
on May 2, 1945.
Commanders of the 89th were: Lieutenant General Conrad-Oskar Heinrichs (assumed command
February 10, 1944), Colonel Karl Roesler (September 8, 1944), Major General Walter Bruns
(September 15, 1944), and Major General Richard Bazing (February 2, 1945).
Notes and S ources: General Heinrichs as killed in action at Luettich on September 8, 1944. Roesler took charge of the division as senior regimental commander.
Blumenson 1960: 324, 582; Chant, Volume 14: 1863; Cole 1965: 35; Gevert Haslob, Ein Blich zurueck im die Eifel-Schicksalsweg der 89. Infanterie-Division (2000);
M acDonald 1963: 83, 359, 599; M acDonald 1973: M ap III; Nafziger 2000: 139; Speidel: 41; Tessin, Vol. 6: 105–6; RA: 160; OB 45: 170.
91ST AIR LANDING DIVISION
Composition: 1057th Grenadier Regiment, 1058th Grenadier Regiment, 191st Mountain Artillery
Regiment, 91st Fusilier Company, 191st Tank Destroyer Company, 191st Engineer Battalion, 191st
Signal Battalion, 191st Fla Company, 191st Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Kaiserslautern, Wehrkreis XII
Although equipped as an air landing division, the 91st served as an infantry unit throughout its short
existence. Its most famous commander was Major General/Lieutenant General Wilhelm Falley.
Formed in the Baumholder and Bitsch Maneuver Areas from replacement center personnel and men
from newly created reinforced infantry regiments, the 91st was assigned the task of guarding the
western coast of the Cotentin peninsula against Eisenhower’s invasion. Although the Allies landed to
the east, the 91st Air Landing Division was engaged against elements of the U.S. 82nd and 101st
Airborne Divisions from the first day. Wilhelm Falley became involved in a fire-fight with American
paratroopers near his headquarters in the pre-dawn hours of June 6 and was hit by a burst of machine
gun fire; he was the first German general killed on the reopened Western Front. The 91st Division
suffered tremendous casualties in the opening days of the invasion and was down to battle-group
strength by the second week. Finally it became so small that it was attached to the 77th Infantry
Division and later to the 243rd Infantry Division for operational purposes. The bulk of the survivors
of the 91st Air Landing were killed or captured with Corps von Schlieben in the Battle of Cherbourg,
but remnants of the division escaped to the south when the Americans cut LXXXIV Corps and the
Cotentin in half.
These units were reformed under the command of Colonel Eugen König in early July. Although the
7th Army commander, SS General Hausser, listed the division as practically destroyed in late July,
the High Command chose to rebuild rather than disband it. The 91st was sent to the Eifel (the German
Ardennes), reinforced with two replacement battalions and elements of the 172nd Reserve Division,
and was sent back to the front. In early August 1944 it made a gallant stand at Rennes, denying the city
to Patton’s U.S. 3rd Army for three days. Although König managed to escape with most of his little
command as the city fell, Rennes was the last major battle of the division. After a brief stint on the
Siegfried Line, in which it engaged in some minor skirmishing, the division was absorbed by the
344th Volksgrenadier Division on November 5, 1944.
The commanders of the 91st Air Landing Division were Lieutenant General Bruno Ortner (January
15, 1944), Falley (April 25, 1944), Klosterkemper (June 6, 1944), and König (June 10, 1944).
Notes and S ources: The 6th Parachute Regiment was attached to the 91st Division for much of the Normandy campaign, including D-Day. Colonel Bernhard
Klosterkemper commanded the combined 91st and 243rd Divisions in Normandy in July 1944. Together they probably amounted to less than regimental strength.
König was promoted to major general on September 1, 1944.
Blumenson 1960: 58, 358, 442; Carell 1973: 48–49; Chant, Volume 14: 1850; Harrison: M ap VI; Keilig: 173, 178; M acDonald 1963: 460; Nafziger 2000: 139–40;
Tessin, Vol. 6: 117–18; RA: 188; OB 45: 170–71.
92ND INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 1059th Grenadier Regiment, 1060th Grenadier Regiment, 192nd Artillery Regiment,
92nd Fusilier Battalion, 192nd Tank Destroyer, 192nd Engineer Battalion, 192nd Signal Battalion,
192nd Field Replacement Battalion, 192nd Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Mistelbach, Wehrkreis XVII
Activated in northern Italy on January 15, 1944, the 92nd was a composite of several replacement
battalions. Its personnel were Austrians, Germans, and Volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans from
occupied countries). Initially stationed in the Grosseto-Orbetello area as a garrison and training unit,
it was sent into action in May. Colonel General Mackensen, the 14th Army commander, was far from
satisfied with its performance and reported it as unfit for intensive combat. Since the Italian Front in
mid-1944 was no place for untrustworthy divisions, the 92nd was dissolved on June 20, 1944, shortly
after the fall of Rome. Most of its personnel were incorporated into the 362nd Infantry Division.
Commanders of the 92nd were Colonel Baron de La Salle von Louisenthal (January 15 to February
10, 1944) and Lieutenant General Werner Goeritz (February 10 to June 9, 1944).
Notes and S ources: According to one account, this division was not dissolved until June 20, 1944.
Blumenson 1969: 361; Fisher: 232, 255; Lexikon; Tessin, Vol. 6: 122; RA: 220; OB 45: 171.
93RD INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition (1940): 270th Infantry Regiment, 271st Infantry Regiment, 272nd Infantry Regiment,
193rd Artillery Regiment, 193rd Bicycle Squadron, 188th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 188th Engineer
Battalion, 188th Signal Battalion, 193rd Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Berlin, Wehrkreis III
Consisting of Prussian reservists, this division was activated in Troop Maneuver Area Jueterbog
on September 17, 1939 after the German Army crossed into Poland, setting off World War II. The
13th Company of each infantry regiment was a heavy mortar unit, instead of the normal infantry gun
company. Sent to the Saar Front, it broke through the Maginot Line fortifications near Saarbrucken in
the summer of 1940. After a brief period of garrison duty on the French coast, it was sent to Poland
and invaded Russia as part of Army Group North in June 1941. The 93rd was involved in heavy
fighting in the drive on Leningrad and by October was down to one-third of its authorized strength. It
nevertheless remained on the front line, opposing the Soviet winter offensive of 1941–42. In early
1942, the 271st Infantry Regiment, which was made up primarily of S.A. (Brownshirt) volunteers,
was given the honorary title “Infanterieregiment Feldhernnhalle” in recognition of its outstanding
conduct in action, and was assigned to the 60th Motorized Division.
In the spring of 1943 the 93rd Infantry Division was taken out of the line and sent to Poland to rest
and refit. In 1943, the 271st Infantry Regiment was taken from the division’s table of organization and
sent to France, where it formed the nucleus of the 60th Panzer Grenadier Division, which replaced a
unit destroyed at Stalingrad. The 93rd Division was given another grenadier regiment (the 273rd), but
it, like the 270th and 272nd, had only two battalions, instead of the previous three (i.e., it was rebuilt
as a Type 44 division). Meanwhile, the 93rd Infantry went back to Army Group North, which was
trying desperately to maintain the siege of Leningrad. The 93rd Infantry Division fought in the
Leningrad withdrawal, in the retreat through the Baltic states, and in the battles of the Courland
Pocket, from which it was evacuated in early 1945. The 93rd Infantry was shipped to Samland in East
Prussia, where it was smashed by the Soviets in March 1945. The remnants of the division
surrendered in the Hela peninsula at the end of the war.
Commanders of the division included Lieutenant General Otto Tiemann (September 1, 1939),
Colonel Gottfried Weber (May 1, 1943), Tiemann (May 31, 1943), Colonel Horst von Mellenthin
(September 1943), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Karl Loewrick (October 1, 1943),
Lieutenant General Erich Hofmann (June 20, 1944), Colonel Hermann (July 27, 1944), and Colonel
Kurt Domansky (September 1, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Loewrick was promoted to major general on December 1, 1943 and to lieutenant general on June 1, 1944. Domansky left the 93rd on October 1,
1944, to assume command of the 50th Infantry Division. The last commander of the 93rd Infantry Division was probably Colonel Hermann, the senior regimental
commander.
Hartmann: 20; Keilig: 222; Lexikon; M ellenthin 1977: 138; Nafziger 2000: 140–41; Salisbury: 351; Tessin, Vol. 6: 126–27; Rudolf Treffer, Geschichte des ArtillerieRegiment 193 im Verband der 93. Infanterie-Division, 1939–1945 (1988); OB 42: 83; OB 43: 141; OB 45: 171–72.
94TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 267th Infantry Regiment, 274th Infantry Regiment, 276th Infantry Regiment, 194th
Artillery Regiment, 194th Reconnaissance Battalion, 194th Anti-Tank Battalion, 194th Engineer
Battalion, 194th Signal Battalion, 194th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Naumberg, later Bautzen and Zwickau, Wehrkreis IV
Composed of reservists from Saxony and the Sudetenland, this division was mobilized in Troop
Maneuver Areas Zeithain and Königsbrück on September 18, 1939, shortly after the beginning of the
war. It was issued Czechoslovakian equipment and sent to the Saar sector in December. The next year
it took part in the French campaign, where it was involved in the 6th Army’s river crossing operation
on the Somme and then remained in France on occupation duty until June 1941.
It took part in the invasion of Russia in August 1941, including the Battle of Kiev, the sweep across
the Ukraine and the Donetz, and the subsequent Soviet counteroffensive of the winter of 1941–42. It
had to disband only one of its grenadier battalions after these battles, although the tank destroyer and
reconnaissance battalions had to be combined into the 194th Schnelle Battalion. In May 1942, the
division was involved in the Izyum-Kharkov fighting, in the drive across the Don, and in the Battle of
Kalack, which opened the route to the Volga. In November 1942, the 94th Infantry Division was
surrounded at Stalingrad, where it initially held a sector in the northeastern corner of the pocket; the
divisional headquarters, however, was outside of the encirclement and was cut off from its combat
units. The divisional staff was attached to the XXXXVIII Panzer Corps of the hastily formed Army
Detachment Hollidt of Army Group Don, where it controlled miscellaneous units under Lieutenant
General Georg Pfeiffer (1942–43). Meanwhile, the combat troops of the division were assigned to
the 24th Panzer and 16th Panzer Divisions and were captured when Stalingrad fell in early February
1943.
A second 94th Infantry Division was formed in the Lorient area of France in April 1943, under its
old staff and using its old regimental designations. Although incompletely trained and not ready for
action, it was sent to Italy after the collapse of Mussolini’s government left Germany’s southern flank
exposed. In August 1943, it occupied the Mount Cenis Pass and was on coastal defense duty in the
Genoa area later that month. It was reorganized into a Type 44 division on October 1, 1943, when
two of its grenadier battalions were transferred to the 361st Infantry Division and its III/194th
Artillery Regiment was assigned to the 275th Infantry Division. Its grenadier regiments now had only
two battalions each. By November 1943, the division was in combat on the Bernhard Line. Although
initially listed by the 10th Army’s chief of staff as inexperienced and poorly trained, the 94th fought in
all the major battles of the Italian campaign. It participated in the Gustav Line battles, suffered heavy
casualties in the withdrawal to Rome, and took part in the defense of the Po River Valley.
In the summer of 1944 it was briefly taken out of the line, withdrawn to the Udine area, and gave up
most of its personnel to the 305th Infantry Division; simultaneously, it received massive replacements
from the Infantry Division Schlesien (Silesia). The 94th Infantry returned to the front soon after and
was more or less continuously engaged until the end of the war in Italy. By February 1945, the
division was down to a strength of fewer than 2,600 combat effectives. Two months later it opposed
the U.S. 5th Army’s spring offensive and was overrun. When the XIV Panzer Corps fell back, the
remnants of the 94th covered its retreat and were cut off on the south side of the Po River. On April
22, Lieutenant General Bernard Steinmetz, who had led the 94th Infantry Division for most of the
Italian campaign, surrendered the remnants of his division to the Americans.
The division commanders of the 94th included General of Infantry Hellmuth Volkmann (September
25, 1939), Major General/Lieutenant General Georg Pfeiffer (August 21, 1940), Colonel Erich
Grosse (November 1942), Pfeiffer (March 1, 1943), and Steinmetz (January 2, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Volkmann, a former commander of the German Condor Legion in Spain, had previously been a general of fliers. He was critically injured in an
automobile accident on August 4, 1940 and died in a hospital in Berlin-Gatow on August 21. Georg Pfeiffer, his permanent replacement, was promoted to lieutenant
general on June 1, 1942. Bernard Steinmetz became a lieutenant general on June 1, 1944.
Benoist-M echin: 241; Blumenson 1969: 224; Carell 1966: 612; Fisher, 18, 46, 442, 472–74, 494; Garland and Smyth: 294; Keilig: 215; Kriegstagebuch des OKW,
Volume III: 4; Kursietis: 131; M anstein: 553; M ellenthin 1956: 225; Nafziger 2000: 141–42; Tessin, Vol. 6: 131–32; RA: 72; OB 42: 84; OB 43: 141; OB 45: 172.
Also see Harry R. Fletcher, “Legion Condor: Hitler’s M ilitary Aid to Franco,” unpublished M aster’s Thesis, University of Wisconsin, M adison, 1961.
95TH INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION
Composition: 278th Infantry Regiment, 279th Infantry Regiment, 280th Infantry Regiment, 195th
Artillery Regiment, 195th Reconnaissance Battalion, 195th Anti-Tank Battalion, 195th Engineer
Battalion, 195th Signal Battalion, 195th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Frankfurtam Main, later Cologne-Muelheim, Wehrkreis IX
The 95th Infantry Division consisted of Westphalians and Thuringian reservists who were
reinducted into the army in the Wildflecken and Hammelburg Troop Maneuver Areas in September
1939, just after the war started. It was outfitted with Czechoslovakian-made equipment. Officially
activated on September 25, it was on the Saar Front in 1939–40, where it “showed initiative and
dash” in skirmishes with the French, according to Allied intelligence documents. It was on furlough at
Christmas 1940 and, after fighting against the Maginot Line, was on occupation duty in northern
France until June 1941, when it was sent to Poland. The 95th Infantry Division was in more or less
continuous action on the southern sector of the Russian Front from July 1941 until late 1942, fighting
at Kiev, the Ukraine, Bryansk and Kursk (1941–42). Most of the guns of its 195th Artillery Regiment
were lost when the Soviets cut into the rear of the 2nd German Army in mid-December 1941.
What was left of the division continued to oppose the Soviet winter offensive of 1941–42 and was
involved in the initial drives on the Volga. Transferred to Army Group Center in late 1942, it took
part in the Rzhev withdrawal and later formed part of 4th Army’s line at Gomel and west of Smolensk
in the summer fighting of 1943. It suffered heavy losses in the Bryansk attack that summer. During the
winter of 1943–44, it was reorganized as a Type 44 division and each of its grenadier regiments was
reduced to two battalions. In July 1944, the 95th was the only division in the 3rd Panzer Army’s
reserve when the huge Russian summer offensive began. Thrown into action, it was quickly
overwhelmed near Vitebsk. Its divisional commander, Major General Michaelis, was captured and
only remnants of his unit escaped. Nevertheless, the 95th was reformed as a Volksgrenadier division
(with the same unit numbers) from Corps Detachment H and was sent back into action on the central
sector in October. It fought at Memel(where it was smashed), was evacuated by the German Navy to
Samland and, at battle group strength, opposed the Soviet invasion of East Prussia. It was trapped
near Pillau and destroyed on April 16, 1945.
Commanders of the 95th included Major General/Lieutenant General Hans-Heinrich Sixt von
Arnim (September 1939), Colonel Eduard Aldrian (February 8, 1942), Sixt (March 1, 1942),
Lieutenant General Friedrich Zickwolff (May 10, 1942), Colonel Friedrich Karst (September 6,
1942), Major General Eduard Aldrian (October 1, 1942), Major General/Lieutenant General Edgar
Roehricht (October 3, 1942), Major General Gustav Gihr (December 9, 1943), Colonel/Major
General Herbert Michaelis (February 27, 1944), and Colonel/Major General Joachim-Friedrich Lang
(June 30, 1944).
Notes and S ources: The 13th Company in the division’s infantry regiments was a heavy mortar unit, instead of the standard infantry gun company. Sixt von Armin
was promoted to lieutenant general on M arch 1, 1940. Roehricht was promoted to lieutenant general on April 1, 1943. M ichaelis, who was promoted to major general
on April 1, 1944, was a Soviet POW until 1955. Lang was promoted to major general on October 1, 1944. He was killed in the Battle of Pillau on April 16, 1945.
Carell 1971: 309, 597; K. Knoblauch, Kampf und Untergang einer Infanterie-Division: Die 95. Infanterie-Division (1991), 2 Volumes; Lexikon; Nafziger 2000: 142–43;
Seaton: 224; Tessin, Vol. 6: 136–37; OB 42: 84; OB 43: 142; OB 44b: 69. Also see Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1127; Volume IV: 1897.
96TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 283rd Infantry Regiment, 284th Infantry Regiment, 287th Infantry Regiment, 196th
Artillery Regiment, 196th Reconnaissance Battalion, 196th Anti-Tank Battalion, 196th Engineer
Battalion, 196th Signal Battalion, 196th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Hanover, Wehrkreis XI
Stationed in Hanover and raised from recruits from all over north and west Germany, this division
(which had Czech equipment) was activated at the Bergen Troop Maneuver Area near Celle on
September 21, 1939, and joined the 7th Army on the Upper Rhine in December. It first saw combat in
eastern France in 1940, and remained in northern France on occupation duty until June 1941. Sent
East in July, it spent the next four years on the Russian Front. It fought at Novgorod and Lake Ilmen,
and in the early stages of the siege of Leningrad and at Starja Russa in 1941. Here it suffered so many
casualties that a third of its infantry battalions had to be disbanded.
Remaining on the northern sector through 1943, it took part in the Second Battle of Lake Ladoga,
the Battle of the Volkhov, and the Battle of the German Corridor east of Leningrad. During this
period, its tank destroyer and reconnaissance battalions were combined to form the 196th Schnelle
Battalion. Despite its losses, the 96th Infantry (which now had only six grenadier battalions instead of
its original nine) remained on the line until January 1944, when it was transferred to the southern
sector of the Eastern Front, where it fought in the battles of the northern Ukraine, including Tarnopol
and Brody. In the summer of 1944, while part of the LIX Corps, the division was overwhelmed by the
Soviet attack that eventually led to the encirclement of the 1st Panzer Army. Although there is no
evidence that it was rebuilt, the remnants of the 96th were nevertheless sent back into combat. In late
1944, it was fighting the Russians in Slovakia, was involved in the Hungarian campaign, and, in
1945, it was still resisting north of Vienna when the war ended. Part of the division surrendered to the
Russians on the lower Danube on May 8, 1945; the rest surrendered to the Americans.
German infantrymen.
HITM ARCHIVE
The division’s commanders included Major General/Lieutenant General Erwin Vierow
(September 15, 1939), Lieutenant General Wolf Schede (August 1, 1940), Colonel/Major General
Baron Joachim von Schleinitz (April 10, 1942), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General
Ferdinand Noeldechen (October 10, 1942), Colonel Hermann Noack (March 1943), Noeldechen
(March 1943), Noack (June 1943), Colonel Gottfried Weber (July 1943), Major General/Lieutenant
General Richard Wirtz (July 28, 1943), Major General Johann-Albrecht von Blücher (December 1,
1943), Colonel Fischer (January 1944), Wirtz (January 1944), Major General Werner Duerking
(September 1, 1944), Colonel Heinz Kobolt (September 12, 1944), Wirtz (October 3, 1944), and
Colonel/Major General Hermann Harrendorf (November 1, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Vierow was promoted to lieutenant general on August 1, 1940. Schleinitz was promoted to major general on April 1, 1942, and was killed in an
accident near Tossno on April 10, 1942. Noeldechen was promoted to major general on November 1, 1942, and to lieutenant general on M ay 1, 1943. Wirtz became a
lieutenant general on January 1, 1944. General Duerking was mortally wounded at Sanok on September 11, 1944, and died the following day in the hospital at
Humenne. Harrendorf was promoted to major general on January 30, 1945.
Carell 1966: 251, 261, 272, 421; Carell 1971: 242, 255, 510; Keilig: 38; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1145; Volume III: 1158; Volume IV: 1895; Hartwig
Pohlmann, Geschichte der 96. Infanterie-Division, 1939–1945 (1959); Tessin, Vol. 6: 142–43; Salisbury: 275; RA: 172; OB 42: 84–85; OB 43: 142; OB 45: 173.
97TH INFANTRY DIVISION
See 97th Jäger Division (Volume Two).
98TH INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION
Composition (1942): 282nd Infantry Regiment, 289th Infantry Regiment, 290th Infantry Regiment,
198th Artillery Regiment, 198th Reconnaissance Battalion, 198th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 198th
Engineer Battalion, 198th Signal Battalion, 198th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Hof, Wehrkreis XIII
Built with reserve personnel from Bavaria, Franconia, and the Sudetenland, the 98th Infantry was
issued former Czechoslovakian Army equipment and was mobilized on September 18, 1939, in the
Grafenwoehr Troop Maneuver Area, shortly after the outbreak of the war. It was sent to the Saar
Front in December 1939, and after seeing action in the Western campaign of 1940, the division
remained in France until July 1941, when it was sent to the Russian Front as part of Army Group
South. It was on the northern wing of von Rundstedt’s army group during the Battle of Kiev in August,
where it lost seventy-eight officers and 2,300 men in the struggle for the key position of Korosten,
which it eventually carried.
After the fall of Kiev, the 98th was transferred to the central sector and fought in the battles around
Moscow. After its 600 mile-march through the Ukraine, it fought at Vyasma, after which it pushed on
to Maloyaroslavets, only sixty miles from the Russian capital. Its supply lines were virtually cut by
the mud; nevertheless, the division took the important Chernishay Heights in late October, only to be
thrown off again when attacked by T-34 tanks. Elements of the 289th and 290th Infantry Regiments
panicked but were soon rallied. By now the 98th’s infantry companies were down to twenty men
each, commanded by second lieutenants and sergeants. The soldiers had not changed clothes in
months and were tormented by lice and mud. Despite its poor condition, the 98th remained on the
front line, opposed the Soviet winter offensive of 1941–42, and took part in the defensive battles of
Army Group Center in 1942 and 1943, including Juchnov, Gshatsk and Spass-Demensk. Three of its
grenadier battalions were disbanded in 1942, along with the Headquarters, 289th Grenadier
Regiment.
After fighting in the Rzhev withdrawal in March 1943, the 98th was involved in anti-partisan
operations (May–June 1943) and was then sent back to the southern zone of the Eastern Front and
served in the Kuban and Crimean campaigns, where it distinguished itself. The 98th suffered such
heavy losses in the Kuban, in the Kerch Peninsula of the Crimea, and in the retreat to Sevastopol in
April and May 1944, that the 282nd Infantry Regiment had to be disbanded. Its other regiments were
also shattered. (These included the 615th Grenadier Field Training Regiment, which had been
assigned to the division in March.) The 290th Grenadier, for example, only had 200 men left on
October 29, 1943—hardly 10 percent of its June 1941 strength. The remnants of this veteran division
were evacuated from Sevastopol by the German Navy shortly before the city fell.
Transferred to the Zagreb area of Yugoslavia to rest and refit in the summer of 1944, the 98th
received a substantial number of poorly trained replacements from the Home Army and also
incorporated the Lehr Grenadier Brigade and elements of the recently disbanded 111th Infantry
Division into its table of organization as the 117th Grenadier Regiment. The 98th Infantry Division
returned to combat in Italy in September 1944, where it fought at San Savino and in the Battle of the
Rimini Line; however, its former combat effectiveness was gone, and the 14th Army staff rated it as
unreliable. No significant reinforcements were then available for the Italian Front, however, so the
98th continued in the line. Although still in the combat zone in December , it absorbed the Grenadier
Demonstration (Lehr) Brigade, which explains why the 117th Regiment was renamed 117th Lehr
Regiment in late 1944. Apparently the raw recruits the division received in late 1943 had gained
experience and skill by early 1945, for the 98th Infantry never broke under the strain of almost
constant Allied pressure. In January it was fighting northeast of Bologna, and a month later (now
designated a Volksgrenadier division) the 98th formed part of the LXXVI Panzer Corps in the
Apennines. It fought in the Po River campaign and ended the war on the Italian Front, surrendering to
the Americans in theAlps on May 8, 1945.
Its commanders were Major General/Lieutenant General Erich Schröck (September 18, 1939),
Major General Herbert Stimmel (April 11, 1940), Schröck (June 10, 1940), Colonel/Major
General/Lieutenant General Martin Gareis (December 31, 1941), Major General/Lieutenant General
Alfred Reinhardt (February 1, 1944), and Major General Otto Schiel (April 11, 1945).
Notes and S ources: Schröck was promoted to lieutenant general on June 1, 1941. He fell ill on December 31, 1941 and had to be replaced. Gareis was promoted to
major general from February 1, 1942, and to lieutenant general on January 1, 1943. He later wrote the history of the 98th Infantry Division. Reinhardt was promoted
to lieutenant general on September 1, 1944.
Carell 1966: 123, 151; Carel1 1971: 309, 538–56; Fisher: 353, 441; M artin Gareis, Kampf und Ende der Frankish-Sudetendeutschen 98. lnfanterie Division (1956);
Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1148; Volume III: 6; Seaton: 187–88, 429; RA: 204; OB 43: 142–43; OB 44b: D70; OB 45: 173.
100TH INFANTRY DIVISION
See 100th Jäger Division (Volume Two).
101ST INFANTRY DIVISION
See 101st Jäger Division (Volume Two).
102ND INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition (1941): 232nd Infantry Regiment, 233rd Infantry Regiment, 235th Infantry Regiment,
104th Artillery Regiment, 102nd Reconnaissance Battalion, 102nd Tank Destroyer Battalion, 102nd
Engineer Battalion, 102nd Signal Battalion, 102nd Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Diedenhofen; 1944: Casel, Wehrkreis VIII
Formed in the Gross-Born Troop Maneuver Area in 12th mobilization wave in October 1940, the
102nd Infantry was activated on December 15, 1940. It took part in the Russian invasion of June
1941, where it formed part of Army Group Center and fought at Smolensk, Vyasma, and Rzhev. In
December it suffered heavy losses in the vicinity of Moscow during the Russian winter offensive of
1941–42. The next month the 102nd was encircled south of Lake Volga with the XXIII Corps, but was
later rescued by the 9th Army. In February 1942 it was withdrawn to Germany to rest and refit. While
there, the 235th Infantry Regiment was dissolved, and the 84th Infantry Regiment of the 8th Infantry
Division was assigned to replace it. Returning to the central sector of the Russian Front in April
1942, the division took part in the Rzhev withdrawal and later fought in the battles of Kursk and
Gomel.
By October it was at battle group strength. The 102nd absorbed the remnants of the 216th Infantry
Division, which had been shattered at Kursk. Its TOE (Table of Organization and Equipment) now
included the 84th and 232nd Grenadier Regiments (two battalions each), Division Group 216 (with
the 348th and 396th Regimental Groups), the 102nd Fusilier Battalion, and the normal divisional
troops. (The 233rd Grenadier Regiment and the II/104th Artillery Regiment had meanwhile been
disbanded.) Back at the front in January 1944, the 102nd Infantry Division was assigned to the 2nd
Army and was sent to the Pripjet (Pripyet) marshes sector. It thus escaped the disaster that overtook
most of Army Group Center in June and July 1944. The 102nd, meanwhile, fought at Brest-Litovsk
and Navel. By February 1945, it was in the East Prussian Pocket and surrendered at Hela as the Third
Reich passed into history.
Commanders of the 102nd Infantry Division included Major General John Ansat (December 10,
1940), Colonel/Major General Horst Grossmann (December 10, 1941), Ansat (January 7, 1942),
Major General Albrecht Baier (February 1, 1942), Colonel Werner von Raesfeld (March 10, 1942),
Major General/Lieutenant General Johannes Friessner (May 1, 1942), Colonel/Major
General/Lieutenant General Otto Hitzfeld (January 19, 1943), Major General/Lieutenant General
Werner von Bercken (November 10, 1943), and Colonel Dr. Fritz Ludwig (April 5, 1945).
Notes and S ources: Grossmann was promoted to major general on January 1, 1942. Friessner was promoted to lieutenant general on October 1, 1942. Hitzfeld was
promoted to major general on April 1, 1943 and to lieutenant general on October 1, 1943. Bercken became a lieutenant general on August 1, 1944. Division Group 216
was so depleted by casualties that it was dissolved at the end of 1944. Dr. Ludwig normally commanded the 104th Artillery Regiment.
Carell 1966: 359, 393–94; Carell 1971: 26, 309; Keilig: 12, 16, 28; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume IV: 1897; Lexikon; Franz M eyer, Tapfere Schlesier: Mit der 102.
Infanterie-Division in Russland (1983); Nafziger 2000: 144–45; Scheibert: 231; Tessin, Vol. 6: 177–78; OB 43: 143; OB 45: 174.
106TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 239th Infantry Regiment, 240th Infantry Regiment, 241st Infantry Regiment, 106th
Artillery Regiment, 106th Reconnaissance Battalion, 106th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 106th Engineer
Battalion, 106th Signal Battalion, 106th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Mülheiman der Ruhr, Wehrkreis VI; 1944: Aachen
Activated on November 22, 1940, in Troop Maneuver Area Wahn, this division was built around
regimental sized unit cadres supplied by the 6th and 26th Infantry Divisions and two battalions
provided by the 250th Infantry Division. Its III/241st Infantry Regiment was sent to Africa in May
1941, and was not replaced for a year. Meanwhile, the division went to Russia with Army Group
Center in 1941, fought at Vilna, Smolensk, Vyasma and Klin, and suffered heavy casualties in the final
thrusts toward Moscow and in the subsequent Soviet counteroffensive that winter. In January 1942 the
division’s infantry strength was down to 500 men, and it had hardly any of its original leaders left.
Sent to St. Omer in northern France to rest and rebuild that spring, it did not return to the Eastern
Front until the spring of 1943. The 106th fought in the Battle of Kharkov in May 1943, and in the
Krementschug and Kirovograd fighting in the second half of that year. The 106th Infantry had been
reduced to Kampfgruppe (battle group) strength by October. It was rebuilt in November 1943 and
now included the 239th and 240th Grenadier Regiments (each with two battalions) and Division
Group 39 (with Regimental Groups 113 and 114). It also added the 107th Field Replacement
Battalion. Still understrength, it absorbed the infantry of Shadow Division Milowitz at the end of
February 1944. Meanwhile, the division took part in the withdrawal behind the Dnepr (January–
March 1944) and the successful defense of Pruth, Romania in April. Caught up in the disaster that
befell 6th Army in the autumn of 1944, the 106th was encircled and destroyed at Kishinev, Romania,
in August 1944.
A second, much-reduced 106th Infantry Division, which included some survivors of the original,
was assembled at Oberheim, Germany, on March 24, 1945. It was sent to southwestern Germany and
ended the war in the Black Forest with the 19th Army on the Western Front. It surrendered to the
Americans in May 1945.
Commanders of the division included: Major General/Lieutenant General Ernst Dehner (October
28, 1940), Colonel/Major General Alfons Hitter (May 3, 1942), Colonel Arthur Kullmer (November
1, 1942), Lieutenant General Werner Forst (January 1, 1944), Colonel/Major General Siegfried von
Rekowski (February 20, 1944), and Colonel Rintenberg (March 1945–end).
Notes and S ources: The III/241st Infantry Regiment became the I/155th Rifle Regiment. Dehner was promoted to lieutenant general on October 1, 1942. Hitter
became a major general on August 1, 1942. Rekowski reached the rank of major general on M ay 1, 1944. Somehow he evaded capture in Romania.
Carell 1966: 177; Carell 1971: 39, 218; Keilig: 273; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1147; Volume II: 1365; Volume IV: 1904; Nafziger 2000: 147–48; Seaton: 232;
Tessin, Vol. 6: 205; RA: 100; OB 43:143, OB 45:174.
110TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 252nd Infantry Regiment, 254th Infantry Regiment, 255th Infantry Regiment, 120th
Artillery Regiment, 110th Reconnaissance Battalion, 110th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 110th Engineer
Battalion, 110th Signal Battalion, 110th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Oldenburg, Wehrkreis X; 1944: Lüneburg
Formed in northern Germany on December 10, 1940, the 110th Infantry was built around
regimental-sized cadres supplied by the 12th and 30th Infantry Divisions and the 400th Infantry
Regiment from the Home Army. It was soon sent to the General Gouvernement (formerly central
Poland). The III/255th Infantry Regiment was sent to North Africa in May 1941, and was not
replaced. The division was with Army Group Center in the initial attack on the Soviet Union and,
after a number of desperate battles (including Vilna, Smolensk, Vyasma, and Klin), penetrated to the
Volga in December 1941. Pushed back by the Russian winter offensive of 1941–42, it remained on
the central sector of the Eastern Front for the rest of its existence. In 1942, the III/252nd Infantry
Regiment and the I/254th Infantry Regiment were disbanded. After taking part in the defensive battles
of 1942, where it suffered significant losses, it participated in the defense of Rzhev and the
subsequent withdrawal from the Rzhev salient in March 1943. It suffered heavy losses at Bryansk in
the summer of that year and the 252nd Grenadier Regiment had to be disbanded; the 321st Divisional
Group, however, was attached to the 110th Infantry Division. Remaining in the line, it was destroyed
near Bobruisk in the Russian summer offensive of 1944. The division’s last commander, Lieutenant
General Eberhard von Kurowski, was taken prisoner when the division was smashed.
Commanders of the 110th Infantry included Lieutenant General Ernst Seifert (December 12, 1940),
Lieutenant General Martin Gilbert (February 1, 1942), Kurowski (June 1, 1943), Colonel Albrecht
Wüstenhagen (September 25, 1943), Kurowski (December 1, 1943), Major General Gustav Gihr
(May 11, 1944), and Kurowski (May 15, 1944–end).
Notes and S ources: General Seifert either fell ill or was wounded on January 24, 1942. In any case, he did not return to limited active duty until M ay and never held
another field command. The senior regimental commander led the division from January 24 to February 1, 1942. Kurowski remained in Russian prisons until October
1955.
Ernst Beyersdorff, Geschichte der 110. Infanterie-Division (1965): 1 ff.; Carell 1966: 196, 357; Carell 1971: 309; Keilig: 321; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I:
1132; Lexikon; Nafziger 2000: 148–50; Tessin, Vol. 6: 224–25; RA: 160; OB 43: 143; OB 45: 175.
111TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 50th Infantry Regiment, 70th Infantry Regiment, 117th Infantry Regiment, 111th
Artillery Regiment, 111th Reconnaissance Battalion, 111th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 111th Engineer
Battalion, 111th Signal Battalion, 111th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Hildesheim, Wehrkreis XII
This Saxon division was created in October 1940, when the 3rd and 36th Infantry Divisions were
converted into two-regiment motorized units and gave up the 50th and 70th Infantry Regiments,
respectively. The 111th Division was officially activated on November 6. The 117th Infantry
Regiment was formed separately (from fortress units) and incorporated into the 111th. The division
fought in the early campaigns of Army Group South in 1941, including Zhitomir, Kiev and the Donetz,
and took part in the Caucasus campaign and subsequent withdrawal (1942–43), including both battles
for Rostov.
The 111th Infantry also fought in the Kuban campaign, including the Battle of Novorossiysk, where
an ambitious Soviet amphibious landing was checked in fierce fighting. Later transferred to the Mius
sector, it took heavy losses in the Battle of Taganrog and fought in the battles of the lower Dnieper,
where it performed exceptionally well. Meanwhile, it was reorganized as a Type 44 division in late
1943. Sent to the Crimea in early 1944, it was trapped when the Russians overran the peninsula. The
117th Infantry Regiment managed to escape by sea with the 50th Infantry Division, but the rest of the
111th was lost when its transport ships failed to arrive. When Sevastopol fell Major General Erich
Gruner tried to surrender the division but was brutally murdered by the Russians, along with many of
his men.
The commanders of the 111th were Major General/Lieutenant General Otto Stapf (November 5,
1940), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Hermann Recknagel (January 1, 1942), Major
General Werner von Bülow (August 15, 1943), and Gruner (November 1, 1943).
Notes and S ources: The 111th Ukrainian Construction Battalion was assigned to the division, probably in 1943. Stapf was promoted to lieutenant general on
February 1, 1941. Recknagel was promoted to major general on M arch 1, 1942 and lieutenant general on M arch 1, 1943. General von Bülow was reported as missing in
action near Obronoje on August 30, 1943, and was never heard from again. Gruner was killed on M ay 12, 1944, the day the division ceased to exist.
Carell 1971: 142, 151, 538–39, 559–60; Hartmann: 21; Keilig: 55; Nafziger 2000: 150–51; Tessin, Vol. 6: 231–32; RA: 172; OB 43: 144; OB 44b: D71; OB 45: 175.
112TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 110th Infantry Regiment, 256th Infantry Regiment, 258th Infantry Regiment, 86th
Artillery Regiment, 120th Reconnaissance Battalion, 112th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 112th Engineer
Battalion, 112th Signal Battalion, 112th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Mannheim, Wehrkreis XII
Activated on December 12, 1940, in Troop Maneuver Area Baumholder, the 112th received the
110th Infantry Regiment from the veteran 33rd Infantry Division, which was being converted into the
15th Panzer Division. Other cadres (about one-third of the division) were provided by the 34th
Infantry Division at Koblenz. In May 1941, the III/256th Infantry Regiment was sent to North Africa
and became II/155th Rifle Regiment. The new division took part in the Russian invasion as part of
Army Group Center and was involved in the battles of Bobruisk, Kiev, Bryansk, and Moscow, where
it suffered terribly from the extreme cold. Utterly unequipped for winter, the 112th Infantry reported
400 cases of frostbite in each regiment as early as November 17.
Despite its casualties the 112th Infantry fought on, opposing the 1941–42 Russian winter offensive
as well as fighting in the defensive battles on the central sector in 1942 and early 1943, especially
around Bryansk and Orel. It suffered heavy casualties during the Kursk offensive and was caught up in
the retreats after the defeat of Operation “Citadelle,” including the battles of Belgrod and Kiev
(1943). Classified as a Kampfgruppe as early as August 1943, it was officially downgraded to
become Division Group 112 on November 2, 1943. The division headquarters became Staff, Corps
Detachment B, which included the 112th, 255th and 332nd Divisional Groups. It was largely
destroyed at Cherkassy (Korsum) in February 1944 and was dissolved shortly thereafter. Its remnants
were absorbed by the 57th and 88th Infantry Divisions.
Leaders of the 112th Infantry Division included Lieutenant General Friedrich Mieth (December 10,
1940), Colonel/Major General Albert Newiger (November 10, 1942), Lieutenant General Rolf
Wuthmann (June 20, 1943), and Lieutenant General Theobald Lieb (September 3, 1943).
Notes and S ources: Newiger was promoted to major general on January 1, 1943.
Carell 1966: 162; Chant 1979: 96; Hartmann: 21; Keilig: 227; Lexikon; Nafziger 2000: 152–53; Tessin, Vol. 6: 239–40; RA: 188; OB 43: 144; OB 45: 176; Ziemke
1966: 230–38.
113TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 260th Infantry Regiment, 261st Infantry Regiment, 268th Infantry Regiment, 87th
Artillery Regiment, 113th Reconnaissance Battalion, 113th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 113th Engineer
Battalion, 113th Signal Battalion, 113th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Passau, Wehrkreis XIII; later Prague
Formed in Troop Maneuver Area Grafenwoehr on December 10, 1940, this 12th Wave division
was built around regimental-sized cadres provided by the 15th and 24th Infantry Divisions. It
remained in Germany until July 1941, when it was sent to the 6th Army on the Russian Front. After
fighting in the Battle of Kiev, however, it was sent to the Balkans to perform occupation duties. The
III/268th Infantry Regiment was sent to the Afrika Korps in May 1942 and became the III/155th Rifle
Regiment. Meanwhile, in early 1942, the rest of the 113th Infantry Division was transferred back to
the southern sector of the Russian Front. It was with the 6th Army in the battles around Taganrog
(February 1942), Kharkov-Izyum (May–June), the Don Bend battles (July) and in the Stalingrad street
fighting beginning in August 1942. It was surrounded with General Paulus at Stalingrad in November
1942. The 113rd Infantry Division was destroyed on January 20, 1943.
A new 113th Infantry was created in Brittany in the spring of 1943. It was sent to Army Group
Center that summer but did not prove to be a particularly effective combat division. In the autumn of
1943, it suffered heavy casualties in the Dnieper withdrawal and was broken up on November 2,
1943. About one-third of the unit was assigned to the 337th Infantry Division, while the rest was used
to form Division Group 113 of Corps Detachment G. This unit was destroyed at Bobruisk in July
1944. The 113th Infantry Division, meanwhile, officially ceased to exist on November 2, 1943.
Commanders of the division included Major General Ernst Guentzel (December 10, 1940), Major
General/Lieutenant General Friedrich Zickwolff (June 4, 1941), Lieutenant General Hans-Heinrich
Sixt von Arnim (May 10, 1942), and Major General Friedrich-Wilhelm Prüter (March 15, 1943).
Notes and S ources: General Zickwolff was promoted to lieutenant general on October 1, 1941. Sixt was captured in Stalingrad on January 20, 1943 and died in a
Soviet prison camp in 1952. Keilig: 263, 325; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume III: 733; M ellenthin 1956: 225; Nafziger 2000: 153–54; Tessin, Vol. 6: 247–48; OB
42: 86; OB 43: 144; OB 45: 176.
121ST INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 405th Infantry Regiment, 407th Infantry Regiment, 408th Infantry Regiment, l21st
Artillery Regi-ment, 121st Reconnaissance Battalion, 121st Tank Destroyer Battalion, 121st Engineer
Battalion, 121st Signal Battalion, 121st Field Replacement Battalion, 121st Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Altbunzlau, later Schröttersburg, Wehrkreis X; 1944: Augstovo, later Allenstein,
Wehrkreis I
This division was mobilized in the Munsterlager Troop Maneuver Area, Wehrkreis X on October
5, 1940. It was formed from regimental-sized cadre units provided by the 1st and 21st Infantry
Divisions. It was attached to Army Group North in June 1941, and spent the rest of the war on the
northern sector of the Russian Front. It was part of von Manstein’s LVI Panzer Corps in early July
1941, when it smashed the Soviet 27th Army northeast of Dvinsk. The next month the 121st took part
in the Battle of Mga with the 16th Army; later it fought in the Battle of Volchov. By October it was
down to 40 percent of its authorized strength but remained in action during the drive on Leningrad and
the subsequent Russian attempts to break the siege of that city. Meanwhile, three of its infantry
battalions had to be disbanded due to high casualties. By September, the 121st Infantry was fighting in
the Lake Ladoga sector and remained there for some time. In 1944 the division was involved in the
retreat from Leningrad through the Baltic states, fought in the Battle of Pskov that June, and—at battle
group strength—retreated to the western coast of Latvia in September. The burned-out division
remained in the Courland Pocket until the end of the war.
Commanders of the 121st included Major General/Lieutenant General Curt Jahn (October 5, 1940),
Major General Otto Lancelle (May 6, 1941), Major General/Lieutenant General Martin Wandel (July
8, 1941), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Hellmuth Priess (November 11, 1942), Major
General Ernst Pauer von Ariau (March 1944), Priess (May 1944), Lieutenant General Rudolf Bamler
(June 1, 1944), Priess (June 27, 1944), Lieutenant General Theodor Busse (July 10, 1944),
Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Werner Rank (August 1, 1944), and Major General
Ottomar Hansen (April 29, 1945).
Notes and S ources: The 121st Infantry Division absorbed part of Shadow Division M ielau in M arch 1944. Curt Jahn was promoted to lieutenant general on
November 1, 1941. General Lancelle was killed in action at Smerdy (near Dvinsk) on July 8, 1941. Wandel was promoted to lieutenant general on October 1, 1942.
Priess became a major general on January 1, 1943 and a lieutenant general on July 1, 1943. Bamler was captured on June 27, 1944. Rank was promoted to major general
on October 1, 1944, and to lieutenant general on April 20, 1945. Hansen was a Russian prisoner until 1955.
Bradley et al., Vol. V: 109–10; Carell 1966: 265; Keilig: 20; Kriegstagebuch des OKW: Volume IV: 1877; Lexikon; Nafziger 2000: 154–55; Salisbury: 165, 275, 351;
Friedrich Christian Stahl et al., Geschichte der 121. ostpreussischen Infanterie-Division, 1940–1945 (1970): ff.1; Tessin, Vol. 6: 286–87; RA: 20; OB 45: 176.
122ND INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 409th Infantry Regiment, 411th Infantry Regiment, 414th Infantry Regiment, 122nd
Artillery Regiment, 122nd Reconnaissance Battalion, 122nd Tank Destroyer Battalion, 122nd
Engineer Battalion, 122nd Signal Battalion, 122nd Field Replacement Battalion, 122nd Divisional
Supply Troops
Home Station: Köslin, Wehrkreis II
Formed in the Gross-Born Troop Maneuver Area on October 7, 1940, this division consisted of
personnel from Mecklenburg and Pomerania. Cadre units were supplied by the 32nd and 258th
Infantry Divisions, each of which provided the equivalent of one-third of the division. The division
completed its training in March 1941, was sent to East Prussia, and took part in the invasion of
Russia with Army Group North. It fought in the Battles of Kovno, Novgorod, Lake Ilmen, and Mga,
and in the siege of Leningrad. In the early spring of 1942 it took part in the attempt to rescue II Corps
(encircled at Demyansk), and on May 5 it broke the Siege of Kholm and rescued Combat Group
Scherer, which had been surrounded for more than three months. Meanwhile, each grenadier regiment
was reduced to two battalions, although each added a (15th) bicycle company. In July 1942, the
122nd was again fighting in the Demyansk sector, until the II Corps was finally freed in February
1943. Later that year it was committed to the Staraja Russa sector and in November to the Battle of
Nevel with Army Group Center. Returned to Army Group North in March 1944, it was transferred to
Helsinki, Finland, in July but was ordered back to the Russian Front on July 29, two days after the
fall of Narva. Its departure alarmed Finnish Marshal Carl Mannerheim and was a factor in that
country’s defection from the Axis war effort several weeks later. Meanwhile, the 122nd Infantry
retreated through Estonia and was cut off in the Courland Pocket in western Latvia by October 1944.
It fought in the six battles of the Courland Pocket and was still there when the war ended.
A German mortar crew takes a cigarette break in the snow.
HITM ARCHIVE
Commanders of the 122nd Infantry Division included Major General/Lieutenant General Sigfrid
Machholz (October 5, 1940), Lieutenant General Friedrich Bayer (December 8, 1941), Machholz
(February 17, 1942), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Kurt Chill (August 1, 1942),
Colonel Gustav Hundt (October 10, 1942), Chill (October 14, 1942), Colonel Adolf Westhoff
(December 1, 1942), Colonel Adolf Trowitz (January 8, 1943), Major General Alfred Thielmann
(May 15, 1943), Chill (June 27, 1943), Major General Johann-Albrecht von Blücher (February 1,
1944), Colonel/Major General Hero Breusing (February 4, 1944), Lieutenant General Friedrich
Fangohr (August 25, 1944), and Colonel/Major General Bruno Schatz (January 20, 1945–end).
Notes and S ources: M achholz was promoted to lieutenant general on June 1, 1942. Kurt Chill was promoted to major general on December 1, 1942 and to lieutenant
general on June 1, 1944. He seriously wounded in 1943. Hero Breusing became a major general on M ay 1, 1944. Schatz became a major general on April 20, 1945. He
was a Soviet prisoner until 1955.
Carell 1966: 251, 256, 258, 427–31, 434–38; Carell 1971: 288; Keilig: 60, 213, 369; Lexikon; Nafziger 2000: 155–56; Plocher 1943: 319; Salisbury: 275; Tessin, Vol. 6:
292–93; OB 42: 88; OB 44: 202; OB 45: 177; Ziemke 1959: 286; Ziemke 1966: 387.
123RD INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 415th Infantry Regiment, 416th Infantry Regiment, 418th Infantry Regiment, 123rd
Artillery Regiment, 123rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 123rd Anti-Tank Battalion, 123rd Engineer
Battalion, 123rd Signal Battalion, 123rd Field Replacement Battalion, 123rd Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Crossen, Wehrkreis III
This Brandenburg unit was formed in Troop Maneuver Area Regenwurmlager on October 5, 1940,
with regimental-sized cadre units supplied by the 23rd and 257th Infantry Divisions. The 3rd
Motorized Division also provided units and the 18th Infantry Division contributed a cavalry
squadron. The division completed its training in April 1941, was posted to East Prussia, and went to
Russia with Army Group North in June 1941. It fought at Dvinsk and a number of other battles in the
drive on Leningrad in 1941. In early January 1942, it formed the southern flank of the army group
during the Russian winter offensive of 1941–42. Because of the shortage of German troops and the
vastness of the territory, the division had to cover fifty miles of frontage and was badly overextended.
In this exposed position it was attacked and crushed by four Soviet armies. The remnants of the 123rd
were all but finished off at Lake Seliger on January 9, although some elements managed to escape to
the Demyansk and Kholm pockets. Not freed until February 1943, the reunited and reformed division
(which now had only six surviving infantry battalions and a combined tank destroyer/reconnaissance
battalion) re-emerged in combat later that year in the Battle of Zaporozhe on the southern sector of the
Eastern Front. In February 1944, the 123rd Infantry suffered such heavy losses in the withdrawal from
the lower Dnieper bend that it was downgraded to a divisional group and was assigned to Corps
Detachment F on March 1, 1944. The corps detachment was merged with the 62nd Infantry Division
on July 20, 1944, and Division Group 123 ceased to exist.
The commanders of the 123rd Infantry Division/Division Group were Lieutenant General Walther
Lichel (October 5, 1940), Major General/Lieutenant General Erwin Rauch (August 6, 1941),
Lieutenant General Erwin Menny (October 17, 1943), Rauch (November 1, 1943), and
Colonel/Major General Louis Tronnier (January 15, 1944).
Notes and S ources: General Lichel was so seriously wounded on August 5, 1941, that he remained in various hospitals until autumn 1944. Rauch was promoted to
lieutenant general on November 1, 1942. Tronnier was promoted to major general on April 1, 1944. He commanded Corps Detachment F and then the 62nd Infantry
Division, which was overrun in Romania in August 1944. Tronnier was captured there and died in a Soviet prison in 1952.
Carell 1966: 376–77, 427, 434–38; Carell 1971: 288; Keilig: 349; Lexikon; M anstein: 184; Nafziger 2000: 156–57; Tessin, Vol. 6: 298–99; OB 43: 145; OB 44: 203;
OB 45: 177.
125TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 419th Infantry Regiment, 420th Infantry Regiment, 421st Infantry Regiment, 125th
Artillery Regiment, 125th Reconnaissance Battalion, 125th Tank Destroyer Baltalion, 125th Engineer
Battalion, 125th Signal Battalion, 125th Field Replacement Battalion, 125th Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Ulm, Wehrkreis V
Made up of troops from Baden and Württemberg, the 125th Infantry was created in the Münsingen
Troop Maneuver Area in September 1940 and was activated on October 16. Cadre units were
provided by the 5th and 260th Infantry Divisions (each of which contributed about one-third of a
division) and the 25th Motorized Division, which provided small elements. The 125th Infantry
Division first saw action in Yugoslavia in the spring of 1941. Three months later it was in Russia
with Army Group South and fought in the Ukraine and the Crimea, including the battles of Uman and
Kiev. Later it took part in the capture of Rostov, the Caucasus campaign, and the Battle of
Novorossiysk in the Kuban. The divisional commander and his staff—temporarily designated
Command Staff for Special Purposes von Foerster—served as the military administrators of the
Kuban for a time in the fall of 1942, controlling parts of the 125th Infantry and 13th Panzer Divisions,
as well as most of the 3rd Romanian Mountain Division and part of the 10th Rumanian Mountain
Division. Reunited in late 1942, the 125th Infantry distinguished itself in the Kuban fighting during the
winter of 1942–43. Later in 1943 the division was transferred to the lower Dnieper sector by way of
the Crimea and took such heavy casualties in the withdrawal from the lower Dnieper bend and in the
Nikopol Bridgehead that it had to be downgraded to Divisiongruppe 125 on March 3, 1944. It was
assigned to the 302nd Infantry Division and became the 420th Grenadier Regiment on August 14,
1944. Later that month it was destroyed in Romania.
Its commanders included Major General/Lieutenant General Willi Schneckenburger (October 5,
1940) and Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Helmuth Friebe (December 24, 1942–March
1944).
Notes and S ources: Schneckenburger was promoted to lieutenant general on July 1, 1942. Friebe became a major general on M arch 1, 1943, and a lieutenant general on
September 1, 1943. Senior regimental commander Colonel Alfred Reinhardt apparently was briefly in command of the division in early 1943.
Helmut Breymayer, Das Wiesel—Geschichte der 125. Infanterie-Division, 1940 bis 1944 (1982); Carell 1966: 535, 559–60; Carell 1971: 156–57, 186; Hartmann: 21;
Keilig: 92, 96; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume III: 731; Lexikon; Tessin, Vol. 6: 307–8; RA: 86; OB 42: 88; OB 44b: D73; OB 45: 178.
126TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 422nd Infantry Regiment, 424th Infantry Regiment, 426th Infantry Regiment, 126th
Artillery Regiment, 126th Reconnaissance Battalion, 126th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 126th Engineer
Battalion, 126th Signal Battalion, 126th Field Replacement Battalion, 126th Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Osnabrück, Wehrkreis VI
Formed in the Sennelager Troop Maneuver Area near Paderborn on October 18, 1940, from
regimental-sized cadres supplied by the 11th and 253rd Infantry Divisions, this RhinelanderWestphalian division completed its training in Apirl 1941 and went into battle on the northern sector
of the Russian Front in June 1941. It remained on the northern sector for the rest of the war. In 1941, it
fought at Lake Ilmen, on the Mshaga River and before Leningrad, and in early 1942 it was heavily
engaged in the Battle of the Volkhov. It suffered such heavy casualties that it had to be reduced to a
six grenadier battalion unit, although each of its three infantry regiments added a 15th (Bicycle)
Company. Only four of its six grenadier battalions, however, were near full strength by autumn, and
its reconnaissance and tank destroyer battalions had been combined into the 126th Schnelle (Mobile)
Battalion. It fought in the defensive battles of Army Group North from 1942 to 1945, it took part in the
relief of Demyansk in early 1943 and the withdrawal from Leningrad in early 1944, where it suffered
heavy casualties. These were partially made good in February 1944, when it absorbed part of the 9th
Luftwaffe Field Division. Finally pushed back to the west coast of Latvia, the division (now at
regimental strength) remained isolated in the Courland Pocket until the end of the war. It had a
strength of seventy officers and 3,000 men when it surrendered to the Red Army near Libau on May 8,
1945. The 422nd Grenadier Regiment, however, had just boarded one of the last ships headed for the
west and thus avoided Soviet captivity.
Commanders of the 126th Infantry Division included Major General/Lieutenant General Paul Laux,
Colonel Kurt Chill (October 10, 1942), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Harry Hoppe
(October 14, 1942), Major General Friedrich Hofmann (April 25, 1943), Hoppe (July 27, 1943),
Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Gotthard Fischer (November 7, 1943), and
Colonel/Major General Kurt Haehling (January 5, 1945).
Notes and S ources: Laux was promoted to lieutenant general on January 1, 1941. Hoppe became a major general on December 1, 1942, and a lieutenant general on
June 1, 1943. Fischer was promoted to major general on M arch 1, 1944, and to lieutenant general on September 1, 1944. Haehling became a major general on January
30, 1945. He was a Soviet prisoner until 1951.
Guenther Braake, Bildchronik der 126. rheinischwestfaelischen 126. Infanterie-Division (1985); Carell 1966: 20, 248, 251, 420–21; Carell 1971: 288–89;
Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume IV: 1897; Lexikon; Gerhard Lohse, Geschichte der rheinisch-westfälischen 126. Infanterie-Division (1957). Tessin, Vol. 6: 313–14;
OB 42:88; OB 43: 146; OB 44: 204; OB 45: 178.
129TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 427th Infantry Regiment, 428th Infantry Regiment, 430th Infantry Regiment, 129th
Artillery Regiment, 129th Reconnaissance Battalion, 129th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 129th Engineer
Battalion, 129th Signal Battalion, 129th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Fulda, Wehrkreis IX
On October 20, 1940, this Hessian-Thuringian division was activated in the Hanau area, around
cadre units supplied by the 9th and 251st Infantry Divisions, each of which provided about one-third
of a division. It also inherited the horse-drawn elements of the 33rd Infantry Division, which was in
the process of converting into the 15th Panzer Division. It completed its training in April 1941, and
was sent to East Prussia. It first saw action in Russia in June, fighting at Bialystok, Smolensk,
Vyasma, and other battles in the central sector. The 129th helped establish the Kalinin bridgehead on
the upper Volga in October and held it against repeated counterattacks. During these battles, two of its
grenadier battalions suffered such heavy losses that they were reorganized as bicycle companies.
Later that year it faced the Russian winter offensive as part of the 9th Army, Army Group Center.
During this fighting, it absorbed the II and III/329th Infantry Regiment and the 236th Artillery
Regiment from the 162nd Infantry Division. Remaining on the central sector, the 129th Infantry
Division took part in the defensive battles around Rzhev in 1942 and in the Rzhev withdrawal of
early 1943. That autumn and winter it fought in the battles of Bryansk, Mogilev, and Vitebsk.
In the spring of 1944, it absorbed the 566th Grenadier Regiment of the 390th Field Training
Division. It escaped destruction in the Russian summer offensive of 1944, but with high casualties,
and was smashed between Bobruisk and Baranowitschi. In August 1944, it was defending on the
Vistula, and did so well that it was officially commended; however, the 129th had suffered such
heavy personnel and equipment losses during three years on the Eastern Front that, after the retreat
from Narev, it was withdrawn from the battle and disbanded as a combat division. Its men were
dispersed among the divisions of the 4th Army, and most of them fought their last battles in the East
Prussian Pocket. Its headquarters, however, remained extant, and was serving as the Kommandantur
of the Frische Haff in East Prussia in March 1945.
Commanders of the 129th Infantry Division included Major General/Lieutenant General Stephan
Rittau (October 1, 1940), Major General/Lieutenant General Albert Praun (August 24, 1942),
Colonel/Major General Karl Fabiunke (September 25, 1943), Major General/Lieutenant General
Heribert von Larisch (February 15, 1944), and Colonel Bernhard Ueberschär (February 11, 1945).
Notes and S ources: The Frische Haff is now named the Prochladny Zaliv. Rittau was promoted to lieutenant general on August 1, 1941, and was killed in action near
Rzhev on August 22. Praun was promoted to lieutenant general on February 1, 1943. Fabiunke became a lieutenant general on December 1, 1943. Larisch reached the
same rank on October 1, 1944. Ueberschär was promoted to major general on April 15, 1945.
Heinrich Boucsein, Halten oder Sterben: Die hessisch-thüringische 129. Infanterie-Division in Russlandfeldzug und Ostpreussen, 1941–1945 (1999); Carell 1966: 154–
55, 196; Carell 1971: 309; Keilig: 278; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume IV: 1897; Kursietis: 138; Lexikon; Nafziger 2000: 160–61; Tessin, Vol. 6: 326–27; RA: 144;
OB 42: 88; OB 43: 146; OB 44: 204; OB 45: 178.
131ST INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 431st Infantry Regiment, 432nd Infantry Regiment, 434th Infantry Regiment, 131st
Reconnaissance Battalion, 131st Tank Destroyer Battalion, 131st Engineer Battalion, 131st Signal
Battalion, 131st Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Hanover, Wehrkreis XI
Formed in Troop Maneuver Area Bergen (near Celle) on October 5, 1940, with two-thirds of the
division provided by the 31st and 269th Infantry Divisions, this division also inherited the horsedrawn elements of the 19th Infantry Division, which was in the process of becoming the 19th Panzer
Division. The 131st Infantry completed its training in April 1941, and was sent to Warsaw. In June,
the 131st Infantry took part in the invasion of Russia, fighting at Brest-Litovsk, Bialystok, Gomel,
Kiev, Bryansk, and Moscow. It remained on the Eastern Front for four years, fighting in most of the
major battles in the central sector. It suffered heavy casualties during the Soviet winter offensive of
1941–42, and the 432nd Grenadier Regiment had to be disbanded, along with three grenadier
battalions. The division then fought in the Spass-Demyansk, Bryansk and Mogilev battles (1942–
1943), as well as at Vitebsk and Kovel in 1944. Later that year the 131st was smashed in the gigantic
Russian summer offensive of 1944 although—unlike most of the divisions of Army Group Center—it
escaped total destruction. Its losses were partially made good on August 11, 1944, when it absorbed
the 196th Infantry Division. The remnants of the division remained on the Eastern Front until the end,
fighting in the retreats through western Russia and Poland. In March 1945, it was fighting in East
Prussia, with the 10th Bicycle Jäger Brigade attached, and was still in Prussia on April 16, 1945,
when the burnt-out 131st Infantry Division was finally dissolved. The remnants of the division’s
combat units were absorbed by other divisions of the Army of Prussia. The divisional staff was sent
to Swinemünde, where it became Staff, 4th RAD (Reich Labor Service) Division.
Commanders of the 131st included Major General/Lieutenant General Heinrich Meyer-Buerdorf
(October 1, 1940), Major General/Lieutenant General Friedrich Weber (January 10, 1944),
Colonel/Major General of Reserves Werner Schulze (October 28, 1944), and Colonel Nobiz
(January 1, 1945).
Notes and S ources: The 432nd Grenadier Regiment was dissolved on February 1, 1943. It was reformed on M ay 1, 1944, when the division absorbed the 565th
Grenadier Regiment of the 52nd Field Training Division. Even then, its other grenadier regiments had to be reduced from three battalions to two. The new regiment was
the former 565th Field Training Regiment of the 52nd Field Training Division. M eyer-Buerdorf became a lieutenant general on October 1, 1941, and Friedrich Weber
reached the same rank on July 1, 1944. Schulze was promoted to major general of reserves on January 1, 1945.
Carell 1966: 196; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume IV: 1897; Lexikon; Nafziger 2000: 162–63; Tessin, Vol. 7: 1–2; RA: 172; OB 43: 146; OB 44: 204; OB 45: 179;
Ziemke 1966: 279.
132ND INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 436th Infantry Regiment, 437th Infantry Regiment, 438th Infantry Regiment, 132nd
Artillery Regiment, 132nd Reconnaissance Battalion, 132nd Tank Destroyer Battalion, 132nd
Engineer Battalion, 132nd Signal Battalion, 132nd Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Landshut, Wehrkreis VII; later Darmstadt, Wehrkreis XII
Originally formed in Landshut on October 5, 1940, this eleventh-wave Bavarian division was built
around cadres provided by the 263rd and 268th Infantry Divisions, each of which transferred about a
third of a division to the 132nd Infantry. The 132nd was later transferred to the XII Military District
for replacement and training purposes. After completing its training, the division was sent to
Yugoslavia (April–June 1941) and crossed into southern Russia in July 1941. The division fought in
the drive to the Dnieper, in the huge Battle of Kiev, in the push to the Crimea, and in the siege of
Sevastopol. It later took part in the assault that caused the fall of this giant Soviet naval fortress in the
summer of 1942, occupied the Kertsch peninsula in August, and was subsequently shifted to the
northern sector of the Eastern Front in October 1942. It remained with the 18th Army of Army Group
North for the next two and a half years.
In late 1943 or early 1944, it was reorganized as a Type 44 division, with three grenadier
regiments of two battalions each. It fought in the siege of Leningrad, in the subsequent retreat from the
city, and in the defense of the Narva River. In July 1944, the 132nd Infantry suffered heavy casualties
in the Russian summer offensive and was forced into the Courland Pocket in September 1944. It took
part in the six battles of the Courland Pocket, where all Soviet attempts to crush Army Group North
were checked. It suffered such heavy losses in these battles, however, that the 437th Grenadier
Regiment and the III/132nd Artillery Regiment had to be disbanded. The division was still in
Courland when the war ended. It surrendered on May 8, 1945.
The 132nd’s divisional commanders included Major General Rudolf Sintzenich (October 5, 1940),
Major General Fritz Lindemann (January 11, 1942), Major General Herbert Wagner (August 12,
1943), Colonel of Reserves Werner Schulzen (late 1944), and Major General Rudolf Demme
(January 8, 1945).
Notes and S ources: The Staff, 437th Grenadier Regiment, as well as II/437th Grenadier Regiment and II/436th Grenadier Regiment, were dissolved in December 1944.
Sintzehich was promoted to lieutenant general on December 1, 1941, Lindemann reached the same rank on January 1, 1943, and Wagner became a lieutenant general on
June 1, 1944. The exact dates Schulzen served as acting commander of the division are unclear. Demme was a Soviet prisoner until 1955.
Carell 1966: 304, 503; Kriegstagebuch des OKW: Volume III: 1888; Lexikon; Nafziger 2000: 163–64; M anstein: 243; Salisbury: 538; Tessin, Vol. 7: 7–8; RA: 188; OB
42: 89; OB 43: 146; OB 45: 89.
133RD FORTRESS DIVISION
Composition: 212th Panzer Battalion, 733rd Grenadier Regiment, 746th Grenadier Regiment,
832nd Security Battalion, 833rd Security Battalion, 619th Artillery Regiment, Engineer Battalion
Kreta (Crete), 133rd Signal Battalion, 133rd Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Zittau, Wehrkreis IV
This division was formed on the island of Crete in the eastern Mediterranean in the winter of
1943–44 when Fortress Brigade Crete was upgraded. The grenadier regiments of the 133rd had
previously been part of the 713rd (Static) Infantry Division, which included men from the older age
groups. In the spring of 1944, the 733rd Grenadier Regiment was evacuated to the mainland and
incorporated into the 41st Infantry Division. In late December 1944 or January 1945, the division was
dissolved as such and redesignated 133rd Fortress Area. The elements of the division still on Crete
—which included the 832nd and 833rd Security Battalions, Artillery Regiment Crete and Engineer
Battalion Crete—surrendered to the British at the end of the war.
Commanders of the 133rd Fortress Division/133rd Fortress Area included Colonel Christian
Wittstatt (February 1, 1944), Major General/Lieutenant General Dr. Ernst Klepp (March 15, 1944),
and Lieutenant General Georg Benthack (October 9, 1944–June 1945).
Notes and S ources: Kleep was promoted to lieutenant general on April 1, 1944.
Keilig: 28, 172; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume III: 1882; Kursietis: 140; Lexikon; Tessin, Vol. 7: 12–13; OB 45: 179–80.
134TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 439th Infantry Regiment, 445th Infantry Regiment, 134th Artillery Regiment, 134th
Reconnaissance Battalion, 134th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 134th Engineer Battalion, 134th Signal
Battalion, 134th Field Replacement Battalion, 134th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Zittau, Wehrkreis IV
This division was formed in the Grafenwöhr Troop Maneuver Area on October 15, 1940. A third
of the division was transferred to it from the 252nd Infantry Division and another third came from the
255th Infantry Division. It also received the horse-drawn elements of the 10th Motorized (formerly
Infantry) Division. The new division finished its training in March 1941, was sent to the East, and
was more or less continuously engaged on the central sector of the Russian Front from June 1941 until
it was destroyed in July 1944. It fought at Bialystok, Bobruisk, Kiev, and Bryansk, and was with the
2nd Army in the battles around Orel (south of Moscow). It suffered heavy casualties when it was
overrun near Livny in December 1941. The division lost much of its artillery when the Russians
broke into the rear of the 2nd Army, and on December 12, General Halder, the chief of the Army
General Staff, reported it unfit for combat because of a lack of supplies. It nevertheless remained in
the line and fought in the Orel sector until the spring of 1943. In March 1944, it absorbed what was
left of the 390th Field Training Division. It took part in the defensive battles around Gomel and
Bryansk in the summer and autumn of 1943. It was on the front line in June 1944, when the Soviet
summer offensive smashed Army Group Center. The 134th was encircled near Bobruisk and was
destroyed there, along with much of the 9th Army, on June 29, 1944. Lieutenant General Ernst
Philipp, the last division commander, committed suicide rather than surrender to the Russians.
A happy (and possibly inebriated) member of the Afrika Korps takes a drink, 1941. The tropical helmets were soon discarded in favor of
the soft service cap.
HITM ARCHIVE
Commanders of the 134th Infantry Division included Lieutenant General Conrad von Cochenhausen
(October 5, 1940), Colonel Hans Schlemmer (December 13, 1941), Colonel Rudolf Bader (February
1943), Schlemmer (July 1943), Colonel Rudolf Bader (February 1944), and Philipp (June 1, 1944).
S ources: General von Cochenhausen committed suicide on December 13, 1941. Schlemmer was promoted to major general on February 10, 1942, and to lieutenant
general January 1, 1943.
Carell 1966: 344; Carell 1971: 597; Halder, Kriegstagebuch, Volume III: 340; Hartmann: 22; Werner Haupt, Geschichte der 134. Infanterie-Division (1971); Keilig: 17,
61; Kursietis: 140; Nafziger 2000: 165–66; Lexikon; Seaton: 224; Tessin, Vol. 7: 16–17; OB 43: 147; OB 44: 205; OB 45: 180.
SPECIAL EMPLOYMENT DIVISION STAFF 136
Composition: I and II Battalions, directly under Staff, 136th Infantry Division
Home Station: Paris (?), France
This unit was created in France on April 25, 1944, from the staff of Ostruppen 721. It was a
special field administrative staff with responsibility for helping control and support eight companies
of German troops with stomach problems. The 136th was sent to the Antwerp area in late May, where
it was given the task of defending a sector of the Belgian coast with two battalions of troops—each
with two companies each. All the infantrymen were limited duty soldiers suffering from stomach
ailments. In September 1944, it retreated into Holland, where it was taken out of the line and
disbanded on October 30, 1944.
The commander of Special Employment Division 136 for most of its existence was Major General
Count Christoph zu Stolberg-Stolberg (April 25, 1944–September 4, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Count zu Stolberg-Stolberg also served as commandant of Antwerp. He was captured by the British on September 4, 1944.
Keilig: 335; Nafziger 2000: 165; Tessin, Vol. 7: 23; OB 45: 180.
137TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 447th Infantry Regiment, 448th Infantry Regiment, 449th Infantry Regiment, 137th
Artillery Regiment, 137th Reconnaissance Battalion, 137th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 137th Engineer
Battalion, 137th Signal Battalion, 137th Field Replacement Battalion, 137th Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Krumau, Wehrkreis XVII
Created in Troop Maneuver Area Doellersheim on October 10, 1940, this division was formed
around regimental-sized cadre units provided by the 44th and 262nd Infantry Divisions. The 18th
Infantry Division also sent smaller elements. The new division completed its unit training in March
1941, and was sent to Poland in April. It crossed into Russia with Army Group Center in June 1941
and remained with that army group throughout its existence. It fought in the battles of the Bialystok,
Smolensk, and the Yelnya Bend, in the final drive on Moscow, and against the 1941–42 Russian
winter offensive, where it suffered such heavy casualties that its 449th Infantry Regiment had to be
disbanded. Later it fought at Juchnow (1942), Spass-Demensk (1942), Kursk (1943), and the battles
of the central Dnieper. Badly understrength after over two years of almost continuous action, during
which five of its original nine infantry battalions had suffered such heavy losses that they had to be
disbanded, the 137th was withdrawn from combat in late 1943, and was downgraded to
Divisiongruppe 137 on November 2. The staff of the division became Staff, 271st Infantry Division.
Division Group 137 was assigned to Corps Detachment E and remained on the Eastern Front until
December 16, 1943, when it was disbanded.
The commanders of the 137th Infantry Division/Corps Detachment E included Lieutenant General
Friedrich Bergmann (October 8, 1940), Colonel Siegfried Heine (December 21, 1941), Colonel Kurt
Muhl (December 28, 1941), Major General/Lieutenant General Hans Kamecke (January 5, 1942),
Heine (February 2, 1942), Colonel Dr. Kurt Rüdiger (February 12, 1942), Colonel Paul Mahlmann
(February 25, 1942), Kamecke (June 1, 1942), and Major General Egon von Neindorff (October 20,
1943).
S ources: General Bergmann was killed in action on December 21, 1941. Colonel Heine was apparently wounded in action on December 30, 1941. General Kamecke
was either wounded or fell ill on February 2, 1942. Kamecke was promoted to lieutenant general on January 1, 1943, and was killed in action at Kolpen on October 15,
1943. The senior regimental commander commanded the division from October 15 to October 20, 1943, when General von Neindorff arrived. He commanded Corps
Detachment E until it was disbanded.
Carell 1966: 92, 196; Kursielis: 140; Lexikon; Wilhelm M eyer-Detring, Die 137. Infanterie-Division im Mittelabschnitt der Ostfront (1962); Nafziger 2000: 166–67;
Tessin, Vol. 7: 26–27; RA: 220; OB 42: 89; OB 43: 147; OB 45: 181.
DIVISION NUMBER 140 Z.B.V.
Composition: 139th Mountain Jäger Regiment, 3rd Jäger Battalion, 931st Artillery Regiment Staff
z.b.V. (with the 124th Mountain Artillery Battalion and the 424th Light Assault Gun Battalion),
divisional engineer and signal companies
Home Station: see below
The 140th was a z.b.V. (“for special purposes”) division created on September 7, 1944, to control
miscellaneous units during the German retreat from northern Finland. After the 20th Mountain Army’s
successful withdrawal, the division was stationed in the Narvik vicinity of northern Norway until the
last week of the war. It was absorbed into the 9th Mountain Division on May 5, 1945 and became
Division Group 140.
Colonel/Major General Mathias Kräutler commanded the 140th throughout its existence.
Notes and S ources: Kräutler formed Division Group Kräutler on M arch 1, 1944. This was the forerunner of Division Staff 140 z.b.V. Kräutler was promoted to
major general on October 1, 1944.
Keilig: 183; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume IV: 1889, 1899; Nafziger 2000: 168; Tessin, Vol. 7: 39.
141ST RESERVE DIVISION
Composition (1944): 1st Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 61st Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 206th
Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 11th Reserve Artillery Battalion, 1st Reserve Engineer Battalion
Home Station: Insterburg, Wehrkreis I
Created from the I Replacement Troop Command on December 8, 1939 as the 141st Replacement
Division (Division Nr. 141), this East Prussian unit had the mission of training recruits for Wehrkreis
I and providing replacements for the military district’s affiliated infantry divisions. It was also known
(in English) as the 141st Mobilization Division. Initially, it included the 1st, 21st, 206th, and 491st
Replacement Infantry Regiments, the 1st Replacement Artillery Regiment, the 1st Replacement
Cavalry Regiment, the 1st Replacement Engineer Battalion, the 1st Replacement Signal Battalion, and
the 1st Replacement Driver Battalion. In September 1940, it was transferred to Prague with its
subordinate units but returned to Germany in July 1941. In September 1942, it was redesignated a
reserve division, gave up its replacement units, and was sent to Minsk in White Russia. It conducted
training and anti-partisan operations from 1942 to 1944. The 141st Reserve was dissolved on
February 19, 1944 and its men were used to construct the 24th Wave (shadow) divisions. Its 1st
Reserve Grenadier Regiment was redesignated 506th Grenadier Regiment and became part of the
291st Infantry Division.
Commanders of the 141st Division were Major General/Lieutenant General Ulrich von Waldow
(December 8, 1939), Lieutenant General Heinz Hellmich (April 1, 1942), and Major
General/Lieutenant General Otto Schoenherr (December 10, 1942).
Notes and S ources: Insterburg, East Prussia, is now Cherniakhovsk, Russia. The I Replacement Training Command was formed on August 26, 1939. Waldow was
promoted to lieutenant general on February 1, 1941. Schoenherr was promoted to lieutenant general on September 1, 1943.
Nafziger 2000: 549; Tessin, Vol. 7: 43–44; RA: 5, 20, 22; OB 45: 181.
143RD REPLACEMENT (LATER RESERVE) DIVISION
Composition (1944): 68th Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 76th Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 208th
Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 68th Reserve Engineer Battalion, 257th Reserve Artillery Battalion.
Home Station: Frankfurt-on-the-Oder (later Crossen), Wehrkreis III
Established on November 28, 1939, shortly after the invasion of Poland, the 143rd was born as a
replacement division (Division Nr. 143) under Wehrkreis III. It initially controlled the 3rd, 68th,
208th and 257th Replacement Regiments, the 3rd Artillery Replacement Regiment (five battalions),
the 9th Cavalry Replacement Battalion, the 43rd Tank Destroyer Replacement Battalion, the 68th
Engineer Replacement Battalion, the 1st Railroad Engineer Replacement Battalion, the 3rd Driver
Replacement Battalion, the 23rd Motorcycle Replacement Battalion, and the 3rd Railroad
Construction Battalion. In August 1942, it was reorganized as a reserve division and was sent to the
Luck area in northwestern Ukraine, along with its training units. Its subordinate replacement units
reverted back to Wehrkreis control. Redesignated 143rd Reserve Division on September 18, 1942, it
now consisted of the 68th Reserve Grenadier Regiment (three battalions) at Brest-Litovsk; the 76th
Reserve Grenadier Regiment (four battalions) at Luzk; the 208th Reserve Grenadier Regiment (three
battalions) at Kovel; the 257th Reserve Artillery Battalion at Bereza-Kartuska; and the 68th Reserve
Engineer Battalion at Plozk. In April 1943, the 143rd was reported as being in Poland and in the
Ukraine by July 1943. Meanwhile, the 394th Field Training Division was established on October 23,
1943, and it assumed the mission of the 143rd and 147th Reserve Divisions. The Staff, 143rd
Reserve Division was officially dissolved at Zuellichau on February 18, 1944. Its units were
transferred to various commands in Army Group North Ukraine.
Its commanders were General of Flak Artillery Karl von Roques (December 1, 1939) and Major
General/Lieutenant General Paul Stoewer (May 14, 1940–end).
Notes and S ources: Karl von Roques retired from the army as major general (with an honorary promotion to lieutenant general) in early 1933. He joined the
Luftwaffe in 1936 and retired as an honorary general of flak artillery on July 1, 1939. He returned to active duty in the army on December 1, 1939. Stoewer was
promoted to lieutenant general on February 1, 1942.
Keilig: 282, 335; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume III: 736, 1161; Tessin, Vol. 7: 43–44; RA: 5; OB 43: 147; OB 45: 181.
147TH REPLACEMENT (LATER RESERVE) DIVISION
Composition (1943): 212th Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 268th Reserve Grenadier Regiment,
27th Reserve Artillery Battalion, 27th Reserve Engineer Battalion
Home Station: Augsburg, Wehrkreis VII
The 147th was activated as a replacement division in the Bavaria-Palatinate-Swabia region of
southern Germany on April 1, 1940. It continued to furnish trained replacements for the VII Military
District’s associated infantry divisions until October 1942, when it merged with the 407th
Replacement Division to form the 147th Reserve. It was sent to the Ukraine and operated in the
Zwiahel, Kiev, and Korosten sectors. Early in 1944 it was committed to battle in Russia, where it
was quickly destroyed, largely because its men were only partially trained. Its survivors were
transferred to the 394th Field Training Division, the 363rd Infantry Division and other units.
Its commanders included Major General/Lieutenant General Karl Held (March 1, 1940),
Lieutenant General Rudolf Sintzenich (April 1, 1942), Colonel/Major General Paul Mahlmann
(December 25, 1942), Major General Paul Hoffmann (August 1, 1943), and Lieutenant General Otto
Matterstock (September 17, 1943).
Notes and S ources: General Held was a “retread,” having first retired in 1931. He was recalled to active duty to command the 147th and promoted to lieutenant
general on February 1, 1941. M ahlmann was promoted to major general on January 1, 1943.
Keilig: 134, 146, 218; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume III: 736, 1161; Nafziger 2000: 550; Tessin, Vol. 7: 61; RA: 116, 118; OB 43: 148; OB 45: 182.
148TH INFANTRY (FORMERLY RESERVE) DIVISION
Composition (1944): 281st Grenadier Regiment, 285th Grenadier Regiment, 286th Grenadier
Regiment, 1048th Artillery Regiment, 148th Fusilier Battalion, 1048th Tank Destroyer Battalion
(with only one tank destroyer company), 1048th Engineer Battalion, 1048th Signal Battalion, 1048th
Fla Company, 1048th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Gleiwitz, Wehrkreis VIII
Formed on December 1, 1939 as a replacement division to control replacement-training units in
Silesia, this division was transferred to Metz in the Lorraine region of France in early 1941 along
with its subordinate units. On October 1, 1942, the 148th became a reserve division and was
reorganized to include the 8th and 239th Reserve Grenadier Regiments, the 8th Reserve Artillery
Regiment (two battalions), the 8th Reserve Engineer Battalion, the 1048th Reserve Tank Destroyer
Company, the 1048th Bicycle Squadron, and the 8th Reserve Signal Battalion. All these units had
been transferred elsewhere or redesignated by late 1944. Meanwhile, the 148th took part in the
occupation of Vichy France in November 1942, garrisoned the Toulouse area on the Mediterranean
coast in late 1942, and guarded the Franco-Italian frontier later that year.
Subordinate to Army Group G in August 1944, it was upgraded to full combat status as an infantry
divsion on September 18, 1944. The 148th first saw action against the American invasion of southern
France as a part of the 19th Army. It was in action from the first day of the campaign but with little
success. Later that month it was sent to the Esterel massif and was positioned to prevent the
Americans from penetrating through the French Alps and taking Kesselring’s armies in Italy in the
rear. Later it formed part of Army Group C and guarded the Alpine passes. Never considered a firstclass division, the 148th was nevertheless sent to the front in early 1945. It was fighting on the
Tyrrhenian coast in early 1945 and then took part in the Po River Valley campaign. It was still in
northern Italy when Army Group C collapsed. The 148th surrendered to the Americans on April 28,
1945.
The division’s commanders included Major General Konrad Stephanus (December 1, 1939),
Lieutenant General Hermann Boettcher (February 7, 1940), Lieutenant General Hubert Gercke
(February 10, 1942), Boettcher (April 2, 1942), Lieutenant General Friedrich-Wilhelm von Rothkirch
und Panthen (April 1, 1943), Major General/Lieutenant General Otto Fretter-Pico (September 25,
1943), and Lieutenant General Otto Schoenherr (March 20, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Fretter-Pico was promoted to lieutenant general on October 9, 1944.
Chant, Volume 14: 1914–21, 1928; Fisher: 303, 406; Harrison: M ap VI; Keilig: 42, 95, 104, 142, 310; Kursietis: 142; M ehner, Vol. 12: 453; Tessin, Vol. 7: 147–49;
RA: 5, 132; OB 42:21; OB 43: 148; OB 44b: D119; OB 45: 182.
149TH FIELD TRAINING DIVISION
Composition: 1301st Grenadier Field Training Regiment, 1302nd Grenadier Field Training
Regiment, 1303rd Grenadier Field Training Regiment, 1449th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Wehrkreis VI
This unit was established by OB West in the Netherlands on March 12, 1945. Greatly
understrength, it had only one fully formed regimental staff, three infantry battalions and an artillery
regiment on March 21. It was nevertheless assigned to LXXXVIII Corps (25th Army) in April and
defended a sector of the front until the Third Reich surrendered. Its commander throughout its brief
existence was Lieutenant General Fritz Kuehlwein.
S ources: Keilig: 191; M ehner, Vol. 12: 453; Tessin, Vol. 7: 70
150TH FIELD TRAINING DIVISION
Composition: 1304th Grenadier Field Training Regiment, 1305th Grenadier Field Training
Regiment, 1306th Grenadier Field Training Regiment, 1450th Artillery Field Training Regiment,
1450th Engineer Field Training Battalion, 1450th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Wehrkreis VI
Like its sister division, the 149th, this unit was activated on March 12, 1945. Nine days later, it
had a strength of three grenadier battalions and an engineer battalion. OB West sent it six battalions of
infantry in April, but the 150th apparently never received any artillery. It was still in OB West’s
reserve when the war ended. Lieutenant General Wolfgang Lange commanded the division at the end
of the war.
S ources: Keilig: 197; M ehner, Vol. 12: 453; Tessin, Vol. 7: 73.
151ST FIELD TRAINING DIVISION
Composition: 1307th Grenadier Field Training Regiment, 1308th Grenadier Field Training
Regiment, 1309th Grenadier Field Training Regiment, 1451st Artillery Field Training Regiment,
1451st Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Wehrkreis XII (?)
OB West began organizing this division in April 1945. The process had barely begun, however,
when Berlin fell and the war ended. Major General Julius Coretti was the division’s only
commander.
S ources: Keilig: 61; M ehner, Vol. 12: 453; Tessin, Vol. 7: 77.
151ST RESERVE DIVISION
Composition (1939): 11th Infantry Replacement Regiment, 21st Infantry Replacement Regiment,
61st Infantry Replacement Regiment, 228th Infantry Replacement Regiment, 11th Artillery
Replacement Regiment, 206th Engineer Replacement Battalion, 311th Engineer Replacement
Battalion, 1st Tank Destroyer Replacement Battalion, 1st Driver Replacement Battalion, 1st
Motorcycle Replacement Battalion
Home Station: Allenstein, Wehrkreis I
Formed at Allenstein on December 1, 1939, as the 151st Replacement Division, this unit was
responsible for controlling replacement-training units in East Prussia. From September 1940 to July
1941, it was stationed in the Protectorate (and headquartered at Budweis, Bohemia) and later in the
Prague area. Returning to East Prussia for a year, it was upgraded to a reserve division on September
25, 1942, and was sent to Vilna, Lithuania. On February 2, 1944, it was disbanded and its men were
sent to Troop Maneuver Area Mielau, where they were used to form Shadow Division Mielau.
Its commanders were Colonel/Major General Leopold von Reibnitz (October 15, 1939),
Lieutenant General Helmuth Castorf (April 1, 1942), and Lieutenant General Wolf Schede (July 1,
1942).
Notes and S ources: Allenstein is now Olsztyn, Poland. Reibnitz was promoted to major general on April 1, 1942.
Keilig: 270; Kursietis: 142; Tessin, Vol. 7: 77; RA: 5, 20, 22; OB 43: 148; OB 44b: D 119; OB 45: 183.
152ND FIELD TRAINING DIVISION
Composition: 1310th Grenadier Field Training Regiment, 1311th Grenadier Field Training
Regiment, 1312th Grenadier Field Training Regiment, 1452nd Artillery Field Training Regiment,
1452nd Tank Destroyer Replacement and Training Battalion, 1452nd Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Wehrkreis V
The 152nd Field Training Division was activated on March 12, 1945 in the Upper Rhine region, in
the rear of OB West. By March 21, it had two grenadier battalions, the 56th Jäger Replacement and
Training Battalion, and a tank destroyer battalion. Two days later, the order was issued disbanding
the division. It had been in existence less than two weeks.
S ources: Lexikon; Nafziger 2000: 552; Tessin, Vol. 7: 81.
152ND REPLACEMENT DIVISION
Composition: 75th Grenadier Training Regiment, 207th Grenadier Training Regiment, and other
miscellaneous training units
Home Station: Deutsch-Krone, Wkr.II
Created in Stettin upon mobilization (August 26, 1939), this unit was originally designated II
Replacement Troop Command. It became the 152nd Replacement Division on November 9. The
152nd supervised replacement-training units in Wehrkreis II (Pomerania and Mecklenburg). Initially,
it was very large, controlling six infantry replacement training regiments (one of them motorized), two
artillery replacement-training regiments, and assorted smaller units. Half of the division, however,
was used to form the 192nd Replacement Division. After June 10, 1940, it controlled only the 2nd
Motorized Infantry Replacement Regiment at Stettin (5th, 25th and 92nd Battalions); the 332nd
Infantry Replacement Regiment at Kolbenz (4th, 94th and 374th Battalions); the 2nd Artillery
Replacement Regiment at Stettin (four artillery replacement battalions plus the 2nd Forward
Observer Replacement Battalion); the 5th Cavalry Replacement Battalion; the 2nd Tank Destroyer
Replacement Battalion; the 2nd Engineer Replacement Battalion; and the 2nd Motorcycle
Replacement Battalion.
In late 1941, the division was transferred to Graudenz, Wehrkreis XX (formerly Poland), and
remained there until late 1944. In the latter part of 1942, it lost its replacement units and gained the
training elements of the 192nd Mobilization Division (Replacement Division Staff 192). The 152nd
became, in fact, a field training division, although it never officially received this designation. The
division was organized as a battle group on January 6, 1945, and included the 75th Grenadier
Training Regiment, the 478th Grenadier Training Battalion, the 32nd Artillery Training Battalion, and
the 12th Engineer Training Battalion. It fought in Poland and eastern Germany and, in April 1945, was
absorbed by the 83rd Infantry Division.
German soldiers get a haircut in the field. This photo was probably taken in Poland after the surrender of Warsaw, 1939.
The 152nd’s divisional commanders included Major General Hermann Franke (August 26, 1939),
Major General/Lieutenant General Hans Windeck (December 1, 1939), and Lieutenant General Karl
Guembel (March 1, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Deutsch-Krone is now Walcz, Poland. Windeck was promoted to lieutenant general on April 1, 1942.
Nafziger 2000: 552; Tessin, Vol. 7: 81; RA: 32, 34; OB 43: 148; OB 45: 183.
153RD FIELD TRAINING (LATER GRENADIER) DIVISION
Composition (1945): 715th Grenadier Regiment, 716th Grenadier Regiment, 717th Grenadier
Regiment, 453rd Artillery Regiment, 153rd Fusilier Battalion, 153rd Engineer Battalion, 153rd
Support (Versorgung) Regiment
Home Station: Potsdam, later Berlin-Spandau, Wehrkreis III
The 153rd began as a replacement division, which was activated upon mobilization on August 26,
1939, and was upgraded to reserve division status on September 11, 1942. It remained in the III
Military District during this entire period. Sent to the Crimea in late 1942, it controlled the 23rd,
76th, and 257th Reserve Grenadier Regiments until the following spring, when it was converted into
a field training unit. As such, it was no longer part of the Replacement Army, but came under the
direct control of Army Group A and later Army Group South. In early 1944, as the Soviets neared the
Crimea, the 153rd Field Training was evacuated to the lower Dnieper and became involved in
combat southwest of Odessa. It remained on the line, fighting as an infantry division, and in
September was routed near Bucharest, Romania, suffering heavy casualties in the process.
Later the 153rd fought in Hungary and on December 14 was reorganized into the composition
shown above. Its artillery regiment, however, had only one battalion. Later that month, the 153rd
Grenadier was trapped, along with the 1st and 23rd Panzer Divisions, between the Danube and Lake
Balaton. The 153rd held the town of Szekesfehervar for several days but was finally overrun on
December 24, 1944. Remnants of the division escaped to form a battle group of approximately
regimental strength. It was redesignated 153rd Grenadier Division in February 1945, and was still
resisting as a part of the 1st Panzer Army (in the Deutsch-Brod Pocket and surrounded by the Red
Army) when the war ended.
Commanders of the 153rd included Lieutenant General Curt Schönheinz (August 26, 1939),
Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Otto Schröder (December 1, 1939), Lieutenant General
Diether von Boehm-Bezing (June 1, 1942), Lieutenant General Rene de l’Homme de Courbiere
(January 15, 1943), Major General Kurt Gerok (June 8, 1943), Lieutenant General Friedrich Bayer
(June 15, 1944), Major General Hermann Winkler (September 11, 1944), and Lieutenant General
Karl Edelmann (April 10, 1945).
Notes and S ources: Schröder was promoted to major general on September 1, 1940, and to lieutenant general on December 1, 1941. Bayer was captured on the
Eastern Front on September 11, 1944, and died in a Soviet prison in 1953. Winkler was named commander of the division the day Bayer was captured but apparently
did not assumed command until October. Edelmann escaped the Deutsch-Brod Pocket and surrendered to the Americans.
Chant, Volume 15: 2057; Keilig: 23, 78, 372; Kursietis: 143; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1146; Volume II: 1392; Volume III: 3, 731; Nafziger 2000: 168, 554;
Tessin, Vol. 7: 85–87; RA: 5, 46, 72–74; OB 43: 148; OB 45: 183–84.
154TH RESERVE (LATER INFANTRY) DIVISION
Composition (1943): 56th Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 223rd Reserve Grenadier Regiment,
255th Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 24th Reserve Artillery Battalion, 24th Reserve Engineer
Battalion
Home Station: Dresden, Wehrkreis IV
This unit was originally formed in Potsdam on August 26, 1939, as the III Replacement Troop
Command. Reorganized as Replacement Division 154 (Division Nr. 154) on November 10, 1939,
this unit consisted of Saxon and Sudeten Germans. Initially, it included the 4th, 223rd, 255th, and
256th Infantry Regiments, the 4th Replacement Artillery Regiment, the 4th Replacement Forward
Observer Battalion, the 10th Replacement Reconnaissance Battalion, the 1st Replacement Bridge
Engineer Battalion, the 24th Replacement Engineer Battalion, the 4th Replacement Transportation
Battalion, and the 4th Driver Replacement Battalion. Three years later (on September 15, 1942), it
was redesignated a reserve division and sent to the Lancut area of northern Poland, where it
continued to train soldiers for the IV Military District.
Elements of the 154th were in combat as early as March 1944, and, after the collapse of Army
Group Center in July and August 1944, the entire division was committed to battle on the central
sector of the Eastern Front. It fought in the Ukraine, White Russia, and southern Poland, where it was
withdrawn from the line in the fall of 1944 to reorganize. Redesignated the 154th Field Training
Division on October 1, 1944, it now included the 562nd, 563rd and 564th Grenadier Field Training
Regiments, the 1054th Field Training Artillery Battalion, and assorted divisional troops. It was
redesignated an infantry division in April 1945 and was in eastern Germany when the Soviets
launched their last offensive on April 16. The 154th Infantry Division was overrun near Oderberg the
next day and ceased to exist. Almost all of the men of the 154th were killed or ended up in Soviet
captivity.
Commanders of the 154th Division were Major General/Lieutenant General Arthur Boltze
(assumed command September 27, 1939), Major General Franz Landgraf (May 1, 1942), Major
General/Lieutenant General Dr. Friedrich Altricher, Ph.D. (May 31, 1942), Major General/Lieutenant
General Alfred Thielmann (April 20, 1944), and Altrichter again (December 19, 1944–end).
S ources: Boltze was promoted to lieutenant general on February 1, 1942; Altrichter became a lieutenant general on April 1, 1943; and Thielmann reached the same
rank on June 1, 1944. Altrichter was captured on or about April 17, 1945, and died in a Soviet prison in 1949.
Keilig: 78, 196; Kreigstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1146; Volume III: 1883; Lexikon; Nafziger 2000: 554; Tessin, Vol. 7: 85–87; RA: 5, 72–74; OB 43: 37; OB 45:
184.
155TH FIELD TRAINING (LATER INFANTRY) DIVISION
Composition (1944): 1227th Field Training Regiment, 1228th Field Training Regiment, 1229th
Field Training Regiment, 155th Artillery Field Training Battalion, 155th Fusilier Field Training
Battalion, 630th Signal Battalion, 155th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Wehrkreis VII
The 155th was formed in northern Italy on November 2, 1944, to train recruits and rear-area
personnel for Army Group C. Part of its cadre came from the 20th Luftwaffe Field Division, and the
630th Signal Battalion was the former 20th Luftwaffe Field Signal Battalion. In January 1945,
elements of the division were variously reported in the Belluno, Verona, and Treviso areas of Italy. It
carried on its training mission until February 1, 1945, when it was redesignated an infantry division.
It was in the process of reorganizing when the German southern front collapsed in April 1945. The
division fought in the Po River campaign and went into American captivity near Belluno at the end of
the war. This division should not be confused with the 155th Reserve Panzer Division, which is
covered in Volume Three.
Its commander throughout its existence was Major General Georg Zwade.
S ources: Keilig: 384; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1148; Volume IV: 1892, 1902; Lexikon; Tessin, Vol. 7: 92–93; OB 45: 185.
155TH REPLACEMENT DIVISION
Composition: 5th Replacement Infantry Regiment, 25th Replacement Infantry Regiment, 35th
Replacement Infantry Regiment, 25th Replacement Artillery Regiment, 18th Replacement Cavalry
Regiment, 5th Replacement Tank Destroyer Battalion, 35th Replacement Engineer Battalion, 5th
Replacement Forward Observer Battalion, 5th Driver Replacement Battalion
Home Station: Prague, later Stuttgart, Wehrkreis V
Originally formed in Prague on August 26, 1939, as the V Replacement Troop Command, this
Württemberger-Baden unit became the 155th Replacement Division on November 9, 1939, with the
composition shown above. It was posted to Ulm in September 1940, and to Stuttgart on August 23,
1941; by May 10, 1942, however, it was headquartered at Ludwigsburg, when it became the 155th
Motorized Replacement Division (Division [motorisiert] Nr. 155). On April 5, 1943, it became the
155th Panzer Replacement Division.
The commanders of the 155th Replacement/Motorized Replacement Division were Lieutenant
General Otto Tscherning (November 9, 1939), and Major General/Lieutenant General Franz Landgraf
(May 1, 1942).
See also 155th Reserve Panzer Division (Volume Three).
Notes and S ources: Tscherning was commander of V Replacement Troop Command. Landgraf was promoted to lieutenant general on September 1, 1942.
Keilig: 196, 350; Lexikon; M ehner, Vol. 4: 384; Tessin, Vol. 7: 92–94.
156TH FIELD TRAINING (LATER INFANTRY) DIVISION
Composition: 1313th Grenadier Field Training Regiment, 1314th Grenadier Field Training
Regiment, 1315th Grenadier Field Training Regiment, 1456th Artillery Regiment, 1456th Engineer
Battalion, 1456th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Wehrkreis III
This division was activated in the Berlin area on March 12, 1945, to support Army Group Vistula.
(Apparently this process had begun on February 22.) On April 15, 1945, the day before the Russians
began their final offensive, the division was upgraded to an infantry division and was sent to the front.
It was destroyed during the Battle of Berlin, although at least part of it succeeded in escaping to the
West. Its commander throughout its existence was Lieutenant General Siegfried von Rekowski.
S ources: Keilig: 273; Lexikon; M ehner, Vol. 12: 453; Tessin, Vol. 7: 99.
156TH RESERVE DIVISION
Composition (1943): 26th Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 227th Reserve Grenadier Regiment,
254th Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 26th Reserve Artillery Regiment, 1056th Bicycle Squadron,
1056th Tank Destroyer Company, 1056th Reserve Engineer Company, 1056th Reserve Signal
Company, 1056th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Cologne, Wehrkreis VI
Activated in Muenster on August 26, 1939 as VI Replacement Troop Command (Kommandeur,
Ersatztruppen VI), the 156th initially controlled replacement and training units in Westphalia
(Wehrkreis VI). It was redesignated Division Nr. 156 (the 156th Replacement Division) on
November 15. After a tour of occupation duty in northern Poland (November 1939 to September
1940), the division returned to the VI Military District, but was transferred to Spa, Belgium, in July
1941. It remained there until it was upgraded to a reserve division on October 5, 1942, and was
transferred to the English Channel. By February 1943, it was located at Calais, France. By late 1943,
the 156th was reportedly a full-fledged combat division, but its formal conversion to a static infantry
unit did not take place until February 1944, when it was redesignated 47th Infantry Division.
The 156th’s commanders included Major General/Lieutenant General Max Noack (August 26,
1939), Lieutenant General Richard Baltzer (August 15, 1942), Colonel/Major General Johannes
Nedtwing (July 8, 1943), Baltzer (returned August 15, 1943), and Lieutenant General Otto Elfeldt
(December 27, 1943).
See also 47th Infantry Division.
Notes and S ources: Noack was promoted to lieutenant general on December 1, 1941. Nedtwig was promoted to major general on August 1, 1943.
Keilig: 243; Nafziger 2000: 555–56; Tessin, Vol. 7: 97–98; RA: 6, 102, 104–5; OB 42: 21; OB 43: 30; OB 45: 185.
157TH RESERVE DIVISION
Composition (late 1942): 7th Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 157th Grenadier Regiment, 1st
Reserve Mountain Grenadier Regiment, 7th Reserve Artillery Regiment, 7th Reserve Engineer
Battalion, 1057th Reserve Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Munich, Wehrkreis VII
This division began its life as Kommandeur der Ersatztruppen VII in Munich on August 26, 1939.
It became the 157th Replacement Division on December 1, 1939, and the 157th Reserve Division on
October 1, 1942. Simultaneously, the newly formed 467th Replacement Division took over the 157th
Reserve’s duties in Bavaria. The 157th was sent to the Grenoble sector of the French Alps, where it
conducted training and anti-partisan operations. It was in combat against the Americans in August
1944 and was pushed into Italy by the U.S. Army. On October 1, 1944, it was upgraded to 157th
Mountain Division. Later it became the 8th Mountain Division, which fought in Italy until the end of
the war.
Commanders of the 157th Replacement/Reserve/8th Mountain Division included Lieutenant
General Karl Graf (assumed command August 26, 1939), Lieutenant General Hans Schönhärl
(December 27, 1941), Graf (January 20, 1942), Major General/Lieutenant General Karl Pflaum
(September 20, 1942), and Major General/Lieutenant General Paul Schricker (September 1, 1944).
See also 8th Mountain Division (Volume Two).
Notes and S ources: Pflaum was promoted to lieutenant general on October 1, 1943. Schricker was promoted to lieutenant general on M arch 16, 1945.
Keilig: 255, 312; Lexikon; Tessin, Vol. 7: 103–04.
158TH FIELD TRAINING DIVISION
Composition: 1316th Jäger Field Training Regiment, 1317th Grenadier Field Training Regiment,
1318th Grenadier Field Training Regiment, 1458th Artillery Regiment, 1458th Signal Battalion,
1458th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Wehrkreis VIII
This unit was formed by Army Group Center in March 1945 from the 528th Grenadier
Replacement and Training Regiment, the I/8th Landeschützen Training Battalion and the 8th Signal
Battalion. It was immediately sent into action in the Troppau sector as part of the 1st Panzer Army
and surrendered in Czechoslovakia at the end of the war (May 8, 1945). Its only commander was
Lieutenant General August Schmidt.
Notes and S ources: Schmidt was a POW until 1955. The War Diary of the High Command of the Armed Forces lists the 158th as an infantry division on April 30,
1945.
Keilig: 304; Lexikon; M ehner, Vol. 12: 453; Nafziger 2000: 558; Tessin, Vol. 7: 109–10.
158TH RESERVE DIVISION
Composition: 18th Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 213th Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 221st
Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 18th Reserve Artillery Regiment, 1058th Bicycle Squadron, 213th
Reserve Engineer Battalion, 1058th Reserve Tank Destroyer Company, 1058th Reserve Signal
Company, 1058th Reserve Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Liegnitz, Wehrkreis VIII
Formed as the VIII Replacement Troop Command on August 27, 1939, it became Division 158 on
November 10, 1939, and was upgraded to replacement division status on January 6, 1940. It directed
replacement and training forces in Silesia until November 1940, when it was transferred to Alsace.
On October 1, 1942, it was upgraded to a reserve division and its replacement elements returned to
Silesia and were placed under other divisions. Headquartered at Strasbourg when Eisenhower landed
in French North Africa in November 1942, the 158th took part in the occupation of Vichy (southern)
France and remained on the Bay of Biscay near La Rochelle on occupation duty for more than a year.
On August 5, 1944, the soldiers of the 158th Reserve were combined with the survivors of the
shattered 16th Luftwaffe Field Division to form the 16th Infantry Division and, as such, went into
action in central France.
The commanders of the 158th Replacement/Reserve Division were Major General/Lieutenant
General Wilhelm Russwurm (August 26, 1939), Major General/Lieutenant General Ernst Haeckel
(May 1, 1942), Colonel Edgar Arndt (May 9, 1943), and Haeckel (May 31, 1943–end).
See also 16th Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division (#2).
Notes and S ources: Russwurm was promoted to lieutenant general on September 1, 1940.
Keilig: 121, 289; Lexikon; Nafziger 2000: 557–58; Tessin, Vol. 7: 108–9; RA: 5, 132; OB 42: 20; OB 43: 149; OB 45: 186.
159TH INFANTRY (FORMERLY RESERVE) DIVISION
Composition (1944): 1209th Grenadier Regiment, 1210th Grenadier Regiment, 1211th Grenadier
Regiment, 1059th Artillery Regiment, 1059th Fusilier Battalion, 1059th Tank Destroyer Battalion,
1059th Engineer Battalion, 1059th Signal Battalion, 1059th Field Replacement Battalion, 1059th
Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: FrankfurtamMain, Wehrkreis IX
This division was originally formed as the IX Replacement Troop Command in Kassel on August
26, 1939. It was upgraded and redesignated 159th Replacement Division on November 9. It included
from units in Thuringia and neighboring districts. The division remained in Germany until autumn
1942, when the Home Army’s replacement and training functions were divided. Renamed the 159th
Reserve Division on October 1, 1942, it was sent west and took part in the occupation of Vichy
France in November 1942. At that time it included the 9th, 52nd, and 251st Reserve Grenadier
Regiments, the 9th Reserve Artillery Regiment, and the 15th Reserve Engineer Battalion.
In early 1944, the 159th was performing garrison duties in the Arcachon area, on the Bay of Biscay
coast, and was subsequently at Bordeaux, where it was stationed on D-Day. Moved into the interior
of France after the Allied landings, the division was in combat by September. Soon all training
functions ceased, the division was upgraded to full combat infantry status on October 9, and its
subordinate elements received their 1944 designations. Meanwhile, the 159th was heavily engaged in
the Belford Gap fighting (September 1944) and in the Mulhouse area of Alsace (November 1944–
January 1945). It held together well, despite heavy losses. In March 1945 it was part of the German
7th Army and was reported in “fairly presentable strength,” although it suffered heavy losses against
the American attacks in the Saar-Palatinate battles. It escaped to the east bank of the Rhine and late in
March 1945 was with the XII (Provisional) Corps in southern Germany. Although burned-out by
months of continuous action, it was still one of the strongest divisions in Army Group G at that time. It
was finally destroyed in the Alsace on April 20, 1945. Most of the survivors of the 159th were
rounded up by the Western Allies at the end of the war.
The division’s commanders included Lieutenant General Albert Fett (August 26, 1939), Major
General Friedrich-Karl von Wachter (January 22, 1942), Lieutenant General Karl Sachs (March 1,
1942), Lieutenant General Hermann Meyer-Rabingen (September 20, 1942), Major General Axel
Schmidt (June 20, 1944), Lieutenant General Albin Nake (September 8, 1944), Colonel of Reserves
Friedrich-Wilhelm Dernen (October 10, 1944), and Major General Heinrich Bürcky (November 15,
1944).
Notes and S ources: Axel Schmidt was killed in action near Basancon on September 8, 1944. General Bürcky was captured on April 20, 1945.
Harrison: M ap VI; Lexikon; M acDonald 1973: 248, 292; Tessin, Vol. 7: 114–15; RA: 6,144, 146; OB 43: 33; OB 45: 186.
160TH RESERVE DIVISION
Composition: 58th Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 225th Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 290th
Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 20th Reserve Artillery Regiment, 202nd Fusilier Battalion, 30th
Reserve Engineer Battalion, 280th Army Anti-Aircraft Replacement and Training Battalion, 1060th
Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Hamburg, Wehrkreis X
Originally activated on August 26, 1939, as X Replacement Troop Command, the 160th was
reorganized on November 8, 1939, as a replacement division by the X Military District (the
Schleswig-Holstein regions of north-central Germany) to control its replacement and training units. In
1940, it was sent to Denmark and remained there until the end of the war. Initially it was stationed in
Copenhagen but was sent to the Jutland peninsula region in early 1943. It became strictly a training
division in the latter part of 1942, when it gave up its replacement elements and absorbed the training
battalions of the 180th and 190th Replacement Divisions. It was redesignated 160th Reserve Division
on November 7, 1943. The 160th was variously reported at the Horsens and Henne areas in the
Jutland region of Denmark in 1944, and was one of the very few units in Hitler’s armed forces to
have a noncombat assignment in early 1945. It was redesignated 160th Infantry Division on March 9,
1945. It now included the 657th, 658th, and 659th Grenadier Regiments (two battalions each), the
1060th Artillery Regiment (two weak battalions), the 160th Fusilier Company and the 1060th
Engineer Battalion. The division, however, remained in Denmark until “Final Victory.”
Commanders of the 160th were: Major General/Lieutenant General Otto Schuenemann (August 26,
1939), Major General/Lieutenant General Baron Horst von Uckermann (May 1, 1942), Colonel Count
Christoph zu Stolberg-Stolberg (July 1, 1943), Uckermann (August 1, 1943), and Lieutenant General
Friedrich Hofmann (July 10, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Schuenenmann was promoted to lieutenant general on February 1, 1941. Uckermann was promoted to lieutenant general on September 1, 1944.
Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume IV: 1899; Lexikon; M ehner, Vol. 4: 384; Nafziger 2000: 159–60; Tessin, Vol. 7: 118–19; RA: 6, 160; OB 43: 34; OB 44b: D121;
OB 45: 187.
161ST INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition (late 1939): 336th Infantry Regiment, 364th Infantry Regiment, 371st Infantry
Regiment, 241st Artillery Regiment, 241st Reconnaissance Company, 241st Tank Destroyer
Battalion, 241st Engineer Battalion, 241st Signal Battalion, 241st Field Replacement Battalion, 241st
Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Allenstein, Wehrkreis I
This 7th Wave division was formed in Troop Maneuver Area Arys on December 1, 1939, from
replacement-training units in East Prussia. It initially included the 336th and 364th Infantry Regiments
(three battalions each) and the 241st Light Artillery Battalion. On December 28, it absorbed the 1st,
11th and 21st Field Replacement Battalions. It was in France in 1940, but remained in reserve and
was transferred back to East Prussia in July. It first saw action in the invasion of Russia in June 1941,
fighting at Bialystok, Smolensk, Vjasma, Klin, and Rzhev, and suffered heavy casualties against the
Russian winter offensive before Moscow. It remained in the Rzhev salient until October 1942, before
being withdrawn to northern France to rest and refit in the winter of 1942–43.
Returning to action on the southern zone of the Eastern Front after the fall of Stalingrad, it fought at
Kharkov (1943) and again sustained heavy losses at Dnepropetrovsk in the autumn of 1943, where it
was reduced to battle group strength. It nevertheless took part in the withdrawal from the lower
Dnieper Bend. On November 10, 1943, the Staff of the 161st Infantry Division became Staff, Corps
Detachment A and assumed control of the remnants of the 161st, 293rd, and 355th Infantry Divisions
(which were now designated division groups). Corps Detachment A was redesignated 161st Infantry
Division on July 27, 1944. The new division included the 50th, 371st, and 866th Grenadier
Regiments (two battalions each), the 241st Artillery Regiment, and the 241st Fusilier Battalion. The
other divisional units bore the number 161. All of these units were destroyed in the vicinity of Jassy,
Romania, in August and September 1944.
Commanders of the 161st included Colonel/Major General Hermann Wilck (December 1, 1939),
Major General/Lieutenant General Heinrich Recke (September 17, 1941), Colonel Otto Schell
(August 15, 1942), Major General Karl Albrecht von Groddeck (August 22, 1942), and
Colonel/Major General Paul Dreckmann (August 28, 1943).
Notes and S ources: The division’s reconnaissance and tank destroyer battalions were merged to form the 161st Schnelle Battalion in 1942 or 1943. Wilck was
promoted to major general on July 1, 1940. Recke was promoted to lieutenant general on June 1, 1942. He was reported as missing in action on the Eastern Front on
August 15, 1942. General von Groddeck was wounded in action on August 28, 1943. M edically evacuated back to Breslau, he died of his wounds on January 10, 1944.
Dreckmann assumed command of Corps Detachment A when the 161st was downgraded.
A battle-hardened German officer, 1942. He wears the Wounded Badge in Silver, indicating that he has already been wounded in action
three or four times. This lieutenant is serving as a forward observer during the drive to the Volga and Stalingrad.
Carell 1966: 196; Lexikon; Nafziger 2000: 170; Tessin, Vol. 7: 124–25; RA: 20; OB 43: 149; OB 44: 206; OB 45: 187.
162ND INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 303rd Infantry Regiment, 314th Infantry Regiment, 329th Infantry Regiment, 236th
Artillery Regiment, 236th Reconnaissance Battalion, 236th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 236th Engineer
Battalion, 236th Signal Battalion, 236th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Rostock, Wehrkreis II
This unit was originally formed in the Gross-Born Troop Maneuver Area by grouping a number of
Pomeranian and Mecklenburger replacement-training units under the newly formed divisional
headquarters on December 1, 1939. It absorbed the 12th, 32nd and 24th Field Replacement Battalions
on January 10, 1940. It was sent to Darmstadt in western Germany in May 1940, and was in France in
June 1940, but was only lightly engaged. It was sent to East Prussia in July. The 162nd took part in
the first campaigns in Russia and was continuously engaged from June 1941 until the first winter
offensive was checked in early 1942, fighting at Bialystok, Smolensk, Vjasma, and Rzhev, among
other battles. The 162nd suffered serious losses at Kalinin (near Moscow) in December 1941, and
continued to serve on the central sector of the Eastern Front until the spring of 1942.
At this point, the 162nd Infantry Division was taken out of the line and partially disbanded. Most of
its survivors were transferred to the 129th Infantry Division. The divisional staff, however, was sent
to Stettin, where it was placed in charge of volunteers from the former Soviet Union. Its commander
at this time was Major General Professor Doctor Oscar Ritter von Niedermayer, a well-known
specialist in foreign affairs. Perhaps for this reason the 162nd was selected to train Ost (Eastern)
battalions, which were established by the order of the High Command in late 1941. These troops—
including people from Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazak, Turkestan, Iran, Afghanistan, and others
—all volunteered to fight in German service against communism. After they left the 162nd, these
battalions (collectively called “Turks”) were sent to other active divisions. The 162nd was reformed
as a combat unit on May 21, 1943, when it was designated the 162nd (turkestan) Infantry Division. It
initially set up training operations in Poland in August 1943, but was soon was transferred to
Slovenia, where it simultaneously conducted training and anti-partisan operations along the
Ljubljana-Trieste railroad.
Early in 1944, the division was transferred to Army Detachment von Zangen in northern Italy and
was given the mission of guarding the Ligurian coast. By this time most of its personnel were nonGermans, and its veterans of the Russian Front had been transferred to other units. In June 1944, it
was briefly committed to action on the Italian Front but was withdrawn due to its poor performance.
It was again sent into action in October and was withdrawn again for the same reason. The division
spent the rest of the war fighting partisans in the mountains northeast of La Spezia and later in the
Tavo Valley, Italy. The 162nd surrendered to the British in 1945. Many of its personnel were turned
over to the Russians after the war and disappeared.
The 162nd Infantry’s commanders included Major General/Lieutenant General Hermann Franke
(December 1, 1939), von Niedermayer (May 13, 1942), and Major General/Lieutenant General Ralph
von Heygendorff (May 21, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Hermann Frank was promoted to lieutenant general on April 1, 1941. Heygendorff was promoted to lieutenant general on January 20, 1945. Dr.
von Niedermayer was handed over to the Soviets, who murdered him in 1945.
Carell 1966: 196, 357; Fisher: 19, 233; Hartmann: 22–23; RA: 32; OB 42: 90; Keilig: 242; Nafziger 2000: 173–75; Tessin, Vol. 7: 130–31; OB 43: 149–50; OB 44: 207;
OB 45: 188.
163RD INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 307th Infantry Regiment, 310th Infantry Regiment, 324th Infantry Regiment, 234th
Artillery Regiment, 234th Reconnaissance Battalion, 234th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 234th Engineer
Battalion, 234th Signal Battalion, 234th Field Replacement Battalion, 234th Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Frankfurt/Oder; 1942: Berlin-Spandau, Wehrkreis III
Formed in Troop Maneuver Areas Doeberitz and Jueterbog from Brandenburgers and Prussians on
November 18, 1939, the 163rd absorbed the 3rd, 23rd, and 5th Field Replacement Battalions on
January 1, 1940. It was sent to Norway three months later and suffered heavy casualties in the initial
attempt to take the Norwegian capital. Most of the divisional staff and many of its men were killed
when Norwegian coastal batteries sank the heavy cruiser Blücher south of Oslo. The division spent
the next year on garrison duty in Norway and joined Mountain Corps Norway for the invasion of
Russia in June 1941. Because of German diplomatic pressure, the Swedish government allowed the
163rd to go to Finland by way of Stockholm, thus causing an international incident. The 163rd fought
in northern Russia and Finland for the next three years and, in the winter of 1944–45, withdrew to
northern Norway after destroying the Kolosyoki Nickel Works. After the Lapland retreat, the division
was sent back across the Baltic and defended Kolberg, where it put up a desperate resistance. When
the Russians finally stormed the city in March the 163rd was virtually annihilated on March 8, 1945.
Elements of the division, however, did escape to Stargard; they were sent to the rear, where they
were used as the cadres around which the 3rd Marine Division was formed. The division itself was
officially disbanded on April 1, 1945.
The division’s commanders included Major General/Lieutenant Generals Erwin Engelbrecht
(October 1, 1939), Colonel Werner Wachsmuth (January 5, 1942), Major General Anton Dostler
(June 15, 1942), and Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Karl Rübel (December 29, 1942).
Notes and S ources: Initially this division was not up to Finnish standards but adapted to fighting in the thick, depressing forests. Engelbrecht was promoted to
lieutenant general on October 1, 1939. Colonel Willi Heinrich, the commander of M ountain Arko 109, briefly served as acting commander of the division in early 1943
and from June 23 to July 15, 1943. He was killed in action commanding Arko 148 on November 16, 1943. Rübel was promoted to major general on M arch 1, 1943, and
to lieutenant general on M arch 1, 1944. He was killed in action on M arch 8, 1945.
Bradley et al., Vol. V: 82–83; Chant, Volume 16: 2235; Tessin, Vol. 7: 136–37; OB 42: 90; OB 43: 150; OB 44: 207; OB 45: 188; Ziemke 1959: 139, 304; Ziemke
1966: 399.
164TH INFANTRY DIVISION
See 164th Light Afrika Division (Volume Two).
165TH RESERVE DIVISION
Composition: 205th Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 215th Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 260th
Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 5th Reserve Artillery Regiment, 9th Reserve Engineer Battalion,
1065th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Wehrkreis V
This unit was formed in Olmütz, Moravia, as Replacement Division 165 on November 10, 1939,
just after the invasion of Poland. Its Staff came from V Replacement Troop Command. During its
early career it was responsible for training and replacement functions in the Wuerttemberg-Baden
region. The division was stationed in the Protectorate (formerly Czechoslovakia) from November
1939 until September 1940, when it returned to the Third Reich. In early 1942, the 165th was
transferred to the Epinal area of eastern France with only its training elements; as such it was the
forerunner of the reserve division system, which was adopted throughout the army in the fall of that
year. The division took part in the occupation of Vichy France in November 1942. It remained at
Vesoul, southern France, for a time, before transferring to the Vlissingen area of southern Holland,
where it was stationed until it was disbanded on July 17, 1944. Its personnel were sent to various
divisions on the Western Front; the divisional staff was used to form the 70th Infantry Division.
The 165th’s commanders included Lieutenant General Baron Sigmund von Schacky und Schonfeld
(May 1, 1941) and Major General Wilhelm Daser (February 1, 1944).
S ources: Harrison: M ap VI; Tessin, Vol. 7: 144; RA: 6, 88, 90; OB 42: 20; OB 43: 150; OB 45: 189.
166TH RESERVE (LATER INFANTRY) DIVISION
Composition (1944): 6th Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 69th Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 86th
Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 1066th Reserve Artillery Regiment, 26th Reserve Engineer Battalion,
166th Tank Destroyer Company, 1066th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Bielefeld, Wehrkreis VI
The 166th was formed as a replacement division by the VI (Westphalian) Military District on
November 15, 1939, shortly after the war began. Other than a period of occupation duty in northern
Poland (November 1939 to September 1940) when it was headquartered in Bromberg, Wehrkreis
XX, the 166th spent the first four years of the war in Germany. Transferred to Copenhagen, Denmark,
in January 1943, the unit became a reserve division on October 26, 1943. In early 1944, it was
transferred to the Lemvig area on the Jutland peninsula and remained there until the end of the war.
The 166th was upgraded to infantry division status on March 9, 1945, with the 660th, 661st, and
662nd Grenadier Regiments (the former 6th, 69th, and 86th Reserve Grenadier Regiments,
respectively), but remained in Denmark and never engaged in heavy fighting.
The division’s commanders included Lieutenant General Walter Behschnitt (November 15, 1939),
Major General Otto Schellert (May 1, 1940), Major General Christian Friedrich, genannt Fritz
Willich (March 15, 1941), Lieutenant General Helmuth Castorf (June 1, 1942), Lieutenant General
Eberhard von Fabrice (July 10, 1944), Major General Helmuth Walter (March 28, 1945), and
Fabrice (March 31, 1945–end).
Notes and S ources: Schellert was promoted to lieutenant general on January 1, 1941. Willich reached the same rank on February 1, 1941.
Keilig: 159; Lexikon; M acDonald 1973: 355, 360; M ehner, Vol. 4: 318; Tessin, Vol. 7: 148–49; RA: 6, 102, 105; OB 43: 30.
167TH INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION
Composition: 315th Infantry Regiment, 331st Infantry Regiment, 339th Infantry Regiment, 238th
Artillery Regiment, 167th Fusilier Battalion, 238th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 238th Engineer
Battalion, 238th Signal Battalion, 238th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Kempten; later Brannenburg; later Reichenhall, Wehrkreis VII
Formed in Munich from Bavarian replacement-training units on November 26, 1939, this seventhwave division absorbed the 7th, 27th, and 34th Field Replacement Battalions on January 12, 1940. It
first saw action in France and remained there until February 1941, when it returned to Bavaria. It was
sent to Warsaw in June before going into Russia in July. It took part in the Battle of Gomel in
September and was with Guderian’s 2nd Panzer Army in the final thrusts toward Moscow. After
helping check the Russian winter offensive, the 167th was sent to the Haarlem sector of Holland to
rest and refit and remained on occupation duty until early 1943, when it was sent back to the Eastern
Front. As part of the 4th Panzer Army, it fought at Kharkov and remained in reserve until the Kursk
offensive failed and the Russian counterattacks began. About three weeks later, on August 3, it was
attacked northwest of Belgorod by the entire Soviet 6th Guards Army. The division was utterly
shattered, being reduced “to a scattering of odds and ends” by nightfall on the first day of the
offensive. Because of the critical condition on the southern sector, however, the remnants of the 167th
remained in action and took part in the Dnieper withdrawal (fall 1943). On February 1, 1944, it was
downgraded to Division Group 167 and was attached to the 376th Infantry Division. It was crushed at
Krementschug and practically wiped out in the Cherkassy encirclement later that month. Shortly
afterwards the unit was officially disbanded. Its remnants were absorbed by the 376th Infantry
Division.
A second 167th was formed in Hungary in late October 1944. Designated the 167th Volksgrenadier
Division, it consisted of the recruits from the partially formed 585th Volksgrenadier Division and the
remnants of the 17th Luftwaffe Field Division, and some miscellaneous replacements. Like all
Volksgrenadier divisions, its three grenadier regiments (the 331st, 339th and 387th) had only two
battalions each. It also included the 167th Artillery Regiment and the standard infantry division
support units, which were all numbered 167. In November it was transferred to Slovakia to complete
its training and was hurriedly sent to Belgium in January 1945, where it took part in the latter stages
of Hitler’s Ardennes campaign. The division remained on the Western Front until February 1945,
when it was crushed by the U.S. 3rd Army in the Eifel (Siegfried Line) battles. Two of its three
regimental commanders and a large number of its men were taken prisoner. The remnants of the 167th
Volksgrenadier, however, continued to resist as a part of Army Group B until April 4, 1945, when it
was used to form Division Scharnhorst.
Commanders of the 167th Infantry Division included Colonel/Major General Martin Gilbert
(December 1, 1939), Major General Oskar Vogl (January 10, 1940), Major General/Lieutenant
General Hans Schönhärl (August 2, 1940), Major General Werner Schartow (August 11, 1941),
Major General/Lieutenant General Wolf Trierenberg (August 11, 1941), Colonel Hans Huettner
(November 25, 1943), and Lieutenant General Hanskurt Höcker (October 1944).
Notes and S ources: Gilbert was promoted to major general on January 1, 1940. Schönhärl was promoted to lieutenant general on December 1, 1940. Trierenberg
became a lieutenant general on January 1, 1942.
Carell 1966: 111, 196; Carell 1971: 71; Cole 1965: 623; Keilig: 294, 309; Kursietis: 149; Lexikon; M acDonald 1973: 109; Franz M ayrhofer, Geschichte des GrenadierRegiment 315 der bayrischen 167. Infanterie-Division-Almhütten-Division-1939–1945 (1975); Nafziger 2000: 177–79; “Frontnachweiser,” 15 December 1944; Tessin,
Vol. 7: 151–52; RA: 116; OB 42: 91; OB 43: 150–51; OB 44: 208; OB 45: 190.
168TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 417th Infantry Regiment, 429th Infantry Regiment, 442nd Infantry Regiment, 248th
Artillery Regiment, 248th Reconnaissance Battalion, 248th Anti-Tank Battalion, 248th Engineer
Battalion, 248th Signal Battalion, 248th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Tarnowitz, later Kattowitz, Wehrkreis VIII
Mobilized in the Goerlitz area on December 1, 1939, the 168th included previously existing
replacement-training units grouped under a new divisional headquarters. It abosrbed the 8th, 18th and
45th Field Replacement Battalions the following month. It was sent the Saar in June 1940, to Poland
in July, and to the Eastern Front in June 1941. It remained there for the rest of the war. The 168th
fought at Zhitomir, Kiev, Romny, Belgorod (1941), Kharkov (1942), Voronezh (1942), and in the
Belgorod sector (1943), where it suffered heavy losses in the retreat from Kursk and in the battles
east of Kiev. The division remained in the line and was with the 4th Panzer Army in the Battle of
Zhitomir in December. (Meanwhile, it abosrbed the remnants of the combat units of the 223rd Infantry
Division on November 2, 1943.) In February 1944, the 168th Infantry was on the northern flank of
Army Detachment Kempf, defending Akhtyrka (in the rear of Kharkov) against heavy Russian attacks.
A few days later, it was encircled near Cherkassy, where it was badly shot up and practically ceased
to exist. The soldiers who managed to break out of the pocket linked up with 1st Panzer Army. In
March 1944 they were surrounded in the “Hube Pocket” but managed to reach German lines. They
were then sent to Poland, where they were allowed to rest and where the division was rebuilt;
however, it never again exceeded battle group strength. A few weeks later, the 168th was returned to
southern Russia, where it fought at Tarnopol, in the Carpathians and in the withdrawals to Poland.
The division fought in the battles on the Vistula in early 1945, including the Baranov bridgehead,
where it was smashed. It ended the war in remnants in Silesia, on the central sector of the Eastern
Front, and surrendered to the Russians at Glatz in May 1945.
The division’s commanders included Major General Wolf Boysen (December 1, 1939), Lieutenant
General Dr. Hans Mundt (January 11, 1940), Major General/Lieutenant General Dietrich Kraiss (July
8, 1941), Colonel/Major General Walter Chales de Beaulieu (March 9, 1943), Major
General/Lieutenant General Werner Schmidt-Hammer (December 1, 1943), Colonel Carl Anders
(September 8, 1944), Schmidt-Hammer (December 9, 1944), Colonel Dr. Maximilian Rosskopf
(January 6, 1945), Schmidt-Hammer (February 19, 1945), and Colonel Hansen (May 1945).
Notes and S ources: In August 1942, the division’s artillery regiment added a V Battalion—a rocket launcher unit. Its tank destroyer and reconnaissance battalions
were combined to form a schnelle battalion in 1942. Kraiss was promoted to lieutenant general on October 1, 1942. Chales became a major general on June 1, 1943.
Schmidt-Hammer was promoted to lieutenant general on June 1, 1944. The Colonel Hansen who surrendered the division in 1945 may have been Walter Hansen, who
commanded the 555th Grenadier Regiment in 1943, but this is not made clear by the records.
Hartmann: 24; Keilig: 306; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1146; Volume IV: 1896; M ehner, Vol. 12: 453; Nafziger 2000: 179–82; Tessin, Vol. 7: 157–58;
Scheibert: 138; RA: 130; OB 43: 151; OB 45: 100.
169TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 378th Infantry Regiment, 379th Infantry Regiment, 392nd Infantry Regiment, 230th
Artillery Regiment, 230th Reconnaissance Battalion, 230th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 230th Engineer
Battalion, 230th Signal Battalion, 230th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: FrankfurtamMain, Wehrkreis IX
The Hessian 169th Infantry was created in the Offenbach area on or about October 25, 1939, from
already existing replacement-training units. It absorbed the 9th, 15th and 35th Field Replacement
Battalions in January 1940. After serving in France in June 1940, it remained there on occupation
duty until May 1941, when it was sent to Finland by way of Norway, and was with the XXXVI Corps
on the initial drive on Murmansk. After being repulsed here, the 169th remained in Lapland for more
than two years and engaged in numerous actions against the Russians, although the strategic port of
Murmansk was never taken. After Finland made a separate peace with the Soviets, the 169th Infantry
took part in the retreat to Norway and was sent to Denmark in January 1945, where it was
reorganized as a Type 45 division. It was then sent to 9th Army on the Oder, where it was destroyed
in April 1945 as the Soviets drove on Berlin.
The staff of the German 1st Army surrenders to the Americans south of Munich, May 4, 1945. The commander, General of Infantry
Herman Foertsch, wears the Knight’s Cross around his neck. He previously commanded the 21st Infantry Division on the Eastern Front.
U.S. ARMY PHOTO
Commanders of the division included Colonel Philipp Mueller-Gebhard (October 25, 1939),
Colonel/Major General Heinrich Kirchheim (December 1, 1939), Major General Kurt Dittmar
(February 1, 1941), Lieutenant General Hermann Tittel (September 29, 1941), and Colonel/Major
General/Lieutenant General Georg Radziej (June 22, 1943).
Notes and S ources: The 230th Reconnaissance and 230th Tank Destroyer Battalions were merged in 1943 to form the 230th M obile (Schnelle) Battalion. Kirchheim
was promoted to major general on July 1, 1940. Radziej became a major general on September 1, 1943, and a lieutenant general on September 1, 1944.
Carell: 1966: 454; Kriegstagebuch des OKW: Volume IV: 1899; Nafziger 2000: 182–83; Tessin, Vol. 7: 161–62; OB 43: 151; OB 44: 209; OB 45: 191; Ziemke 1959:
312; Ziemke 1966: 401.
170TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 391st Infantry Regiment, 399th Infantry Regiment, 40lst Infantry Regiment, 240th
Artillery Regiment, 240th Reconnaissance Battalion, 240th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 240th Engineer
Battalion, 240th Signal Battalion, 240th Field Replacement Battalion, 240th Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Hamburg-Wandsbek, Wehrkreis X
Created in the Munsterlager Troop Maneuver Area on December 1, 1939, from previously existing
replacement-training units, the 170th absorbed the 28th and 30th Field Replacement Battalions the
following month. The division first fought in Denmark five months later, when it captured Aalborg
and dealt with the Danish frontier positions. It was sent to the Lille area of France in July, but saw no
action in the Western Campaign of 1940. The next spring it was sent to Romania and took part in the
advance across the Ukraine and southern Russia. It fought at Odessa in July and August, and in
October attacked across the Tartar trench and the Perekop Isthmus, pursued the Russians across the
Crimea, and took part in the Siege of Sevastopol.
In July 1942, the 170th participated in the attacks that resulted in the fall of this Soviet naval
fortress. That summer, as part of von Manstein’s 11th Army, the 170th Infantry was transported to the
northern sector of the Eastern Front for the attack on Leningrad but was tied down in heavy defensive
fighting instead. Later it faced the Russian winter offensive of 1942–43 and successfully defended a
sector of the German corridor east of Leningrad against heavy Soviet attacks. The following month,
the division absorbed the remnants of the 9th and 10th Luftwaffe Field Divisions. The division
remained with Army Group North throughout 1943 and suffered heavy losses when the Russians
finally broke the siege of Leningrad in January 1944. After the retreat through Estonia, the 170th was
shifted to the central sector of the Eastern Front in July and helped check the Soviet summer offensive
of 1944, although it was unable to help the major portions of the German 4th and 9th Armies, which
were encircled in White Russia. The 170th Infantry, meanwhile, was returned to Army Group North
and took part in the Battle of Narva and the retreat through Latvia. It absorbed the 1065th Grenadier
Regiment and the 1034th March Battalion in October, but still had only six under-strength grenadier
battalions. At battle group strength, it was sent to East Prussia, where it ended up on the Hela
peninsula, across from Danzig. The division finally surrendered to the Soviets in May 1945, when the
war ended. Elements of the 170th had been evacuated by sea to Kiel, however, and these surrendered
to the British on May 11.
The division’s commanders included Major General/Lieutenant General Walter Wittke (October 1,
1939), Major General/Lieutenant General Erwin Sander (January 8, 1942), Major General/Lieutenant
General Walther Krause (February 15, 1943), Colonel Franz Griesbach (February 15, 1944), and
Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Siegfried Hass (February 16, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Wittke was promoted to lieutenant general on August 1, 1941, Sander on January 1, 1943, and Krause on September 1, 1943. Colonel Griesbach
was seriously wounded on his second day as division commander. He was promoted to major general in August 1944 but was still in the hospital on April 27, 1945,
when it was captured by the Russians. He was a prisoner until 1949. Hass was promoted to major general on June 1, 1944, and lieutenant general on December 1,
1944. He surrendered to the British.
Carell 1966: 32, 509; Carell 1971: 242, 249, 577–92; Keilig: 114; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume IV: 1897; Hennecke Kardel, Die Geschichte der 170. InfanterieDivision (1953); Kursietis: 150; Lexikon; M anstein: 244, 260; Nafziger 2000: 183–84; Salisbury: 538; Tessin, Vol. 7: 165–66; RA: 160; OB 42: 91; OB 43: 151; OB
44: 209; OB 45: 191; Ziemke 1959: 35.
171ST RESERVE DIVISION
Composition: 19th Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 71st Reserve Grenadier Regiment 216th Reserve
Grenadier Regiment, 252nd Reserve Artillery Regiment, 1071st Reserve Bicycle Squadron, 1071st
Reserve Tank Destroyer Company, 1071st Reserve Engineer Battalion, 1071st Reserve Signal
Company, 1071st Reserve Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Hanover, Wehrkreis XI
Initially formed as a replacement division in Hanover from the XI Replacement Troop Command
on August 26, 1939, the 171st remained in Hanover for the first three years of the war, conducting
training and supplying replacements for the divisions affiliated with the XI Military District (which
included Hanover, Anhalt and Brunswick). In autumn of 1942, the 171st lost its replacement units and
was sent to the English Channel with its training elements. Posted in the Epinal area, it was a static
unit, lacking in all categories of motorized vehicles. On February 6, 1944, it lost its training mission
and was renamed the 48th Infantry Division.
Commanders of the 171st Reserve included Major General/Lieutenant Eugen Schlenther (August
26, 1939) and Major General/Lieutenant General Friedrich Fürst (September 20, 1942).
See also 48th Infantry Division.
Notes and S ources: Schlenther was promoted to lieutenant general on April 1, 1941. Fürst reached the same rank on October 1, 1942.
Lexikon; Tessin, Vol. 7: 169–70; RA: 6, 172–74; OB 43: 152; OB 45: 192. The 31st Reserve Grenadier Regiment was reportedly attached to the division in early 1944
(OB 44b: D 122).
172ND RESERVE DIVISION
Composition (1939): 33rd Infantry Replacement Regiment, 34th Infantry Replacement Regiment,
36th Infantry Replacement, 125th Frontier Guard Infantry Replacement Regiment, 33rd Artillery
Replacement Regiment, 14th Machine Gun Replacement Battalion, 6th Cavalry Replacement
Battalion, 33rd Tank Destroyer Replacement Battalion, 33rd Engineer Replacement Battalion, 12th
Motorcycle Replacement Battalion, 172nd Reserve Supply Company
Home Station: Maim, Wehrkreis XII
The 172nd was activated on November 7, 1939, as a replacement division. From November 1939
to September 1940, it was stationed in the Gneseu area of Poland (Wehrkreis XXI), where it
conducted training and replacement operations. It returned to Germany in 1940 and remained there for
four years. It was still directed replacement and training units for XII Military District until the fall of
1944. It was upgraded to reserve division status on November 23, 1944, but it apparently only
engaged in combat as a unit in the Eifel (West Wall) in September, October, and November 1944. On
November 23, 1944, the combat elements of the 172nd were transferred to the 36th and 347th Infantry
Divisions. The Staff was redesignated Special Administrative Division Staff 172 (Div. Stab. z.b.V.
172) and was sent to Friesland (the northern coast of the Netherlands) and remained there until the
region was overrun in late March 1945.
Commanders of the 172nd Division included Major General/Lieutenant General Kurt Fischer
(November 7, 1939), Major General/Lieutenant General Eberhard von Fabrice (December 31, 1942),
Lieutenant General Helmut Castore (July 10, 1944), Major General Martin Baltzer (January 14,
1945), and Lieutenant General Dr. Hans Boelsen (March 1945).
Notes and S ources: The 172nd was initially formed from elements of the XII Replacement Troop Command. Fischer was promoted to lieutenant general on February
1, 1942. Fabrice became a lieutenant general on M arch 1, 1944. General Boelsen was captured on M arch 29, 1945, the day the division ceased to exist.
Keilig: 59; Lexikon; Tessin, Vol. 7: 173–75; RA: 190, 192; OB 43: 152; OB 45: 192.
173RD RESERVE DIVISION
Composition (July 1943): 17th Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 231st Reserve Grenadier Regiment,
10th Reserve Artillery Battalion, 46th Reserve Engineer Battalion, 873rd Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Nuremberg, Wehrkreis XIII
Created on November 9, 1939 from the XIII Replacement Troops Command (which had been
organized upon mobilization on August 26, 1939), this division was initially designated 173rd
Replacement Dvision. It controlled replacement and training units in northern Bavaria until July 16,
1943. At that time it lost its replacement units, was converted into a reserve division, and sent to
Belgrade. Later it was transferred to Croatia. On January 12, 1944, the High Command ordered the
173rd Reserve disbanded. Its troops were placed back under the jurisdiction of the Home Army,
which used it to form shadow divisions of the 24th Wave. This process was completed in February;
the 173rd officially ceased to exist on April 1.
Its commanders were Major General Kurt Sieglin (September 1, 1939), Colonel/Major General
Kurt Pflugradt (March 10, 1940), and Lieutenant General Heinrich von Behr (December 15, 1940–
end).
Notes and S ources: Pflugradt was promoted to major general on April 1, 1940.
Keilig: 256; Lexikon; Tessin, Vol. 7: 173–75; OB 44b: D122; OB 45: 192.
174TH RESERVE DIVISION
Composition (December 1943): 24th Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 209th Reserve Grenadier
Regiment, 266th Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 14th Reserve Artillery Battalion, 14th Reserve
Engineer Battalion
Home Station: Chemnitz, Wehrkreis IV
Organized as the 174th Replacement Division (from elements of the 154th Replacement Division),
this unit controlled replacement-training units in Saxony and the Sudetenland from June 10, 1940 until
the fall of 1942, although much of the division was posted to Prague and the Protectorate in August
1941. On September 15, 1942, it was remustered as a reserve division in Bohemia, and its
replacement units were sent home. Its training elements remained under divisional control and were
sent to northern Poland in 1943. On July 27, 1944, the division was absorbed by the 26th Infantry
Division, which was being rebuilt after being mauled at Kovel. The survivors of the 174th would
soon be in action on the Western Front.
Commanders of the 174th included Major General/Lieutenant General Konrad Guhl (June 10,
1940), Lieutenant General Kurt Renner (April 1, 1942), and Lieutenant General Friedrich-Georg
Eberhardt (August 26, 1943).
Notes and S ources: Guhl was promoted to lieutenant general on February 1, 1941. Kurt Renner was killed on August 26, 1943.
Keilig: 76, 273; Lexikon; Tessin, Vol. 7: 182; RA: 6, 204–6; OB 42: 26; OB 43: 37; OB 45: 192.
176TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition (December 1944): 1218th Grenadier Regiment, 1219th Grenadier Regiment, l220th
Grenadier Regiment, 1176th Artillery Regiment, 176th Fusilier Battalion, 1176th Tank Destroyer
Battalion, 1176th Engineer Battalion, 1176th Signal Battalion, 1176th Field Replacement Battalion,
1176th Supply Regiment
Home Station: Bielefeld, Wehrkreis VI
The Westphalian-Rhineland 176th was formed as a replacement division on January 26, 1943. It
absorbed the replacement elements of the 156th and 166th Reserve Divisions when they left the Reich
for France and Denmark, respectively. In return the 176th gave up its own training battalions. In 1944
the subordinate elements of the 176th were reexpanded into replacement-training units—a process
which had begun more than a year earlier. Later that year, with the Western Front on the verge of
collapse, the 176th was hurried to the Albert Canal zone in the Low Countries. In September, the
division had a strength of 7,000 men; however, most of these were trainees, convalescents, and semiinvalids. The division also included two Luftwaffe battalions and an “ear” battalion of men with
serious hearing problems. The 176th fought in the Battle of Maastricht against Montgomery and was
forced to abandon both the city and the island. It also took part in the Arnhem campaign, where it
helped delay forces trying to relieve the British 1st Airborne Division. In mid-November, it was in
action against the U.S. 9th Army in the Siegfried Line campaign and fought holding actions in the Roer
River sector. It was redesignated an infantry division on November 11, 1944, and absorbed the
support troops from the 49th Infantry Division. The 176th did not take part in the Battle of the Bulge
but was apparently resting and rebuilding at that time. This process was not complete in early 1945,
when the division occupied a sector of the Roer River. As part of Army Group B, it was surrounded
in the Ruhr Pocket and destroyed near Duisburg.
Major General/Lieutenant General Berthold Stumm (January 26, 1943 to October 31, 1944) and
Colonel/Major General Christian-Johannes Landau (November 1, 1944–end) commanded the
division.
S ources: Lexikon; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume IV: 1900; M acDonald 1963: 100, 108, 188, 519; M acDonald 1973: 353–61; Nafziger 2000: 566–67; Tessin, Vol.
7: 186–87; RA: 100, 102–3; OB 45: 193.
177TH REPLACEMENT DIVISION*
Composition (late 1939): 4th Panzer Replacement Battalion, 44th Infantry Replacement Regiment,
82nd Rifle Replacement Regiment, 131st Infantry Replacement Regiment, 262nd Infantry
Replacement Regiment, 44th Artillery Replacement Regiment, 262nd Artillery Replacement
Regiment, 44th Forward Observer Replacement Battalion, 11th Cavalry Replacement Battalion, 80th
Engineer Replacement Battalion, 17th Construction Engineer Replacement Battalion, 33rd Railroad
Engineer Replacement Battalion, 17th Signal Replacement Battalion, 17th Driver Replacement
Battalion
Home Station: Vienna, Wehrkreis XVII
The 177th was formed on November 4, 1939, from the XVII Replacement Troop Command, and
remained headquartered at Vienna for virtually the entire war. Elements of the division were
reportedly stationed in Moravia (the eastern district of the Protectorate, as the Nazis called
Czechoslovakia) in 1941, but these were not the major components. The division ceased to exist in
April 1945, when the Russians overran the former Austrian capital. The 177th was not with the 6th
SS Panzer Army during the defense of the city, so it was no doubt dissolved before the battle began
and its men incorporated into combat units of other divisions on the Eastern Front.
The 177th Replacement’s commanders included General of Flak Artillery Franz von Roques
(September 26, 1939), Major General Otto Ottenbacher (June 1, 1940), Major General Rudolf von
Buenau (October 25, 1940), Lieutenant General Hermann von Gimborn (June 1, 1941), Major
General Joseph Reichert (September 20, 1941), and Colonel/Major General Erich MullerDerichsweiler (January 1, 1943).
Notes and S ources: Roques (1880–1949) retired from the army in early 1933 and joined the Luftwaffe in 1936. He retired from the Luftwaffe in 1939 and rejoined
the army. He retired for the final time in 1943. M ueller-Derichsweiler was promoted to major general on February 1, 1945.
Peter Hoffmann. The History of the German Resistance, 1933–1945 (1977): 275–76 (hereafter cited as “Hoffmann”); Keilig: 283; Kriegstagebuch des OKW. Volume I:
1145; Tessin, Vol. 7: 191; RA: 222; OB 42: 27; OB 45: 194.
178TH REPLACEMENT DIVISION
See 178th Panzer Replacement Division (Volume Three).
179TH REPLACEMENT DIVISION
See 179th Reserve Panzer Division (Volume Three).
180TH INFANTRY (FORMERLY REPLACEMENT) DIVISION
Composition (October 1944): 1221st Grenadier Regiment, 1222nd Grenadier Regiment, 1223rd
Grenadier Regiment, 180th Artillery Regiment, 180th Fusilier Battalion, 1180th Tank Destroyer
Company (later Battalion), 1180th Engineer Battalion, 1180th Signal Company , 1180th Divisional
Supply Regiment
Home Station: Oldenburg, Wehrkreis X
Formed as a replacement division by the X Military District on November 25, 1939, this unit
conducted replacement and training operations in north-central Germany until September 1944. At
that time it had 8,475 men. It was hastily sent to Holland to oppose the Allied armored-airborne
assault, Operation Market-Garden. It succeeded in delaying the British XXX Armored Corps long
enough to significantly contribute to the German victory at Arnhem. It remained on the northern sector
of the Western Front, primarily with the 1st Parachute Army, for the rest of the war. On October 31,
1944, it was upgraded to full infantry division status. The 180th was engaged in the Venlo area from
December 1944 to January 1945. In March 1945, the division absorbed Infantry Division Hamburg.
Later that month, it opposed the Allied drive through western Germany and fought against the British
2nd Army in the Battle of Wesel. At the end of the month it was crushed in Operation Varsity, a joint
airborne-ground offensive. The division’s morale was broken after this defeat. A few weeks later the
remnants of the division were forced into the Ruhr Pocket, where they were destroyed.
The division’s commanders were Major General Kurt Woytasch (December 1, 1939), Major
General/Lieutenant General Martin Gilbert (January 10, 1940), Major General/Lieutenant General
Herbert Lemke (January 24, 1942), Colonel Bernhard Klosterkemper (September 27, 1944), and
Gilbert (second tour, October 1, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Gilbert was promoted to lieutenant general on January 1, 1942. Lemke became a lieutenant general on August 1, 1944.
Chant, Volume 17: 2312; Lexikon; M acDonald 1963: M ap V; M acDonald 1973: 306–11, 315, 370; Tessin, Vol. 7: 204; RA: 160, 162; OB 45: 195.
181ST INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition (1945): 334th Fusilier Grenadier Regiment, 359th Grenadier Regiment, 363rd
Grenadier Regiment, 222nd Artillery Regiment, 220th Bicycle Battalion, 222nd Tank Destroyer
Battalion, 222nd Engineer Battalion, 222nd Signal Battalion, 222nd Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Hanover, later Hameln, Wehrkreis XI
Created in Brunswick as a replacement division on December 1, 1939, from replacement-training
units in Brunswick, Anhalt, and Hanover, and from the 19th and 31st Field Replacement Battalions,
this division originally consisted of the 334th and 349th Infantry Regiments. The 359th Infantry
Regiment was added in January 1940. In April 1940, the division took part in the Norwegian
campaign, where it was lightly engaged. It remained on occupation duty in the Dombaas area until
autumn 1943, when it was transferred to the lower Adriatic coast of Montenegro (Yugoslavia). It left
the 349th Regiment in Norway and acquired the newly formed 363rd Grenadier Regiment when it
arrived in the Balkans. The division suffered heavy losses in the withdrawal from Montenegro to
Sarajevo but remained in the line. It fought on the southern sector of the Eastern Front (in Croatia and
Steiermark) from late 1944 until the end of the war. It surrendered to the Yugoslavs in the Cilli area
on May 9, 1945. Most of the survivors of the division were then murdered by the Communists.
The 181st’s leaders included Colonel Peter Bielfeld (December 1, 1939), Major
General/Lieutenant General Kurt Woytasch (January 10, 1940), Lieutenant General Friedrich Bayer
(March 1, 1942), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Hermann Fischer (March 24, 1942),
and Lieutenant General Eugen Bleyer (October 1, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Woytasch was promoted to lieutenant general on August 1, 1941. Fischer was promoted to major general on April 1, 1942 and to lieutenant
general on April 1, 1943. Bleyer was tried by the Communists as a war criminal and was sentenced to death. This sentence was commuted to eighteen years in 1950
and he was released under an amnesty in 1952.
Keilig: 37, 91; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1145; Volume IV: 1903; M ehner, Vol. 12: 453; Nafziger 2000: 184–85; Tessin, Vol. 7: 207–8; RA: 172; OB 43:
153; OB 44: 210; OB 45: 195; Ziemke 1959: 33–34, 263, 330.
182ND RESERVE DIVISION
Composition (1942): 79th Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 112th Reserve Grenadier Regiment,
263rd Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 342nd Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 34th Reserve Artillery
Battalion, 1082nd Bicycle Company, 1082nd Tank Destroyer Company, 34th Reserve Engineer
Battalion, 14th Machine Gun Battalion, 1082nd Signal Company, 1082nd Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Koblenz, Wehrkreis XII
The 182nd began forming as a replacement (mobilization) division in Lodz (Litzmannstadt) on
November 7, 1939, from elements of the XII Replacement Troop Command. It was stationed in the
Litzmannstadt area of the Generalgouvernement (German-occupied Poland) until September 1940,
when it was sent to Nancy in eastern France. Here it became known as the “Nanzig” (Nancy, France)
division. In autumn 1942, its replacement units returned to Germany, and the 182nd was converted to
a reserve division on July 10. Following reorganization, it was transferred to the Channel coast of
Brittany, where it headquartered at Cassel in northern France.
In early 1944, the 263rd Reserve Grenadier Regiment was dissolved. In mid-May 1944, the 182nd
was still being used as a training unit. It consisted of seven poorly trained battalions, four of which
were soon transferred to other divisions. There were only four guns in its four infantry gun
companies. Its artillery only had two issues of ammunition, and its line units only had one issue per
man. For these reasons, it was not committed to heavy combat during the French campaign of 1944.
The division was sent east in late 1944 and by the end of November was stationed in Slovakia. It was
reorganized as an infantry division on April 1, 1945 (although one source says March 1) and included
the 663rd, 664th, and 665th Grenadier Regiments (the former 79th, 112th, and 342nd Reserve
Grenadier Regiments, respectively). All three had two battalions each. Simultaneously, the 1082nd
Reserve Artillery Battalion was upgraded to 1082nd Artillery Regiment (two battalions). Fighting
against the Russians, it sustained heavy heavy casualties in Czechoslovalera in the spring of 1945 but
was still resisting—albeit at battle group strength—when the war ended.
Divisional commanders of the 182nd Reserve included Major General Friedrich Bayer (October
19, 1939), Major General Hans von Basse (April 24, 1940), Lieutenant General Franz Karl (May 30,
1941), Major General Karl Gumbel (June 5, 1942), Karl (returned August 3, 1942), Major General
Paul Lettow (September 27, 1942), Major General Otto Schilling (December 5, 1942), and
Lieutenant General Richard Baltzer (March 25, 1944–end).
Notes and S ources: General Baltzer was killed in Prague on M ay 10, 1945—about two days after he had surrendered.
Bradley et al., Vol. 2: 184–85; Harrison: M ap VI; Keilig: 20, 163; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1146; Volume IV: 1893; Nafziger 2000: 569; Friedrich Ruge,
Rommel in Normandy, 1979: 161 (hereafter cited as “Ruge”); Speidel: 41; Tessin, Vol. 7: 213–14; RA: 6, 190, 193; OB 43: 153; OB 45: 196.
183RD INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION
Composition: 330th Infantry Regiment, 343rd Infantry Regiment, 351st Infantry Regiment, 219th
Artillery Regiment, 219th Reconnaissance Battalion, 219th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 219th Engineer
Battalion, 219th Signal Battalion, 219th Field Replacement Battalion, 219th Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Weiden, Wehrkreis XIII
This northern Bavarian division was formed in Troop Maneuver Area Meunsingen from previously
existing replacement and training units on November 28, 1939. It absorbed the 10th, 17th and 46th
Field Replacement Battalions in January 1940. It was in France in June 1940, where it apparently
engaged in mopping up operations but was not involved in heavy fighting. It was transferred to the
Protectorate in July and took part in the Balkans campaign of 1941, where it fought in Yugoslavia. It
was sent to Poland in July and to Lithuania in August, but was not involved in heavy fighting on the
Eastern Front until October, when it took part in the Battle of Vyasma. The 183rd was also engaged in
fierce combat in the latter stages of the advance on Moscow. It remained on the central sector until
after the Rzhev withdrawal, fighting in the defensive battles of 1942 and the first eight months of
1943. It suffered so many casualties that its 343rd Grenadier Regiment had to be disbanded.
Transferred to the southern zone of operations in September 1943, the division suffered heavy
losses in the Kiev fighting that autumn and on November 2, 1943, its Staff was redesignated Corps
Detachment C (Korps-Abteilung C). It controlled the former 183rd, 217th, and 339th Infantry
Divisions (now Division Groups 183, 217, and 339), as well as the 219th Artillery Regiment, 219th
Tank Destroyer Battalion, 219th Engineer Battalion, 219th Signal Battalion, and 219th Field
Replacement Battalion. The new command fought at Zhitomir, Tarnopol, and the Brody Pocket in
Belorussia (July 1944). Here it broke out of the pocket and most of its survivors escaped. Withdrawn
from the combat zone after Brody, the 183rd was rebuilt at the Döllersheim Maneuver Area
(Wehrkreis XVII, formerly Austria) as a Volksgrenadier unit. Most of its personnel were
inexperienced, poorly trained Austrians from the 564th Grenadier Division. It absorbed Shadow
Division Doellersheim on August 3 and was officially activated on September 15, 1944. The fighting
caliber of the 183rd declined considerably after that, although it continued to achieve creditable
results. (Its subordinate units retained their old numbers, although the grenadier regiments were
reduced from three to two battalions.)
The 183rd Volksgrenadier Division was transferred to the Western Front that fall, where it
suffered heavy losses in the battles of the Siegfried Line and at Aachen. In late November, it opposed
the U.S. 9th Army’s Roer River offensive, where the 330th Grenadier Regiment was virtually
annihilated near Geilenkirchen. The division was still opposing the U.S. 9th Army when it managed
to cross the Roer in February 1945. As part of Army Group B, the 18th Volksgrenadier was
surrounded in the Ruhr Pocket in April. Divisional commander Lieutenant General Wolfgang Lange,
who had commanded Corps Detachment C at Brody, surrendered it to the Americans at Gummersbach
later that month.
A German soldier examines the graves of some of his comrades who were killed in action in Normandy, 1944. The markers indicate that
the dead were members of an infantry replacement battalion.
U.S. ARMY PHOTO
The divisional commanders of the 183rd Infantry/Volksgrenadier included Major
General/Lieutenant General Benighus Dippold (November 1, 1939), Major General Richard Stempel
(October 4, 1941), Dippold (October 25, 1941), Major General/Lieutenant General August Dettling
(January 20, 1942), and Lieutenant General Wolfgang Lang (September 15, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Dippold was promoted to lieutenant general on October 1, 1941. He was wounded in action on October 4, 1941, and returned to duty on October
25. Stempel was acting division commander in his absence. Dettling was elevated to lieutenant general on January 1, 1943.
Carell 1966: 191; Carell l971: 309; Hartmann: 24; Keilig: 69, 362; Kursietis: 153–54; Wolfgang
Lange, Korpsabteilung C (1961); MacDonald 1963: 111, 530; MacDonald 1973: 153; Nafziger 2000:
186–87; Ernst Schnabel, Weg und Schicksal der 183. Infanterie-Division. Geschichte der
fränkischesudetendeutschen 183. Infanterie-Division. Divisionsgruppe 183 in der Korps-Abteilung
C. 183. Volks-Grenadier-Division, 1939–1945 (1988); Seaton: 446–49; Tessin, Vol. 7: 219–20; RA:
204; OB 42: 92; OB 43: 153; OB 44: 210; OB 45: 196.
187TH RESERVE DIVISION
See 42nd Jäger Division (Volume Two).
189TH RESERVE (LATER INFANTRY) DIVISION
Composition (late 1944): 1212th Grenadier Regiment, 1213th Grenadier Regiment, 1214th
Grenadier Regiment, 1089th Artillery Regiment, 1089th Fusilier Battalion, 1089th Tank Destroyer
Company, 1089th Engineer Battalion, 1089th Signal Battalion, 1089th Field Replacement Battalion,
1089th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Siegen, Wehrkreis IX
This division was born as the 189th Reserve Division at Friedberg, Hessen on September 26,
1942. It conducted training operations in Hessen and Thuringia until December 6, 1942, when it was
upgraded to infantry division status and was sent to central France with the 15th and 214th Reserve
Grenadier Regiments. It also absorbed the 28th Reserve Grenadier Regiment and the 28th Reserve
Artillery Battalion from Wehrkreis VIII but lost its replacement units. It was officially designated
189th Infantry Division (B). (The “B” stood for “Brunhilde,” which meant that it was a small
division.) It had only two grenadier regiments, only two light artillery batteries, one engineer
company, two tank destroyer companies, two cavalry squadrons, and two signal companies. (In
November, elements of the division reportedly took part in the occupation of Vichy France and
headquartered in the Clermont- Ferrand area. The rest of the division followed in December.) The
189th remained in France until February 10, 1943, when it was dissolved and its Staff was used to
form Staff, 356th Infantry Division.
A new 189th Reserve Division was created in central France on May 20, 1943. It included the 15th
and 28th Grenadier Regiments, the 28th Reserve Artillery Battalion, and assorted divisional troops.
Gradually it was expanded into the composition shown above. In the spring of 1944, it was
transferred to southwestern France, where it formed part of Army Group G’s reserve. After D-Day,
the 189th Division ceased training altogether and was involved in combat in southern France by
August. During the retreat to Germany, it was upgraded to full infantry division status (effective
October 10, 1944), although it was never considered a first-rate combat unit. It was in remnants by
September and was fighting in southern Alsace. It absorbed the remnants of the 242nd Infantry
Division on November 3. The division was in the Colmar bridgehead in Alsace by January 1945. It
was virtually destroyed here on February 4. It is unclear whether or not any sizable parts of the 189th
escaped the bridgehead’s collapse, but the division headquarters did and was sent to the upper Rhine
(Oberrhein) to rebuild the remnants under the general supervision of the 19th Army. This
headquarters, however, obviously gave up on this task and the division was dissolved on April 8,
1945. Its remnants were absorbed by the 805th Replacement Division.
Commanders of the 189th Reserve/Infantry included Major General Paul Bauer (October 25,
1939), Colonel/Major General Egon von Neindorff (June 1, 1942), Lieutenant General Count Richard
von Schwerin (October 1, 1943), Colonel/Major General Ernst von Bauer (September 25, 1944),
Major General Degener (October 27, 1944), Colonel Eduard Zorn (November 15, 1944), and
Colonel Mellwig (February 4, 1945–end).
Notes and S ources: On January 21, 1945, the division absorbed the 1007th and 1021st Security Battalions, the 1181st Artillery Battalion and the 806th SS M achine
Gun Battalion. All four of these units were already in remnants. Egon von Neindorff was promoted to major general on December 1, 1942. Bauer was promoted to
major general on October 1, 1944. Colonel Zorn was killed in action at Colmar on February 4, 1945. Keilig: 22, 319, 382; M ehner, Vol. 12, 453; Nafziger 2000: 189;
Tessin, Vol. 7: 247; RA: 6, 144, 146; OB 43: 33; OB 45: 197–98. Also see M acDonald 1973.
190TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition (November 1944): 1224th Grenadier Regiment, 1225th Grenadier Regiment, 1226th
Grenadier Regiment, 890th Artillery Regiment, 190th Fusilier Battalion, 1190th (later 190th) Tank
Destroyer Battalion, 1190th Engineer Battalion, 1190th Signal Battalion, 1190th Field Replacement
Battalion
Home Station: Neumünster, Wehrkreis X
The 190th Infantry was created in Hamburg on June 6, 1940 as a replacement division. It operated
in Denmark that summer, but in October returned to the Schleswig-Holstein area, controlling
replacement-training units for the X Military District. In mid-September 1944 it was hastily
mobilized and sent to the Western Front, where it clashed with the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division near
Nijmegen. Its strength at this time was 9,607 men. It remained on the northern flank of the Western
Front and on November 4 became one of the few units to be upgraded directly from replacement to
full infantry division status, skipping the reserve division phase; however, it was still strictly a
makeshift unit with very little artillery support or anti-tank protection. After spending five months in
the Holland-northwest Germany region (where it fought in the Goch, Kleve, the Reichswald and
Venlo sectors), the 190th was sent south in late March 1945 to oppose the big Allied
ground/parachute offensive north of the Rhine. On April 4, however, the division was absorbed by
the recently created Infantry Division Ulrich von Hutten and officially ceased to exist. The division
staff, however, continued to operate until April 13, 1945, when its commander, Lieutenant General
Ernst Hammer, was captured in the Ruhr Pocket.
Commanders of the 190th Replacement/Infantry Division included: Major General Kurt Wolff
(May 17, 1940), Major General Emil Markgraf (April 15, 1942), Lieutenant General Justin von
Obernitz (June 22, 1942), Colonel Albert Newiger (November 1, 1942), and Hammer (November 10,
1942).
S ources: Lexikon; M acDonald 1963: M ap V; M acDonald 1973: 317, 370; Tessin, Vol. 7: 251–52; RA: 160, 162; OB 43: 154; OB 45: 198.
191ST RESERVE DIVISION
Composition: 31st Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 267th Reserve Grenadier Regiment, 4th Reserve
Engineer Battalion, I/211th Artillery Regiment, 1091st Reserve Bicycle Squadron, 1091st Reserve
Tank Destroyer Company, 1091st Reserve Engineer Battalion, 1091st Reserve Signal Company,
1091st Reserve Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Brunswick (Braunschweig), Wehrkreis XI
Established as a replacement division on June 6, 1940, the 191st remained in the Brunswick
district until the fall of 1942, when it lost its replacement mission and was sent to France with its
training elements. It became a reserve division as of October 1. It stayed in the Mons area of northern
France until February 1, 1944, when it was upgraded and redesignated 49th Infantry Division. Later it
was destroyed on the Western Front.
Its commanders included Colonel/Major General Friedrich Wilhelm Neumann (December 1,
1939), Major General Richard Veith (November 15, 1940), Major General Karl von Dewitz gennant
von Krebs (December 18, 1941), Lieutenant General Siegfried Macholz (March 1, 1943), and
Lieutenant General Erich Baessler (January 1, 1944).
See also 49th Infantry Division.
Notes and S ources: Neumann was promoted to major general on February 1, 1940.
Keilig: 240; Lexikon; Tessin, Vol. 7: 257–58; RA: 6,172,174; OB 43: 154; OB 45: 198–99.
192ND REPLACEMENT DIVISION
Composition (January 1945): 1st Mounted Infantry Replacement and Training Regiment, 32nd
Grenadier Training Regiment, 121st Grenadier Replacement and Training Regiment, 121st Artillery
Replacement and Training Battalion
Home Station: Rostock, Wehrkreis II
Activated in Rostock, Pomerania, on June 6, 1940, the 192nd was sent to Gneseu, XX Military
District (southern Poland) in September 1942. It controlled replacement and training units until the
Home Army divided those functions in the fall of 1942. By 1944, the division was essentially a
training unit. By January 1945, the 192nd Replacement Division had been withdrawn to Pomerania.
Later that month, it was sent to the front lines near Frankfurtan der Oder, where it was destroyed by
the Red Army on February 3.
Its commanders were Major General Sigfrid Macholz (June 10, 1940), Major General/Lieutenant
General Hans Petri (October 5, 1940), and Lieutenant General Erich Schröck (April 1, 1942).
Notes and S ources: Petri was promoted to lieutenant general on February 1, 1942, and to general of infantry on April 1, 1942. This promotion, which took place the
day he retired, was largely honorary.
Keilig: 254, 312; Lexikon; Tessin, Vol. 7: 261–62; RA: 32; OB 43: 154; OB 45: 199.
193RD REPLACEMENT DIVISION
Composition (1943): 10th Infantry Replacement and Training Regiment, 46th Infantry Replacement
and Training Regiment, 296th Infantry Replacement and Training Regiment, 13th Motorized
Replacement and Training Battalion, 10th Artillery Replacement and Training Regiment, 17th
Engineer Replacement and Training Battalion, 13th Driver Replacement and Training Battalion
Home Station: Regensburg, Wehrkreis XIII
The 193rd Replacement (or Mobilization) Division was activated in northern Bavaria on
November 9, 1939. It controlled replacement-training units from 1939 until the fall of 1942, training
units from late 1942 to 1944, and replacement-training units again from 1944 until the end of the war.
It was posted in Bohemia in October 1941, and headquartered at Pilsen and later at Prague, where it
remained until the Russians overran Czechoslovakia. The division itself was attached to a temporary
formation, Korps Group General of Artillery Moser, and was fighting as part of Panzer Corps
“Grossdeutschland” of the 4th Panzer Army when the war ended. The troops of the 193rd surrendered
to the Russians on May 8, 1945.
The commanders of the 193rd Replacement Division included Major General Friedrich Gollwitzer
(October 25, 1939), Colonel/Major General Werner Sanne (February 2, 1940), Major General Paul
Loehning (May 1, 1940), Lieutenant General Wilhelm Behrens (June 1, 1942), and Major General
Eckkard von Geyso (June 1, 1944).
Notes and S ources: The 10th Infantry Replacement Training Regiment was originally designated the 10th Replacement Regiment (motorized). It lost its motorized
function in early 1944. Sanne was promoted to major general on April 1, 1940. General von Geyso fell into Russian hands and was a POW until 1955.
Keilig: 291; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1147; Tessin, Vol. 7: 265; RA: 204, 206, 260; OB 43: 37; OB 45: 199.
196TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 340th Infantry Regiment, 345th Infantry Regiment, 362nd Infantry Regiment, 233rd
Artillery Regiment, 233rd Reconnaissance Company, 233rd Tank Destroyer Battalion, 233rd
Engineer Battalion, 233rd Signal Battalion, 233rd Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Graudenz, later Aachen and Bonn, Wehrkreis VI
After being formed in the Danzig area on November 27, 1939, the new Rhineland-Westphalian
infantry division absorbed the 6th, 16th and 26th Field Replacement Battalions in January 1940. It
took part in the invasions of Denmark and Norway in April 1940. Elements of the 196th took
Copenhagen, the Danish capital, almost without loss. It remained in Drontheim, Norway, as part of
the Army of Norway’s reserve, from September 1940 to December 1943. The 196th Infantry was then
replaced in Norway by the 14th Luftwaffe Field Division; however, it left the 345th Infantry Regiment
behind under the control of the 199th Infantry Division. As a two-regiment division, most of it was
sent to Russia in July 1944, where it was part of Army Group Center. It suffered heavy losses in the
fighting in Belorussia (White Russia) and Poland. The High Command disbanded the burned-out
division on September 15, 1944. Its survivors were divided between the 131st and 361st Infantry
Divisions.
The commanders of the 196th Infantry included Lieutenant General Richard Pellengahr (November
27, 1939), Major General/Lieutenant General Dr. Friedrich Franek (March 1, 1942), Colonel Kurt
Moehring (December 23, 1943), Colonel Klinge (February 1944), and Major General Friedrich von
Unger (June 1944).
Notes and S ources: The 233rd Reconnaissance Battalion and part of the 233rd Artillery Regiment remained in Norway. Pellengahr was promoted to lieutenant
general on June 1, 1940. Franek was promoted to lieutenant general on April 1, 1943.
Keilig: 94; Kursietis: 156; Nafziger 2000: 190; RA: 100; OB 42: 92; OB 43: 154; OB 44: 211; OB 45: 199. The 196th was absent from Army Group Center’s Order of
Battle as early as September 16, 1944 (Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume Volume IV: 1874–83).
197TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 321st Infantry Regiment, 332nd Infantry Regiment, 347th Infantry Regiment, 229th
Artillery Regiment, 229th Reconnaissance Battalion, 229th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 229th Engineer,
Battalion, 229th Signal Battalion, 229th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Kalisch, later Idar-Oberstein, Wehrkreis XII
Raised in the middle Rhineland, Hesse and Saar from existing replacement-training units, it was
activated in the Posen area of Wehrkreis XXI on December 1, 1939. It absorbed the 183rd Landwehr
Regiment on January 8, 1940. It was with Army Group C opposite the Maginot Line during the
conquest of France. The 197th Infantry was on garrison duty in the Netherlands until February 1941,
when it returned to Kalisch. On May 7, 1941, its III/347th Infantry Regiment was detached from the
division and sent to Africa, where it became the I/200th Rifle Regiment of the 90th Light Division.
The 197th Infantry Division, meanwhile, was sent to the central sector of the Russian Front in July
1941, and remained there throughout the rest of its existence. It fought at Smolensk, played a
prominent role in the minor battle of encirclement at Roslavl in August, defended a sector near
Vyasma in September, and took part in the battles around Moscow in December 1941 and January
1942. Engaged in skirmishing and the defensive battles of Army Group Center in 1942, the 197th also
took part in the Rzhev withdrawal in early 1943. By April 30, it was down to four grenadier
battalions, and the 321st Grenadier Regiment had been disbanded. The division was involved in the
fighting west of Smolensk in the fall of 1943, and most of it was destroyed in the huge Soviet
offensive in the summer of 1944. The division broke up that July near Vitebsk, along with much of the
3rd Panzer Army and the bulk of the 4th Army. The last commander of the 197th Infantry Division,
Colonel Hans Hahne, is still missing and was presumably killed. The divisional staff, however, was
pulled out of the battle after Hahne disappeared on June 24 and was used to form Staff, Corps
Detachment H.
Divisional commanders of the 197th include Major General/Lieutenant General Hermann MeyerKabingen (December 1, 1939), Lieutenant General Ehrenfried Boege (April 1, 1942), Major General
Eugen Wössner (November 5, 1943), and Hahne (March 14, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Corps Detachment H became the 95th Infantry Division in September 1944. M eyer-Kabingen was promoted to lieutenant general on November
1, 1941. Hahne was promoted to major general on July 1, 1944.
Carell 1966: 66, 330, 350; Carell 1971: 309, 597; Keilig: 226; F. W. Kueppers, Taten und Schicksal der mittelrheinisch-hessisch-saarpfälzischen 197. InfanterieDivision (1969); Tessin, Vol. 7: 281–82; RA: 188; OB 42: 92; OB 43: 155; OB 44: 211; OB 45: 200.
198TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 305th Infantry Regiment, 308th Infantry Regiment, 326th Regiment, 235th Artillery
Regiment, 235th Reconnaissance Battalion, 235th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 235th Engineer
Battalion, 235th Signal Battalion, 235th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Konstanz, Wehrkreis V
Mobilized on December 1, 1939, in the Prague and Pilsen areas of Bohemia-Moravia, the 198th
consisted mainly of previously existing replacement-training units. It also incorporated the former
35th Landwehr Regiment, which included a large number of thirty-five to forty-five year-old men,
into its organization as the 326th Infantry Regiment in January 1940. The division was involved in the
invasion of Denmark and helped occupy the capital of Copenhagen on April 9, 1940. It was sent to
France in July of that year but did not see any action in the Western campaign. It was on occupation
duty in eastern France until March 1941, when it was ordered to Romania.
It took part in the invasion of Greece on April 5, 1941, and invaded Russia as a part of Army
Group South that summer. It fought west of the Dnieper, at Dnepropetrovsk, on the Mius, at Rostov,
and in the winter battles of 1941–42, during which it retreated back to the Mius. Two of its infantry
battalions had been disbanded due to casualties by mid-August 1941. It helped retake Rostov in the
summer of 1942, and fought in the Caucasus and Kuban campaigns of 1942–43. The division took part
in the capture of Novorossiysk, a major Russian naval base on the Black Sea, in the summer of 1942,
served in the rearguard of the 17th Army on the retreat back into the Kuban, and was involved in the
Siege of Novorossiysk, beginning shortly after the Russian amphibious landing there in February
1943. Later that year the 198th fought in battles of Isjum (June–July 1943), and Kharkov (August),
where it suffered heavy losses and was reduced to kampfgruppe strength. It also took part in the
retreat to the Dnieper (fall 1943). The 198th Infantry was encircled at Cherkassy in February 1944,
and although it managed to break out and escape, it suffered heavy losses in men and equipment.
After retreating into Romania, the division was pulled out of the line in March 1944, and was
reformed at Milowitz, using elements of the temporary Shadow Division Bohemia (Bohmen). It also
absorbed the 1432nd Fortress Infantry Battalion, the 8th Ships Cadre Battalion from the navy, part of
a security battalion, and assorted other remnants and odds and ends. Subsequently transferred to
Narbonne on the French Mediterranean coast, it faced the Allied invasion of southern France in
August 1944, and suffered heavy casualties once again in the withdrawal to the Vosges Mountains and
southern Alsace. Almost continuously engaged for seven months, the 198th was part of Himmler’s
abortive attempt to take Strasbourg in January 1945. By the end of the month it was down to a strength
of 6,891 men, about half its normal establishment. In March 1945, the division was crushed when the
Colmar bridgehead was overrun; however, remnants of the 198th managed to escape across the Rhine
and continued to serve on the Western Front until the end of the war a few weeks later. They
withdrew to the Necker, where they surrendered to the Americans.
The 198th’s divisional commanders included Major General/Lieutenant General Otto Röttig
(January 10, 1940), Colonel/Major General Albert Buck (April 10, 1942), Major General Ludwig
Muller (September 6, 1942), Colonel/Major General Hans-Joachim von Horn (February 5, 1943),
Major General Otto Richter (June 1, 1944), Lieutenant General Kurt Oppenländer (August 1, 1944),
Colonel Alfred Kuhnert (August 5, 1944), Richter (returned August 1944), Lieutenant Colonel Baron
von Finck (August 28, 1944), Colonel/Major General Schiel (September 3, 1944), Major General
Konrad Barde (January 18, 1945), and Lieutenant General Helmut Staedke (April 26, 1945).
Notes and S ources: Roettig was promoted to lieutenant general on June 1, 1941. Buck was promoted to major general on July 1, 1942. He was killed in action on
September 6, 1942. Horn was promoted to major general on April 1, 1943. He was relieved of his command on M ay 31, 1944, for submitting too honest a report. Otto
Richter was captured by the Allies on August 28, 1944. Baron von Finck was seriously injured in an accident in September. Schiel was promoted to major general on
October 1, 1944. He was apparently wounded on January 17, 1945.
Air University Files SRGG 1106 (c); Carell 1966: 31, 559–60; Carell 1971: 159, 186; Chant, Volume 14: 1914; Volume 17: 2274, 2277; Gerhard Graser, Zwischen
Kattegat und Kaukasus: Weg und Kämpfe der 198. Infanterie-Division, 1939–1945 (1961); Keilig: 281; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1147; Lexikon; M anstein:
488; Nafziger 2000: 193–94; Tessin, Vol. 7: 285–86; OB 43: 155; OB 45: 200–201; Ziemke 1959: 61.
199TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition (1943): 341st Infantry Regiment, 357th Infantry Regiment, 410th Infantry Regiment,
199th Artillery Regiment, 199th Reconnaissance Battalion, 199th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 199th
Engineer Battalion, 199th Signal Battalion, 199th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Goldap, Wehrkreis I
This division was formed in Norway on November 1, 1940, from previously mobilized Landwehr
(older age group) regiments and elements of the 69th, 163rd, 181st, 196th and 214th Infantry
Divisions. Apparently the 199th was judged unfit for prolonged combat because of the age of its men;
however, it was kept in existence as an occupation force. In late 1940, the division was sent to Oslo,
Norway, and from June 1941 to February 1945 was on garrison duty in the Narvik sector, in the
northern part of the country. Meanwhile, it was reorganized into a Type 44 (six grenadier battalion)
division. Earmarked for the Eastern Front, it was sent to Oslo in March 1945, and then to Denmark in
April. Part of the division fought against the Russians in Brandenburg; the rest of the 199th
surrendered to the Americans at Havelberg in May 1945.
Its commanders included Lieutenant General Hans von Kempski (November 1, 1940),
Colonel/Major General Wilhelm Raithel (April 1, 1942), Major General Walter Wissmath (August 1,
1943), and Lieutenant General Hellwig Luz (June 20, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Raithel was promoted to major general on April 1, 1942.
Keilig: 267; Kursietis: 157; Nafziger 2000: 195; Tessin, Vol. 7: 289–90; RA: 100; OB 42: 92–93; OB 43: 155; OB 45: 201.
200TH REPLACEMENT DIVISION
Composition: 201st Field Recruit Regiment, 202nd Field Recruit Regiment, 200th Artillery
Battalion, 200th Engineer Battalion
This division was formed in Poland on June 1, 1940, as part of an effort to recruit men from the East
for the German Army. It was dissolved on August 9, 1940, after the fall of France.
S ource: Nafziger 2000: 574.
201ST SECURITY DIVISION
Composition: 406th Grenadier Regiment, 601st Security Regiment, III/213rd Artillery Regiment,
466th Fusilier Company, 201st Ost Cavalry Squadron, 466th Engineer Company, 201st Signal
Company, 466th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Hanau, later FrankfurtamMain, Wehrkreis IX
This division began its existence as the 201st Replacement Brigade, which was formed at Fulda on
June 15, 1941. It included the 601st, 609th and 611th Infantry Replacement Regiments. The brigade
was sent to Poland in July 1941, and by the end of the year was engaged in sending march
(replacement) battalions to Army Group North. The headquarters itself was sent White Russia
(Belorussia), where it was redesignated 201st Security Brigade on February 5, 1942. Its mission was
to protect rear area installations and lines of communications for Army Group Center. It initially
included the 663rd and 824th Landesschützen Battalions. Later it added the 724th Secret Police
Group and several other Landesschützen battalions. It was upgraded to divisional status on June 1,
1942. Several other units were attached to the division at various times, although they were not
organic to it. These included Staff, 64th Special Purposes Security Regiment; at least five
independent security battalions; the 61st and 67th Panzer Platoons (equipped with captured Russian
tanks); and the 7th and 27th Field Gendarmerie Companies. In February 1943, the division was sent
to the front lines. Back in the rear area by April 1944, it nevertheless suffered heavy casualties near
Minsk, where the bulk of the 9th Army was destroyed. The Staff and small elements of the 201st
Security Division escaped to the north and spent the rest of the war in the rear area of Army Group
North (later Courland), in the Courland Pocket. By January 1945, the 201st Security was basically a
headquarters without any combat elements. It was disbanded shortly thereafter.
German signals troops lay a telephone line on the Western Front, 1940. Early in the war, almost every German combat division had a
signals battalion, although this was replaced by a signals company in many units later in the war.
The commanders of the 201st Replacement/Security Brigade/Division included Major General
Ernst Schellmann (June 17, 1941), Major General Eugen Demoll (April 10, 1942), Major
General/Lieutenant General Alfred Jacobi (May 20, 1942), Major General Martin Berg (October 13,
1944), and Colonel/Major General Anton Eberth (October 20, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Jacobi was promoted to lieutenant general on M arch 1, 1943. Eberth became a major general on January 30, 1945.
Carell 1971: 577–97; Keilig: 77; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume IV: 1897; Tessin, Vol. 8: 2–3; OB 43: 212; OB 45: 201.
203RD SECURITY (LATER INFANTRY) DIVISION
Composition: 608th Security Regiment, 613th Security Regiment, 930th Security Regiment, 507th
Artillery Battalion, 203rd Fusilier Company, 203rd Tank Destroyer Battalion (later Company), 203rd
Engineer Company, 203rd Signal Company, 1/203rd Ost Battalion, 2/203rd Ost Cavalry Troop,
203rd Ost Battery, 203rd Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Landsberg/Wartha, later Brandenburg, Wehrkreis III
This unit began its career was the 203rd Replacement Brigade, which was formed in Potsdam on
June 14, 1941. Initially it controlled the 603rd, 608th, and 613rd Infantry Replacement Regiments. In
July, it was transferred to the Generalgouvernement, where it headquartered at Kielce and performed
line of communications duties for Army Group Center. It was redesignated 203rd Security Brigade on
December 24, 1941, and was expanded into the 203rd Security Division on June 1, 1942. The
creation of this and other security divisions and brigades reflect the growing concern of the High
Command for the rear areas of their eastern armies, then plagued by partisan activity. (The 202nd and
204th Security Brigades, however, were never upgraded to divisions.) Still assigned to Army Group
Center, the 203rd protected rear area installations and conducted anti-partisan operations until the
summer of 1944, when it ended up on the front lines. It suffered heavy losses against the Soviet
summer offensive in July 1944. Nevertheless, it continued in action on the Eastern Front. It was
redesignated 203rd Infantry Division on October 21, 1944, and its security regiments became twobattalion grenadier regiments. Its artillery battalion was expanded into a regiment of four battalions.
The new division fought on the Narev (in the Lomza vicinity) and at Danzig, where it was smashed.
The remnants of the division joined 2nd Army on the Vistula, while the Staff retreated to the Hela
peninsula. It was still there when the war ended.
Commanders of the 203rd Replacement/Security/Infantry Brigade/Division were Major General
Gottfried Barton (June 18, 1941), Lieutenant General Rudolf Pilz (January 1, 1943), Lieutenant
General Max Horn (August 19, 1944), Lieutenant General Wilhelm Thomas (November 18, 1944),
and Major General Fritz Gaedicke (December 26, 1944–end).
Notes and S ources: Gaedicke was a POW in Russia until 1949.
Keilig: 257; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume IV: 1898; Kursietis: 157–58; Lexikon; Tessin, Vol. 8: 18–19; RA: 46; OB 43: 213; OB 45: 202.
205TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 335th Infantry Regiment, 353rd Infantry Regiment, 358th Infantry Regiment, 205th
Artillery Regiment, 205th Reconnaissance Company, 205th Anti-Tank Battalion, 205th Engineer
Battalion, 205th Signal Battalion, 205th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Ulm, Wehrkreis V
This Württemberg-Baden unit was activated as the 14th Landwehr Division on August 26, 1939.
Later, most of its older personnel were replaced by younger men. It was redesignated 205th Infantry
Division on January 1, 1940, and faced the French on the Maginot Line in June 1940. The 205th was
on garrison duty in France in 1941, but was hurriedly sent to the Russian Front after the Soviet winter
offensive began. With Army Group Center it held positions north of the Moscow-Smolensk Highway
against heavy Communist attacks. The 205th remained with the 9th Army, Army Group Center,
throughout 1942 and much of 1943, holding a sector near Yelikije-Luki. It was transferred to Army
Group North that autumn. Meanwhile, three of its grenadier battalions were so depleted by casualties
that they had to be disbanded. Their soldiers were transferred to other battalions within the division.
The 205th Infantry Division fought at Nevel, Polozh, and Dümberg and in the retreat to Latvia, and
proved to be an excellent defensive division in all its engagements. In Latvia in 1944, for example, it
held off five Soviet Guard divisions for four days, and destroyed forty-one enemy tanks in the
process. It was isolated in the Courland Pocket after the retreat through the Baltic States that fall. It
fought in the six battles of the Courland Pocket but remained isolated in western Latvia for the rest of
the war.
Its commanders included Major General/Lieutenant General Ernst Richter (August 26, 1939),
Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Paul Seyffardt (March 1, 1942), Colonel Edmund
Blaurock (July 15, 1943), Seyffardt (returned August 15, 1943), Colonel Ernst Michael (November 5,
1943), Major General/Lieutenant General Horst von Mellenthin (December 1, 1943), Colonel Ernst
Biehler (October 20, 1944), and Colonel/Major General Karl Giese (November 15, 1944–end).
Notes and S ources: Richter was promoted to lieutenant general on October 1, 1939. Seyffardt was promoted to major general on June 1, 1942, and to lieutenant
general on January 1, 1943. Horst von M ellenthin became a lieutenant general on July 1, 1944. Karl Giese reached the rank of major general on April 1, 1945.
Carell 1966: 385, 390; Hartmann: 24–25; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 121–22; Keilig: 34, 36, 107, 222; Lexikon; M ellenthin 1977: 140–41; M ehner, Vol. 11: 364; Tessin,
Vol. 8: 18–19; RA: 86; OB 42: 93; OB 43: 156; OB 45: 202.
206TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 301st Infantry Regiment, 312th Infantry Regiment, 413th Infantry Regiment, 206th
Artillery Regiment, 206th Reconnaissance Battalion, 206th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 206th Engineer
Battalion, 206th Signal Battalion, 206th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Insterburg, later Bialystok, Wehrkreis I
Formed on August 17, 1939, this East Prussian unit initially consisted of a high portion of older
(Landwehr) personnel. Later, an infusion of younger troops gave the division’s soldiery a normal age
distribution. It served in Poland in 1939, remained there as part of OKH’s eastern reserve in 1940,
was in East Prussia (1940–41) and was involved in the Russian campaign from the beginning. It
fought at Duenaberg, Velikije-Luka and Kalinin, and, along with the 26th Infantry Division, took
Rzhev on the Volga River between Moscow and Leningrad in October 1941; however, the division
was shattered by Russian counterattacks near Moscow from December 22, 1941 to January 4, 1942.
Later that month it was briefly surrounded, along with the XXIII Corps, south of Lake Volga.
In the spring of 1942, the 312th Infantry Regiment was disbanded, along with three infantry
battalions, and the 206th Tank Destroyer and 206th Reconnaissance Battalions were combined to
form a single schnelle battalion. The division remained with Army Group Center for the rest of its
existence, taking part in the defensive battles around Rzhev (1942–43), the Rzhev withdrawal in
March 1943, and the Battle of Smolensk (August 1943), among others. The 312th Grenadier Regiment
was reconstituted in April 1944 (from elements of the 52nd Security Division), but the other
grenadier regiments were reduced to two battalions each. As part of LIII Corps, 3rd Panzer Army, the
division was crushed by the massive Soviet summer offensive of 1944. Encircled at Vitebsk and
ordered to stay there by Adolf Hitler himself, the divisional commander, Lieutenant General Alfons
Hitter, ordered a breakout on his own responsibility. Only a few of the division’s 12,000 men
managed to escape, however; the division was overwhelmed and destroyed on June 28. General
Hitter was among those taken prisoner. On July 18, 1944, the demobilization office officially
declared the historic East Prussian 301st, 312th, and 413th Grenadier Regiments disbanded and the
206th Infantry Division dead.
Commanders of the 206th included: Major General Hugo Hoefl (August 26, 1939), Colonel Baron
Albrecht Digeon von Monteton (April 1942), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Alfons
Hitter (May 3, 1942), Colonel Carl Andre (July 13, 1943), and Hitter (returned July 15, 1943).
Notes and S ources: A few days before Hitter’s breakout attempt at Vitebsk, the rest of the LIII Corps also attempted to break out of the encirclement. Like the
206th Infantry, few of its men escaped. Hugo Hoefl was promoted to lieutenant general on July 1, 1941. Hitter was promoted to major general on August 1, 1942, and
to lieutenant general on M arch 1, 1943. He remained in Soviet prisons until 1955.
Carell 1966: 357, 360–62, 394; Carell 1971: 305, 309, 586, 597; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 64–65; Keilig: 143, 144; Kennedy: 74; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I:
1122; Lexikon; Nafziger 2000: 197–99; Ernst Payk, Die Geschichte der 206. Infanterie-Division, 1939–1944 (1952); Tessin, Vol. 8: 23–24; Seaton: 438–39; OB 43:
156; OB 44: 212; OB 45: 202–3.
207TH INFANTRY (LATER SECURITY) DIVISION
Composition (early 1942): 322nd Security Regiment, 374th Security Regiment, 207th Bicycle
Squadron, 207th Tank Destroyer Company, 207th Engineer Company, 207th Signal Company, 207th
Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Stargard, Wehrkreis II
Formed as an infantry division in the summer of 1939, the 207th fought in Poland, where it attacked
from Pomerania toward Danzig and played a major role in cutting the Polish corridor in the first week
of the war. At this time, it included the 322nd, 368th, and 374th Infantry Regiments. Not involved in
the French campaign (as it was part of OKH’s eastern reserve in Poland), the 207th was sent to the
Gross-Born Troop Maneuver Area in Pomerania and was converted to a security division in the
winter of 1940–41. It was stripped of one of its three infantry regiments (the 368th), its
reconnaissance battalion (which became a bicycle squadron [company]), and all its artillery. During
the Russian campaign the division performed line of communications and security operations for
Army Group North, although it did see action as a “mopping-up” unit, particularly in the Lake Ladoga
area. Meanwhile, it added the 821st Signal Battalion (December 1941) and the 207th Cavalry
Battalion (April 1942) to its establishment. It headquartered at Tartu, Estonia, for much of the 1941–
44 period.
The 207th Security was reorganized more like a combat division in the fall of 1942 and, by the end
of October, included the 374th Grenadier Regiment, the 94th Security Regiment (three battalions
each), the II Battalion/9th Police Regiment, the 207th Ost Cavalry Battalion, the 207th Panzer
Company (equipped with captured Russian tanks), and the 207th Artillery Battalion. In the spring of
1944, it added an artillery battalion (II/13th Luftwaffe Field Artillery Regiment) and the Staff, 207th
Artillery Regiment. The 207th Security Division was thrown into the main battle line against the
Russian offensive near Lake Peipus in April 1944 and suffered such heavy casualties by August that it
was at kampfgruppe strength and its 374th Regiment had to be disbanded. The division itself ceased
to exist as a combat unit in November 1944, when its combat elements were disbanded and their men
transferred to other commands. The division staff was assigned to 16th Army and sent to the northern
coast, where it became the 207th Special Purposes Division Staff (Div. Stab z.b.V. 207 ). Here it
performed security and rear area tasks until the end of the war. It surrendered on May 9, 1945.
The division’s commanders included Major General/Lieutenant General Karl von Tiedemann
(September 1, 1939), Major General/Lieutenant General Erich Hofmann (January 1, 1943), Major
General Count Bogislav von Schwerin (November 1943), Major General Martin Berg (September
17, 1944), and Major General Johannes-Oskar Brauer (January 28, 1945).
Notes and S ources: Tiedemann was promoted to lieutenant general on November 1, 1939. Hofmann became a lieutenant general on September 1, 1943. Bogislav von
Schwerin was killed in action at Dorpat on September 17, 1944.
Carell 1971: 260; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 67–68; Keilig: 346; Kennedy: 74 and M ap 7; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1122; Kursietis: 158; Lexikon; Tessin,
Vol. 8: 28–32; OB 42: 114; OB 43: 114; OB 45: 203.
208TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 309th Infantry Regiment, 337th Infantry Regiment, 338th Infantry Regiment, 208th
Artillery Regiment, 208th Reconnaissance Company, 208th Anti-Tank Battalion, 208th Engineer
Battalion, 208th Signal Battalion, 208th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Lübben, Wehrkreis III
This third-wave division was formed upon mobilization on August 26, 1939. It consisted mainly of
Prussian Landwehr (ages thirty-five to forty-five) in the beginning. It was lightly engaged in Poland
and France and remained in the Calais area of northern France and Belgium until December 1941.
During this time it incorporated a large number of young men into its ranks, and its age structure
became normal. Rushed to Russia in an emergency situation in the winter of 1941–42, it was initially
split up, with one infantry regiment going to the 4th Army and the remaining two joining the 9th Army.
The 208th was later reunited around Shisdra (near Orel) and remained on the Eastern Front for the
rest of the war. It fought at Kursk in July and August 1943, and suffered heavy losses in the northern
Ukraine. Three of its nine grenadier battalions had been destroyed or disbanded by August and the
rest of its units were seriously depleted by casualties. Although at kampfgruppe strength, the 208th
continued to fight at Kiev (October–November), Vinniza (December 1943–February 1944), and
Tarnopol (March 1944), and in the Hube Pocket (March–April 1944). It was fighting in southern
Poland in autumn 1944. The 208th later fought at Gorlice, in Slovakia and in Silesia, and ended the
war in the pocket near Hohenelbe-Turnau in May 1945. It went into Soviet captivity.
The divisional commanders of this unit were Major General/Lieutenant Generals Moritz Andreas
(August 26, 1939), Major General Hans-Karl von Scheele (December 13, 1941), Lieutenant General
Edgar Hielscher (September 28, 1942), Scheele (returned November 21, 1942), Colonel KarlWilhelm von Schlieben (February 1, 1943), Colonel Georg Zwade (April 1943), Colonel/Major
General/Lieutenant General Hans Piekendrock (June 22, 1943), Colonel Lothar Berger (March 30,
1945), and Piekendrock (April 6, 1945–end).
Notes and S ources: Andreas was promoted to lieutenant general on April 1, 1942. Piekendorck was promoted to major general on August 1, 1943, and to lieutenant
general on M arch 1, 1944. He was a Russian prisoner until 1955.
Carell 1966: 408–09, Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 69–70; Keilig: 11; Kennedy: 74; Nafziger 2000: 201–2; RA: 46; Tessin, Vol. 8: 33–34; OB 42: 92; OB 43: 156; OB 45:
203. Also see Heinz Hohne, Canaris, 1979, for the story of Lieutenant General Piekenbrock’s intelligence service career (hereafter cited as “Hohne 1979”).
209TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 304th Infantry Regiment, 394th Infantry Regiment, 414th Infantry Regiment, 209th
Artillery Regiment, 209th Reconnaissance Battalion, 209th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 209th Engineer
Battalion, 209th Signal Battalion, 209th Field Replacement Battalion , 209th Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Komotau, Wehrkreis IV
Organized upon mobilization on August 26, 1939, the 209th consisted of Saxon personnel from the
older age groups. Most of its men came from Landwehr Command Chemnitz (LandwehrKommandeur Chemnitz). The division was sent to the Saar (opposite the Maginot Line) in
September, but was sent back east in November, where it was part of Frontier Guard Sector Center in
what was formerly Poland. After the French campaign, it was disbanded on July 24, 1940. The Staffs,
304th and 394th Infantry Regiments, were used to form the Staffs, 304th and 394th Rifle (later Panzer
Grenadier) Regiments of the 2nd and 3rd Panzer Divisions, respectively. The Staff, 209th Artillery
Regiment became Staff, 88th Artillery (later Panzer Artillery) Regiment, 18th Panzer Division. One
of the division’s artillery battalions remained intact and joined the 18th Panzer, as did most of the
209th Engineer and 209th Signal Battalions.
The commanders of the 209th Infantry Division were Major General Hans Stengal (August 26,
1939) and Major General/Lieutenant General Wolf Schede (January 7, 1940).
Notes and S ources: The order disbanding the 209th was issued on July 24, 1940, and had been carried out by August 24. Schede was promoted to lieutenant general
on July 1, 1940.
Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 71; Keilig: 295; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1123; Nafziger 2000: 202; Tessin, Vol. 8: 39; RA: 72; OB 42: 94; OB 45: 204.
210TH INFANTRY DIVISION (COASTAL DEFENSE)
Composition (1942): 661st Fortress Battalion, 662nd Fortress Battalion, 663rd Fortress Battalion,
664th Fortress Battalion, 665th Fortress Battalion, 37th Army Coastal Defense Artillery Regiment
z.b.V. (with the 448th, 478th, 480th and 773rd Army Coastal Defense Artillery Battalions), 3./67th
Mountain Signal Battalion (later designated 210th Signal Company), 210th Divisional Supply Troops.
The 9th Motorcycle Battalion was attached later.
Home Station: Aschaffenburg, Wehrkreis IX
The divisional headquarters of the 210th was created in Kassel on July 7, 1942, and was sent to
Norway to assume control of five fortress battalions on the Arctic coast. The 388th Infantry Regiment
of the 214th Infantry Division was also attached to the 210th. It was soon sent to Lapland in northern
Finland/Russia and remained there until the Finnish capitulation in the fall of 1944. Its mission was to
prevent an Allied amphibious assault in the rear of the 20th Mountain Army. It took part in the retreat
back to Norway with the XIX Mountain Corps. Posted at Trondheim in central Norway (with Fortress
Brigade Lofoten attached), the 210th was still on coastal defense duty when the Third Reich fell.
Its commanders included Major General/Lieutenant General Karl Wintergerst (July 7, 1942),
Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Kurt Ebeling (February 1, 1944), and Lieutenant General
Karl Hernekampf (March 10, 1945).
Notes and S ources: Wintergerst was promoted to lieutenant general on April 1, 1943. Eberling was promoted to major general on April 1, 1942, and to lieutenant
general on April 1, 1943.
Keilig: 87, 373; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume IV: 1899; Lexikon; Nafziger 2000: 202–3; Tessin, Vol. 8: 43; OB 43: 158; OB 44: 214; OB 44b: 81; OB 45: 204;
Ziemke 1959; 230, 245, 303; Ziemke 1966: 399.
211TH INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION
Composition: 306th Infantry Regiment, 317th Infantry Regiment, 365th Infantry Regiment, 211th
Artillery Regiment, 211th Reconnaissance Battalion, 211th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 211th Engineer
Battalion, 211th Signal Battalion, 211th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Bonn, Wehrkreis VI; 1944: Cologne
Activated upon mobilization, this division was made up of Landwehr personnel from Cologne. It
was immediately sent to the Eifel (the German Ardennes) and remained there until the Wehrmacht
invaded France. It was in Brittany, France on occupation duty in 1941, where its personnel age
structure was made normal. In January 1942, it was sent to Russia, where the Soviet winter offensive
had created a major crisis, and held a sector near Bryansk from February 1942 to July 1943.
Meanwhile, three of its grenadier battalions were disbanded due to high casualties. It was involved in
heavy fighting at Kursk (July 1943), Dorogobusch (August–November), Nevel (December 1943),
Vitebsk (January–February 1944), at Kovel and in White Russia in the summer of 1944. The division
was pulled out of the line in late 1944 and was reformed as a Volksgrenadier unit on November 25,
but was back in action (at battle group strength) on the southern sector of the Eastern Front in January
1945. It participated in the Hungarian campaign and was in lower Austria when Germany
surrendered. Part of the division surrendered to the Americans and part went into Russian captivity.
The division’s commanders included Major General/Lieutenant General Kurt Renner (August 26,
1939), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Richard Müller (February 4, 1942), and
Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Heinrich Eckhardt (July 11, 1943–end).
Notes and S ources: Renner was promoted to lieutenant general on July 1, 1940. M üller was promoted to major general on M arch 1, 1942, and to lieutenant general
effective January 1, 1943. Eckhardt was promoted to major general on October 1, 1943, and to lieutenant general on April 1, 1944. Sources differ as to the exact day he
assumed command. One places it as late as July 17, 1943. Both Renner and M ueller were later killed in action on the Eastern Front.
Rudolf Grube, Unternehmen Erinnerung: Eine Chronik über den Weg ünd den Einsatz des Grenadier-Regiment 317 in der 211. Infanterie-Division, 1935–1945 (1961);
Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 72–73; Keilig: 77, 233, 273; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1145; Nafziger 2000: 205–6; Tessin, Vol. 8: 46–47; RA: 100; OB 42: 94;
OB 43: 157; OB 45: 204.
212TH INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION
Composition: 316th Infantry Regiment, 320th Infantry Regiment, 423rd Infantry Regiment, 212th
Artillery Regiment, 212th Bicycle Company, 212th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 212th Engineer
Battalion, 212th Signal Battalion, 212th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Neuberg, later Augsburg, Wehrkreis VII
Initially consisting of southern Bavarians from the older age groups, this division was mobilized on
August 26, 1939, and was on the Saar Front while the bulk of the German Army overran Poland in
1939. The next year it took part in the French campaign with the 16th Army. It was sent back to
Bavaria in July but was returned to France in March 1941, where it held a sector on the Channel
coast. Its older personnel were largely replaced by younger men before the 212th was sent to the
northern sector of the Russian Front in the winter of 1941–42. In November 1941, it joined Army
Group North, took part in the siege of Leningrad, and repulsed several heavy Soviet attacks in the
Second Battle of Lake Ladoga in early 1943. It defended a sector near Volchov from March 1943 to
January 1944, and suffered heavy casualties in the retreat through Lithuania in the summer of 1944.
A German artillery piece in action on the Eastern Front.
Completely shattered by autumn, the 212th was withdrawn to Poland and rebuilt as a
Volksgrenadier division with recruits from Upper Bavaria. (It officially became a Volksgrenadier
division on September 17.) Its new personnel were better than average for the fifth year of the war,
but the rebuilt 212th still had too high a proportion of seventeen-year-olds. The division returned to
action on the Western Front, fought at Trier and Echternach, and took heavy losses in the Battle of the
Bulge. It lost about 4,000 men in this operation in December 1944 and January 1945; the average rifle
company’s strength was reduced to twenty-five to thirty men. In February 1945, the 212th
Volksgrenadier was smashed by the U.S. 3rd Army in the West Wall battles but remained in action to
the end, resisting the Allied sweep through southern Germany and Franconia at the last. It surrendered
to the Americans near Baumholder in May 1945.
The division’s commanders included Major General Walter Friedrichs (August 26, 1939),
Lieutenant General Theodor Endres (September 15, 1939), Major General/Lieutenant General
Hellmuth Reymann (October 1, 1942), Colonel Herbert Wagner (June 30, 1943), Reymann (returned
August 11, 1943), Colonel/Major General Dr. Karl Koske (October 1, 1943), Major
General/Lieutenant General Franz Sensfuss (May 1, 1944), Major General Eugen Theilacker (January
1945), Sensfuss (February 1945), Major General Max Ulich (April 1, 1945), and Major General
Baron Jobst von Buddenbrock (April 21, 1945).
Notes and S ources: Reymann was promoted to lieutenant general on April 1, 1943. Karl Koske was promoted to major general on January 1, 1944. He was killed
during an Allied bomber attack on Vienna while he was home on leave, M ay 8, 1944. Sensfuss was promoted to lieutenant general on August 1, 1944.
Bradley et al., Vol. 2: 324–25; Carell 1971: 280; Cole 1965: 214, 507; “Frontnachweiser,” 15 December 1944; Keilig: 54, 322, 351; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume
I: 1147; Volume III: 1158; Lexikon; M acDonald 1973: 100, 105; M ehner, Vol. 12: 457; Tessin, Vol. 8: 52–53; RA: 116; OB 42: 94; OB 43: 158; OB 45: 205.
213TH INFANTRY (LATER SECURITY) DIVISION
Composition (1942): 53rd Landesschuetzen Regiment, 318th Reinforced Infantry Regiment, 254th
Reinforced Infantry Regiment, 703rd Wach (Guard) Battalion, I/213th Artillery Regiment, 213th
Cyclist Company, 213th Engineer Battalion, 213th Signal Company, 213th Cavalry Battalion, 213th
Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Bunzlau, Wehrkreis VIII
The 213th was formed as an infantry division in the Breslau area in June 1939, and included the
318th, 354th, and 406th Infantry Regiments and the 213th Artillery Regiment. Mobilized on August
26, it played a minor role in the Polish campaign and did not see action in France. In the winter of
1940–41 it was converted into a security division, losing two infantry regiments and three artillery
battalions in the process. It did, however, add the Staff, 57th Landesschützen (later Security)
Regiment. Officially designated 213th Security Division on March 15, 1941, it followed 6th Army
into the Ukraine in June and performed line of communications duties in the rear areas of Army
Groups South, B, Don, and South again, in July 1943. Elements of the division were on the front lines
as early as April 22, 1942, when one regiment was used to support the Italian “Celere” Infantry
Division on the southern sector of the Russian Front. In the fall of 1943, the entire division was on the
front line (half attached to the 75th Infantry Division and half to the 88th Infantry Division), where it
fought in the Battle of Kiev. Later the 213th Security suffered very heavy losses at Zhitomir
(November–December 1943), Vinniza (January-February 1944), and Kovel. It was nevertheless back
in action on the central sector in July 1944, after the bulk of the 4th and 9th Armies was encircled
near Minsk and Vitebsk. It was dissolved on September 17, 1944.
The 213th Security’s commanders included Major General/Lieutenant General Rene de l’Homme
de Courbiere (August 26, 1939) and Major General/Lieutenant General Alexander Goeschen (August
18, 1942–end).
Notes and S ources: Homme was promoted to lieutenant general on June 1, 1940. Goeschen was promoted to lieutenant general on August 1, 1943.
Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 77–78; Kennedy: 74 and M ap 7; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume II: 1359–60, 1374, 1387; Volume III: 4, 258, 1156; Tessin, Vol. 8: 62–
63; RA: 130; OB 42: 114; OB 43: 213; OB 44: 215; OB 45: 205.
214TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition (1940): 355th Infantry Regiment, 367th Infantry Regiment, 388th Infantry Regiment,
214th Artillery Regiment, 214th Reconnaissance Battalion, 214th Anti-Tank Battalion, 214th
Engineer Battalion, 214th Signal Battalion, 214th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Hanau, Wehrkreis IX
On August 26, 1939, this division was mobilized as part of the 3rd Wave. Its headquarters was the
former Staff, Landwehr Commander Hanua. It was made up of older personnel from the
FrankfurtamMain area. They served on the Saar Front in 1939 and took part in the Norwegian
campaign in 1940. Remaining in Scandinavia, its 388th Infantry Regiment (with the I/214th Artillery
Regiment and part of the engineer battalion) was transferred to the 210th Infantry Division in northern
Finland in September 1941. In February 1944, this two-regiment division was sent to the Eastern
Front and was with Army Group North in the retreat from Leningrad and in the Battle of the Narva.
The division was reorganized on February 13, 1944. It absorbed the Shadow Division Mielau’s
568th Grenadier Regiment, the 311th Reserve Grenadier Battalion, and a battalion of Mielau’s
artillery, as well as an artillery battalion from the defunct 255th Infantry Division. This left the 214th
Infantry Division with six grenadier battalions. In the spring of 1944, it was transferred to Poland,
where it fought as a part of Army Group North Ukraine at Kovel and on the Vistula in the autumn of
1944. It helped contain the Baranov Bridgehead in January 1945, where it was virtually destroyed.
The remnants of the 214th Infantry were sent back to Silesia, where they were disbanded in February.
Its men were sent to other units on the Eastern Front.
Commanders of the 214th included Major General/Lieutenant General Theodor Groppe (August
26, 1939), Major General/Lieutenant General Max Horn (January 30, 1940), Major General Carl
Wahle (January 1, 1944), Horn (February 15, 1944), and Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General
Harry von Kirchbach (March 28, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Groppe was promoted to lieutenant general on November 1, 1939. Horn was promoted to lieutenant general on October 1, 1941. Kirchbach was
promoted to major general on M ay 1, 1944, and to lieutenant general on November 9, 1944. He was captured when the Russians broke out of the Baranov Bridgehead
in late January 1945, and remained a Soviet prisoner until 1955. Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 79–80; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume IV: 1875, 1886; Kursietis: 160;
Nafziger 2000: 209–10; Tessin, Vol. 8: 65–66; RA: 144; OB 43: 158; OB 45: 206; Ziemke 1959: 85, 267.
215TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 380th Infantry Regiment, 390th Infantry Regiment, 435th Infantry Regiment, 215th
Artillery Regiment, 215th Reconnaissance Battalion, 215th Anti-Tank Battalion, 215th Engineer
Battalion, 215th Signal Battalion, 215th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Heilbronn, Wehrkreis V
Created upon mobilization in 1939, this third wave division consisted of older men from Baden
and Württemberg. Its headquarters was formed by the former Staff, Landwehr Commander Heilbronn.
Later its age structure was made normal by troop transfers. It played a minor part in the French
campaign and stayed in France until the first crisis developed on the Russian Front in November
1941. It fought in the Battle of the Volkhov south of Leningrad from December 1941 to March 1942,
and remained on the northern sector of the Eastern Front until the end of the war. It fought in the siege
of Leningrad, the Battle of Luga, the Battle of the Narva, the retreat through the Baltic States, and the
six battles of the Courland Pocket. During the course of 1943, three of its grenadier battalions were
disbanded and its tank destroyer and reconnaissance battalions were consolidated into a single
schnelle battalion. The division was cited for its conduct in the defeat of the Soviet attempts to
overrun the Courland Pocket in late 1944. The 215th was still in western Latvia until February 22,
1945, when it boarded ships and sailed to West Prussia. It fought at Tucheler Heide and Gotenhafen
(where it was largely destroyed) and then was sent to Swinemuende where, on April 6, 1945, it was
disbanded. The headquarters was used to form Staff, Infantry Division Theodor Koerner (the 3rd
RAD Division) and the other survivors of the 215th were transferred to the new unit. They fought
their final battle south of Berlin later that month and managed to surrender to the Americans in May
1945.
Its commanders were Major General/Lieutenant General Baptist Kniess (August 26, 1939) and
Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Bruno Frankewitz (November 12, 1942–end).
Notes and S ources: Gotenhafen is now Gdynia, Poland. Some sources list the date the 215th Infantry Division was dissolved as April 4, 1945. Kniess was promoted
to lieutenant general on July 1, 1940. Frankewitz was promoted to major general on January 1, 1943, and to lieutenant general on July 1, 1943. He later commanded
Infantry Division “Theodor Koerner.”
Carell 1966: 420–21, 423; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 97–98; Keilig: 94; Lexikon; M ehner, Vol. 12: 456; Hans M ehrle and Walter Schelm, Von den Kämpfen der 215.
Württembergisch-badischen Infanterie-Division (1954); Nafziger 2000: 210–11; Vivian Rowe, The Great Wall of France: The Triumph the Maginot Line, 1967: 273,
304 (hereafter cited as “Rowe”); Tessin, Vol. 8: 71–72; RA: 86; OB 42: 95; OB 43: 158; OB 44: 215; OB 45: 206; Konrad Zeller, Hans M ehrle and Theodor Glauner,
Weg und Sichicksal der 215. Württembergisch-badischen Infanterie-Division, 1936–1945: Eine Dokumentation in Bildern (1980).
216TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition (1939): 348th Infantry Regiment, 396th Infantry Regiment, 398th Infantry Regiment,
216th Artillery Regiment, 216th Reconnaissance Battalion, 216th Anti-Tank Battalion, 216th
Engineer Battalion, 216th Signal Battalion, 216th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Hameln, Wehrkreis XI
Made up of Landwehr personnel from Hanover, the lower Saxon 216th Infantry Division was
mobilized on August 26, 1939, and was sent to the Saar sector (opposite the Maginot Line) in
September. It was on the lower Rhine that winter and took part in the conquest of Belgium in May
1940. It was posted to Antwerp as an occupation force in June and held a sector of the English
Channel coast from July 1940 to December 1941. In the meantime, its age structure was made normal.
In late 1941 it was transferred to Russia. Part of the division was sent to the 2nd Panzer Army at
Bryansk, part to the 9th Army at Rzhev, and part to the 4th Army at Juchnov. On January 3, 1942, one
battle group was disembarking from the trains at Sukhinitchi—one of 4th Army’s main ammunition
dumps—when it was surrounded by the Soviet 10th Army. This force included the divisional
headquarters, one and a half battalions of the 396th Infantry Regiment and one battalion of the 348th
Infantry Regiment. With only 4,000 divisional troops and 1,000 supply troops and Soviet volunteers,
the 216th under divisional commander Lieutenant General Baron von und zu Gilsa held the town for
months against repeated enemy attacks in one of the most heroic stands of the war.
Later rescued, the division was reunited at Bryansk in July 1942. (Meanwhile, the division
suffered so many casualties that its 395th Grenadier Regiment was disbanded in June.) It remained
with Army Group Center, fought in the defensive battles of 1942, took part in the Rzhev withdrawal
(March 1943) and suffered very heavy losses at Kursk and Orel in July and August 1943. Again
heavily engaged in the winter of 1943–44, it took so many casualties at Bryansk and Gomel that it had
to be downgraded to a division group on November 17, 1943. This meant that it now had the status
and the combat strength of a regiment. Division Group 216 was attached to the 102nd Infantry
Division, which served on the Eastern Front until the end of the war. The divisional staff and the
staffs of the 348th Grenadier Regiment and the 216th Artillery Regiment were used to form the 272nd
Infantry Division.
The division’s commanders included Lieutenant Generals Hermann Boettcher (August 26, 1939),
Major General Kurt Himer (September 8, 1940), Major General/Lieutenant General Baron Werner
von und zu Gilsa (April 1, 1941), Colonel/Major General Friedrich-August Schack (May 7, 1943),
Major General Egon von Neindorff (October 5, 1943), and Major General Gustav Gihr (October 20,
1943).
Notes and S ources: Gilsa was promoted to lieutenant general on October 1, 1942. Schack was posted to major general on July 1, 1943.
Carell 1966: 411; Carell 1971: 26, 30; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 99–100; M artin Jenner, Die 216/272. niedersächsische Infanterie-Division, 1939–1945 (1964); Keilig:
239; Lexikon; M ehner, Vol. 6: 540; Nafziger 2000: 210–11; Seaton: 237; Tessin, Vol. 8: 77–79; OB 43: 159; OB 44: 216; OB 45: 206.
217TH INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION
Composition: 311th Infantry Regiment, 346th Infantry Regiment, 389th Infantry Regiment, 217th
Artillery Regiment, 217th Reconnaissance Battalion, 217th Anti-Tank Battalion, 217th Engineer
Battalion, 217th Signal Battalion, 217th Field Replacement Battalion, 217th Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Allenstein, later Ortelsburg, Wehrkreis I
The 217th Infantry was formed on August 17, 1939, and mobilized on August 26, 1939, from
Landwehr personnel in East Prussia. It crossed into Poland with the 3rd Army in September 1939 but
was not heavily engaged. It was part of OKH’s reserve in France (1940) but was not committed to
action. It returned to East Prussia in July 1940 and was in the initial invasion of Russia in June 1941,
but was mainly involved in coastal defense duties for Army Group North. Meanwhile, its age
structure was made normal. It took part in the sieges of Oranienburg (October 1941–April 1942) and
Leningrad (May 1942–February 1943) and later held a sector near Volchov (March–July 1943).
During the winter of 1942–43, three of its grenadier battalions had to be disbanded. Sent to the
southern sector of the Eastern Front in the fall of 1943, it suffered heavy losses in the battles around
Kiev. It was downgraded to Division Group 217 of Corps Detachment C on November 2, 1943, and
was subsequently destroyed at Brody in White Russia in July 1944.
Commanders of the 217th Infantry Division included Lieutenant General Richard Baltzer (August
26, 1939), Lieutenant General Friedrich Bayer (April 15, 1942), Major General/Lieutenant General
Otto Lasch (September 27, 1942), and Lieutenant General Walter Poppe (October 1943).
Notes and S ources: Sources differ as to the exact date Bayer assumed command. One places it as early as February 15, 1942; Keilig and Kursietis place it in April.
Lasch was promoted to lieutenant general on April 1, 1943.
Chant, Volume 14: 1914; Volume 15: 2057; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 101–2; Lange: 9–116; Keilig: 20, 23; Kennedy: 74 and M ap 7; Kursietis: 162; Nafziger 2000:
213–14; Seaton: 446–49; Tessin, Vol. 8: 82–83; RA: 20; OB 42: 96; OB 43: 159; OB 44: 216; OB 45: 207.
218TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 323rd Infantry Regiment, 386th Infantry Regiment, 397th Infantry Regiment, 218th
Artillery Regiment, 218th Reconnaissance Battalion, 218th Anti-Tank Battalion, 218th Engineer
Battalion, 218th Signal Battalion, 218th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Berlin-Spandau, Wehrkreis III; reportedly also Berlin-Ruhleben
This Berlin Landwehr division was mobilized in August 1939, and served in northern Poland
(1939) and France (1940), both in a secondary role. (In June 1940, it was on the upper Rhine with the
7th Army.) It was on occupation duty in Denmark from April 1941 to January 1942, during which its
age structure was made normal. Sent to Russia in February 1942, it fought in all the major campaigns
of Army Group North from then until the end of the war. From its arrival in Russia until the early
winter of 1942–43, elements of the division were attached to a variety of other units, and the entire
division was not reunited under its own headquarters until December 1943. Much of the 218th was
encircled at Kholm from January 28 to May 5, 1942, before being rescued. Elements of the division,
including the 218th Artillery Regiment, took part in the relief of the Kholm garrison that spring. The
397th Infantry Regiment, meanwhile, was with the II Corps in the Demjansk salient. Two of its
grenadier battalions were disbanded due to heavy casualties in June 1942, and a third was dissolved
shortly thereafter. After the siege of Leningrad was broken in late January 1944, the 218th Infantry
fought in the retreat across Estonia and was cited for distinguished conduct in the defense of the Saare
Island (Osel) in October 1944. The division was in remnants by November, and the 397th Grenadier
Regiment was disbanded the following month. The 218th nevertheless fought against the six Soviet
attempts to crush the Courland Pocket. It ended the war there in western Latvia and surrendered to the
Red Army on May 8, 1945.
Divisional commanders of this unit included Major General/Lieutenant General Baron Woldemar
Grote (August 26, 1939), Colonel/Major General Baron Horst von Uckermann (January 1, 1942),
Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Viktor Lang (March 20, 1942), Major General Ingo von
Collani (December 25, 1944), and Lieutenant General Werner Ranck (May 1, 1945).
Notes and S ources: Grote was promoted to lieutenant general on November 1, 1939. Uckermann was promoted to major general on February 1, 1942. Viktor Lang
was promoted to major general on July 1, 1942, and to lieutenant general on January 1, 1943.
Carell 1966: 435; Hartmann: 25; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 102–3; Keilig: 116, 268, 351; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1144; Volume II: 1358, 1368–69, 1375–
76, 1388–89; Volume III: 7, 260; Volume IV: 1888; Kursietis: 162; James Lucas, War on the Eastern Front, 1941–1945, (1979): 197, 200; Nafziger 2000: 214–15;
Tessin, Vol. 8: 88–89; RA: 46; OB 42: 96; OB 43: 159; OB 45: 207.
219TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 177th Grenadier Regiment, 493rd Grenadier Regiment, 604th Grenadier Regiment,
219th Fusilier Battalion
This division was activated in the Den Helder fortified area of the Netherlands on March 22, 1945.
Its staff was the former Staff, 88th Fortress Cadet Regiment. Its 177th Grenadier Regiment was the
former 822nd Georgia Battalion, its 493rd Grenadier Regiment was the former 803rd North Caucasus
Battalion, and its 604th Grenadier Regiment was the former 4th Ships Cadre Regiment. It also
included the 219th Fusilier Battalion, which was the former 6th Ships Cadre Battalion. Its formation
was not completed when the war ended. Part of the purpose of declaring it a division was to deceive
the Allies into thinking that it was larger than it actually was. It never received any artillery. It was in
OB Netherland’s reserve when Berlin fell.
S ources: Lexikon; Nafziger 2000:, 214; Tessin, Vol. 8: 93.
221ST INFANTRY (LATER SECURITY) DIVISION
Composition: 45th Landesschützen Regiment, 350th Reinforced Infantry Regiment, I/221st
Artillery Regiment, 701st Guard Battalion, I/8th Police Regiment, 1st Fusilier Battalion (Cyclist),
221st Tank Destroyer Company, 221st Engineer Company, 221st Signal Company, 221st Cavalry
Squadron (added in 1942), 221st Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Breslau, Wehrkreis VIII
Formed upon mobilization from Silesian personnel, the 221st Infantry Division included the 350th,
360th and 375th Infantry Regiments, the 221st Artillery Regiment, and the usual divisional troops. It
crossed into Poland in 1939, but was not heavily engaged. It remained in Poland until April 1940,
when it was sent to the Upper Rhine sector. As part of the German 7th Army, it may have been lightly
engaged in skirmishing against the Maginot Line in June 1940, although it was certainly not heavily
engaged. After a Christmas furlough in 1940, it returned to Wehrkreis VIII and began converting into a
security division, losing two of its infantry regiments, three of its four artillery battalions, and some of
its supporting units. Its 360th Infantry Regiment and II/221st Artillery Regiment formed the nucleus of
the 444th Security Division, and the 375th Infantry Regiment and III/221st Artillery Regiment made
up the core of the 454th Security Division. The 221st Security, meanwhile, also added several units
(see Composition). Assigned to line of communications duties on the central sector of the Russian
Front in 1941, elements of the division were involved in front-line combat as early as January 1942.
The 221st Security fought in the retreat from Moscow but was involved exclusively in security and
line of communications duties from April 1942 to September 1943. It fought against the Red Army at
Gomel in October, but was sent back to White Russia in November. It was smashed at Minsk on June
28, 1944, during the Russian summer offensive. The remnants of the 221st Security Division were
transferred to other security units.
The commanders of the division were Major General/Lieutenant Generals Johann Pflugbeil
(August 26, 1939), Major General/Lieutenant General Hubert Lendle (July 5, 1942), Major General
Karl Böttger (August 1, 1943), Lendle (returned September 5, 1943), Major General Count Bogislav
von Schwerin (March 1944), and Lendle (April 28, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Pflugbeil was promoted to lieutenant general on October 1, 1939. Lendle became a lieutenant general on June 1, 1943.
Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 105–6; Keilig: 43, 201; Kennedy: 74 and M ap 7; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1123, 1127; Volume II: 1356, 1369, 1374, 1387–88;
Volume III: 7,259,733, 1157; Volume IV: 1888–89; Nafziger 2000: 215–16; Tessin, Vol. 8: 103–4; RA: 130; OB 42: 114; OB 43: 214; OB 45: 208.
223RD INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 344th Infantry Regiment, 385th Infantry Regiment, 425th Infantry Regiment, 223rd
Artillery Regiment, 223rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 223rd Anti-Tank Battalion, 223rd Engineer
Battalion, 223rd Signal Battalion, 223rd Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Dresden, Wehrkreis IV
Created from older (Landwehr) personnel in August 1939, this Saxon division’s headquarters
came from the Staff, Landwehr Commandant Dresden. It was sent to the Saar Front in September. It
was on occupation duty in the Posen area of Wehrkreis XXI (formerly Podzun, Poland) until March
1940, when it was transferred to the 6th Army. The 223rd fought in Belgium and France in May 1940,
and remained in France (mainly in Bordeaux) until late 1941. During this period, the division
underwent massive personnel transfers and its age structure was made normal. Sent to Army Group
North in November 1941, it fought against the Soviet winter offensive of 1941–42, in the Siege of
Leningrad, and in the Battle of Lake Ladoga (August–September 1942). Two of its infantry battalions
were disbanded in June 1942, and a third was disbanded during the winter of 1942–43. Shifted to the
southern sector in the summer of 1943, it was heavily engaged from the outset. It fought at VelikijeLuki and Kharkov, and was virtually destroyed in the Battle of Kiev. It was dissolved on November
23, 1943, and most of its survivors were incorporated into the 275th Infantry Division.
The commanders of the 223rd Infantry Division were Major General/Lieutenant General PaulWilli Körner (August 26, 1939), Lieutenant General Rudolf Lüters (May 6, 1941), and
Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Christian Usinger (October 20, 1942).
Notes and S ources: Körner was promoted to lieutenant general on November 1, 1939. Usinger was promoted to major general on December 1, 1942, and to lieutenant
general on September 1, 1943. Hartmann: 26; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 107–8; Keilig: 352–53; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume II; Nafziger 2000: 216–17; Tessin,
Vol. 8: 110–11; RA: 72; OB 42: 96; OB 43: 57, 160; OB 45: 208.
225TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 333rd Infantry Regiment, 337th Infantry Regiment, 376th Infantry Regiment, 225th
Artillery Regiment, 225th Reconnaissance Battalion, 225th Anti-Tank Battalion, 225th Engineer
Battalion, 225th Signal Battalion, 225th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Hamburg, Wehrkreis X
This division was formed upon mobilization on August 26, 1939, from Landwehr personnel of the
Greater Hamburg area. It was immediately sent to Aachen on the west German frontier and first saw
action in 1940, when it was involved in the drive on Amsterdam. On occupation duty in Belgium and
France from 1940 until the end of 1941, it was one of several divisions hurriedly sent to the Russian
Front in January 1942. By this time its personnel age configuration had been made normal. It was
subordinated to Army Group North (later Courland), and except for a brief attachment to Army Group
Center in July 1944, it remained under this headquarters until the end of the war. The division
opposed the Russian winter offensive of 1941–42 and 1942–43, fought at Volchov, took part in the
siege of Leningrad, was heavily engaged in the Battle of Demyansk (November 1942–February 1943)
and on Lake Ilmen (March–May 1943). Meanwhile, its 333rd Grenadier Regiment was heavily
engaged in the Battle of the Oranienbaum Pocket, where it lost 448 men killed, 1,050 wounded, and
89 missing between May 1 and June 15, 1942. This regiment was disbanded in January 1943, but its
other units also suffered severe casualties. Meanwhile, the 225th Infantry Division absorbed much of
the defunct 9th Luftwaffe Field Division on February 20, 1944. The 225th was involved in the retreat
through the Baltic States in 1944 and fought in the six battles of the Courland Pocket (October 1944–
April 1945). By the beginning of these battles, it had lost five of its nine grenadier regiments due to
casualties. It ended the war in western Latvia (Courland).
Commanders of the 225th Infantry Division were Lieutenant General Ernst Schaumburg (August 26,
1939), Major General Friedrich-Karl von Wachter (July 1, 1940), Major General/Lieutenant General
Hans von Basse (June 1, 1941), and Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Ernst-Walther Risse
(September 25, 1942–end).
Notes and S ources: Hans von Basse was promoted to lieutenant general on April 1, 1942. He was relieved of his command on September 25,1942, and was dismissed
from the army for reasons not made clear. He obtained reinstatement in mid-1943 but he never held a field command. Risse was promoted to major general on
November 1, 1942, and to lieutenant general on January 1, 1943. He was a Russian POW until 1955.
Carell 1971: 287; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 109–10; Keilig: 22, 278; M ehner, Vol. 12: 454; Walter M iehe, Der Weg der 225. Infanterie-Division (1980); Nafziger 2000:
218–19; Tessin, Vol. 8: 117–18; RA: 160; OB 43: 160; OB 45: 209. Also see Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume II.
226TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 1040th Grenadier Regiment, 1041st Grenadier Regiment, 1042nd Grenadier
Regiment, 226th Artillery Regiment, 226th Fusilier Battalion, 226th Tank Destroyer Company, 226th
Engineer Battalion, 226th Signal Battalion, 226th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Wehrkreis VIII
The 226th was a 27th Wave division hastily formed in the Neuhammer Maneuver Area on June 26,
1944, just after the Normandy Front was on the verge of collapse. Its headquarters was the former
Staff, 111th Infantry Division, which had been destroyed at Sevastopol in April. Most of its personnel
were men on furlough from the Russian Front. They were rushed to France in August and fought in the
Battle of Le Havre, during which Paris’s ocean port fell to the Allies. In the subsequent withdrawal
northward, the 1041st Grenadier Regiment was virtually destroyed at Calais and the rest of the
division was surrounded at Dunkirk and remained there—at battle group strength—until the end of the
war. The fragment not at Dunkirk (including the Staff, 1041st Grenadier Regiment) was trapped in
Calais. The 226th Infantry was one of several units cut off in western France by the rapid Allied
advances in 1944, and continued to exist in complete isolation until Germany fell.
German horses being off-loaded in Norway, 1940. The belief that the German Wehrmacht was a highly motorized organization is a myth.
Of the approximately 140 divisions that fought in the French campaign of 1940, for example, only ten were armored, and a few others
were motorized; the vast majority were “marching” infantry. In its campaigns in the East, Germany used more than two million horses.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES
Its commanders included Lieutenant General Wolfgang von Kluge (July 6–September 9, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Wolfgang von Kluge was named Fortress Commander Dunkirk. He was the brother of Field M arshal Günther von Kluge, who knew of the antiHitler plot and who committed suicide near M etz on August 19, 1944. Because of this connection, he was relieved of his command. Rear Admiral Frisius then became
fortress commander. Because of his (Frisius’s) relatively low rank, the position of commander, 226th Infantry Division was apparently left vacant, leaving the admiral
as the ranking officer in the pocket.
Keilig: 174; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume IV: 1901; M ehner, Vol. 12: 454; Nafziger 2000: 220; RA: 130; OB 45: 209.
227TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 328th Infantry Regiment, 366th Infantry Regiment, 412th Infantry Regiment, 227th
Artillery Regiment, 227th Reconnaissance Battalion, 227th Anti-Tank Battalion, 227th Engineer
Battalion, 227th Signal Battalion, 227th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Düsseldorf, Wehrkreis VI
This Westphalian Landwehr division was mobilized at Krefeld on August 26, 1939. It was
immediately sent to the Eifel and remained there until the French campaign began. It fought in the
Netherlands and Belgium in 1940, and was stationed in northeastern France from July 1940 until
December 1941. Sent to Russia in late 1941, it fought on the northern sector of the Eastern Front from
then until almost the end of the war. The 227th took part in the Battle of Volchov, participated in the
Siege of Leningrad, suffered heavy casualties in the Battle of Lake Ladoga (August–September 1942),
and was encircled by the Soviet 2nd Strike and 67th armies in the next Battle of Lake Ladoga the
following January. The Westphalians managed to hedgehog, rally, and break-out of the pocket—a
testimony to their skill and toughness. Three of the division’s grenadier battalions, however, were so
badly mauled that they had to be disbanded. Their men, as was usually the case, were transferred to
other grenadier battalions in the division.
In 1944, the 227th Infantry Division sustained heavy losses in the Leningrad withdrawal and was in
heavy combat in the Courland Pocket in October 1944. Well below strength but a proven combat
division, the 227th Infantry was withdrawn from Russia by the German Navy and attached to the 2nd
Army, Army Group Vistula. It was cut off in northeastern Germany in the last campaign in the East
and was finally dissolved on March 27, 1945. The surviving men were incorporated into the 83rd
Infantry Division. They were on the Hela peninsula and surrendered to the Russians at the end of the
war. The divisional headquarters became the Staff, Baltic (Ostsee) Panzer Troop Unit on April 16,
1945.
The division’s leaders included Colonel/Major General Friedrich Zickwolff (August 26, 1939),
Major General Friedrich-Karl von Wachter (May 6, 1940), Zickwolff (July 1, 1940), Lieutenant
General Friedrich von Scotti (April 12, 1941), Lieutenant General Wilhelm Berlin (June 7, 1943),
and Colonel of Reserves/Major General of Reserves Maximilian Wengler (May 11, 1944–end).
Notes and S ources: The division was reorganized into a six grenadier battalion unit in mid-1944. The division headquarters was used to form the HQ of Panzer
Training Verbände Baltic Sea in April 1945. Zickwolff was promoted to major general on October 1, 1939. Wengler was promoted to major general of reserves in 1945.
He became commander of the 83rd Infantry Division on M arch 27 and was killed in action on April 26.
Carell 1971: 235, 250, 264; Chant, Volume 16: 2235; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 111–12; Keilig: 367; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume IV: 1898; Lexikon; Nafziger
2000: 221–22; Tessin, Vol. 8: 126–27; RA: 100; OB 43: 160–61; OB 45: 209–10.
228TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 325th Infantry Regiment, 356th Infantry Regiment, 400th Infantry Regiment, 228th
Artillery Regiment, 228th Reconnaissance Battalion, 228th Anti-Tank Battalion, 228th Engineer
Battalion, 228th Signal Battalion, 228th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Elbing, Wehrkreis I
The 228th Infantry Division was made up of East Prussians from the older age groups. Organized
in August 1939, it distinguished itself in northern Poland in September. The division was sent to
Warsaw in November and remained in Poland until May 1940, when it was transferred to the
Munsterlager Troop Maneuver Area; however, in September 1940 it was disbanded. The reason for
this action probably stemmed from the age of its soldiers. The divisional staff became Headquarters,
16th Motorized Infantry (later 16th Panzer) Division.
The 228th Infantry’s commanders were Major Generals Hans Suttner (August 26, 1939) and KarlUlrich Neumann-Neurode (March 1, 1940–end).
S ources: Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 113–14; Kennedy: 74 and M ap 7; Lexikon; Kursietis: 164; Nafziger 2000: 164; Tessin, Vol. 3: 131; RA: 20; OB 42: 97; OB 43:
161; OB 45: 210.
230TH INFANTRY DIVISION (COASTAL DEFENSE)
Composition (1942): 349th Grenadier Regiment, 859th Fortress Grenadier Regiment, 930th
Artillery Battalion, 930th Tank Destroyer Company, 930th Engineer Company (later Battalion), 930th
Signal Company, 930th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Wehrkreis VIII
This division was formed on April 15, 1942, from Coastal Defense Formation Alta in Norway. Its
mission was to control a number of miscellaneous coastal defense units under the Army of Norway.
The 230th remained in the northern part of that country until the end of the war. It surrendered on May
9, 1945. Except for an occasional air raid, it never saw combat.
Its commanders were Major General Otto Schönherr (April 15, 1942), Major General/Lieutenant
General Konrad Menkel (October 10, 1942), Lieutenant General Albrecht Baier (January 10, 1944),
Menkel (February 20, 1944), and Major General Bernhard Pampel umbennannt in Pamberg (October
1, 1944).
Notes and S ources: M enkel was promoted to lieutenant general on November 1, 1943.
Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume II: 1370; Volume III: 734; Volume IV: 1878; Lexikon; M ehner, Vol. 5: 331; Tessin, Vol. 8: 138; RA: 130; OB 45: 210.
231ST INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 302nd Infantry Regiment, 319th Infantry Regiment, 342nd Infantry Regiment, 231st
Artillery Regiment, 231st Reconnaissance Battalion, 231st Anti-Tank Battalion, 231st Signal
Battalion, 231st Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Nuremberg, Wehrkreis XIII
Created upon mobilization in August 1939, from Landwehr personnel in the Nuremberg area, this
division helped man the Saar Front opposite France while the German Army conquered Poland in
1939. After Warsaw fell, the division was sent to Poland, where it formed part of Frontier Guard
Command South. Its mission was to delay the Soviets if Stalin attacked while the main German
armies were engaged in the West. This, of course, did not happen. On July 31, 1940, after the French
surrendered, the 231st Infantry Division was disbanded. Its men, who were from the older age
groups, were either transferred to other units or sent home. The 231st was never involved in active
campaigning.
Major General Hans Schönhärl commanded it throughout its existence.
S ources: Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 114; Keilig: 309; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1123; Tessin, Vol. 8: 142–43; RA: 204; OB 43: 161; OB 45: 210.
232ND INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 1043rd Grenadier Regiment, 1044th Grenadier Regiment, 1045th Grenadier
Regiment, 232nd Artillery Regiment, 232nd Fusilier Battalion, 232nd Tank Destroyer Battalion,
232nd Engineer Battalion, 232nd Signal Battalion, 232nd Field Replacement Battalion, 232nd
Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Friedberg, Wehrkreis IX
Activated on June 26, 1944, in the Wildflecken Maneuver Area from older men and convalescents
en route back to the Russian Front, this static division was intended for rear-area duties only. Its Staff
and men came mainly from Shadow Division Wildflecken. It was originally sent to Genoa, Italy, but
was committed to combat southwest of Bologna in October and remained in action on the Italian Front
for the rest of the war. By February 1945, it was defending the Apennines as part of the LI Mountain
Corps, 10th Army, but was down to less than 2,600 effectives. On April 25 it was with Italian
Marshal Graziani’s Ligurian Army when it was cut off by the Americans. The 232nd was the only
division of that army to escape; however, a week later it also surrendered, along with the rest of the
remnants of Army Group C.
Its commander throughout its existence was Lieutenant General Baron Eccard von Gablenz.
S ources: Fisher: 428, 442, 506; Hartmann: 26; Keilig: 99; Tessin, Vol. 8: 147–48; RA: 144; OB 45: 210–11.
237TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 1046th Grenadier Regiment, 1047th Grenadier Regiment, 1048th Grenadier
Regiment, 237th Artillery Regiment, 237th Fusilier Battalion, 237th Tank Destroyer Company, 237th
Engineer Battalion, 237th Signal Battalion, 237th Field Replacement Battalion, 237th Divisional
Supply Troops
Home Station: Jermer, Wehrkreis XIII
This division consisted of men pulled off furlough and convalescents intercepted on their way from
the hospital to the Eastern Front. Activated in Bohemia on July 25, 1944, it was sent to Italy in
September, where it was assigned line of communications duties between Pola and Trieste. The
237th was a static division (i.e., it had very few motorized vehicles) and operated in the rear area for
most of the rest of the war, although it was involved in front-line fighting in Italy in March 1945. It
was transferred to the Balkans sector of the Eastern Front in the last weeks of the war and was there
when the surrender came. It surrendered to the Yugoslavs near Fiume in May 1945.
Its commanders were Major General/Lieutenant General Hans von Graevenitz (July 7, 1944) and
Colonel Karl Falkner (April 7, 1945).
Notes and S ources: Graevenitz was promoted to lieutenant general on August 1, 1944.
Keilig: 112; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume IV: 1903; Lexikon; Tessin, Vol. 8: 165; RA: 207; OB 45: 211.
239TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 327th Infantry Regiment, 372nd Infantry Regiment, 444th Infantry Regiment, 239th
Artillery Regiment, 239th Reconnaissance Battalion, 239th Engineer Battalion, 239th Signal
Battalion, 239th Field Replacement Battalion, 239th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Gleiwitz, later Diedenhofen, Wehrkreis VIII
The 239th was formed in Oppeln in the summer of 1939 and activated when Nazi Germany
mobilized for war on August 26, 1939. It was on the Polish-Slovakian border on September 17, 1939,
but apparently did not see any fighting. The infantry regiments did not receive their machine gun
companies until November 1941 and the division did not get its tank destroyer battalion until
December. It was sent to Army Group C (opposite the Maginot Line) in June 1940 but was only
lightly engaged. Posted to the Bohemia-Moravia region of the Protectorate (formerly Czechoslovakia)
in late 1940 and to Romania in May 1941, it crossed into Russia in July and took part in the battles in
the Ukraine. It was especially heavily engaged at Kharkov. The 239th was disbanded on January 1,
1942, because of the excessive age of its men and the casualties it suffered in Russia.
Its commander was Major General/Lieutenant General Ferdinand Neuling (1939–42).
Notes and S ources: Neuling was promoted to lieutenant general on December 1, 1940. The 239th Infantry Division was formed from Landwehr Command Oppeln.
Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 115–16; Keilig: 240; Kennedy: 74 and M ap 10; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1123; Tessin, Vol. 8: 171–72; RA: 130; OB 43: 161;
OB 45: 212.
DIVISION STAFF 240 Z.B.V.
Composition (May 1942): 82nd Infantry Division, 167th Infantry Division, 719th
Division, plus miscellaneous General Headquarters (GHQ) troops
Home Station: Bielefeld, Wehrkreis VI
This special purposes headquarters (z.b.V.= zur besondere Verwendung : “for
employment”) was formed on April 16, 1942 to control units under the Commander of
Troops in the Netherlands. As the reader can see from its composition, it was really
Infantry
special
German
a corps
headquarters. On June 15, 1942, it was formally upgraded to corps level and redesignated LXXXVIII
Corps.
Its only commander was Lieutenant General Joseph Lehmann.
S ources: Keilig: 200; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I, 1371, 1377; Tessin, Vol. 8: 176.
242ND INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition (1944): 765th Grenadier Regiment, 917th Grenadier Regiment, 918th Grenadier
Regiment, 242nd Artillery Regiment, 242nd Fusilier Battalion, 242nd Engineer Battalion, 242nd
Signal Battalion, 242nd Field Replacement Battalion, 242nd Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Stargard, later Wismer, Wehrkreis II
Formed on July 9, 1943 in the Gross-Born Maneuver Area in northeastern Germany, this static
division initially consisted of the 917th, 918th, and 919th Grenadier Regiments. Most of its troops
formerly served with the 298th Infantry Division in Russia or with depot units in Belgium. It had no
separate tank destroyer battalion, but each of its grenadier regiments had a Panzerjäger company. In
August it was transferred to Liege, Belgium, where it performed occupation and training duties. It
received its artillery units in September; they were equipped with captured Italian guns. Meanwhile,
the 919th Grenadier Regiment and an artillery battalion were transferred to the 709th Infantry
Division at Cherbourg in late September. The 242nd itself was soon sent to southern France and spent
the rest of its career on the Mediterranean coast. Late October 1943, it incorporated the 765th
Grenadier Regiment from the 376th Infantry Division into its ranks.
Later, in April 1944, it was given three battalions of Eastern ( Ost) troops. On August 15, 1944,
American troops began the invasion of southern France, and the 242nd was soon heavily engaged.
The next day Army Group G began its retreat but ordered the 242nd to stay behind and defend Toulon
to the end. Ten days later (August 26), the divisional commander, Lieutenant General Johannes
Bässler, surrendered the remnants of the 242nd to the Allies. One reason the division was sacrificed
was its lack of transport. It might not have been able to escape Allied armored and motorized
formations even if it had been allowed to withdraw. As things worked out, it provided other elements
of Army Group G with an opportunity to escape. Part of the division staff did evade the Americans
and was assigned to the Staff, 189th Infantry Division.
Notes and S ources: Bässler commanded the 242nd Infantry Division throughout its existence. He was wounded in Toulon and died of his wounds on November 9,
1944. He had been promoted to lieutenant general on February 1, 1944.
Chant, Volume 14: 1918–21, 1928, 1945; Harrison: M ap VI; Keilig: 18; Lexikon; Ruge: 65; Tessin, Vol. 8: 182–83; RA: 32; OB 44b: D85; OB 45: 212.
243RD INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 920th Grenadier Regiment, 921st Grenadier Regiment, 922nd Grenadier Regiment,
243rd Artillery Regiment, 243rd Fusilier Battalion, 243rd Tank Destroyer Battalion, 243rd Engineer
Battalion, 243rd Signal Battalion, 243rd Field Replacement Battalion, 243rd Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Wehrkreis XVII
In June and July 1943, this unit was created as Division “B” in the Doellersheim Troop Maneuver
Area in northeastern Austria. It became the 243rd Infantry Division on July 9. Its artillery regiment
had only three battalions, and all of these were equipped with captured Soviet guns. It was sent to
Brittany in October but was still not up to strength on D-Day. As of January 1944, one of its three
regiments was equipped with horse-drawn vehicles, one was outfitted with bicycles, and the third
was motorized, but not completely formed. All of its regiments had two battalions each and some of
these had sent companies to the Eastern Front. The 243rd was in combat from the beginning, covering
a sector on the western Cotentin peninsula. Its capable divisional commander, Lieutenant General
Heinz Hellmich, was killed by a fighter-bomber on June 17. Under almost constant ground attack and
air and naval bombardment, the 243rd was down to battle group strength by June 20. Most of the
division was destroyed in the Battle of Cherbourg later that month. Remnants of the 243rd, however,
managed to escape to the south, join the rest of Army Group B, and continue fighting against the
American advance on St. Lo. By late July SS General Hausser, the commander of the German 7th
Army, listed the division as practically destroyed. It was temporarily combined with the remnants of
the 91st Air Landing Division and fought the hedgerow battles of the western Cotentin. In August, the
few survivors of the 243rd were finally pulled out of the line and sent to the Somme River–St.
Quentin area to rest and rehabilitate; the division itself was disbanded on September 12 and its troops
sent to other commands.
The commanders of the 243rd were Major General Hermann von Witzleben (August 1, 1943),
Lieutenant General Heinz Hellmich (January 10, 1944), and Colonel Bernhard Klosterkemper (June
17, 1944).
S ources: Blumenson 1960: 72–76, 442, 582; Carell 1973: 186; Chant, Volume 14: 1850; Keilig: 134, 173, 375; Nafziger 2000: 228–29; Tessin, Vol. 8: 186–87; RA:
220; OB 45: 212.
244TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 932nd Grenadier Regiment, 933rd Grenadier Regiment, 934th Grenadier Regiment,
244th Artillery Regiment, 244th Fusilier Battalion, 244th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 244th Engineer
Battalion, 244th Signal Battalion, 244th Field Replacement Battalion, 244th Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Bischofsburg, Wehrkreis I
Activated in Antwerp, Belgium on September 8, 1943, this static division was soon transferred to
the French Mediterranean coast, where it formed the garrison for the city of Marseilles. Many of its
men came from the 39th Infantry Division, which had been destroyed on the Russian Front. When the
Americans landed in southern France on August 15, 1944, divisional commander Lieutenant General
Hans Schaeffer was ordered to defend the city until the end. The siege of Marseilles began the next
day and ended on August 28. The 244th Infantry Division was completely destroyed.
The commanders of the 244th were were Lieutenant General Martin Gilbert (September 1, 1943)
and Schaeffer (April 14, 1944).
Notes and S ources: The 244th was originally designated Division “E.”
Air University Files, SRGG-1108; Chant, Volume 14: 1928,1945; Harrison: M ap VI; Keilig: 293; Lexikon; Tessin, Vol. 8: 190; RA: 20; OB 45: 218.
245TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 935th Grenadier Regiment, 936th Grenadier Regiment, 937th Grenadier Regiment,
245th Artillery Regiment, 245th Fusilier Battalion, 245th Tank Destroyer Battalion (added July
1944), 245th Engineer Battalion, 245th Signal Battalion, 245th Field Replacement Battalion, 245th
Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Mülhausen, Alsace, Wehrkreis V
Formed in Rouen, France in August and September 1943, and activated on September 8, most of its
men came from Division “D,” which had been formed in June 1943. The 245th was a static division.
Stationed near Fecamp, northern France (on the English Channel), it remained idle during the
Normandy campaign but was heavily engaged as the Allies drove on the Low Countries. In September
1944, it opposed Montgomery’s abortive effort to take Arnhem. From October 2 to November 8, it
fought in the Battle of the Scheldt as part of 15th Army. Briefly withdrawn to refit, it was back in
action against the U.S. 3rd Army before the end of the year. Later it was engaged in northern Alsace
and was in OB West reserve on March 1, 1945. Sent to northern Germany to rebuild, it surrendered to
the British in Schleswig-Holstein at the end of the war.
Its commanders were Lieutenant General Erwin Sander (September 8, 1943) and Major General
Kuno Dewitz (April 1, 1945).
Notes and S ources: The men of Division “D” came primarily from the 323rd Infantry Division, which had been smashed on the Russian Front in 1943.
Cole 1950: 521; Harrison: M ap VI; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1147–48; Volume IV: 1900; M acDonald 1963: 125, 216–17; Tessin, Vol. 8: 193–94; RA: 86;
OB 45: 213.
246TH INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION
Composition (1941): 313th Infantry Regiment, 352nd Infantry Regiment, 404th Infantry Regiment,
246th Artillery Regiment, 246th Reconnaissance Company (later Battalion), 246th Anti-Tank (later
Tank Destroyer) Battalion, 246th Engineer Battalion, 246th Signal Battalion, 246th Field
Replacement Battalion, 246th Divisional Supply Troops
A tired and sweaty German infantryman in the Balkans, 1941.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES
Home Station: Worms, Wehrkreis XII; later Trier (Luxembourg), Wehrkreis XII
The 246th Infantry—a third-wave Hessian unit—was mobilized on August 26, 1939, and served on
the Saar Front (1939–40). It fought in France in May and June 1940, when it attacked the Maginot
Line with some success. After the fall of Paris, it was on garrison duty in northwestern France until
late December 1941, when it left for the Russian Front. Prior to its departure it exchanged the 313th
Infantry Regiment for the 689th Infantry Regiment of the 337th Infantry Division. The 246th fought on
the central sector of the Eastern Front against the Soviet winter offensive of 1941–42, where it held
back large parts of the Russian 22nd Army at Belyy (Bjeloje) on the northern flank of Army Group
Center. Later it was engaged in the Rzhev salient (1942–43), in the Rzhev withdrawal (March 1943),
at Yelnja (1943), in the Battle of Smolensk (September 1943), at Vitebsk (1943–44), and against the
huge Soviet summer offensive of 1944, in which Army Group Center was overwhelmed. The 246th
Infantry, which was down to battle group strength as early as October 1943, was encircled and
destroyed at Vitebsk in late June 1944.
A second 246th was formed in Prague as a Volksgrenadier division on September 15, 1944. It
included former Luftwaffe personnel, a few survivors of the original division, and men formerly
assigned to the 565th Grenadier Division, which it absorbed. The 246th Volksgrenadier Division
included the 352nd, 404th, and 689th Grenadier Regiments, as well as the 246th Artillery Regiment,
the 246th Fusilier Company, and the 246th Tank Destroyer, Engineer and Signal Battalions. It was
sent into action in western France in late September. It was at nearly full strength (it had 8,000 of its
authorized 10,000 soldiers) when it relieved the 116th Panzer Division at Aachen on October 7. Two
weeks of heavy fighting later, its commander, Colonel Gerhard Wilck, surrendered the city, a large
segment of the division, and most of the garrison to the Americans. The remnants of the 246th were
reformed under Colonel Peter Korte and absorbed the remnants of the defunct 49th Infantry Division
and several independent battalions, which brought its strength to 11,141.
Again sent into action east of Aachen in November, it was scheduled to take part in the Battle of
the Bulge but was so heavily engaged in the Battle of the Huertgen Forest that the plan was cancelled.
By the end of November, not one of its eight infantry battalions had 100 survivors, but the U.S. units
that attacked it were also decimated. Taken out of the line, the 246th Volksgrenadier incorporated a
sizable number of Luftwaffe replacements into its ranks and was hurriedly thrown back into action on
the Western Front due to Allied pressure. It was in battle east of Monschau in January 1945, as part
of the 5th Panzer Army, but was sent to the 7th Army the next month after Patton’s breakthrough at
Pruem. By March, the 246th was fighting in the Eifel area and was only one of the two divisions in
7th Army that was considered to be in reasonably good shape by 1945 standards. It ended the war on
the southern sector of the Western Front and surrendered to the Americans near FrankfurtamMain in
May 1945.
Commanders of the 246th Infantry/Volksgrenadier Division included Major General/Lieutenant
General Erich Denecke (August 26, 1939), Major General Maximilian Siry (December 13, 1941),
Major General Konrad von Alberti (May 16, 1943), Colonel Heinz Fiebig (September 12, 1943),
Colonel/Major General Wilhelm Falley (October 5, 1943), Major General Claus Mueller-Bülow
(June 27, 1944), Colonel Gerhard Wilck (August 1944–October 21, 1944), Colonel/Major General
Peter Körte (November 1944), Colonel List (January 1, 1945), Colonel/Major General Dr. Walter
Kühn (January 2, 1945), and Colonel Emil Heinrich Rentschler (April 1, 1945).
Notes and S ources: Denecke was promoted to lieutenant general on December 1, 1939. Siry was promoted to lieutenant general on January 1, 1943. Falley became a
major general on December 1, 1943. General M ueller-Bülow was captured at Vitebsk on June 27, 1944. Colonel Wilck was captured in Aachen on or about October 21,
1944. Körte was promoted to major general on January 1, 1945 and reported himself ill the following day. He was still ill when the British captured him in a Hamburg
hospital on M ay 5, 1945. He died in early 1947. Dr. Kühn was promoted to major general on January 30, 1945.
Bradley et al., Vol. 7: 74–75; Carell 1966: 385, 391; Carell 1971: 309, 584–96; Cole 1965: 87; Hartmann: 26; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 117–18; Keilig: 178;
Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1147; M acDonald 1973: 115, 198; Rowe: 273; Tessin, Vol. 8: 197–98; OB 43: 162; OB 45: 213–14; Charles Whiting, Bloody
Aachen, 1976.
249TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: See below.
This division was activated on March 22, 1945, in the Hoek van Holland sector on the Dutch coast,
after it was declared a fortress by Adolf Hitler. The division included the 197th Grenadier Regiment
(formerly the II/31st Parachute Regiment) and the 623rd Grenadier Regiment (formerly IV/31st
Parachute Regiment). The division was authorized to form the 709th Grenadier Regiment but
apparently never did so, probably due to a lack of troops. The 249th Infantry also controlled the 249th
Fusilier and 949th Tank Destroyer Battalions, so it actually had the strength of a weak regiment. It
was designated a division in an attempt to deceive the Allies into thinking that it was stronger than it
actually was. Who commanded it is not mentioned in the records. It surrendered to the Western Allies
in May 1945.
Notes and S ources: The divisional supply troops also bore the number 249.
Lexikon; Mehner, Vol. 12: 454; Nafziger 2000: 231; Tessin, Vol. 8: 207.
250TH INFANTRY DIVISION (SPANISCHE)
Composition: 262nd Infantry Regiment (span.), 263rd Infantry Regiment (span.), 269th Infantry
Regiment (span.), 250th Artillery Regiment (span.), 250th Reconnaissance (later Fusilier) Battalion
(span.), 250th Tank Destroyer Battalion (span.), 250th Engineer Battalion (span.), 250th Signal
Battalion (span.), 250th Field Replacement Battalion (span.), 250th Divisional Supply Troops (span.)
Home Station: Hof, Wehrkreis XIII, and Spain
This division consisted of Spanish soldiers who volunteered to fight for Germany against the
communists. It was 14,000 strong when it was mustered in at the Grafenwoehr Troop Maneuver Area
in July 20, 1941. Quickly sent into action at Novgorod on the northern sector of the Russian Front, the
so-called “Blue Division” fought very well in all of its engagements. In the Novgorod–Leningrad–
Lake Ilmen battles of late 1941–early 1942, the Spanish Fascist volunteers played a major role in
turning back the Russian winter offensive in the northern sector but lost 8,000 men killed, wounded,
captured, or incapacitated by frostbite. After receiving replacements from Spain, it continued in
action with Army Group North, fought at Volchov, and lost another 3,200 men in the Second Battle of
Lake Ladoga in January and February 1943. Here its Fusilier battalion lost 90 percent of its soldiers,
but the division again held its positions against massive Soviet attacks. The 250th continued to serve
in northern Russia and in the siege of Leningrad until October 1943. At that time Spanish dictator
Franco requested that the division be returned to Spain; however, about half of its veteran warriors
volunteered for service in the Waffen-SS and continued to fight against the Russians until the end of
the war. The Blue Division was officially disbanded on October 20, 1943.
Its commanders were General of Division Munoz Grandes (July 1941) and General of Division
Emilo Esteban-Infantes (spring 1942), both of whom were Spanish officers.
Notes and S ources: Carell 1966: 421; Carell 1971: 278–80; Chant, Volume 4: 520; Emilio Esteban-Infantes, Die Blaue Division (1958); Hartmann: 27; M ehner, Vol.
4: 379; OB 43: 162; OB 44; 221; OB 45: 214; Ziemke 1966: 265. Also see Salisbury.
251ST INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION
Composition: 451st Infantry Regiment, 459th Infantry Regiment, 471st Infantry Regiment, 251st
Artillery Regiment, 251st Reconnaissance Battalion, 251st Anti-Tank (later Tank Destroyer)
Battalion, 251st Engineer Battalion, 251st Signal Battalion, 251st Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Eisenach, later Fulda, Wehrkreis IX
The 251st was a 4th Wave division activated in Hersfeld on August 26, 1939, from men already
serving in reserve units. It was sent to the Eifel sector (the German Ardennes) the following month.
Except for a drive through Belgium with Army Group B in 1940, it spent its entire combat career on
the Eastern Front, where it served on the central sector and was almost continuously in the line from
mid-1941 until November 1943. During these years, it took part in the drive on Moscow (1941),
(including the battles of Dünaburg, Nevel, and Kalinin), the defensive battles of the Rzhev salient
(1942–43), the Rzhev withdrawal (1943), the Battle of Kursk (1943), and the middle Dnieper
withdrawal (1943). It was so reduced by casualties in the Desna retreat and in the Battle of Gomel
that it only had the strength of a regiment. It was then withdrawn from the front, downgraded to
Division Group 251 (effective November 2, 1943), and was assigned to Corps Detachment E, which
included the former 86th, 137th, and 251st Infantry Divisions.
A new 251st Infantry Division was created from Corps Detachment E on September 27, 1944. It
included the 184th Grenadier Regiment (formerly Division Group 86), the 448th Grenadier Regiment
(formerly Division Group 137) and the 451st Grenadier Regiment (formerly Division Group 251)—
all with two grenadier battalions each. It also included the 251st (formerly 186th) Artillery Regiment
and the 251st Reconnaissance, Engineer, Tank Destroyer, and Signal Battalions. The 251st was
immediately sent to Poland, where it defended the Warka Bridgehead west of the Vistula (near
Warsaw) against the Red Army from October 1944 to January 1945. It took part in the withdrawals
from the Vistula, Poland, and East Prussia, and was crushed near Warka, Poland, in January 1945,
when the Soviets broke out of the bridgehead there. The remnants of the 251st were in Swinemünde,
West Prussia on March 4, 1945. On that day, the 251st Infantry Division and its Staff were used to
form the 2nd RAD (Reich Labor Service) Division “Friedrich Ludwig Jahn.” The 251st ceased to
exist.
The division, which had earned special distinction as a defensive fighting force, was commanded
by Lieutenant General Hans Kratzert (assumed command August 26, 1939), Major General/Lieutenant
General Karl Burdach (August 6, 1941), Major General/Lieutenant General Maximilian Felzmann
(March 10, 1943), Colonel Eugen König (April 1943), Felzmann (April 1943–November 15, 1943),
and Major General Werner Heucke (October 10, 1944–March 4, 1945).
Notes and S ources: The 251st Infantry Division spent June 1940 in Lille, France, and the period July 1940 to April 1941 in Brittany. It was sent to East Prussia in
M ay 1941. Corps Detachment E fought in the Pripjet marshes, at Gomel, in the retreat to the Vistula and the successful counteroffensive at Warsaw. Burdach was
promoted to lieutenant general on November 1, 1942. As commander of Corps Detachment E, Felzmann was promoted to lieutenant general on December 1, 1943.
Heucke commanded Corps Detachment E in the fall of 1944.
Carell 1966: 359; Carell 1971: 309; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 125–27; Keilig: 139; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1122; Nafziger 2000: 235–36; Tessin, Vol. 8:
212–13; RA: 144; OB 42: 98; OB 43: 162; OB 44: 221; OB 45: 214.
252ND INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition (1941): 452nd Infantry Regiment, 461st Infantry Regiment, 472nd Infantry Regiment,
252nd Artillery Regiment, 252nd Reconnaissance Battalion, 252nd Tank Destroyer Battalion, 252nd
Engineer Battalion, 252nd Signal Battalion, 252nd Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Jauer, later Schweidnitz, Wehrkreis VIII
This 4th Wave division was formed from Silesians already serving in reserve units on August 26,
1939. It served in northern Poland later that year (although only in a secondary role), on the Saar
Front in 1939–40, and in France in 1940, where it distinguished itself in the successful attack on the
Maginot Line. Sent back to Poland in July 1940, it took part in the invasion of Russia in 1941, and
was more or less continuously engaged on the Eastern Front for the rest of the war. It fought at
Bialystok, Vyasma, and the Battle of Moscow, along others. On November 11, 1941, the 452nd
Infantry Regiment was disbanded, but the division simultaneously incorporated the 7th Infantry
Regiment from the 28th Infantry Division into its table of organization.
From January 1942 to January 1943, the 252nd held a sector near Gshatsk, and from February to
October 1943 defended around Yelnja. On August 6, 1943, the 252nd Infantry Division was attacked
by nine Soviet divisions and two armored brigades. The Reds fired 50,000 shells into the divisional
sector (or more than five shells for each German soldier) in 2.5 hours. They only achieved local
penetrations. The men of the 7th Infantry Regiment alone counted 3,000 dead Russians in its sector.
Almost 100 Soviet tanks were destroyed by the division. German losses were also high. Between
August 6 and the end of 1943, the 7th Infantry Regiment lost thirty-seven of its forty officers killed or
wounded, and all three of its battalion commanders were killed in action.
The division was transferred north to the 3rd Panzer Army in November 1943, and fought at Nevel
that spring. On April 4, 1944, the division underwent a massive reorganization. All of its original
infantry units were consolidated under Staff, 7th Grenadier Regiment, and the 461st and 472nd
Grenadier Regiments were disbanded. It also received the 70th Grenadier Regiment (the remnants of
the 73rd Infantry Division) and the 544th Grenadier Regiment (the remnants of the 389th Infantry
Division). The 252nd Artillery Regiment and the 252nd Fusilier Battalion also absorbed the artillery
and reconnaissance troops of the defunct 73rd and 389th Infantry Divisions. Thus reinforced, the
252nd faced the Russian summer offensive of 1944. Here it escaped after desperate fighting against
vastly superior Soviet tank and mechanized formations. The High Command officially commended the
division for its conduct during this operation. Meanwhile, in July 1944, the grenadier regiments were
renumbered 7, 461, and 472. Later, the 252nd Infantry Division took part in the retreat across
Lithuania, Poland, and East Prussia. It was finally smashed at Danzig in late March and ended the war
on the Hela peninsula in East Prussia. It surrendered to the Soviets on May 8, 1945.
The commanders of the 252nd Infantry Division were Lieutenant General Diether von BöhmBezing (August 26, 1939), Colonel/Major General Hans Schaefer (February 5, 1942), Colonel/Major
General/Lieutenant General Walter Melzer (January 23, 1943), Lieutenant General Paul Dreckmann
(October 9, 1944), and Colonel Georg von Unold (March 24, 1945).
Notes and S ources: The 252nd Infantry Division also absorbed the 1072nd and 1039th M arch Battalions in October 1944. Schaefer was promoted to major general
on April 1, 1942. M elzer was promoted to major general on February 1, 1943, and to lieutenant general on August 1, 1943. Colonel von Unold died in Soviet captivity
in 1953.
Carell 1966: 140, 350; Carell 1971: 309, 583–84; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 128–29; Keilig: 222; Kennedy: M ap 10; Lexikon; Walter M elzer, Geschichte der 252.
Infanterie-Division, 1939–1945 (1960); Armin Scheiderbauer, Adventures in My Youth: A German Soldier on the Eastern Front, 1941–1945, C. F. Colton, trans., 2003:
viii, ix, 54, 77; Tessin, Vol. 8: 218–19; RA: 130; OB 43: 162–63; OB 45: 215.
253RD INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 453rd Infantry Regiment, 464th Infantry Regiment, 473rd Infantry Regiment, 253rd
Artillery Regiment, 253rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 253rd Anti-Tank Battalion, 253rd Engineer
Battalion, 253rd Signal Battalion, 253rd Field Replacement Battalion, 253rd Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Aachen, Wehrkreis VI
This Westphalian division was created in the mobilization of August 26, 1939, from men already
serving in reserve units. It was sent to the Eifel in September and the Lower Rhine in December. It
first saw heavy action in Belgium and northern France in 1940 and remained there until the spring of
1941, when it was sent to East Prussia. It crossed into the Soviet Union in June 1941 and took part in
the drive on Moscow, fighting in Lithuania, at Velikje Luki, Kalinin and at Rzhev in the process. It
defended against the Russian winter offensive of 1941–42, during which it was surrounded south of
Lake Volga in January. Breaking out with heavy casualties, the division spent the next year in the
Rzhev salient. It fought on the central sector of the Russian Front from June 1941 until May 1945 and
was involved in all the major battles of the 9th Army except Kursk, when it was in 4th Army’s
reserve. Its 473rd Grenadier Regiment was disbanded due to heavy casualties on April 17, 1943. The
division took part in the defeat of the Soviet fall offensive of 1943, and the retreat through the
northern Ukraine and Poland. It fought at Kovel (April–May 1944) and Kholm (June–July 1944),
escaped destruction in Stalin’s summer offensive of 1944, took part in the retreat to the Vistula,
suffered heavy losses fighting in the Beskiden sector with 1st Panzer Army (November 1944–January
1945) and, at battle group strength, retreated into Upper Silesia with the bulk of Army Group Center.
It ended the war in the Deutsch-Brod pocket east of Prague.
The 253rd Infantry’s commanders included Lieutenant General Fritz Kühne (August 26, 1939),
Lieutenant General Otto Schellert (March 7, 1941), Colonel Carl Becker (January 18, 1943), Major
General Hans Junck (June 17, 1944), Becker (returned June 28, 1944), Colonel Emmanuel von
Kiliani (December 8, 1944), Becker (returned December 30, 1944), and Major General Joachim
Schwatlo-Gesterding (May 5, 1945–end).
Notes and S ources: Becker was promoted to major general on April 1, 1943 and to lieutenant general on October 1, 1943. He and Schwatlo-Gesterding were Soviet
prisoners until 1955.
Benoist-M echin: 133; Carell 1966: 359, 376–77, 384–85, 394; Carell 1971: 309; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 130–31; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1127; Volume
III: 733; Volume IV: 1875; Lexikon; Tessin, Vol. 8: 223–24; RA: 130; OB 42: 98; OB 43: 163; OB 44: 222; OB 45: 215.
254TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 454th Infantry Regiment, 474th Infantry Regiment, 484th Infantry Regiment, 254th
Artillery Regiment, 254th Reconnaissance Battalion, 254th Anti-Tank Battalion, 254th Engineer
Battalion, 254th Signal Battalion, 254th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Detmold, later Düsseldorf, Wehrkreis VI
Raised from Rhinelanders serving in reserve units on August 26, 1939, the 254th was sent to the
Lower Rhine in October and fought in Holland, Belgium, and northern France in 1940. It was on
occupation duty at Rouen until April 1941. Sent to Russia in June 1941, it formed part of Army Group
North during the sweep through the Baltic States, the battles of Riga and Reval, and drive on and
siege of Leningrad. During this period it was heavily engaged east of Leningrad and at Demyansk. It
fought on the northern sector of the Eastern Front, mainly around Volchov (October 1941–January
1943), Demjansk (February), and Staraja Russa (March), and in the siege of Leningrad (April–
December 1943). The 474th Grenadier Regiment and the III/254th Artillery Regiment suffered so
many casualties at Demjansk that they had to be disbanded and the reconnaissance battalion was
reduced to a bicycle company; however, Division Group 82 (the remnants of the 82nd Infantry
Division) was added to the table of organization of the 254th Infantry Division in the spring of 1944.
Meanwhile, in early 1944, the division was sent to the Ukraine and took part in the subsequent
retreats on the southern sector. It was surrounded (along with the rest of the 1st Panzer Army) in
February 1944, and formed part of the “Hube Pocket,” which reached German lines in early April.
The 254th fought in the Tarnopol sector in July and in the Carpathian Mountains in the fall of 1944. It
defended a sector near Kaschau, Slovakia from November 1944 to January 1945. Later, it retreated
into Silesia and Upper Silesia, and ended the war in the Deutsch-Brod Pocket in Czechoslovakia. It
surrendered to the Red Army on May 8, 1945.
A German infantryman, who appears to be part of a machine-gun crew, takes a break and supplements his rations in the Crimea, 1942.
The 254th’s commanders included Major General Fritz Koch (August 26, 1939), Lieutenant
General Walter Behschnitt (April 30, 1940), Colonel Count Gerhard von Schwerin (July 20, 1941),
Behschnitt (August 1941), Major General/Lieutenant General Friedrich Koechling (April 10, 1942),
Colonel/Major General Hellmuth Reymann (September 5, 1942), Koechling (returned November 19,
1942), Major General Alfred Thielmann (August 16, 1943), and Colonel/Major General Richard
Schmidt (December 31, 1944–end).
Notes and S ources: Who commanded the division from M arch 20 to December 31, 1944, is not known. Koechling was promoted to lieutenant general on January 1,
1943. Reymann became a major general on October 1, 1942. Richard Schmidt was promoted to major general on M arch 1, 1945.
Carell 1971: 287; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 132–33; Keilig: 305–6; 344; Lexikon; M ehner, Vol. 11: 364; Tessin, Vol. 8: 229–30; RA: 102; OB 43: 163; OB 45: 215–16.
255TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 455th Infantry Regiment, 465th Infantry Regiment, 475th Infantry Regiment, 255th
Artillery Regiment, 255th Reconnaissance Battalion, 255th Anti-Tank Baltalion, 255th Engineer
Battalion, 255th Signal Battalion, 255th Field Replacement Battalion, 255th Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Lobau, Wehrkreis IV
This unit, known as the “Green Dot” division because of its unit emblem, was formed mainly from
Saxon reservists, with a minority of Sudeten Germans. Organized in the summer of 1939 and
activated on August 26, it was in the Protectorate until April 1940, when it was sent to the Western
Front. It first saw action in the Netherlands and Belgium in May 1940. The 255th Infantry Division
was on occupation duty in Belgium (June), Nantes (July–August) and Bordeaux (September–February
1941), before being sent to Poland in March 1941. It crossed into Russia in June, fought at BrestLitovsk, Pinsk, Gomel, Smolensk, and Vyasma, and in the drive on Moscow, and helped check the
Soviet winter offensive of 1941–42. It fought in the defensive battles around Gshatsk on the central
sector in 1942 before being transferred to the southern zone of the Eastern Front after the fall of
Stalingrad. The division fought in the defense of Kharkov and was part of the 4th Panzer Army during
Operation Citadel, Hitler’s last major offensive in the East. It absorbed the survivors of the 332nd
Infantry Division in August. In the subsequent retreat through the Donets and to the Dnieper, the 255th
suffered such heavy casualties (especially at Kiev) that it had to be taken out of the line. It was
downgraded to Division Group 255 on November 2, 1943, and was incorporated into Corps
Detachment B, which was destroyed at Cherkassy (Korsun) in February 1944. The survivors of the
255th ended up in the 88th and 57th Infantry Divisions.
The commanders of the 255th Infantry were Major General/Lieutenant Generals Wilhelm Wetzel
(August 26, 1939) and Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Walter Poppe (January 12, 1942–
end).
Notes and S ources: Wetzel was promoted to lieutenant general on December 1, 1940. Poppe was promoted to major general on April 1, 1942, and to lieutenant
general on January 1, 1943. Carell 1971: 17, 50; Hartmann: 28; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 134–35; Keilig: 369; Tessin, Vol. 8: 234–35; OB 43: 1943; OB 45: 216.
256TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 456th Infantry Regiment, 476th Infantry Regiment, 481st Infantry Regiment, 256th
Artillery Regiment, 256th Reconnaissance Battalion, 256th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 256th Engineer
Battalion, 256th Signal Battalion, 256th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Glauchau, Wehrkreis IV
Initially consisting of Saxon, Bavarian and Sudeten reservists from Wehrkreise IV and XIII, this
division was formed in Dresden in the general mobilization of 1939. Its replacements came from
Wehrkreis IV, so it became more and more a Saxon division as the war wore on. It was sent to the
Protectorate (formerly Czechoslovakia) in September but was transferred to Lippstadt, western
Germany, that spring, as part of OKH’s reserve. The 256th took part in the Dutch and Belgian
campaigns of 1940, was back in OKH reserve at Dunkirk in June, and was on occupation duty in
Brittany from July 1940 to February 1941. It was sent to Poland in March, and in June 1941, invaded
Russia, where it was almost continuously engaged for the next three years. It fought at Bialystok,
Nevel, Velikije Luki, Kalinin, and Rzhev (December 1941–January 1942). In the last ten days of
December 1941, it held its line near Moscow against odds of ten to one or even higher odds. A month
later it was instrumental in saving the XXIII Corps, which the Soviets had surrounded west of Rzhev.
Remaining on the central sector of the Russian Front, it held a defensive sector east of Smolensk and
took part in the Rzhev withdrawal, but apparently was not present at the Battle of Kursk. The 256th
suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Smolensk in the autumn of 1943 and, as part of the 3rd Panzer
Army, was destroyed at Vitebsk by the Soviet summer offensive of 1944. The remnants of the
division became Divisiongruppe 256 of Corps Detachment H on July 21. They later ended up in the
280th Grenadier Regiment of the 95th Infantry Division.
A second 256th Division was created as a Volksgrenadier unit at the Koenigsbrueck Troop
Maneuver Area in Saxony in September 1944, with personnel from the recently formed 568th
Grenadier Division, along with some veterans from the Eastern Front. Its regiments received the same
numbers as the original 256th. It was first in action against the British in southern Holland in October,
where it fought in the Battle of the Schelde (October 2–November 8, 1944). Later in November, it
was fighting in eastern France. The 256th Volksgrenadier took part in the battles in the Saar, northern
Alsace, Bitche, and the Battle of the Saar-Moselle Triangle (February 1945). Its survivors were still
resisting in southern Germany when the war ended. It surrendered to the Americans in Württemberg in
May 1945.
Commanders of the 256th Infantry included Major General Joseph Folttmann (August 26, 1939),
Major General/Lieutenant General Gerhard Kauffmann (January 10, 1940), Colonel Friedrich Weber
(January 4, 1942), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Paul Danhauser (February 14, 1942),
Major General Albrecht Wüstenhagen (November 24, 1943). The commanders of the 256th
Volksgrenadier Division were Colonel/Major General Gerhard Franz (September 1944) and Major
General Fritz Warnecke (April 9, 1945–end).
Notes and S ources: Kaufmann was promoted to lieutenant general on April 1, 1941. Danhauser was promoted to major general on April 1, 1942, and to lieutenant
general on M arch 1, 1943. General Wüstenhagen was killed in action at Vitebsk. At least one source says that he committed suicide. Franz was promoted to major
general on December 1, 1944. He was captured at Bitburg on April 8, 1945.
Carell 1966: 359–62, 400–402; Carell 1971: 309, 597; Cole 1950: 521; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 136–37; Keilig: 377; Kursietis: 169; Lexikon; M acDonald 1963: 216–
17; M acDonald 1973: 126; Tessin, Vol. 8: 240–41; RA: 72; OB 42: 99; OB 43: 164; OB 44: 223; OB 45: 216–17.
257TH INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION
Composition: 457th Infantry Regiment, 466th Infantry Regiment, 477th Infantry Regiment, 257th
Artillery Regiment, 257th Reconnaissance Battalion, 257th Anti-Tank Battalion, 257th Engineer
Battalion, 257th Signal Battalion, 257th Field Replacement Battalion, 257th Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Landsberg, Warthe, Wehrkreis III
The 257th was formed in Berlin/Karlshorst upon mobilization in 1939, and consisted of Prussians
and Berliners. It was sent to Krakau, Poland in September 1939, to the Saar in December, and to
positions opposite the Maginot Line in June 1940. Transferred back to Poland in July 1940, the 257th
was continuously engaged in southern Russia from June 1941 until the summer of 1942. Here it fought
in the Battles of the Uman and Kiev Pockets, where hundreds of thousands of Russians were taken
prisoner, as well as in the Donetz and other battles, including the Soviet winter offensive of 1941–42.
In March 1942, it held Slavyansk against massive Soviet attacks. Two months later it fought in the
Battle of Kharhov (Isjum), where the division suffered heavy losses. After the battles of Voronezh
and Kalach, during the drive to Stalingrad, the 257th was sent to the Brittany peninsula of France in
the fall of 1942 to rest and refit. It returned to southern Russia in April 1943, and was heavily
engaged at Dnepropetrovsk, Krivoy Rog, and the battles on the Dnieper bend. In early 1944, it
suffered heavy losses in the retreat from the Dnieper and in the encirclement near Kishinev, Romania,
in August, where it was virtually destroyed. The division was officially dissolved on October 9. The
few men who survived (i.e., who were away from the division when disaster struck) were transferred
to Shadow Division Gross-Görschen.
A second 257th—this one a Volksgrenadier division—was created at the Wandern Troop
Maneuver Area on October 27, 1944, when it absorbed the 578th Volksgrenadier Division and
Shadow Division Gross-Görschen. It was sent into battle in Alsace and in the Saar, fighting at
Zweibrücken and at Bitche. Later it unsuccessfully defended Karlsruhe on the Rhine River. The
battered division was still in action on the Western Front when the war ended. It surrendered to the
Americans near Fuessen in May 1945.
Commanders of the 257th Volksgrenadier/Infantry Division included Lieutenant General Max von
Viebahn (August 26, 1939), Lieutenant General Karl Sachs (March 1, 1941), Major General Karl
Gümbel (May 1, 1942), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Carl Püchler (June 1, 1942),
Major General Baron Anton Reichard von Machenheim von Bechtoldsheim (November 5, 1943),
Major General Friedrich Bluemke (July 2, 1944), and Colonel/Major General Erich Seidel (October
1, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Püchler was promoted to major general on July 1, 1942, and to lieutenant general on April 1, 1943. Bluemke was mortally wounded in a low-level
air attack on August 24, 1944. He died on September 4 in a Soviet prisoner of war facility in Odessa. Some sources list the date of his death as September 2. Seidel was
promoted to major general on January 30, 1945. He was killed in action at Dobeln on April 11, 1945.
Carell 1966: 121, 472, 490, 493; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 138–39; Keilig: 219; Kursietis: 169–70; Lexikon; Nafziger 2000: 247; “Frontnachweiser,” 15 December
1944; Tessin, Vol. 8: 245–46; RA: 46; OB 42: 98; OB 43: 165; OB 44: 224; OB 45: 217.
258TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 458th Infantry Regiment, 478th Infantry Regiment, 479th Infantry Regiment, 258th
Artillery Regiment, 258th Reconnaissance Battalion, 258th Anti-Tank Battalion, 258th Engineer
Battalion, 258th Signal Battalion, 258th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Rostock, Wehrkreis II
Created from Prussian reservists in the summer of 1939, this division was activated on August 26,
and was sent to the Saar later that year. In 1940, it took part in the assaults on the Maginot Line that
helped seal the doom of French Army Group Number Three in June. Sent to Poland in July 1940, it
crossed into Russia in mid-1941, and fought and at Brest, Bialystok, Bobruisk, Yelnja, and VyasmaBryansk as well as in the battles around Moscow. The 258th continued to serve with Army Group
Center until late summer 1943, and took part in the defensive battles at Jucknov, Gshatsk and Orel. It
was also involved in the Kursk offensive. During the retreat from Kursk and Orel, the division
defended 9th Army’s supply depot at Kromy against heavy odds, withstood fifteen major Soviet
attacks, and frustrated the Russian attempt to seize the depot. Later in the year the Prussian division
was transferred to the southern sector of the Eastern Front. It took part in the Mius and Dnieper
retreats and was at battle group strength by October 1943. It fought in the Nikopol Bridgehead and
was routed in March 1944, during the withdrawal from the lower Dnieper bend, where three of its
grenadier battalions were destroyed. That August, it was encircled west of the lower Dnieper and
was virtually destroyed at Jassy, Romania, in early September. Those few soldiers who managed to
escape were sent to Division Group 387, and the 258th Infantry was disbanded.
Commanders of the division included Major General/Lieutenant General Walter Wollmann (August
26, 1939), Major General/Lieutenant General Dr. Waldemar Henrici (August 15, 1940), Major
General Karl Pflaum (October 2, 1941), Major General/Lieutenant General Hans-Kurt Höcker
(January 19, 1942), Lieutenant General Eugen Bleyer (October 1, 1943), and Colonel Rudolf
Hielscher (September 4, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Wollmann was promoted to lieutenant general on August 1, 1940. Henrici reached the same rank on October 1, 1941. He was wounded in action
the next day. Hoecker was promoted to lieutenant general on January 1, 1943. Hielscher was captured in September 1944.
Carell 1966: 140; Carell 1971: 26; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 140–41; Keilig: 37; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume III: 1155; Lexikon; Nafziger 2000: 248–49; Plocher
1943: 106; Tessin, Vol. 8: 251–52; RA: 32; OB 42: 99–100; OB 44: 221; OB 45: 217.
260TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition (1939): 460th Infantry Regiment, 470th Infantry Regiment, 480th Infantry Regiment,
260th Artillery Regiment, 260th Reconnaissance Battalion, 260th Anti-Tank Battalion, 260th
Engineer Battalion, 260th Signal Battalion, 260th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Karlsruhe, Wehrkreis V
The 260th was one of several fourth-wave divisions formed from men serving in reserve units in
the general mobilization of August 26, 1939. Its soldiers came from the Baden and Württemberg
regions. The division was sent to the Upper Rhine in October 1939, and spent most of the French
campaign in OKH reserve. It remained on occupation duty in France until July 1941; then it was sent
to Russia shortly after the invasion began and was heavily and almost continuously engaged from then
until the Soviet winter offensive of 1941–42 finally petered out. In the process, the division fought at
Brest-Litovsk, Bobruisk, Kiev, Bryansk, Moscow, Juchnov, and Ugra, among other battles. The 260th
Infantry remained with Army Group Center for the rest of its existence. It fought in the defensive
battles around Spass-Demensk (May–August 1942), Mogilev (September 1943–May 1944) and
Orscha (June 1944). Its 470th Grenadier Regiment was disbanded due to heavy casualties in the
summer of 1943. The 260th Infantry Division was surrounded and destroyed near Minsk on July 9,
1944, along with the bulk of the 4th Army. The remnants of the division not destroyed (wounded and
men on leave) were assigned to Division Group 57.
Its division commanders included Major General/Lieutenant Generals Hans Schmidt (August 26,
1939), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Walter Hahm (January 1, 1942), Colonel/Major
General Dietrich von Choltitz (August 27, 1942), Hahm (October 6, 1942), Major General Robert
Schlüter (November 9, 1943), Colonel Alexander Conrady (April 21, 1944), and Colonel/Major
General Günther Klammt (May 1, 1944).
Notes and S ources: The 470th Grenadier Regiment suffered such heavy losses that it had to be disbanded in the summer of 1943. A new 470th was created in April
1944, but only by reducing the division’s other grenadier regiments to two battalions each. Schmidt became a lieutenant general on September 1, 1940. Hahm was
promoted to major general on April 1, 1942, and to lieutenant general on January 1, 1943. Choltitz was promoted to major general on September 1, 1942. Schlueter was
severely wounded on April 21, 1944. Klammt was promoted to major general on June 1, 1944. He was captured on July 9, 1944 and remained in Soviet prison camps
until 1955.
Carell 1966: 196; Carell 1971: 309, 597; Werner Haupt, Die 260. Infanterie-Division, 1940–1944 (1970); Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 142–43; Kriegstagebuch des OKW,
Volume II: 1368, 1387; Nafziger 2000: 249; Tessin, Vol. 8: 257–58; OB 42: 100; OB 43: 165; OB 44: 225; OB 45: 218.
262ND INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 462nd Infantry Regiment, 482nd Infantry Regiment, 486th Infantry Regiment, 262nd
Artillery Regiment, 262nd Reconnaissance Battalion, 262nd Anti-Tank Battalion, 262nd Engineer
Battalion, 262nd Signal Battalion, 262nd Field Replacement Battalion, 262nd Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Vienna, Wehrkreis XVII
This division was raised from Austrian reservists and was mobilized on August 26, 1939. It served
on the Saar Front while Hitler overran Poland and remained there, opposite the Maginot Line, until
after the fall of France in June 1940. It was sent to Poland in September and crossed into Russia with
Army Group South in June 1941, but was with the central army group by September, following the
advance through the Ukraine. It fought at Brody, Zhitomir, Kiev, Bryansk, the Battle of Moscow, and
the subsequent winter retreat under heavy Soviet pressure. It took part in the relatively minor
defensive actions on the central sector in 1942 and fought in the Battle of Kursk (July 1943), where it
suffered heavy casualties. Caught up in the ensuing retreats, the 262nd Infantry was listed as in
remnants by October 1943, and was placed under the operational control of the 26th Infantry Division
in November. It was downgraded to Division Group 262 and placed under Corps Detachment D,
which continued to fight on the Eastern Front until September 10, 1944, when it was absorbed by the
56th Infantry Division.
The commanders of the 262nd Infantry Division were Lieutenant Generals Edgar Theisen (August
26, 1939), Major General/Lieutenant General Friedrich Karst (September 15, 1942), and
Colonel/Major General Eugen Wösnner (July 19, 1943).
Notes and S ources: Karst was promoted to lieutenant general on April 1, 1943. Wössner was promoted to major general on October 1, 1943.
Hartmann: 28; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 144–45; Keilig: 375; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume III: 1157; Tessin, Vol. 8: 264–65; RA: 220; OB 42: 100; OB 43: 165;
OB 45: 218
263RD INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 463rd Infantry Regiment, 483rd Infantry Regiment, 485th Infantry Regiment, 263rd
Artillery Regiment, 263rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 263rd Anti-Tank Battalion, 263rd Engineer
Battalion, 263rd Signal Battalion, 263rd Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Idar-Oberstein, Wehrkreis XII
Consisting of Palatinate Bavarians already serving in the reserves, this division was mobilized on
August 26, 1939, and spent the fall and winter of 1939–40 in the Aachen sector. The next year it
distinguished itself in France and remained on occupation duty around Bordeaux from July 1940 to
April 1941. Sent to Poland in May, it invaded Russia in June and fought in the battles of Bialystok,
Smolensk, Vjasma, and Moscow, among others. It suffered heavy losses in the Soviet winter
offensive of 1941–42, but remained at or near the front for the rest of the war. It fought in the Juchnov
and Spass-Demensk sectors from January 1942 to February 1943, when it was sent to the northern
flank of Army Group Center. It held a sector of the line near Velish (Welish) from February through
September 1943. It lost three infantry battalions in 1942, and the 483rd Grenadier Regiment was
disbanded in April 1943. Transferred to Army Group North in October, the division took part in the
defense of Nevel (October 1943–January 1944), the retreat from Leningrad, the defense of the Narva,
and the retreat through the Baltic States. Isolated in the Courland Pocket in October 1944, it held a
sector of the line during the six unsuccessful Soviet attempts to crush the pocket, and was still there
when the war ended. It surrendered to the Soviets on May 9, 1945.
Commanders of the 263rd Infantry included Major General Franz Karl (August 26, 1939), Major
General Ernst Haeckel (November 14, 1940), Major General/Lieutenant General Hans Traut (April
25, 1942), Lieutenant General Werner Richter (April 1, 1943), Major General Rudolf Sieckenius
(May 21, 1944), and Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Alfred Hermann (June 3, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Traut was promoted to lieutenant general on January 1, 1943. General Richter was seriously wounded on M ay 21, 1944 and died in Riga on June
3. Hermann was promoted to major general on October 1, 1944 and to lieutenant general on April 20, 1945. He was a Soviet prisoner until 1955.
Carell 1966: 92; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 146–47; Keilig; 135, 163; Heinz F. Krueger, Bildband der rheinisch-pfälzischen 263. Infanterie-Division, 1939–1945 (1962);
M ehner, Vol. 12: 454; Tessin, Vol. 8: 262; RA: 188; OB 42: 100; OB 43: 165–66; OB 45: 219.
264TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 891st Grenadier Regiment, 892nd Grenadier Regiment, 893rd Grenadier Regiment,
264th Artillery Regiment, 264th Fusilier Battalion, 264th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 264th Engineer
Battalion, 264th Signal Battalion, 264th Field Replacement Battalion, 264th Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Muelheim/Ruhr, Wehrkreis VI
Formed in Belgium on May 20, 1943, this division was not a first-class fighting unit. It was sent to
Croatia in October, and then to the Dalmatian coast, where it fought partisans and served on guard
duty. In December 1944, the 264th was pitted against regular Soviet troops in northern Yugoslavia
but was smashed at Knin. It was soon transferred to Denmark, where it was reorganized as a “Type
45” infantry division and each of its grenadier regiments lost its III Battalion. It remained in Denmark
until the end of the war and ceased to exist on or about May 7, 1945.
Commanders of the 264th included Major General/Lieutenant General Albin Nake (June 1, 1943),
Lieutenant General Otto Lüdecke (April 18, 1944), Lieutenant General Martin Gareis (May 15,
1944), Major General Paul Hermann (September 25, 1944), and Major General Alois Windisch
(October 9, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Nake was promoted to lieutenant general on July 1, 1943. Lüdecke was seriously wounded in M ay 1944.
Bradley, et al., Vol. 7: 642; Keilig: 211; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume IV: 1904; Tessin, Vol. 8: 274; RA: 102; OB 44: 226; OB 45: 219.
265TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 894th Grenadier Regiment, 895th Grenadier Regiment, 896th Grenadier Regiment,
265th Artillery Regiment, 265th Fusilier Battalion, 265th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 265th Engineer
Battalion, 265th Signal Battalion, 265th Field Replacement Battalion, 265th Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Halberstadt, Wehrkreis XI
The 265th was formed on May 20, 1943, in the Bergen Troop Maneuver Area as a static (nonmotorized) division. Its staff came from the 403rd Security Division Headquarters, which had
previously served on the Russian Front. Its artillery regiment was equipped with captured Russian
guns, and its grenadier regiments had only two battalions each. Later, it added the Staff, 896th
Grenadier Regiment, and the 634th Ost and 800th Turkish Battalions. The 265th Infantry was sent to
Quimper, Brittany, in the summer of 1943, where it exchanged personnel with the regiments of the
65th Infantry Division. Unit integrity was not a consideration in the employment of the 265th. In the
fall of 1943, two of its battalions (one from the 894th and one from the 895th Grenadier Regiment)
were sent to Russia; later, a battle group from the division fought in Normandy and was destroyed
there. Other elements of the division were reported as fighting in the siege of Brest, where they were
also destroyed when the city fell in mid-September 1944. The bulk of the division, however, was
surrounded at Lorient on the Brittany peninsula during Patton’s dash to Brest. Not wishing to undergo
another siege like Brest, which was costly in terms of both men and time, the Allies were content to
post observation troops around the area, which held the 265th in total isolation until the end of the
war.
The division’s commanders included Lieutenant General Walther Duvert (June 1, 1943) and Major
General/Lieutenant General Hans Junck (July 27, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Junck was promoted to lieutenant general on January 30, 1945.
Blumenson 1960: 58, 372; Chant, Volume 14: 1861; Harrison: M ap VI; Kursietis: 172; Lexikon; Nafziger 2000: 254–55; RA: 172; OB 45: 219–20.
266TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 897th Grenadier Regiment, 898th Grenadier Regiment, 899th Grenadier Regiment,
266th Artillery Regiment, 266th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 266th Engineer Battalion, 266th Signal
Battalion, 266th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Mülhausen/Alsace, Wehrkreis V
Formed in the Müsingen Maneuver Area on May 20, 1943, this static division consisted partially
of veterans from the Eastern Front. Five of its battalions, however, were later filled out mainly with
Eastern troops, which Admiral Ruge assessed as having “very little combat value.” All the 266th’s
units lacked heavy weapons, and its artillery units were equipped with captured Russian guns. It was
on coastal watch duty in Brittany from August 1943 until the Normandy Front collapsed in August
1944. Not having enough vehicles to effect a rapid retreat, it was easy game for the U.S. 4th Armored
Division as it swept up the Brittany peninsula later that month. Most of the division was captured at
or near St. Malo, as was its commander, Lieutenant General Karl Sprang, who led it throughout its
existence. Remnants of the 266th did manage to escape to Brest, where they defended against the
Allied siege, and were destroyed by September 19.
Notes and S ources: Each grenadier regiment of the 266th had only two battalions.
Blumenson 1960: 384; Chant, Volume 14: 1861; Harrison: M ap VI: Nafziger 2000: 256–57; Ruge; 94; Tessin, Vol. 8: 281; RA: 86; OB 45: 220.
267TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 467th Infantry Regiment, 487th Infantry Regiment, 497th Infantry Regiment, 267th
Artillery Regiment, 267th Reconnaissance Battalion, 267th Anti-Tank Battalion, 267th Engineer
Battalion, 267th Signal Battalion, 267th Field Replacement Battalion, 267th Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Blankenburg, Wehrkreis XI
Called the Horsehead Division because of the symbol on its unit emblem, the 267th was formed
from reservists in the Hanover-Burnswick area of Lower Saxony. Activated on August 26, 1939, it
was immediately sent to the Eifel sector of the Western Front, where it remained until May 1940,
when it pushed into Belgium. The 267th held a sector on the English Channel coast until May 1941,
when it was sent east for the invasion of the Soviet Union. Here it fought at Brest-Litovsk, Bialystok,
Bobruisk, Yelnja, Vyasma, and north of Moscow. It suffered greatly in the Soviet winter offensive of
1941–42. The division had lost so many horses from the cold, the lack of supplies, and lack of fodder
that when it did have to retreat on December 17, 1941, it had to leave all of its artillery behind. It
nevertheless remained in the line and fought in the defensive battles of Gshatsk, Juchnov and SpassDemensk in 1942. It remained in the Spass-Demensk sector until August 1943, when it was sent back
to Bryansk in September. From October 1943 to June 1944, it defended Mogilev and fought in all the
major battles of Army Group Center until July 1944. At that time it was encircled and smashed near
Minsk, along with the bulk of the 4th Army. The remnants of the division were finally destroyed near
Memel on August 13. Its last commander, Lieutenant General Otto Drescher, was killed that day. The
Horsehead Division was officially declared dissolved shortly afterwards.
Its commanders were Lieutenant General Ernst Fessmann (August 26, 1939), Major General
Friedrich Karl von Wachter (June 1, 1941), Major General/Lieutenant General Robert Martinek
(November 10, 1941), Colonel/Major General Karl Fischer (January 2, 1942), Colonel/Major
General/Lieutenant General Friedrich Stephan (January 25, 1942), Fischer again (February 26,
1942), Stephan again (March 31, 1942), and Major General/Lieutenant General Drescher (June 8,
1943).
Notes and S ources: M emel is now Klajpeda, Lithuania. Like most German infantry divisions, the 267th became a six grenadier battalion unit in early 1944. By 1941,
the 267th Tank Destroyer Battalion was equipped with captured French 47mm guns. M artinek was promoted to lieutenant general on January 1, 1941. Fischer was
promoted to major general on M arch 1, 1942. He was killed in action on the M oscow sector on M arch 31, 1942. Friedrich Stephan was promoted to major general on
August 1, 1942, and to lieutenant general on April 1, 1943. General Drescher was posthumously promoted to lieutenant general.
Carell 1966: 175; Carell 1971: 309, 597; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 148–49; Nafziger 2000: 257–58; Seaton: 210–11; Tessin, Vol. 8: 284–85; OB 43: 166; OB 45: 220.
268TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 468th Infantry Regiment, 488th Infantry Regiment, 499th Infantry Regiment, 268th
Artillery Regiment, 268th Reconnaissance Battalion, 268th Anti-Tank Battalion, 268th Engineer
Battalion, 268th Signal Battalion, 268th Field Replacement Battalion, 268th Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Füssen/Allgau, Wehrkreis VII
Formed on August 26, 1939, from reservists in the VII and XVII Military Districts, this Wave 4
division served on the Saar Front in 1939–40, was sent to Poland in September 1940, invaded Russia
on June 22, 1941, and spent the rest of its career on the Russian Front. Here it fought in the BrestLitovsk sector, at Bialystok, Smolensk, in the Battle of the Yelnya Bend, at Vyasma, before Moscow,
against the Soviet winter offensive of 1941–42, in the defensive actions of 1942, and in the Rzhev
withdrawal. In the summer of 1943 it suffered such heavy losses in the Battle of Kursk and the
associated retreat (including the battles of Bryansk and Mogilev) that it was down to battle group
strength by October. It was downgraded to Division Group 268 on November 2, 1943.
Simultaneously, it was attached to the 36th Motorized Division. Some elements of the 268th were
reportedly used to form the 352nd Infantry Division, which later distinguished itself in Normandy on
D-Day.
The 268th’s commanders were Major General/Lieutenant General Erich Straube (August 26, 1939)
and Major General/Lieutenant General Heinrich Greiner (January 6, 1942).
Notes and S ources: Straube was promoted to lieutenant general on June 1, 1941. Greiner was promoted to lieutenant general on January 1, 1943.
A German light anti-aircraft gun, mounted on a panzer chassis, in the Caucasus campaign of 1942.
U.S. WAR COLLEGE PHOTO
Carell 1966: 196; Carell 1971: 309; Hartmann: 29; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 150–51; Keilig: 114, 336; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume III: 1157; Tessin, Vol. 8:
289–90; RA: 116; OB 42: 101; OB 43: 166; OB 44: 227; OB 45: 220.
269TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 469th Infantry Regiment, 489th Infantry Regiment, 490th Infantry Regiment, 269th
Artillery Regiment, 269th Reconnaissance Battalion, 269th Anti-Tank Battalion, 269th Engineer
Battalion, 269th Signal Battalion, 269th Field Replacement Battalion, 269th Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Delmenhorst, Wehrkreis X
This division was formed in the general mobilization of 1939 from men already serving in North
German reserve units. It was posted to the Lower Rhine in October. In 1940 it saw action in northern
France and spent August 1940 to March 1941 on occupation duty in Denmark. Meanwhile, its
artillery regiment was partially equipped with captured French, Polish and Dutch guns. Sent to East
Prussia in April 1941, it crossed into Russia with Army Group North on June 22 and played a major
role in the XXXX Panzer Corps’ annihilation of the Russian III Armored Corps on the Dubysa. The
division was down to 40 percent of its authorized strength by October, but still fought well in the
Battle of the Volkhov, southeast of Leningrad, in early 1942. Meanwhile, it disbanded its III/469th,
III/489th and II/490th Infantry Battalions.
In the winter of 1942–43, the 269th was sent to Norway to rest and refit and remained on
occupation duty at Bergen for more than a year and a half. In October 1944, it returned to the
European mainland via Denmark and fought in the Vosges Mountains and in the Battle of the Colmar
Bridgehead on the Western Front, where it was again reduced to battle group strength. In January
1945, it was transferred to southern Poland. (By now its 490th Grenadier Regiment had been
disbanded and the other two regiments had only two battalions each.) The 269th Infantry fought in
Silesia and was in the vicinity of Dresden as the only division in 4th Panzer Army’s reserve when
Berlin fell. A sizable number of its survivors thus managed to surrender to the Western Allies instead
of to the Russians.
Commanders of this veteran unit included Major General/Lieutenant General Ernst-Eberhard Hell
(August 26, 1939), Colonel/Major General Elder Herr und Baron Wolfgang von Plotho (August 12,
1940), Major General/Lieutenant General Ernst von Leyser (April 1, 1941), Lieutenant General Kurt
Badinski (September 1, 1942), and Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant General Hans Wagner
(November 25, 1943).
Notes and S ources: Hell was promoted to lieutenant general on July 1, 1940. Plotho became a major general on September 1, 1940. Leyser was promoted to
lieutenant general on October 1, 1942, and Badinski reached the same rank on M arch 1, 1943. Hans Wagner was promoted to major general on February 1, 1944, and to
lieutenant general on December 1, 1944.
Benoist-M echin: 133; Carell 1966: 24, 421; Haupt, Infanterie, Vol. 2: 152–53; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1146; Volume IV: 1896; Keilig: 134; Lexikon;
M ehner, Vol. 12: 439; Nafziger 2000: 261–63; Helmut Roemhild, Geschichte der 269. Infanterie-Division (1967); Salisbury: 351; Tessin, Vol. 8: 294–95; RA: 160; OB
43: 167–68; OB 44: 228; OB 45: 221; Ziemke 1959; 261.
270TH INFANTRY DIVISION (COASTAL DEFENSE)
Composition (1944): 341st Grenadier Regiment, 856th Fortress Regiment, 270th Artillery
Battalion, 270th Tank Destroyer Company, 270th Engineer Company, 270th Signal Battalion, 1./199th
Signal Battalion, 270th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Hamburg, Wehrkreis X
The original 270th Infantry Division was formed on May 22, 1940 and was dissolved on July 1,
1940, after the fall of France. It included the 565th, 566th and 557th Infantry Regiments and the 270th
Artillery Battalion. It never left northern Germany.
A second Headquarters, 270th Infantry Division was organized in Hamburg on April 21, 1942;
however, instead of receiving infantry regiments to direct, as apparently was the original plan, the
HQ was sent to Tromsoe in central Norway, where it took charge of a variety of fortress battalions
and coastal defense artillery batteries as a coastal defense unit. The 270th remained in central
Norway from the summer of 1942 until the end of the war, except for a brief tour of duty in northern
Finland (May to October 1944), when parts of the division guarded the rear of the 20th Mountain
Army from a possible Soviet amphibious attack.
The division’s commanders included Major General/Lieutenant General Rolf Sodan (April 1942)
and Lieutenant General Hans Brabänder (August 17, 1943–end).
Notes and S ources: Sodan was promoted to lieutenant general on December 1, 1942. The second 270th Artillery Battalion was the former III/199th Artillery
Regiment. Keilig: 326; Kursietis: 173; Lexikon; Tessin, Vol. 8: 299; RA: 160; OB 44: 228; OB 45: 221.
271ST INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION
Composition (1944): 977th Grenadier Regiment, 978th Grenadier Regiment, 979th Grenadier
Regiment, 271st Artillery Regiment, 271st Fusilier Battalion, 271st Tank Destroyer Battalion, 271st
Engineer Battalion, 271st Signal Battalion, 271st Field Replacement Battalion, 271st Divisional
Supply Troops
Home Station: Wehrkreis XIII
The original 271st Infantry was formed in northern Austria (Wehrkreis XVII) from older age men
on May 22, 1940, when it looked as if the French campaign might be a long one. It included the
562nd, 563rd, and 564th Infantry Regiments, the 271st Artillery Battalion, and the 271st Tank
Destroyer, Engineer and Signal Companies. France fell in six weeks, and the 271st Infantry was
dissolved on July 22. It never saw combat.
The second 271st Infantry Division began forming in west-central Germany in late 1943, under the
former Headquarters, 137th Infantry Division. Many of the division’s soldiers had come from the
137th, which had just been dissolved after two years of fighting on the Russian Front. Other elements
came from the 102nd and 113th Infantry Divisions. The division also absorbed the 97th, 302nd,
342nd, and 480th Training Battalions. The 661st and 681st Ost Battalions were added later. The new
division (which was activated on November 17) was soon transferred to Holland, where it
completed its formation in early 1944. It was on the Mediterranean coast in early June 1944, but was
still considerably understrength. Nevertheless the 271st was sent to Normandy, where it replaced the
debilitated 10th SS Panzer Division in the front line near Caen on July 17. The division fought well
but was encircled with much of the rest of Army Group B at Falaise and was virtually destroyed.
Elements did break out; divisional commander Lieutenant General Paul Danhauser was among those
who escaped. Enough remained of the original division to form a nucleus around which a
Volksgrenadier division was organized in Holland on September 17, 1944, by absorbing the 576th
Volksgrenadier Division. In November, the new division was sent to Czechoslovakia and by
December it was in action in Hungary. It fought at Stuhlweissenburg, Budapest and Gran, and ended
the war in the pocket east of Prague. Part of the division (about 1,000 men, six guns and four assault
guns) was trapped in the Hungarian capital when the Red Army surrounded Budapest (including the
Staff, 978th Grenadier Regiment) and was destroyed when the city fell on February 12.
The division’s commanders included Danhauser (December 10, 1943) and Colonel/Major General
Martin Bieber (September 3, 1944).
Notes and S ources: When the division was created, the 137th Infantry Division provided the divisional staff and the men of the 979th Grenadier Regiment; the 113th
Infantry Division supplied the men of the 977th Grenadier Regiment, the 271st Artillery Regiment and the 271st Fusilier Battalion, while the 102nd Infantry Division
transferred the soldiers of the 978th Grenadier Regiment to the new division. Bieber was promoted to major general on January 1, 1945. He was a Russian POW until
1955.
Blumenson 1960: 225, 556; Harrison: M ap VI; Keilig: 33–34; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1146; Nafziger 2000: 264–66; “Frontnachweiser,” 15 December
1944; Tessin, Vol. 8: 302–3; RA: 204; OB 43: 167; OB 44b: D92; OB 45: 222.
272ND INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION
Composition (1944): 980th Grenadier Regiment, 981st Grenadier Regiment, 982nd Grenadier
Regiment, 272nd Artillery Regiment, 272nd Fusilier Battalion, 272nd Tank Destroyer Battalion,
272nd Engineer Battalion, 272nd Signal Battalion, 272nd Field Replacement Battalion, 272nd
Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station (1943): Hameln, Wehrkreis III
The original 272nd Infantry Division was formed in the tenth wave on May 22, 1940, in the GrossBorn Troop Maneuver Area near Stettin, Pomerania, and was disbanded two months later, after the
fall of France. It consisted of older men who were called up for home service during the French
campaign. As soon as the armistice with France was reached they were released back into civilian
industry. The original division included the 541st, 542nd, and 543rd Infantry Regiments (at
Koenigsberg. Stettin and Danzig, respectively), the 272nd Artillery Battalion and the 272nd Tank
Destroyer, Engineer and Signal Companies.
Another 272nd Infantry began to organize in Germany on November 17, 1943 and completed its
training near Antwerp, Belgium, in early 1944. It also absorbed the 250th, 481st, 483rd and 485th
Training Battalions. Its Staff came from the defunct 216th Infantry Division. This twenty-second-wave
division was sent to the Lyon area of France later that year and was engaged in training at Perpignan
near the Spanish frontier in June. Still badly understrength, it was nevertheless sent to the Normandy
Front, where it replaced the exhausted 1st SS Panzer and 12th SS Panzer Divisions on the front line
on July 13. The 272nd suffered heavy casualties in the Normandy/Falaise battles of July and August
1944, and was sent back to the III Military District to completely rebuild. This program took place at
the Doeberitz Troop Maneuver Area, just west of Berlin. Redesignated a Volksgrenadier division on
September 17, the 272nd absorbed the 575th Volksgrenadier Division and was transferred back to the
Western Front in November. It fought in the Battles of the Huertgen Forest, the Bulge, and the Roer
River Dams, as well as in the Eifel campaign. Burned-out after January 1945, the division was
virtually destroyed on April 18, 1945. The remnants surrendered to the Americans in the Harz
Mountains (Hesse province) in May. General of Infantry Hans Petri commanded the original 272nd.
The commanders of the 272nd Infantry/Volksgrenadier Division included Lieutenant General
Friedrich August Schack (November 17, 1943), Colonel Georg Kossmala (September 4, 1944), and
Major General/Lieutenant General Eugen König (December 13, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Petri was a “retread” (i.e., he had retired before the war began and was recalled to active duty). His promotion to general of infantry was
honorary. König was promoted to lieutenant general on M arch 16, 1945. The post of division commander of the 272nd was vacant on April 30, 1945 and apparently
had been vacant since General Koenig was captured on April 18.
Blumenson 1960: 225, 582; Chant, Volume 14: 1863; Volume 16: 2133; Harrison: M ap VI; 454; M artin Jenner, Die 216./272. niedersaechsische Infanterie-Division,
1939–1945 (1964); Keilig: 178, 182, 292; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume IV: 1900; Lexikon; M acDonald 1963: 460, 599, 601; M ehner, Vol. 12: 454; Nafziger
2000: 266–67; “Frontnachweiser,” 15 December 1944; Tessin, Vol. 8: 307–8; RA: 172; OB 42: 101; OB 43: 167; OB 45: 222.
273RD INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 544th Infantry Regiment, 545th Infantry Regiment, 546th Infantry Regiment, 273rd
Artillery Battalion, 273rd Tank Destroyer Company, 273rd Engineer Company, 273rd Signal
Company, 273rd Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Berlin, Wehrkreis III
Formed from older personnel in the III Military District in the 10th mobilization Wave (May 22,
1940), the original 273rd was dissolved on July 1, 1940, after the fall of France.
A second 273rd was formed in the last month of the war. Apparently very much understrength, it
was sent to the Eastern Front, where the remnants of the 16th Hungarian Infantry Division were
attached to it. The 273rd ended the war in Czechoslovakia.
S ources: “Frontnachweiser,” 15 December 1944. Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume I: 1146; Tessin, Vol. 8: 312; OB 43: 167; OB 44b: D92.
274TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 862nd Grenadier Regiment, 865th Grenadier Regiment, 274th Artillery Regiment,
274th Fusilier Battalion, 274th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 274th Engineer Battalion, 274th Signal
Battalion, 274th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Braunsberg, later Tilsit, Wehrkreis I
This static (bodenständige) unit was organized in Norway on May 26, 1943. It was created from
previously existing divisions. The 862nd Grenadier Regiment, for example, had three battalions: one
came from the 214th Infantry Division, one from the 269th Infantry Division, and third was from the
710th Infantry Division. The three battalions of the 865th Grenadier Regiment became from the 181st,
196th, and 199th Infantry Divisions. The 230th, 269th, and 181st Infantry Divisions each contributed
an artillery battalion to the 274th Artillery Regiment. The new unit was classified as static because of
its lack of motorized vehicles. It spent its entire existence guarding the southwest coast of Norway
around Stavenger. It surrendered to the British in May 1945.
Its commanders were Lieutenant General Wilhelm Russwurm (May 26, 1943) and Lieutenant
General Kurt Weckmann (October 27, 1944).
S ources: Chant, Volume 13: 1704; Keilig: 268, 364; Kursietis: 174; Nafziger 2000: 268; Tessin, Vol. 8: 315–16; RA: 32; OB 45: 223.
275TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 983rd Grenadier Regiment, 984th Grenadier Regiment, 985th Grenadier Regiment,
275th Artillery Regiment, 275th Fusilier Battalion, 275th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 275th Engineer
Battalion, 275th Signal Battalion, 275th Field Replacement Battalion, 275th Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Böhmisch-Leipa, Wehrkreis IV
Activated in western France on November 17, 1943, this 22nd Wave division included the former
Staff and surviving elements of the recently disbanded 223rd Infantry Division, which had been
largely destroyed on the Eastern Front. The divisional also absorbed the 190th, 234th, 425th, and
475th Reserve Grenadier Battalions of the 158th Reserve Division. For some reason, the new
division was initially designated the 352nd Infantry Division, but became the 275th Infantry Division
on December 10. Sent to Brittany, it was still forming in mid-February 1944, when it consisted of the
divisional staff, one regimental staff, one artillery unit, two battalions of “old men,” and little else.
The 275th conducted training operations in Brittany until June 1944, when it replaced the exhausted
Panzer Lehr Division in the line in Normandy. It was smashed in the American Cobra offensive of
July 25–27, 1944, when it was subjected to repeated saturation attacks by heavy bomber groups. The
survivors of Cobra suffered further severe casualties in the breakout from the Falaise pocket in
August, and the division was listed as practically destroyed by SS Colonel General Hausser,
commander of the 7th Army, shortly afterward. The remnants of the 275th fought at Aachen and were
down to a strength of 800 men before the division was taken out of the line later that month.
On October 1, 1944, the 275th absorbed some miscellaneous local defense troops and two
Luftwaffe fortress defense battalions. Its total strength on October 3 was 5,000 men, thirteen 105mm
howitzers, one 210mm howitzer and six assault guns. Thus, even after rebuilding, the 275th had only
about one-third of the strength of a 1941-type division—a situation fairly typical in the German Army
in the fifth year of the war. Despite its poor condition, it returned to the Aachen sector in November,
and fought in the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest, where it was virtually destroyed. The remnants of the
275th were temporarily absorbed by the 344th Infantry Division, and the divisional staff was
evacuated to Germany. In early 1945, it was stationed at Flensburg in northern Germany and was
engaged in helping form a new Volksgrenadier division. The 275th Infantry reappeared in combat in
Czechoslovakia in early March 1945, and was finally destroyed (along with most of the 9th Army) in
the Halbe Pocket (near Guben, southeast of Berlin) on or about April 29.
Its commander throughout its existence was Lieutenant General Hans Schmidt, except for the period
October 11 to November 22, 1944, when Colonel Helmut Bechler was acting divisional commander.
Notes and S ources: The Germans identified the commander of this division as “Hans Schmidt, (geb. 1895)” (Hans Schmidt, born 1895) to distinguish him from other
Hans Schmidts, including General of Infantry Hans Schmidt, geb. 1877.
Blumenson 1960: 226, 247, 273, 372, 442; Harrison: 257, M ap VI; Keilig: 304–05; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume IV: 1896; M acDonald 1963: 91, 99, 103, 226,
273, 330, 465; M ehner, Vol. 12: 454; Nafziger 2000: 270; Ruge: 79; Tessin, Vol. 8: 318–19; RA: 72; OB 45: 223–24.
276TH INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION
Composition (1944): 986th Grenadier Regiment, 987th Grenadier Regiment, 988th Grenadier
Regiment, 276th Artillery Regiment, 276th Fusilier Battalion, 276th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 276th
Engineer Battalion, 276th Signal Battalion, 276th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Hanover, later Göttingen, Wehrkreis XI
One of the divisions containing older men, the original 276th Infantry was formed in Posen
(Poznan), XXI Military District, on May 22, 1940. It included the 559th, 560th, and 561st Infantry
Regiments (from Berlin, Dresden, and Posen, respectively), the 276th Artillery Battalion, and the
276th Tank Destroyer, Engineer, and Signal Companies. It was dissolved two months later, when the
fall of France made its continued existence unnecessary. It never left Germany.
The second 276th Infantry Division was activated in Germany on November 17, 1943, and was
stationed in Dax in southwestern France in January 1944, to complete its training. It was sent into
battle in Normandy in mid-June and was virtually destroyed in the Battle of the Falaise Pocket in
August. Its commander, Lieutenant General Curt Badinski, was among those taken prisoner.
Reorganized in Troop Maneuver Area Gruppe in West Prussia on September 4, 1944, as a
Volksgrenadier division, the 276th absorbed the partially formed 580th Volksgrenadier Division. It
returned to action in the Battle of the Bulge that December. Here it lost 2,000 men and its divisional
commander, Major General Kurt Moehring, was killed. In January 1945, the division—now led by
Colonel Hugo Dempwolff—was fighting north of Luxembourg. Two months later, as it opposed
American attempts to cross the Rhine, the 276th had a strength of only 400 grenadiers and 10
howitzers. Finally, it was smashed south of Remagen and collapsed altogether in late March. The
remnants of the 276th retreated into the Ruhr Pocket, where they were captured in April 1945.
The commanders of this division included Badinski (November 1943), Moehring (September 4,
1944), Colonel/Major General Dempwolff (December 18, 1944), Colonel Werner Wagner (January
18, 1945), and Dempwolff (March 1, 1945).
Notes and S ources: After General Badinski was captured on August 21, the post of commander of the 276th was vacant until September 4. M oehring was relieved of
his command on December 18, 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge. On his way back to 7th Army Headquarters, he was ambushed by American infantrymen and
killed. Dempwolff was wounded in action on January 18, 1945. He apparently returned to command of the division on M arch 1, 1945, the day he was promoted to
major general.
Blumenson 1960: 551, 582; Bradley et al., Vol. 3: 73; Chant, Volume 16: 2133; Cole 1965: 228–32, 507; Harrison: M ap VI; Keilig: 67; M acDonald 1973: 250–51, 275,
349; “Frontnachweiser,” 15 December 1944; Tessin, Vol. 8: 321–22; RA: 172; OB 45: 224.
277TH INFANTRY (LATER VOLKSGRENADIER) DIVISION
Composition (1944): 989th Grenadier Regiment, 990th Grenadier Regiment, 991st Grenadier
Regiment, 277th Artillery Regiment, 277th Fusilier Battalion, 277th Tank Destroyer Company, 277th
Engineer Battalion, 277th Signal Battalion, 277th Field Replacement Battalion, 277th Divisional
Supply Troops
Home Station: Znaim, Wehrkreis XVII
The original 277th Infantry Division was formed in Munich, Bavaria on May 22, 1940. It consisted
of the 553rd, 554th, and 555th Infantry Regiments (all had three battalions each) from Dresden,
Munich, and Nuremberg, respectively; the 277th Artillery Battalion; and the 277th Engineer, Tank
Destroyer and Signal Companies. Like the other tenth-wave divisions, the 277th was disbanded on
July 22, 1940, after the fall of France. Its men—mostly from the older age groups—returned to the
civilian economy.
The second 277th was a twenty-second-wave unit formed in Croatia on November 17, 1943. It was
organized elements of several existing and recently disbanded divisions, including the 141st Reserve
Division, the 187th Reserve Division, the 262nd Infantry Division and the 71st Infantry Division.
Most of its replacements after the initial organization were Austrians. In February 1944, it was
transported to Narbonne in southern France. Sent to Normandy in mid-June, the 277th replaced the
battered 9th SS Panzer Division in the front line. As part of the II SS Panzer Corps, it fought well
against the British in the Battle of Caen (July 8–9) but was crushed in the Battle of the Falaise Pocket
the following month. After the battle, Colonel Wilhelm Viebig (the division commander) could
assemble only 2,500 men, and only 1,000 of these were combat troops. The 277th was sent to
Budapest, Hungary, where it absorbed the 574th Grenadier Division and was rebuilt as a
Volksgrenadier division. It returned to the Western Front in November, in time to fight in the Battle of
the Bulge, and was part of the XXXXVII Panzer Corps during the early part of the last campaign.
Viebig was captured on the Western bank of the Rhine, when his command post was overrun on
March 9, 1945. The remnants of the 277th Infantry apparently assigned to other divisions. They were
trapped in the Ruhr Pocket and surrendered to the Americans in April 1945.
Lieutenant General Karl Graf commanded the original 277th Infantry Division throughout its
existence. The commanders of the 277th Infantry/Volksgrenadier Division included Lieutenant
General Helmuth Huffmann (November 1943), Lieutenant General Albert Praun (April 4, 1944), and
Colonel/Major General Viebig (August 10, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Wilhelm Viebig was promoted to major general on January 1, 1945.
Air University Files, SRGG 1153; Blumenson 1960: 225, 551; Chant, Volume 14: 1914; Cole 1965: 83, 95–96; Harrison: M ap VI; Keilig: 262; Kriegstagebuch des
OKW, Volume IV: 1900; “Frontnachweiser,” 15 December 1944; M acDonald 1973; 69; Tessin, Vol. 8: 326–27; RA: 220; OB 42: 22; OB 45: 224–25.
278TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition (1944): 992nd Grenadier Regiment, 993rd Grenadier Regiment, 994th Grenadier
Regiment, 278th Artillery Regiment, 278th Fusilier Battalion, 278th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 278th
Engineer Battalion, 278th Signal Battalion
Home Station: Schwerin/Warthe, Wehrkreis III
Formed on May 22, 1940 from Landwehr (older) reservists, the first 278th Infantry Division was a
composite unit with Silesian, Austrian and Württemberger-Baden elements. It included the 547th,
548th, and 549th Infantry Regiments, the 278th Artillery Battalion, and the 278th Engineer, Tank
Destroyer, and Signal Companies. It was dissolved after the fall of France. It never saw combat.
The second 278th was created in Belgium on November 17, 1943. It was formed around the
remnants of the 333rd Infantry Division, which had been destroyed in southern Russia. It was sent to
northeastern Italy in December 1943. Here it formed part of Army Detachment von Zangen, a
collection of mediocre and ill-equipped formations. By May, however, the division was on the front
line, opposing the British advance up the Adriatic coast. It took part in the battles of the Gothic Line
that September and fought in every major battle in Italy after that. It was redesignated 278th
Volksgrenadier Division on April 6, 1945. On April 22, it covered the retreat of the I Parachute
Corps south of the Brenner Pass. The corps escaped, but the bulk of the 278th was cut off and
captured. Even those who got away surrendered to elements of the 5th and 7th U.S. Armies near
Belluno a few days later.
The commander of the original 278th Infantry Division was Lieutenant General Hubert Gercke. The
commander of the second 278th Infantry Division was Lieutenant General Harry Hoppe (November
17, 1943–end). Colonel Paul Bornscheuer commanded the division from January 28 to March 5,
1944, when Hoppe was absent on leave.
S ources: Fisher: 19, 278, 302, 494; Hartmann: 30; Harry Hoppe, Die 278. Infanterie-Division in Italien, 1944/45 (1953); Lexikon; Nafziger 2000: 273; Tessin, Vol. 8:
331–32; RA: 46; OB 45: 225.
279TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 550th Infantry Regiment, 551st Infantry Regiment, 552nd Infantry Regiment, 279th
Artillery Battalion, 279th Engineer Company, 279th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 279th Signal
Company, 279th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Kassel, Wehrkreis IX
This composite division was formed in the 10th Wave on May 22, 1940. It was disbanded on July
1, 1940, after the fall of France. Its infantry regiments came from Kassel (Wehrkreis IX), Hamburg
(Wehrkreis X), and Hanover (Wehrkreis XI), respectively. The division never left Germany.
Its commander was Major General/Lieutenant General Herbert Stimmel.
Notes and S ources: A “retread,” Stimmel was promoted to lieutenant general (honorary rank) on June 1, 1940. He became a lieutenant general (full rank) on June 1,
1941.
Keilig: 335; Kursietis: 175; Lexikon; Tessin, Vol. 8: 335.
280TH INFANTRY DIVISION (COASTAL DEFENSE)
Composition (1945): Panzer Company Bergen, 645th Fortress Battalion, 655th Fortress Battalion,
658th Fortress Battalion, 666th Fortress Battalion, 1015th Fortress Battalion, Fortress Battalion A,
280th Tank Destroyer Company, 280th Signal Company, 8th Motorcycle Replacement Battalion,
280th Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Wohlau, Wehrkreis VIII
The original 280th was formed in Danzig, Wehrkreis XX on May 22, 1940, from East Prussian,
Pomeranian, Rhinelander and Westphalian replacement troops. It included the 556th, 557th and 558th
Infantry Regiments, the 280th Artillery Battalion, and the 280th Engineer, Tank Destroyer and Signal
Companies. It was disbanded in July 1940, after the surrender of France.
The second 280th Infantry Division was a coastal defense unit formed on April 22, 1942, in
Stavenger, southwestern Norway, from Coastal Defense Formation Stavanger, which had existed
since April 1940. Its headquarters remained in Stavanger until September 1944, when it moved to
nearby Bergen. The division had no reconnaissance, tank destroyer or field replacement battalions,
and its artillery consisted of four captured French 100mm guns. It surrendered on May 9, 1945,
without ever having engaged in ground combat.
Its commanders were Major General/Lieutenant General Karl Beeren (April 27, 1942) and
Lieutenant General Johann der Boer (November 10, 1944).
Notes and S ources: Beeren was promoted to lieutenant general on M ay 1, 1943.
Keilig: 25, 138; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume II: 1357; Volume III: 8, 1158; Volume IV: 1878; Lexikon; Nafziger 2000: 274; Tessin, Vol. 8: 338; OB 43: 167; OB
44: 230; OB 45: 225.
281ST SECURITY (LATER INFANTRY) DIVISION
Composition: 107th Security Regiment, 368th Security Regiment, II/207th Artillery Regiment,
281st Fusilier Company, 281st Ost (Eastern) Cavalry Battalion, 368th Tank Destroyer Company,
368th Engineer Company, 281st Signal Company, 281st Divisional Supply Troops
Home Station: Deutsch Krone, Wehrkreis II
Formed in the Gross-Born Troop Maneuver Area on March 15, 1941, this division served behind
the northern sector of the Russian Front in 1941. After major Russian breakthroughs in the winter
offensive in 1941–42, the 281st was encircled at Kholm on January 28, 1942. Its commander, Major
General Theodor Scherer, became commandant of the “fortress” and held it against overwhelming
odds with only 5,000 men until May 5, when it was relieved. Remarkably, he performed this task
without artillery of any kind, although he did rely heavily on air support when weather permitted. The
281st Security was engaged in line of communications duties for Army Group North during the next
few weeks, but its 368th Security (now Grenadier) Regiment was again in action in the battles of
Demyansk from November 1942 until February 1943.
The following autumn, the 281st was again heavily engaged against the Russians on the northern
sector of the front and was finally smashed by the Soviet summer offensive of 1944. It rebuilt as an
infantry division at the end of the year. As of January 1945 (when it became the 281st Infantry), the
division consisted of the 322nd, 368th, and 418th Grenadier Regiments (two battalions each), the
281st Artillery Regiment, the 281st Fusilier Company, the 281st Tank Destroyer Company (equipped
with captured tanks), the newly-formed 281st Engineer Battalion, the 822nd Signal Battalion, and the
281st Field Replacement Battalion. The new infantry division, meanwhile, was withdrawn from
Courland and was sent to the Vistula. It fought in the withdrawal from West Prussia and Pomerania,
and ended up on the Oder River. Along with the rest of the 3rd Panzer Army, it surrendered to the
Western Allies in May 1945. Contrary to its supposed rear-area mission, the 281st spent much of its
time on the front line, rather than in the communications zone.
The commanders of the 281st Security/Infantry Division were Lieutenant General Friedrich Bayer
(March 14, 1941), Major General Theodor Scherer (October 1, 1941), Major General/Lieutenant
General Wilhelm-Hunold von Stockhausen (June 20, 1942), Major General Bruno Schultetus
(December 1942), Stockhausen (May 10, 1943), Lieutenant General Bruno Ortner (July 27, 1944),
Major General Alois Windisch (July 30, 1944), Ortner (returned to duty September 19, 1944), and
Colonel Schmidt (April 25, 1945–end).
Notes and S ources: Deutsch Krone is now Walcz, Poland. Stockhausen was promoted to lieutenant general on April 1, 1944. Colonel Friedrich Wilhelm Rübesamen
was reportedly acting commander of the division for part of 1944, but the dates are not clear.
Keilig: 335; Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume II: 1376, 1396–97; Volume III: 260; Volume IV: 1888; Lexikon; M ehner, Vol. 12: 454; Tessin, Vol. 9: 1–4; RA: 32; OB
43: 214; OB 45: 226.
282ND INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 848th Grenadier Regiment, 849th Grenadier Regiment, 850th Grenadier Regiment,
282nd Artillery Regiment, 282nd Bicycle Squadron, 282nd Tank Destroyer Battalion, 282nd
Engineer Battalion, 282nd Signal Battalion, 282nd Field Replacement Battalion, 282nd Divisional
Supply Troops
Home Station: Karlsruhe, Wehrkreis V
Organized in Cherbourg, northern France in the winter of 1942–43, and activated on March 1,
1943, this division was built around unit cadres provided by the 165th and 182nd Reserve Divisions.
The 282nd was more or less continuously engaged on the southern sector of the Russian Front from
April 1943 until August 1944, fighting at Kharkov, in the Dnieper retreat (fall 1943), at Kirovograd,
and on the Bug. The 282nd had no anti-tank unit until the fall of 1943, when the 905th Assault Gun
Battalion was attached to it. The division was already down to battle group strength by October 1943.
It finally was encircled and destroyed at Jassy, Romania, west of the lower Dnestr, in August 1944.
Its few survivors were transferred to the 76th Infantry Division.
Commanders of the 282nd Infantry Division included Major General Wilhelm Kohler (March 1,
1943) and Major General Hermann Frenking (August 15, 1943).
Notes and S ources: Frenking was captured by the Russians on August 20, 1944 and remained a POW until 1955. Bradley et al., Vol. 4: 74; Keilig: 179;
Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume III: 1156; Lexikon; Nafziger 2000: 275; Tessin, Vol. 9: 5; RA: 86; OB 44: 230; OB 45: 230.
285TH SECURITY DIVISION
Composition (late 1942): 285th Beute Panzer Company, 113th Landesschuetzen (later Security)
Regiment, 322nd Grenadier Regiment, I/9th Police Regiment, III/207th Artillery Regiment, 285th
Fusilier Company, 322nd Tank Destroyer Company, 322nd Engineer Company, 322nd Signal
Company, 322nd Divisional Supply Troops. The term Beute indicates that the unit was equipped with
tanks of foreign manufacture.
Home Station: Kolberg, Wehrkreis II
The 285th Security was formed in Troop Maneuver Area Gross-Born on March 15, 1941. It
absorbed a third of the 207th Infantry Division in the process. (The 207th was itself in the process of
converting to a security division.) Its Staff apparently came from Staff, Landwehr Commander
Stargard. The new division spent most of its career on rear-area and line of communications duty for
Army Group North. In December 1941, it added the 823rd Signal Battalion to its table of
organization, and it added the 285th East (Ost) Cavalry Battalion in May 1942. Elements of the 285th
were besieged in Kholm from January to May 1942, along with parts of the 281st Security Division.
In the rear area for the next two years, the 285th was involved in anti-partisan operations and in the
Leningrad withdrawal. It opposed the Soviet summer offensive of 1944, during which it was
smashed. In August 1944, the remnants of the 285th Security were under the operational control of the
20th SS Grenadier Division. Its Staff was used to form Group Kleffel (later XVI Corps). It was
disbanded on August 15.
Its commanders included Major General/Lieutenant General Elder Herr und Baron Wolfgang von
Plotho (March 15, 1941), Colonel Traut (May 1942), Plotho (returned June 1, 1942), and Lieutenant
General Gustav Adolph-Auffenberg-Komarow (September 5, 1942).
Notes and S ources: Plotho was promoted to lieutenant general on October 1, 1941.
Kriegstagebuch des OKW, Volume IV: 1877; Kursietis: 176; Lexikon; M ehner, Vol. 4: 385; Tessin, Vol. 9: 14–15; OB 43: 214, OB 45: 227.
286TH SECURITY DIVISION
Composition: 354th Reinforced Infantry Regiment, 61st Security Regiment, 122nd Security
Regiment, III/8th Police Regiment, II/213th Artillery Regiment, 286th Fusilier Company, 286th Tank
Destroyer Company, 286th Engineer Company, 286th Signal Company, 354th Divisional Supply
Troops Command
Home Station: Altkirch/Upper Alsace, Wehrkreis VIII
This division was formed on March 15, 1942, from the remains of the 213th Infantry Division, a
recently disbanded Landwehr unit. (The 286th received those personnel still on active duty.) The
division served with Army Group Center throughout the rest of the war. It was used primarily in the
rear area, protecting important installations and conducting anti-partisan operations. Its main base
was Orscha, which was also its headquarters. It saw front-line duty against the Russian summer
offensive of 1944, and suffered heavy casualties. At battle group strength, it fought in Narev, Memel,
and Samland and on the Oder. On December 17, 1944, it was reorganized and redesignated the 286th
Infantry Division. It now included the 926th, 927th and 931st Grenadier Regiments (two battalions
each), the 286th Artillery Regiment (three battalions), the 286th Signal Battalion and the 286th Field
Replacement Battalion. On April 17, 1945, it was reorganized yet again. The combat units of the
division were sent to Swinemuende and placed under the command of Staff, Division Raegener, an ad
hoc unit which was now renamed the 286th Training Division (Ausbildung-Division 286). The
former staff of the 286th remained in Samland and became Special Administrative Division Staff 619.
The 286th, meanwhile, joined the 9th Army on the Oder and took part in the defense of Berlin. It was
destroyed when the Russians captured the city (April 25–May 3, 1945).
Divisional commanders of the 286th Security included Lieutenant General Kurt Mueller (born
1882) (March 15, 1941), Major General/Lieutenant General Johann-Georg Richert (June 15, 1942),
Major General Hans Oschmann (November 1, 1943), Lieutenant General Friedrich-Georg Eberhardt
(August 5, 1944), Lieutenant General Wilhelm Thomas (December 26, 1944), Colonel Willi Schmidt
(January 26, 1945), and Major General Emmo von Roden (January 31, 1945). The 286th was unusual
for a security division in that it had three security regiments as opposed to the normal total of two per
division.
Notes and S ources: The II/213th Artillery was initially part of the 354th Reinforced Infantry Regiment. Richert was promoted to lieutenant general on M arch 1,
1943. General von Roden was reported as missing in action in Berlin on M ay 3, 1945.
Keilig: 279; Kreigstagebuch des OKW, Volume IV: 1897; Kursietis: 177; Lexikon; Tessin, Vol. 9: 16–17; OB 43: 214; OB 45: 227.
290TH INFANTRY DIVISION
Composition: 501st Infantry Regiment, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 290th
Artillery Regiment, 290th Reconnaissance Battalion, 290th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 290th Engineer
Battalion, 290th Signal Battalion, 290th Field Replacement Battalion, 290th Divisional Supply
Troops
Home Station: Luebeck, later Schleswig, Wehrkreis X
The 290th was an eighth-wave division, formed in the Münsterlager Troop Maneuver Area from
newly trained north German personnel in March and April 1940. It was officially activated on
February 5, 1940, completed its unit training on April 30, and took part in the last stages of the Battle
of France. On the French Atlantic coast until February 1941, the division was sent to East Prussia in
March and invaded the Soviet Union with the LVI Panzer Corps of Army Group North in June 1941. It
was an effective fighting unit. The 290th Infantry spearheaded the initial attack into Russia and played
a major role in the capture of Dvinsk. In August it fought in the First Battle of Lake lImen and was
surrounded in the Demyansk Pocket in January 1942. The division’s freedom of action was not
restored until February 1943. It then fought at Dno, Lake Ladoga, and the Battle of Nevel that winter.
By the fall of 1943, the division was down to six grenadier battalions and its tank destroyer and
reconnaissance battalions had been consolidated into a single schnelle battalion. The division
suffered heavy losses in the Leningrad withdrawal and was isolated in the Courland Pocket by
October. Its 503rd Grenadier Regiment was disbanded that fall, and it was down to four grenadier
battalions and three artillery battalions. It remained in the Courland Pocket, holding off several Soviet
attacks, until March 1945, when it boarded ships and was sent to Neutief on the Frische Nehrung in
East Prussia. It both inflicted and suffered heavy casualties in the last Soviet attempts to crush the
Army of East Prussia. The 290th Infantry Division remained isolated in East Prussia until the end of
hostilities and surrendered to the Red Army in May 1945.
Its commanders included Major General/Lieutenant General Max Dennerlein (February 1940),
Major General/Lieutenant General Baron Theodor von Wrede (June 8, 1940), Major General Helge
Auleb (September 19, 1940), Wrede (returned October 14, 1940), Colonel/Major General/Lieutenant
General Conrad-Oskar Heinrichs (May 1, 1942), Major General Gerhard Henke (February 1, 1944),
Colonel Rudolf Goltzsch (July 1, 1944), Major General Hans-Joachim Baurmeister (August 18,
1944), Major General Carl Henke (April 24, 1945), and Lieutenant General Bruno Ortner (April 27,
1945–end).
Notes and S ources: Dennerlein was promoted to lieutenant general on M arch 1, 1940. He was wounded in action on June 8. Baron von Wrede was promoted to
lieutenant general on M arch 1, 1941. He was badly wounded on M ay 1, 1942, and held no further assignments. He was discharged from the service in late 1944.
Heinrichs was promoted to major general on July 1, 1942, and to lieutenant general on February 1, 1943. General Henke was killed in action on April 27, 1945—his
fourth day in command. It was reported that he shot himself with his last bullet as the Russians overwhelmed his position. Bradley et al., Vol. 5: 307–9, Carell 1966:
21, 248, 288, 365, 375, 427; Keilig: 133, 135, 204, 377; Lexikon; M ehner, Vol 12: 440, 454; Nafziger 2000: 276–77; Berndt von Bock und POLACH and Hans Grene,
Weg und Schicksal der bespannten 290. Infanterie-Division (1986); Tessin, Vol. 9: 27–28; OB 42: 102; OB 43: 167–68; OB 44: 230; OB 45: 227–28.
* Included infantry, as well as reserve, replacement, air landing, assault, Sturm (assault), Volksgrenadier, grenadier, marine, coastal defense, security, and special
purpose (“z.v.B.”) divisions, as well as administrative divisional staffs and field training divisions. Those divisions that fought under more than one
designation are usually listed under their last designation. Exceptions are noted in the text.
* Also referred to as the 177th Replacement Division and the 177th M obilization Division. German units of this type were primarily involved in training and in
implementing the German draft.
Index
Abraham, Erich, 129, 131
Ahlmann, Hans, 50
Alberti, Konrad von, 291
Aldrian, Eduard, 148, 158
Altrichter, Friedrich, 35, 107, 202–3
Anders, Carl, 148–49, 221
Andre, Carl, 45, 254
Andreas, M oritz, 257
Ansat, John, 165
anti-tank battalions, 3, 6–7
Apell, Georg von, 47
Arlau, Ernst Pauer von, 44, 173
Armin, Hans-Juergen von, 102
Arndt, Edgar, 208
Arnim, Hans-Heinrich Sixt von, 158, 172
Arning, Karl, 124, 127
artillery regiments, 3, 5–6
Auffenberg-Komarow, Gustav Adolph, 333
Auleb, Helge, 42, 123, 336
Aulock, Andreas von, 136
Baade, Ernst Guenther, 116
Babel, Ottomar, 57
Bacherer, Rudolf, 132
Bader, Rudolf, 188
Badinski, Kurt, 317–18, 325, 326
Baentsch, Alfred, 139
Baessler, Erich, 98, 241
Baessler, Johannes, 285
Baier, Albrecht, 165, 280
Baltzer, Richard, 205, 235, 270
Bamler, Rudolf, 52, 173, 174
Barde, Konrad, 247
Barth, Otto, 76
Barton, Gottfried, 252
Basse, Hans von, 76, 235, 275–76
Bassewitz-Levetzow, Werner von, 38
Bauer, Ernst von, 239
Bauer, Paul, 239
Baurmeister, Hans-Joachim, 35, 336
Bayer, Friedrich, 176, 201, 233, 235, 270, 331
Bazing, Richard, 150
Bechler, Helmuth, 143, 324
Beck, Ludwig, 28
Becker, Carl, 298
Beeren, Karl, 330
Behlendorff, Hans, 81
Behr, Heinrich von, 228
Behrens, Wilhelm, 243
Behschnitt, Walter, 56, 218, 300
Beisswaenger, Hugo, 124
Benthack, Georg, 186
Bentivegni, Franz-Eccard von, 138
Bercken, Werner von, 165, 166
Berg, M artin, 250, 256
Berger, Lother, 128, 257
Bergmann, Friedrich, 190
Berlin, Wilhelm, 107, 279
Berner, Erhard-Heinrich, 129, 131
Berthold, Gerhard, 77, 78
Betz, Paul, 99, 100
Beukemann, Helmuth, 127
Beyer, Franz, 89
Beyse, Friedrich, 64
Bieber, M artin, 144, 320
Biegeleben, Arnold von, 42, 43
Biehler, Ernst, 253
Bieler, Bruno, 126
Bielfeld, Peter, 233
Bissing, Wilhelm-M ortiz von, 131
Blaurock, Edmund, 104, 253
Bleckwenn, Wilhelm, 37
Bleyer, Eugen, 233, 306
Bluecher, Johann-Albrecht von, 111, 161, 176
Bluemke, Friedrich, 305
Bluemm, Oskar, 105, 106
Bock, Fedor von, 93
Bock, M ax, 49
Boeckh-Behrens, Hans, 79, 80
Boeckmann, Herbert von, 49
Boege, Ehrenfried, 245
Boehm-Bezing, Diether von, 201, 296
Boehme, Franz, 75, 79
Boehme, Hermann, 125, 126
Boelsen, Hans, 227
Boemers, Hans, 116
Boettcher, Hermann, 195, 269
Boettger, Karl, 273
Bohnstedt, Wilhelm, 79
Boltze, Arthur, 202
Bork, M ax, 96
Bornemann, Karl, 44
Bornscheuer, Paul, 329
Both, Hans-Kuno von, 64, 65
Botsch, Walter, 63
Boysen, Wolf, 221
Brabaender, Hans, 318
Brandt, Friedrich-Wilhelm “Fritz,” 56, 133
Brauer, Johannes-Oskar, 256
Braun, Georg, 118
Breusing, Hero, 176
Briesen, Kurt von, 75, 76
Britzelmayr, Karl, 64
Bruecker, Otto-Hermann, 43, 47, 61, 129
Bruns, Walter, 150
Buch, Albert, 247
Buddenbrock, Jobst von, 263
Buelow, Werner von, 170
Buenau, Rudolf von, 126, 231
Buercky, Heinrich, 209
Burdack, Karl, 49, 294
Buschenhagen, Erich, 56, 57
Busse, Theodor, 173
Casper, Lieutenant General, 97
Castorf, Helmuth, 197, 218, 227
Chappuis, Friedrich-Wilhelm von, 56, 57
Chill, Kurt, 143, 176, 180
Choltitz, Dietrich von, 307, 308
Cochenhausen, Conrad von, 188
Collani, Ingo von, 271
Conrady, Alexander, 43, 307
Coretti, Julius, 196
Danhauser, Paul, 303, 319, 320
Daniel, Richard, 91, 92
Daniels, Alexander von, 42
Daser, Wilhelm, 120, 217
de Angelis, M aximilian, 129
de Beaulieu, Walter Chales, 70, 221
de Boer, Johann, 74, 330
de Chevallerie, Kurt von, 140
de Courbiere, Rene de l’Homme, 201, 264
de Gaulle, Charles, 105
de Leyen, Ludwig von, 52
Deboi, Heinrich, 89
Degener, M ajor General, 239
Dehner, Ernst, 167
Demme, Rudolf, 185
Demoll, Eugen, 250
Dempwolff, Hugo, 326
Denecke, Erich, 291
Dennerlein, M ax, 336
Dernen, Friedrich-Wilhelm, 209
Dettling, August, 237–38
Dewitz, Kuno, 289
Dewitz von Krebs, Karl von, 241
Diestel, Erich, 114, 127
Dippold, Benighus, 237
Dittmar, Kurt, 222
Division Number 140 Z.B.V., 190–91
Division Staff 240 Z.B.V., 283–84
divisional units, 6–8
anti-tank battalions, 6–7
engineer battalions, 8
fusilier battalions, 8
reconnaissance battalions, 6
signal battalions, 8
tank destroyer battalions, 7–8
Doenitz, Karl, 36, 37
Domansky, Kurt, 100, 154
Dostler, Anton, 105, 216
Dreckmann, Paul, 212, 296
Drescher, Otto, 84, 314
Duerking, Werner, 161
Duvert, Walther, 312
Ebeling, Kurt, 259
Eberding, Kurt, 85, 115
Eberhardt, Friedrich-Georg, 85, 229, 335
Eberth, Anton, 250, 251
Eckhardt, Heinrich, 260–63
Edelmann, Karl, 201
8th Infantry Division, 45
18th Infantry Division, 62
18th Volksgrenadier Division, 62–63
80th Infantry Division, 137
81st Infantry Division, 137–38
82nd Infantry Division, 138–39
83rd Infantry Division, 139–41
84th Infantry Division, 141–42
85th Infantry Division, 142–43
86th Infantry Division, 143–44
87th Infantry Division, 144–47
88th Infantry Division, 147–49
89th Infantry Division, 149–50
11th Infantry Division, 48–49
11th M arine Division, 49–50
Elfeldt, Otto, 96, 205
Elfeldt, Paul, 64
Endres, Theodor, 263
Engel, Gerhard, 51, 52
Engel, Joachim, 91, 92
Engelbrecht, Erwin, 216
engineer battalions, 3, 8
Esteban-Infantes, Emilo, 293
Ewringmann, Hugo, 94
Fabiunke, Karl, 182
Fabrice, Eberhard von, 218, 227
Falkenhorst, Nikolaus, 79
Falkenstein, Hans von, 71, 91, 92
Falkner, Karl, 282
Falley, Wilhelm, 151, 152, 291
Fangohr, Friedrich, 176
Faulenbach, Karl, 139
Felzmann, M aximilian, 294
Fessmann, Ernst, 314
Fett, Albert, 209
Feyerabend, Gerhard, 49, 145
Fiebig, Heinz, 142, 291
5th Infantry Division, 39
5th Light Division, 40
15th Infantry Division, 55–57
50th Infantry Division, 98–100
52nd Infantry (later Field Training and Security) Division, 101–2
56th Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 102–4
57th Infantry Division, 104–6
58th Infantry Division, 106–7
59th Infantry Division, 107–8
Finck, Baron von, 247
1st Grenadier Division East Prussia, 33
1st Infantry Division, 33–36
1st Light Division, 37
1st M arine Division, 36–37
Fischer, Colonel, 161
Fischer, Gotthard, 180–81
Fischer, Hermann, 233
Fischer, Karl, 314
Fischer, Kurt, 227
Floerke, Hermann, 77
Foerster, Sigismund von, 71, 74
Foertsch, Hermann, 64
Folttmann, Joseph, 303
Forst, Werner, 167
4th Infantry Division, 39
4th Light Division, 39
4th Viennese Regiment, 88
14th Infantry Division, 53
14th Landwehr Division, 53–55
41st Fortress (later Infantry) Division, 86–87
44th Infantry Division “Hoch und Deutschmeister,” 88–90
45th Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 90–92
46th Infantry Division, 92–94
47th Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 94–96
48th Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 96–97, see also 171st Reserve Division
49th Infantry Division, 97–98, see also 191st Reserve Division
Franco (Spanish dictator), 293
Franek, Friedrich “Fritz,” 89, 126, 244
Franke, Hermann, 200, 215
Frankewitz, Bruno, 267
Franz, Gerhard, 303
Frenking, Hermann, 332
Fretter-Pico, Otto, 105, 106, 195
Friebe, Helmuth, 68, 179
Friedrich, Christian, 218
Friedrich, Rudolf, 113
Friedrichs, Walter, 263
Friessner, Johannes, 165–66
Frisius, Rear Admiral, 277
Fromm, Friedrick “Fritz,” 28
Frommberger, Colonel, 74
Fuerst, Friedrich, 81, 226
Fullriede, Fritz, 39
fusilier battalions, 8
Gablenz, Eccard von, 44, 45, 79, 282
Gaedicke, Fritz, 252
Gallenkamp, Curt, 133
Gareis, M artin, 164, 311
Gebb, Werner, 47
Geissler, Erich, 134
Gercke, Hubert, 195, 329
German Division
artillery regiments, 5–6
divisional units, 6–8
infantry line regiments, 3–5
jaeger (light) divisions, 13
light divisions, 13
Luftwaffe units, 14–15
miscellaneous, 14
motorized (panzer grenadier) divisions, 12–13
mountain divisions, 13
panzer divisions, 11–12
security divisions, 14
SS divisions, 15
staff, 1–3
support units, 8–11
type 44 divisions, 11
Volksgrenadier divisions, 11
Gerok, Kurt, 201
Geyso, Eckkard von, 243
Giese, Karl, 253
Gihr, Gustav, 45, 84, 91, 158, 168, 269
Gilbert, M artin, 168, 219, 220, 232, 287
Gilsa, Baron von und zu, 268, 269
Gimborn, Hermann von, 231
Goeritz, Werner, 153
Goeschen, Alexander, 264
Goetz, Heinrich, 64, 65, 140, 141
Gollwitzer, Friedrich, 148, 243
Goltzsch, Rudolf, 336
Graevenitz, Hans von, 282
Graf, Karl, 206, 327
Graffen, Karl von, 107
Grandes, M unoz, 293
Grase, M artin, 35
Greiner, Heinrich, 316
Griesbach, Franz, 225
Grimme, Colonel, 119
Groddeck, Karl-Albrecht von, 49, 212
Groppe, Theodor, 265, 266
Grosse, Erich, 156
Grossmann, Horst, 43, 165
Grote, Woldemar, 271
Gruner, Erich, 113, 126, 169–70
Guembel, Karl, 200, 235, 305
Guentzel, Ernst, 61, 172
Guhl, Konrad, 229
Gurran, Paul, 70
Haccius, Ernst, 93, 94
Haeckel, Ernst, 59, 208, 310
Haehling, Kurt, 126, 180, 181
Haenicke, Siegfried, 111
Hahm, Walter, 307, 308
Hahne, Hans, 245
Halder, Franz, 44, 45, 188
Hammer, Ernst, 127, 128, 240, 241
Hansen, Ottomar, 173, 174
Harrendorf, Hermann, 161
Harteneck, Gustav, 124
Hartmann, Alexander von, 42, 121, 122
Hartmann, Hans, 37
Hartmann, Otto, 44, 45
Hartmann, Walter, 145
Hartmann, Werner, 38
Hase, Paul von, 93, 94, 104
Hass, Siegfried, 225
Hasse, Wilhelm, 76
Hassenstein, Erich, 91, 92
Hauffe, Arthur, 93
Haus, Georg, 61, 100
Hauser, Wolfgang-Rudiger, 87
Hausser, SS General, 132, 151, 286, 324
headquarters, 10
Heine, Siegfried, 190
Heinrichs, Conrad-Oskar, 150, 336
Heinrici, Gotthard, 58
Held, Karl, 194
Hell, Ernst-Eberhard, 56, 317
Hellmich, Heinz, 192, 286
Henke, Carl, 336
Henke, Gerhard, 76, 336
Henrici, Waldemar, 306
Henze, Albert, 76
Heopner, Eric, 70
Hermann, Alfred, 310
Hermann, Colonel, 154
Hermann, Paul, 311
Hernekamp, Karl, 52, 79
Hernekampf, Kurt, 259
Herrlein, Friedrich, 122
Heucke, Werner, 294
Heulsen, Botho von, 113
Heun, Wilhelm, 140–41
Heunert, Iwan, 107
Heuttner, Hans, 220
Heygendorff, Ralph von, 215
Heyne, Walter, 43, 139
Hielscher, Edgar, 257
Hielscher, Rudolf, 306
Higher Artillery Command, 3
Hilpert, Karl, 49
Himer, Kurt, 92–93, 269
Himmler, Heinrich, 28
Hippel, Ferdinand, 81
Hirschfield, Hans von, 134
Hirt, Rudolf, 56, 57
Hitter, Alfons, 167, 254, 255
Hitzfeld, Otto, 165, 166
Hobe, Cord von, 136
Hochbaum, Friedrich, 81
Hoecker, Hans-Kurt, 220, 306
Hoefl, Hugo, 86, 254, 255
Hoffmann, Colonel, 89
Hoffmann, Helmuth, 113
Hoffmann, Paul, 194
Hoffmann-Schoenborn, Colonel/M ajor General, 63
Hoffmeister, Edmund, 45
Hofmann, Erich, 154, 256
Hofmann, Friedrich, 47, 180, 210
Hohn, Hermann, 124
Hollidt, Karl Adolf, 100, 102
Hollweg, Carl, 60
Hoppe, Harry, 180, 329
Horn, Hans-Joachim von, 247
Horn, M ax, 252, 265, 266
Hossbach, Friedrich, 77, 139
Hube, Hans Valentin, 58
Huehner, Werner, 111
Huenten, M aximilian, 86
Huffmann, Helmuth, 327
Hummel, Kurt, 136
Hundt, Gustav, 176
Ilgen, M ax, 79
infantry anti-tank companies, 5
infantry battalions, 4
infantry howitzer companies, 4–5
infantry line regiments, 3–5
anti-tank battalions, 3
anti-tank companies, 5
artillery, 3
engineer battalions, 3
howitzer companies, 4–5
infantry battalions, 4
machine gun companies, 4
reconnaissance battalions, 3
signal battalions, 3
tank destroyer companies, 5
Jacobi, Alfred, 250, 251
jaeger (light) divisions, 13
Jahn, Curt, 52, 173–74
Jordan, Hans, 45
Juettner, Arthur, 113
Junck, Hans, 298, 312
Kaempfe, Rudolf, 77, 78
Kaestner, Robert, 59
Kalkowski, Walter, 330
Kalmuekoff, Kurt, 77, 78
Kamecke, Hans, 190
Kampfhenkel, Werner, 124
Karl, Franz, 235, 310
Karst, Friedrich, 158, 309
Kauffmann, Gerhard, 303
Kegler, Gerhard, 97
Keiner, Walter, 113
Keinitz, Werner, 71
Keitel, Wilhelm, 42
Kempski, Hans von, 248
Keonig, Eugen, 151–52
Keuhne, Gerhard, 68
Kiliani, Emmanuel von, 298
Kirchbach, Harry von, 266
Kirchheim, Heinrich, 222
Kittel, Friedrich, 113
Klammt, Guenther, 43, 307, 308
Klasing, Fritz, 107
Klepp, Ernst, 186
Klinge, Colonel, 244
Klosterkemper, Bernhard, 152, 232, 286
Kluge, Guenther von, 277
Kluge, Wolfgang von, 277
Kniess, Baptist, 267
Kobolt, Heinz, 161
Koch, Fritz, 300
Koechling, Friedrich, 300
Koenig, Ernst, 77
Koenig, Eugen, 294, 321, 322
Koenig, M ajor General, 51, 52
Koerner, Gerhard, 91
Koerner, Paul-Willi, 274
Koetz, Karl, 64
Kohler, Wilhelm, 332
Kokott, Heim, 74
Kolb, Werner, 47
Korte, Peter, 290, 291
Kortzfleisch, Joachim von, 35
Koske, Karl, 263
Kossack, Siegfried, 142
Kossmala, Georg, 79, 321
Kraeutler, M athias, 191
Kraiss, Dietrich, 221
Krampf, Heinrich, 58
Krappe, Guenther, 111
Kratzert, Hans, 294
Krause, Walther, 225
Krech, Frank, 87
Kreipe, Heinrich, 68, 136
Kriebel, Karl, 93, 94, 104
Krosigk, Ernst-Anton von, 35, 71
Kuechler, Georg von, 35
Kuehlwein, Fritz, 91, 92, 196
Kuehn, Walter, 291
Kuehne, Fritz, 73, 298
Kuhnert, Alfred, 247
Kullmer, Arthur, 167
Kuntze, Walter, 42, 43
Kurowski, Eberhard von, 168, 169
Labonne, Roger, 44
Laengenfelder, Hans, 57
Lamey, Hubert, 64
Lancelle, Otto, 173, 174
Landau, Christian-Johannes, 230
Landgraf, Franz, 202, 204
Lang, Georg, 148
Lang, Joachim-Friedrich, 158
Lang, M ajor (General Staff), 125
Lang, Viktor, 271
Lange, Wolfgang, 196, 237
Langhaeuser, Rudolf, 52
Larisch, Heribert von, 134, 182
Lasch, Otto, 270
Laux, Paul, 180
Le Suire, Karl von, 93
Leeb, Emil von, 56
Lehmann, Josef, 139, 284
Lemke, Herbert, 232
Lendle, Hubert, 273
Lettow, Paul, 235
Leyser, Ernst von, 317
Lichel, Walther, 177–78
Lieb, Theobald, 81, 171
Liegmann, Friedrich-Wilhelm, 43
light divisions, 13
Lindemann, Fritz, 185
List, Colonel, 291
Lock, Herbert, 61
Loehning, Paul, 243
Loeper, Friedrich Wilhelm von, 138
Loeweneck, Ludwig, 86
Loewrick, Karl, 154
Lorenz, Erich, 143
Lorenz, Wilhelm, 52
Louisenthal, La Salle von, 153
Lucht, Walther, 145
Ludwig, Fritz, 165, 166
Luebbe, Vollrath, 138
Luedecke, Otto, 104, 311
Luedke, Erich, 47
Lueters, Rudolf, 274
Luetzow, Kurt-Juergen von, 52
Luftwaffe units, 14–15
Luz, Hellwig, 248
M achenheim von Bechtoldsheim, Anton Reichard von, 305
machine gun companies, 4
M acholz, Siegfried, 96, 98, 176, 241, 242
M ackensen, Colonel General, 152
M ahlmann, Paul, 86, 190, 194
M annerheim, Carl, 176
M anstein, Field M arshal von, 68
M arkgraf, Emil, 133, 240
M artinek, Robert, 314
M aterna, Friedrich, 91
M attenklott, Franz, 123, 124
M atterstock, Otto, 194
M atzky, Gerhard, 64, 65
medical units, 8–10
M einers, Ernst, 138
M eissner, Robert, 118
M ellenthin, Friedrich William “F.W.”, 70
M ellenthin, Horst von, 70, 154, 253
M ellwig, Colonel, 239
M elzer, Walter, 296
M enkel, Konrad, 280
M enny, Erwin, 124, 142, 178
M erker, Ludwig, 84
M euller, Kurt, 335
M eyer-Buerdorf, Heinrich, 183, 184
M eyer-Kabingen, Hermann, 209, 245
M ichael, Ernst, 253
M ichaelis, Herbert, 158
M ieth, Friedrich, 135, 171
M odel, Field M arshal, 150
M oeckel, Alexander, 59
M oehring, Kurt, 244, 325–26
M onteton, Albrecht Digeon von, 102, 254
motorcycle messenger platoons, 10–11
motorized (panzer grenadier) divisions, 12–13
motorized mapping detachments, 10, 11
mountain artillery regiments, 5
mountain divisions, 13
M ueller, Friedrich-Wilhelm, 68
M ueller, Gerhard, 52
M ueller, Richard, 260, 263
M ueller, Vincenz, 104, 105
M ueller-Buelow, Claus, 291
M ueller-Gebhard, Philipp, 123, 124, 222
M uhl, Kurt, 190
M uller, Ludwig, 247
M uller-Derichsweiler, Erich, 231
M undt, Hans, 221
Nake, Albin, 209, 311
Nedtwig, Johannes, 126, 205–6
Neibelschuetz, Guenther von, 49
Neidermayer, Oscar Ritter von, 214, 215
Neindorff, Egon von, 43, 190, 239, 269
Neuling, Ferdinand, 283
Neumann, Friedrich Wilhelm, 241
Neumann-Neurode, Karl-Ulrich, 280
Newiger, Albert, 102, 171, 241
9th Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 45–48
19th Infantry Division, 63
19th Volksgrenadier Division, 63–64
91st Air Landing Division, 150–52
92nd Infantry Division, 152–53
93rd Infantry Division, 153–54
94th Infantry Division, 154–57
95th Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 157–59
96th Infantry Division, 159–61
97th Infantry Division, 161
98th Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 162–64
Noack, Hermann, 161
Noack, M ax, 205
Nobiz, Colonel, 183
Noeldechen, Ferdinand, 161
Obernitz, Justin von, 71, 241
Ochsner, Wilhelm, 77, 78
Oecker, Hans Kurt, 108
Olbricht, Friedrich, 71
100th Infantry Division, 164
101st Infantry Division, 164
102nd Infantry Division, 164–66
106th Infantry Division, 166–67
110th Infantry Division, 167–69
111th Infantry Division, 169–70
112th Infantry Division, 170–71
113th Infantry Division, 171–72
121st Infantry Division, 172–74
122nd Infantry Division, 174–76
123rd Infantry Division, 177–78
125th Infantry Division, 178–79
126th Infantry Division, 179–81
129th Infantry Division, 181–82
131st Infantry Division, 182–84
132nd Infantry Division, 184–85
133rd Fortress Division, 185–86
134th Infantry Division, 186–88
137th Infantry Division, 189–90
141st Reserve Division, 191–92
143rd Replacement (later Reserve) Division, 192–93
147th Replacement (later Reserve) Division, 193–94
148th Infantry (formerly Reserve) Division, 194–95
149th Field Training Division, 195–96
150th Field Training Division, 196
151st Field Training Division, 196
151st Reserve Division, 197
152nd Field Training Division, 197–98
152nd Replacement Division, 198–200
153rd Field Training (later Grenadier) Division, 200–1
154th Reserve (later Infantry) Division, 201–3
155th Field Training (later Infantry) Division, 203
155th Replacement Division, 203–4
156th Field Training (later Infantry) Division, 204–5
156th Reserve Division, 205–6
157th Reserve Division, 206
158th Field Training Division, 206–7
158th Reserve Division, 207–8
159th Infantry (formerly Reserve) Division, 208–9
160th Reserve Division, 209–10
161st Infantry Division, 211–12
162nd Infantry Division, 212–15
163rd Infantry Division, 215–16
164th Infantry Division, 216
165th Reserve Division, 216–17
166th Reserve (later Infantry) Division, 217–18
167th Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 218–20
168th Infantry Division, 220–21
169th Infantry Division, 222
170th Infantry Division, 224–25
171st Reserve Division, 225–26
172nd Reserve Division, 226–27
173rd Reserve Division, 227–28
174th Reserve Division, 228–29
176th Infantry Division, 229–30
177th M obilization Division, see 177th Replacement Division
177th Replacement Division, 230–31
178th Replacement Division, 231
179th Replacement Division, 231
180th Infantry (formerly Replacement) Division, 231–32
181st Infantry Division, 232–33
182nd Reserve Division, 234–35
183rd Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 235–38
187th Reserve Division, 238
189th Reserve (later Infantry) Division, 238–40
190th Infantry Division, 240–41
191st Reserve Division, 241
192nd Replacement Division, 241–42
193rd Replacement Division, 242–43
196th Infantry Division, 243–44
197th Infantry Division, 244–45
198th Infantry Division, 245–48
199th Infantry Division, 248
Opelt, Kurt, 71
operational groups, 1–2
Oppenlaender, Kurt, 247
Oriola, Ralph von, 124
Ortner, Bruno, 89, 119, 152, 332, 336
Oschmann, Hans, 335
Osswald, Erwin, 47
Ott, Eugen, 44
Ottenbacher, Otto, 231
Oven, Karl von, 104
Overbeck, Egon, 35
Pampel Pamberg, Bernhard von, 104, 280
Pampel Papenau, Bernhard von, 122
panzer divisions, 11–12
Pawel, Bronislaw, 56
Pellengahr, Richard, 244
personnel groups, 2
Peschel, Rudolf, 102
Petri, Hans, 242, 321, 322
Pfeiffer, Georg, 116, 155, 156–57
Pfeiffer, Hellmuth, 116
Pflaum, Karl, 206, 306
Pflieger, Kurt, 77, 78
Pflugbeil, Johann, 273
Pflugradt, Kurt, 228
Philipp, Ernst, 188
Piekendrock, Hans, 257–58
Pilz, Rudolf, 252
Plotho, Wolfgang von, 317, 333, 334
Polster, Colonel, 114
Poppe, Walter, 108, 132, 270, 301–2
Praun, Albert, 182, 327
Priess, Hellmuth, 173, 174
Prueter, Friedrich-Wilhelm, 172
Puechler, Carl, 305
Raapke, Wilhelm, 122
Raatz, Helmuth, 140
Rabenau, Friedrich von, 126
Rademacher, Wilhelm, 45
Radziej, Georg, 222
Raesfeld, Werner von, 165
Raithel, Wilhelm, 248
Ranck, Werner, 173, 174, 271
Rappard, Fritz-Georg von, 45, 140
Rasp, Siegfried, 134
Rauch, Erwin, 178
Recke, Heinrich, 212
Recknagel, Hermann, 170
reconnaissance battalions, 3, 6
Reibnitz, Leopold von, 197
Reichenau, Walther von, 93
Reichert, Joseph, 231
Rein, Siegfried, 119
Reinhard, Hans Wolfgang, 84
Reinhardt, Alfred, 164
Reinherr, Colonel, 136
Rekowski, Siegfried von, 129, 131, 167, 205
Rendulic, Lothar, 102
Renner, Kurt, 229, 260, 263
Rentschler, Emil Heinrich, 291
Replacement Army, 28–29
Reuss, Richard-Heinrich von, 113
Reuter, Erich, 94
Reymann, Colonel, 136
Reymann, Hellmuth, 49, 263, 300
Ribert, Colonel, 100
Ribstein, Hugo, 138
Richert, Johann-Georg, 84, 335
Richter, Ernst, 55, 253
Richter, Otto, 247
Richter, Werner, 145, 310
Rintenberg, Colonel, 167
Risse, Ernst-Walther, 275, 276
Rittau, Stephan, 182
Rittberg, Georg von, 148
Roden, Emmo von, 335
Roehricht, Edgar, 52, 158
Roepke, Kurt, 93, 94
Roesler, Karl, 150
Roettig, Otto, 247
Rohr, Guenther, 52
Roman, Rudolf von, 84
Roques, Franz von, 231
Roques, Karl von, 193
Rosenburg, Karl, 128, 129–31
Roske, Fritz, 122
Rosskopf, M aximilian, 221
Rost, Hans-Guenther von, 89
Roth, Heinrich, 148
Rothkirch und Panthen, Friedrich-Wilhelm, 195
Ruebel, Karl, 216
Ruebesamen, Friedrich Wilhelm, 332
Ruediger, Kurt, 190
Ruge, Admiral, 312
Rundstedt, Field M arshal, 150
Rupprecht, Wilhelm, 116
Russwurm, Wilhelm, 208, 323
Sachs, Karl, 209, 305
Sachsenheimer, M ax, 61, 62
Sander, Erwin, 225, 289
Sanne, Werner, 81, 243
Schack, Friedrich-August, 269, 321
Schacky und Schonfeld, Sigmund von, 217
Schaeffer, Hans, 287, 296
Scharenberg, Colonel, 64
Schartow, Werner, 219
Schatz, Bruno, 176
Schaumburg, Ernst, 275
Schede, Wolf, 161, 197, 258
Scheele, Hans-Karl von, 257
Scheidies, Franz, 111
Schell, Otto, 212
Schellert, Otto, 218, 298
Schellmann, Ernst, 250
Schellwitz, Friedrich von, 70
Scherer, Theodor, 81, 140, 331
Scheuerpflug, Paul, 118
Scheurlen, Ernst, 38
Schiel, Otto, 164, 247
Schilling, Otto, 235
Schirmer, Hans, 70
Schittnig, Hans, 35
Schleinitz, Siegmund von, 47
Schleinitz, Joachim von, 161
Schlemmer, Hans, 188
Schlenther, Eugen, 226
Schlieben, Karl-Wilhelm von, 257
Schlieper, Franz, 79, 126
Schlieper, Fritz, 91, 92
Schlueter, Robert, 307, 308
Schmidt, August, 100, 207
Schmidt, Axel, 209
Schmidt, Colonel, 332
Schmidt, Friedrich, 100
Schmidt, Hans, 118, 307, 308, 324, 325
Schmidt, Richard, 300
Schmidt, Willi, 335
Schmidt-Hemmer, Werner, 221
Schneckenburger, Willi, 179
Schoenhaerl, Hans, 206, 219, 220, 281
Schoenheinz, Curt, 201
Schoenherr, Otto, 192, 195, 280
Schoerner, Colonel General, 70
Scholz, Arnold, 97
Schopper, Erich, 138
Schrank, M ax, 122
Schreiber, Alfred, 56
Schricker, Paul, 206
Schroeck, Erich, 164, 242
Schroeder, Otto, 201
Schroth, Walter, 35
Schubert, Albrecht, 52, 89
Schuckman, Eberhard von, 122
Schuenemann, Otto, 210
Schultetus, Bruno, 331
Schultz, Harald, 71, 72
Schulze, Werner, 183, 184, 185
Schwatlo-Gesterding, Joachim, 298
Schwerin, Bogislav von, 256, 273
Schwerin, Gerhard von, 300
Schwerin, Richard von, 136, 239
Scotti, Friedrich von, 279
2nd Grenadier Division East Prussia, 37
2nd Infantry Division, 38
2nd Light Division, 38
2nd M arine Division, 38
security divisions, 14
Seeckt, Hans von, 69
Seeher, Colonel, 136
Seidel, Erich, 305
Seifert, Ernst, 168–69
Senior Artillery Commander, 2–3
Sensfuss, Franz, 64, 263
7th Infantry Division, 43–54
17th Infantry Division, 60–62
70th Infantry Division, 120
71st Infantry Division, 121–22
72nd Infantry Division, 122–24
73rd Infantry Division, 124–26
74th Infantry Division, 126–27
75th Infantry Division, 127–28
76th Infantry Division, 128–31
77th Infantry Division, 131–32
78th Infantry (later Assault) Division, 132–34
79th Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 134–36
Seydlitz-Kurzbach, Walter von, 52
Seyffardt, Paul, 253
Siebert, Friedrich, 89, 105
Sieckenius, Rudolf, 310
Sieglin, Kurt, 228
Siewert, Curt, 107
signal battalions, 3, 8
Sintzenich, Rudolf, 185, 194
Sinzinger, Adolf, 140
Siry, M aximilian, 291
Sixt, Friedrich, 99, 100
6th Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 40–43
16th Infantry Division (#1), 57–58
16th Infantry Division (#2), 58–59
16th M arine Division, 60
60th Infantry Division, 110
61st Infantry Division, 110–11
62nd Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 111–14
63rd Infantry Division, 114
64th Infantry Division, 114–15
65th Infantry Division, 115–17
68th Infantry Division, 117–18
69th Infantry Division, 118–19
Sodan, Rolf, 318
Sorsche, Konrad, 100
Souchay, Curt, 124
Special Employment Division Staff 136, 188–89
Sperl, Rudolf, 57, 111
Sponeck, Hans von, 66, 68, 93, 94
Sponheimer, Otto, 64, 65
Sprang, Karl, 313
SS divisions, 15
SS panzer divisions, 15
Stachwitz, M auritz von, 145, 146
Staedke, Helmut, 247
staff, divisional, 1–3
operational groups, 1–2
special, 2–3
staff companies, 10
Stapf, Otto, 170
Stauffenberg, Claus von, 28
Stegmann, M ajor General, 132
Steinmetz, Bernard, 156, 157
Stemmermann, Wilhelm, 123, 148
Stempel, Richard, 237
Stengal, Hans, 258
Stephan, Friedrich, 314
Stephanus, Konrad, 195
Stimmel, Herbert, 164, 329
Stockhausen, Wilhelm-Hunold von, 331, 332
Stoewer, Paul, 193
Stolberg-Stolberg, Christoph zu, 189, 210
Stolzmann, Hans-Joachim von, 77, 78
Straube, Erich, 316
Strauss, Adolf, 68
Strecker, M ajor General/Lieutenant General, 136
Studnitz, Bogislav von, 145, 146
Stumm, Berthold, 230
Stumpfeld, Hans-Joachim von, 42
supply groups, 1
supply troops, 10
support units, 8–11
headquarters, 10
medical, 8–10
motorcycle messenger platoons, 10–11
motorized mapping detachments, 10, 11
staff companies, 10
supply troops, 10
veterinary companies, 10
Suttner, Hans, 280
tactical groups, 1
tank destroyer battalions, 7–8
tank destroyer companies, 5
10th Infantry Division, 48
Tettau, Hans von, 71, 72
Thadden, Henning von, 35
Theilacker, Eugen, 263
Theisen, Edgar, 309
Thielmann, Alfred, 79, 176, 202, 203, 300
3rd Infantry Division, 38
3rd Light Division, 38
3rd M arine Division, 39
13th Infantry Division, 53
30th Infantry Division, 74–76
31st Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 76–78
32nd Infantry Division, 78–80
33rd Infantry Division, 80
34th Infantry Division, 80–83
35th Infantry Division, 83–85
36th Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 85
38th Infantry Division, 85
39th Infantry Division, 86
Thomas, Wilhelm, 252, 335
Thomaschki, Siegfried, 49
Tiedemann, Karl von, 256
Tiemann, Otto, 154
Tillessen, Colonel, 59
Tippelskirch, Kurt von, 76
Tittel, Hermann, 119, 222
Traut, Colonel, 333
Traut, Hans, 133–34, 310
Trierenberg, Wolf, 220
Trompeter, Friedrich, 59
Tronnier, Louis, 113–14, 178
Trowitz, Adolf, 106, 176
Tscherning, Otto, 44, 204
12th Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 50–53
20th Infantry Division, 64
21st Infantry Division, 64–65
22nd Infantry (later Air Landing) Division, 65–68
23rd Infantry Division (#1), 69
23rd Infantry Division (#2), 69–70
24th Infantry Division, 70–72
25th Infantry Division, 72
26th Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 72–74
27th Infantry Division, 74
28th Infantry Division, 74
29th Infantry Division, 74
200th Replacement Division, 249
201st Security Division, 249–51
203rd Security (later Infantry) Division, 251–52
205th Infantry Division, 252–53
206th Infantry Division, 253–55
207th Infantry (later Security) Division, 255–56
208th Infantry Division, 256–58
209th Infantry Division, 258–59
210th Infantry Division (Coastal Defense), 259
211th Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 260–62
212th Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 262–63
213th Infantry (later Security) Division, 263–65
214th Infantry Division, 265–66
215th Infantry Division, 266–67
216th Infantry Division, 267–69
217th Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 269–70
218th Infantry Division, 270–71
219th Infantry Division, 272
221st Infantry (later Security) Division, 272–73
223rd Infantry Division, 273–74
225th Infantry Division, 274–76
226th Infantry Division, 277
227th Infantry Division, 278–79
228th Infantry Division, 279–80
230th Infantry Division, 280–81
232nd Infantry Division, 281–82
237th Infantry Division, 282
239th Infantry Division, 283
242nd Infantry Division, 284–85
243rd Infantry Division, 285–86
244th Infantry Division, 286–87
245th Infantry Division, 287–89
246th Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 289–91
249th Infantry Division, 291–92
250th Infantry Division, 292–93
251st Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 293–95
252nd Infantry Division, 295–97
253rd Infantry Division, 297–98
254th Infantry Division, 298–300
255th Infantry Division, 300–2
256th Infantry Division, 302–3
257th Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 304–5
258th Infantry Division, 305–6
260th Infantry Division, 307–8
262nd Infantry Division, 308–9
263rd Infantry Division, 309–10
264th Infantry Division, 310–11
265th Infantry Division, 311–12
266th Infantry Division, 312–13
267th Infantry Division, 313–14
268th Infantry Division, 314–16
269th Infantry Division, 316–18
270th Infantry Division (Coastal Defense), 318–19
271st Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 319–20
272nd Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 320–22
273rd Infantry Division, 322
274th Infantry Division, 322–23
275th Infantry Division, 323–25
276th Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 325–26
277th Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division, 326–28
278th Infantry Division, 328–29
279th Infantry Division, 329
280th Infantry Division (Coastal Defense), 329–30
281st (later Infantry) Division, 330–32
282nd Infantry Division, 332–33
285th Security Division, 333–34
286th Security Division, 334–35
290th Infantry Division, 335–36
type 44 divisions, 11
Uckermann, Horst von, 210, 271
Ueberschaer, Bernhard, 182
Ulex, Wilhelm, 51
Ulich, M ax, 263
Unger, Friedrich von, 244
Unold, Georg von, 296
Usinger, Christian, 274
Veith, Richard, 241
Versock, Kurt, 71, 72
veterinary companies, 10
Viebahn, M ax von, 305
Viebig, Wilhelm, 327, 328
Vierow, Erwin, 47, 161
Voelker, Kaspar, 119
Voelkers, Paul, 133, 134
Vogl, Oskar, 219
Volkmann, Hellmuth, 156
Volksgrenadier divisions, 11
Wachsmuth, Werner, 216
Wachter, Friedrich-Karl von, 209, 275, 279, 314
Wagner, Hans, 317, 318
Wagner, Herbert von, 71, 185, 263
Wagner, Werner, 326
Wahle, Carl, 96, 266
Waldow, Ulrich von, 192
Walter, Helmuth, 147, 218
Wandel, M artin, 173, 174
Warnecke, Fritz, 113, 303
Weber, Alois, 134
Weber, Erich, 136
Weber, Friedrich, 183, 184, 303
Weber, Gottfried, 111, 138, 154, 161
Weckmann, Kurt, 323
Wegener, Wilhelm, 79–80
Wehrkreise System, 17–31
commanders in 1942, 27
deputy components, 26–28
XV, 28
1st Wave divisions, 25–26
XIV, 28
Replacement Army, 28–29
2nd Wave divisions, 26
XVI, 28
tactical components, 26
3rd Wave divisions, 26
Weidling, Helmuth, 144
Weikersthal, Walther Fischer von, 84
Weinknecht, Friedrich-August, 136, 139
Weisenberger, Karl, 122
Weiss, Walter, 74
Wengler, M aximilian, 140, 141, 279
Westhoff, Adolf, 176
Westphal, Siegfried, 116
Wetzel, Wilhelm, 301
Wickede, Thomas-Emil von, 76
Wiese, Friedrich, 74
Wilck, Gerhard, 290, 291
Wilck, Hermann, 212
Wilhelm of Prussia, Prince, 34
Willich, Fritz, 218
Windeck, Hans, 200
Windisch, Alois, 311, 332
Winkler, Hermann, 201
Winter, Paul, 76
Wintergerst, Karl, 259
Wissmath, Walter, 64, 71, 248
Witthoeft, Joachim, 144
Wittke, Walter, 225
Wittstatt, Christian, 186
Witzleben, Hermann von, 39, 286
Woessner, Eugen, 245, 309
Wolff, Kurt, 240
Wolff, Ludwig, 68
Wollmann, Walter, 306
Woytasch, Kurt, 232, 233
Wrede, Theodor von, 336
Wuestenhagen, Albrecht, 168, 303
Wuthmann, Rolf, 171
Zangen, Gustav-Adolf von, 61–62
Zickwolff, Friedrich, 158, 172, 279
Ziegler, Wolfgang, 122
Ziehlberg, Gustav Heistermann von, 116
Zimmer, Richard, 61, 62
Zorn, Eberhard, 59
Zorn, Eduard, 239–40
Zuelow, Alexander von, 140
Zwade, Georg, 203, 257
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