134th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

134 Infantry Division - 134 ID - XX
Troop registration
active	October 15, 1940 to June 1944
Country	German Empire
Armed forces	Wehrmacht
Armed forces	army
Type	Infantry Division
structure	structure
Installation site	Grafenwoehr Training Area
Commanders
list of	Commanders

The 134th Infantry Division (in short: 134th ID ) was a large unit of the army of the German Wehrmacht in World War II .

Division history

Route of the 134th Infantry Division in the German-Soviet War

Photo of a caricature made by a soldier (name unfortunately illegible) of the 134th ID. Text in the picture: The 134th Inf. Division on the Victory Parade 1950 in Berlin. "I think we should have replaced them sooner!" - Hitler, Goering and Goebbels can be seen on a pedestal (depicted in a form that was quite risky under criminal law back then).

The 134th Infantry Division was set up as a division of the 11th wave of formation on October 15, 1940 at the Grafenwoehr training area in Military District XIII from parts of the 252nd Infantry Division and 255th Infantry Division . In addition, the division received parts of the 10th Infantry Division . The soldiers' training lasted until March 1941.

As of June 1941, the 134th Infantry Division took as part of the Army Group Center at the attack on the Soviet Union in part. In December 1941, during the advance on Moscow , the division was involved in the defensive battle of Klin . Together with the 45th Infantry Division , it was temporarily enclosed as part of the 2nd Army at Liwny and lost a large part of its artillery. The major association remained in the Orel sector until 1943 . The division then took part in the defensive battles for Gomel and Bryansk in the summer / autumn of 1943 . In March 1944 the remaining units of the 390th Field Training Division were incorporated .

In December 1941, the division west of Rosssoschnoe was surrounded again . In the course of this situation, division commander Konrad von Cochenhausen, who had been seriously attacked both physically and mentally, committed suicide on the night of December 13th to 14th.

Between June 24 and 29, 1944, the 134th Infantry Division with Army Group Center was completely destroyed during the Soviet summer offensive in the Bobruisk pocket (→ Operation Bagration ); The division commander, Lieutenant General Ernst Philipp, like Konrad von Cochenhausen, committed suicide.

people

Division commanders of the 134th Infantry Division:

period of service	Rank	Surname
October 5, 1940 to December 12, 1941	Lieutenant General	Konrad von Cochenhausen
December 12, 1941 to February 1943	Colonel / Major General / Lieutenant General	Hans Schlemmer
February to 1944	Colonel	Rudolf Bader
July 1943	Lieutenant General	Hans Schlemmer
July to February 1944	Colonel	Rudolf Bader
February to June 1944	Lieutenant General	Ernst Philipp

General Staff Officers (Ia) of the 134th Infantry Division:

period of service	Rank	Surname
October 1940 to November 1942	major	Hans Richert
November 1942 to November 1943	Lieutenant colonel	Günther Wentrup
January 1944 until unknown	Lieutenant colonel	Siegfried Degen

• 

  GenLt. Konrad von Cochenhausen

• 

  Grave site

• 

  Gene. Hans Schlemmer

• 

  Gene. Hans Schlemmer

Well-known members of the division

• Ernst Ferber was second general staff officer (Ib) in the 134th Infantry Division under the command of the general of Schlemmer's mountain troops . Later, he was from 1971 to 1973 inspector of the army and from 1973 to 1975 commander of the Allied Forces Central Europe of NATO .
• Heinz Keßler served as a soldier in the 134th Infantry Division from November 1940. On July 15, 1941, he defected to the Red Army. After the war, Keßler became Army General of the National People's Army and Minister for National Defense in the GDR in 1985 . In 1989 he resigned from the ministerial office during the fall of the Wall and left the NVA.

Awards

A total of 22 members of the 134th ID were awarded the Knight's Cross and 70 with the German Cross in Gold.

structure

• 439th Infantry Regiment
• 445th Infantry Regiment
• 446th Infantry Regiment
• Artillery Regiment 134
• Panzerjäger -teilung 134 (motorized)
• Reconnaissance Department 134
• Field Replacement Battalion 134
• News Department 134
• Engineer Battalion 134
• Supply units

literature

• Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945 . 2nd Edition. tape 7 . The Land Forces 131–200 . Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1979, ISBN 3-7648-1173-0 .
• Werner Haupt : History of the 134th Infantry Division, Ed. Kameradenkreis d. formerly 134 ID., self-published, Bad Kreuznach 1971.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Samuel W. Mitcham: German Order of Battle: 1st-290th Infantry divisions in World War II . Stackpole Books, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8117-3416-5 , pp. 186 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
2. ^ Samuel W. Mitcham: German Order of Battle: 1st-290th Infantry divisions in World War II . Stackpole Books, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8117-3416-5 , pp. 187 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
3. ↑ Werner Haupt: History of the 134th Infantry Division . Ed .: Kameradenkreis d. formerly 134 ID. Self-published, Bad Kreuznach 1971, p. 105 .