Fuehrer Grenadier Division

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The Führer Grenadier Division was a large division of the Wehrmacht that was formed from the Führer Grenadier Brigade in the late phase of World War II .

history

Führer Grenadier Brigade

The origins of the division go back to the Führer Grenadier Brigade, which was formed in the summer of 1944 from the cadre of the reserve brigade of the Greater Germany Division . The first name was the name Kampfgruppe Führer-Grenadier-Brigade . Subordinated to the 4th Army , it was used for the first time in mid-October during the Gumbinnen-Goldaper operation in East Prussia . Up to November it was mainly used in counter-operations and defensive battles against the Red Army in the Goldap and Gumbinnen area. Then the combat group at Guben was refreshed again with soldiers from the Greater Germany division and u. a. equipped with assault guns and declared a brigade. From this point on, the official name of the Führer Grenadier Brigade was also used . With the establishment of the tank corps "Greater Germany" in September 1944, the brigade was formally included. In December the brigade came to the Eifel together with the Führer-Escort Brigade to take part as part of Army Group B in the upcoming Ardennes offensive . In mid-December she was involved in fighting with the 3rd US Army near Vianden and Martelingen . After the failure of the offensive, the brigade was pushed back into the Wiltz area by the Americans by January 1945 .

Fuehrer Grenadier Division

On January 26, 1945 the previous brigade was strengthened again at Cottbus for the military district III and converted into the Führer Grenadier Division . The equipment of the units now also included Panther tanks . Initially the division was subordinate to the 7th Army , later to the X. SS Army Corps of the 11th Army . In February, she was in Pomerania as part of X. SS Army Corps on the operation solstice involved that failed after only a few days. In the course of the further advance of the Red Army, the Führer Grenadier Division was brought to retreat south. In March 1945, the division fought in XXXIX. Panzer Corps in the area of Lauban , which later took part in the 6th Panzer Army in the Lake Balaton offensive. In April 1945 she was subordinated to Army Group South and used in the formation of the II SS Panzer Corps for the defense of Vienna . On April 8, the division was withdrawn from the city to the northern bank of the Danube and briefly defended positions from Eßling via Raasdorf to Grossengersdorf .

After the end of the Battle of Vienna , the remaining parts of the division withdrew via Zwettl to northern Austria. At the end of the war in May they surrendered to US troops near Linz , which they handed over to the Red Army a little later.

Commanders

structure

  • Panzer Grenadier Regiment 99
  • 101st Panzer Regiment
  • Army Assault Artillery Brigade 911
  • Panzer Reconnaissance Company 101
  • Panzer Artillery Regiment 124
  • Panzer Pioneer Battalion 124
  • Panzer Field Replacement Battalion 124
  • Panzer News Department 124
  • Armored Division Supply Troops 124

literature

  • Gordon Williamson: German Army Elite Units 1939-45 (2002).
  • Patrick Delaforce: The Battle of the Bulge: Hitler's Final Gamble (2004).
  • Mitcham, Samuel W., Jr. (2007). German Order of Battle. Volume Two: 291st - 999th Infantry Divisions, Named Infantry Divisions, and Special Divisions in WWII. PA; United States of America: Stackpole Books. Pp. 211 + 212, ISBN 978-0-8117-3437-0 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rauchsteiner: Der Krieg in Österreich, ÖBV 1985, p. 176.