1st Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

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1st Infantry Division

logo
active October 1, 1934 to May 1945
Country German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire
Armed forces Wehrmacht
Armed forces army
Branch of service infantry
Type Infantry Division
structure structure
Installation site Koenigsberg
Nickname "Frederick the Great", "East Prussia"
Second World War Leningrad blockade
Commanders
list of Commanders

The 1st Infantry Division was a major military unit of the Wehrmacht . It was the direct successor to the 1st Division of the Reichswehr formed on January 1, 1921 .

Division history

Areas of application :

  • Poland : September 1939 to May 1940
  • France : May 1940 to June 1941
  • Eastern Front , Northern Section: June 1941 to October 1943
  • Eastern Front, Southern Section: October 1943 to April 1944
  • Eastern Front, Central Section: May to August 1944
  • East Prussia : August 1944 to May 1945

The 1st Infantry Division (1st ID) was set up on October 1, 1934 under the code name Artillerieführer I in Königsberg / East Prussia . It carried this designation until October 15, 1935. The infantry regiments were formed from the 1st (Prussian) Infantry Regiment of the 1st Division of the Reichswehr . The 1st ID was mobilized in August 1939 as part of the 1st wave of deployment .

At the beginning of the Russian campaign, 1st ID was subordinate to Army Group North and fought until August 1941 near Staraya Russa , on the Ischora near Leningrad and the Ropscha bunker line. In the winter of 1943/44 she was handed over to Army Group South in Ukraine, where she was deployed in the area around Vinnitsa . As part of the 1st Panzer Army , she got into the Kamenez-Podolski pocket , where she suffered heavy losses. After a refresher, it was used by the 3rd Panzer Army in the summer of 1944 at the interface between the Central and North Army Groups.

After the division had been pushed back north of Schirwindt over the border to Schloßberg in mid-October 1944 , it defended there until mid-January 1945. After heavy losses in the subsequent defense of Koenigsberg, the Samland peninsula and Fischhausen - Pillau , the survivors of the division became May 1945 evacuated from Hela to Denmark . At the end of the war, they were taken prisoner by the British in Schleswig-Holstein .

structure

Changes in the structure of the division from 1939 to 1945
1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945
1st Infantry Regiment Grenadier Regiment 1
22nd Infantry Regiment Fusilier Regiment 22nd
43rd Infantry Regiment Grenadier Regiment 43
Artillery Regiment 1
Engineer Battalion 1
Anti-tank division 1 Panzerjäger Division 1
Reconnaissance Department 1 Cycling department 1 Reconnaissance Department 1 Fusilier Battalion 1
Observation Department 1 -
Field Replacement Battalion 1 - Field Replacement Battalion 1 - Field Replacement Battalion 1
News Department 1
Supply leader 1 Commander of the supply forces 1 Supply Regiment 1

people

Division commanders
period of service Rank Surname
October 1, 1934 to April 1, 1935 Major general Georg von Küchler
April 1, 1935 to February 4, 1938 Lieutenant General Walter Schroth
February 4, 1938 to April 14, 1940 Lieutenant General Joachim von Kortzfleisch
April 15, 1940 to July 12, 1941 Lieutenant General Philipp Kleffel
July 12 to September 4, 1941 Major general Friedrich Altrichter m.st.Fb
September 4, 1941 to January 16, 1942 Lieutenant General Philipp Kleffel
January 16, 1942 to June 30, 1943 Lieutenant General Martin Grase
July 1, 1943 to May 10, 1944 Lieutenant General Ernst-Anton von Krosigk
May 10 to June 8, 1944 Major general Hans-Joachim Baurmeister
June 8 to October 1, 1944 Lieutenant General Ernst-Anton von Krosigk
October 1, 1944 to February 27, 1945 Lieutenant General Hans Schittnig
February 27 to April 16 (26) 1945 Lieutenant General Henning von Thadden
April 16 (26) until the end of the war Colonel Egon Overbeck
General Staff Officers (Ia)
period of service Rank Surname
1939 to 1940 Lieutenant colonel Johannes Steffler
August 1, 1940 to November 15, 1942 major Peter Pantenius
December 10, 1942 to December 10, 1943 Lieutenant colonel Werner Richter
December 10, 1943 to April 10, 1945 Lieutenant colonel Hilmar Frank
April 10-20, 1945 major Egon Overbeck

Awards

A total of 46 members of the division were awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and 150 the German Cross in gold.

Well-known members of the division

literature

  • Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945. Volume 2. The Land Forces 1–5 . 2nd Edition. Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1973, ISBN 3-7648-0871-3 .
  • Werner Haupt : Assault to Riga: June 1941 The 43rd Infantry Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division in the battle for the Latvian capital. Erich Pabel Verlag . 1992.
  • Werner Richter: The 1st East Prussian Infantry Division. Self-published, Munich 1975.
  • Rudolf von Tycowicz: The Infantry Regiment 1 - A memory book. Self-published, Wiesbaden 1966

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Königsberg Infantry Regiment until October 15, 1935.
  2. ^ Gumbinnen Infantry Regiment until October 15, 1935.
  3. ↑ The Artillery Regiment 1 consisted of the I. – III. (light) division and the I./Artillerie-Regiment 37 (as a heavy division).
  4. ↑ released from the Army Group in December 1939.
  5. ↑ entrusted with deputy management due to Kleffel's illness