1st Cavalry Division (Wehrmacht)

1st Cavalry Division
active	November 20, 1939 to November 27, 1941 (renamed)
Country	German Empire
Armed forces	Wehrmacht
Armed forces	army
Type	Cavalry Division
structure	structure
Location	Insterburg
Second World War	Attack on Poland in 1939; Western campaign 1940 ; War against the Soviet Union 1941
Commanders
Sole commander	Major General Kurt Feldt; October 25, 1939 - renamed

The 1st Cavalry Division was a major military unit of the Wehrmacht in the German Reich . It was set up in October 1939, with the addition of other units, by renaming the 1st Cavalry Brigade .

Division history

The 1st Cavalry Brigade was set up on April 1, 1936 by renaming the 5th Cavalry Brigade in Insterburg. During the German invasion of Poland in 1939, it was used as part of the 3rd Army in the northern section of the front. From there they attacked south, on the eastern edge of the entire front, in the direction of Warsaw . From September 13th she fought in the Warsaw area, before she was pulled out of the front on September 17th and went to rest.

Immediately after the attack on Poland, the brigade was relocated to the Dresden area and expanded to form a division. On October 25, 1939, it was renamed the 1st Cavalry Division. From May 10, 1940, at the beginning of the western campaign , the 1st Cavalry Division crossed the German- Dutch border as part of the 18th Army and advanced towards the Zuidersee . With the surrender of the Dutch army on May 15, the division's battle on this section of the front ended. On June 7, 1940, it reappeared as part of the 4th Army in the area around Amiens and formed a bridgehead over the Somme . In further attack and pursuit battles, the Seine was crossed north of Paris and reached the Atlantic coast at La Rochelle and Rochefort by the end of the campaign .

In March 1941, the division moved to the General Government and remained there until the start of the German attack on the Soviet Union . In June 1941 it was under Panzer Group 2 in Army Group Center . Their main task was to cover the southern flank to the Pripyat swamps . In August, together with Panzer Group 2, it attacked south to close the Kiev pocket. She later took part in the Battle of Brjansk before she was pulled out of the front on October 25 and relocated back to East Prussia. With effect from November 28, 1941, it was renamed the 24th Panzer Division and reclassified accordingly.

structure

The 1st Cavalry Division was the successor to the 1st Cavalry Brigade, whose East Prussian cavalry regiments 1 ( Insterburg ) and 2 ( Angerburg ) were still in the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic . After regaining military sovereignty in 1935, the army command gradually reorganized all cavalry units into armored and motorized troops. Only the cavalry regiments mentioned above remained in the 1st Cavalry Brigade. This received additional formations and was enlarged to form a cavalry division .

1st Cavalry Brigade August 1939	1st Cavalry Division May 1940
Cavalry Regiment 1 Cavalry Regiment 2	Cavalry Regiment 1 Cavalry Regiment 2 Equestrian Regiment 21 Cavalry Regiment 22nd
Horse Artillery Division 1	Riding Artillery Regiment 1
Cycling department 1	Cycling department 1
	Panzer Jäger Company 40
Engineer Company 40	Engineer Battalion 40
	News Department 86

Knight's Cross bearer

Surname	Award	date	Rank	unit
Michael, Georg	Knight's cross	49410119 ♠January 19, 1941	lieutenant	6./RR 22
Brakat, Otto	Knight's cross	49410727 ♠July 27, 1941	Sergeant	2./Radf. Dept. 1
Edelsheim, Max Imperial Baron of	Knight's cross	49410730 ♠July 30, 1941	Lieutenant colonel	Kdr. Radf. Dept. 1
Feldt, Kurt	Knight's cross	49410823 ♠August 23, 1941	Major general	Kdr. 1st Cav. Div.
Lengerke, Wilhelm von	Knight's cross	49410831 ♠August 31, 1941	Lieutenant colonel	Kdr. I./RR 1

Well-known members of the division

Ferdinand von Senger and Etterlin (1923–1987), was from 1979 to 1983 as General Commander-in-Chief of the NATO Forces Central Europe AFCENT in Brunssum (NL)
Emil Spannocchi (1916–1992), Austrian general in the federal army

literature

Veit Scherzer (Ed.): German troops in World War II. Volume 2, Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-08-0 , pp. 141-164.
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 , p. 35 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).

Web links

Commons : Cavalry Wehrmacht until 1945 - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ See Veit Scherzer (Ed.): German troops in the Second World War. Volume 2, Scherzers Militaer-Verl., Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-08-0 ; P. 141f.
↑ See Veit Scherzer (Ed.): German troops in the Second World War. Volume 2, Scherzers Militaer-Verl., Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-08-0 , pp. 146-150.
↑ See Veit Scherzer (Ed.): German troops in the Second World War. Volume 2, Scherzers Militaer-Verl., Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-08-0 ; P. 150f.
↑ See Veit Scherzer (Ed.): German troops in the Second World War. Volume 2, Scherzers Militaer-Verl., Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-08-0 ; P. 141 and 146.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Veit Scherzer: Knight's Cross bearers 1939–1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , pp. 187ff.

[1] See Veit Scherzer (Ed.): German troops in the Second World War. Volume 2, Scherzers Militaer-Verl., Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-08-0 ; P. 141f.

[2] See Veit Scherzer (Ed.): German troops in the Second World War. Volume 2, Scherzers Militaer-Verl., Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-08-0 , pp. 146-150.

[3] See Veit Scherzer (Ed.): German troops in the Second World War. Volume 2, Scherzers Militaer-Verl., Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-08-0 ; P. 150f.

[4] See Veit Scherzer (Ed.): German troops in the Second World War. Volume 2, Scherzers Militaer-Verl., Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-08-0 ; P. 141 and 146.

[ScherzerS187ff-5] Veit Scherzer: Knight's Cross bearers 1939–1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , pp. 187ff.