11th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)

11th Panzer Division
Troop registration
active	August 1, 1940 to May 8, 1945 (surrender)
Country	German Empire
Armed forces	Wehrmacht
Armed forces	army
Branch of service	Armored force
Type	Panzer Division
structure	structure
Nickname	Ghost Division
Second World War	Balkan campaign German-Soviet war Kursk Battle of Kharkov (1943) Allied invasion Battle of the Bulge
Commanders
list	Commanders

The 11th Panzer Division was a major unit of the army of the German Wehrmacht in World War II .

history

The 11th Panzer Division was formed on August 1, 1940 from the 11th Rifle Brigade and took part in the Balkan campaign.

At Operation Barbarossa , the division initially operated in Ukraine as part of Army Group South . On June 22, 1941, the division formed the head of Panzer Group 1 in the war against the Soviet Union . During the tank battle at Dubno-Lutsk-Rivne it was the focus of the Soviet tank attacks and was temporarily enclosed in the Dubno area , but achieved the breakthrough on Shepetovka . At the beginning of August the 11th Panzer Division took part in the Kessel Battle near Uman and in the following month in the Gornostaipol area in the Kessel Battle around Kiev . In October 1941 the division was assigned to Army Group Center , with which it took part in the Battle of Moscow that winter .

In August 1942 the division was then transferred to Army Group Don to operate in the Donets area . In early 1943 she took part in the Battle of Kharkov . The division spent the rest of the year in operations in the Ukraine (including the Battle of Kursk ). In May 1944 she was relocated to France for a refresher . Here parts of the 273rd Reserve Panzer Division were used for refreshment.

During the Allied invasion (from June 6, 1944) , the division initially served as a reserve for Army Group G until it was used by the 19th Army after the Allies landed on the Côte d'Azur . She fought at Belfort in autumn 1944 and was then transferred to the Saar Palatinate . After the failure of the Ardennes offensive (December 1944 / January 1945) it withdrew via Trier , Remagen , Hesse and Thuringia to Bavaria , where it capitulated.

Commanders

• Major General Ludwig Crüwell - August 1, 1940 to August 15, 1941
• Colonel Günther Angern - August 15-24, 1941
• Major General Hans-Karl Freiherr von Esebeck - August 24 to October 20, 1941
• Major General Walter Scheller - October 20, 1941 to May 16, 1942
• Major General / Lieutenant General Hermann Balck - May 16, 1942 to March 4, 1943
• Lieutenant General Dietrich von Choltitz - March 4 to May 15, 1943
• Major General Johann Mickl - May 15 to August 10, 1943
• Colonel / Major General Wend von Wietersheim - August 10, 1943 to February 24, 1944
• Colonel Friedrich von Hake - February 25, 1944 to April 30, 1944
• Major General / Lieutenant General Wend von Wietersheim - May 1, 1944 to April 10, 1945
• Major General Horst Freiherr Treusch von Buttlar-Brandenfels - April 10 to May 3, 1945
• Lieutenant General Wend von Wietersheim - May 3rd to 8th 1945 (surrender)

structure

Changes in the structure of the 11th PD from 1940 to 1944

1940	1943 (Eastern Front)	1944 (Western Front)
15th Panzer Regiment
11th Rifle Brigade Rifle Regiment 110 Rifle Regiment 111	Panzer Grenadier Regiment 110 Panzer Grenadier Regiment 111
119th Artillery Regiment	119th Panzer Artillery Regiment
Panzerjäger detachment 61
	Army Flak Artillery Department 277
Reconnaissance Department 231	Panzer Reconnaissance Division 11
Motorbike Rifle Battalion 61
Panzer Pioneer Battalion 209
News Section 341	Panzer Divisions News Department 89
Tank supply troops 61

The replacement position for the staff was carried out by the Panzer-Ersatz -teilung 15 in Sagan .

Well-known members of the division

• Heinz Hax (1900–1969), was a three-time Olympic participant and from 1958, as major general, deputy commanding general of the III. Corps of the Army of the Bundeswehr
• Hans-Joachim von Hopffgarten (1915–2000), was from 1970 to 1973, as Lieutenant General of the Army of the German Armed Forces, Deputy NATO Commander of the Allied Forces "Baltic Sea Access"
• Johann Adolf Graf von Kielmansegg (1906-2006), was from 1966 to 1968 as General, Commander in Chief Allied Forces Central Europe of the Allied Forces Central Europe ( AFCENT, Allied Forces Central Europe )
• Werner Drews (General) (1914–1974) was from 1967 to 1971, as Major General of the Army of the German Armed Forces, Assistant Director at the International Military Staff (IMS) in Brussels

literature

• 11th Panzer Division. In: Veit Scherzer (Ed.): German troops in the Second World War. Volume 4. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2008, ISBN 978-3-938845-14-1 , pp. 219-250.
• Samuel W. Mitcham: German Order of Battle.Panzer, Panzer Grenadier, and Waffen SS Divisions in World War II. Stackpole Books, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8117-3438-7 .
• Samuel W. Mitcham : The Panzer Legions: A Guide to the German Army Tank Divisions of World War II and their Commanders. Stackpole, 2007, pp. 104-108.
• Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945. Volume 3: The Land Forces 6-14 . 2nd Edition. Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1974, ISBN 3-7648-0942-6 .

Web links

• Literature on the 11th Panzer Division in the catalog of the German National Library
• Organizational History of the German Armored Forces 1939 - 1945. (PDF; 292 kB) Retrieved September 15, 2011 (English). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} cf. Scherzer 2008; Pp. 219-225.
2. ↑ See Scherzer 2008; P. 219 f.