116th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)

116th Panzer Division
Troop registration
active	March 28, 1944 to April 16, 1945
Country	German Empire
Armed forces	Wehrmacht
Armed forces	army
Branch of service	Armored force
Type	Panzer Division
Nickname	Greyhound Division

The 116th Panzer Division was a major unit of the German Wehrmacht in World War II .

history

The 116th Panzer Division was established in France in March 1944 from the remnants of the 16th Panzer Grenadier Division and the 179th Reserve Panzer Division . After being almost completely destroyed on the invasion front, the division fought in loss-making retreat battles in France and Belgium and reached Aachen on September 12, 1944, which was already evacuated at that time. Aachen lay between the first and second defensive positions of the west wall and was the first major German city to be attacked by the Allies. The 116th Panzer Division was tasked with defending the city. The division was then moved to Arnhem . Then she took part in the battles for Aachen , in the Hürtgenwald , in the Ardennes offensive and in the battle in the Reichswald .

Most of the division surrendered on April 16, 1945 to US troops in the Ruhr basin . Parts of the 116th Panzer Division that had not been enclosed in the Ruhr Basin continued to fight in the Harz Mountains until April 21, 1945.

structure

• Panzer Regiment 16
• Panzer Grenadier Regiment 60
• 156th Panzer Grenadier Regiment
• Panzer Reconnaissance Division 116
• 146th Panzer Artillery Regiment
• Army Flak Artillery Department 281
• Panzerjäger detachment 228
• Panzer Pioneer Battalion 675
• Panzer News Department 228
• Field Replacement Battalion 146
• Panzer supply troops 66

Commanders

• Major General Gerhard Müller - Listed until April 30, 1944
• Lieutenant General Gerhard Graf von Schwerin - May 1 to August 31, 1944
• Colonel Heinrich Voigtsberger ( mdFb ) - September 1 to 13, 1944
• Major General Siegfried von Waldenburg - September 14, 1944 until surrender

Others

Memorial for the 116th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht (Greyhound Division) next to the Vossenack Cemetery in Hürtgenwald.

• In Vossenack (municipality of Hürtgenwald ) a church window, donated by the "Family Association of Former Members of the Greyhound Division (116th Pz-Div) eV", commemorates the fallen soldiers of the division that was involved in the heavy fighting here in autumn 1944. The division's coat of arms was integrated into this church window on the left side of the nave. There is a memorial for the Greyhound Division next to the Vossenack Cemetery of Honor . Every year in October veterans of the division meet there for a memorial event, which is also attended by a delegation from the German Armed Forces from Augustdorf. The memorial created by the sculptor Annemarie Suckow von Heydendorff was stolen in May 2017.
• The coat of arms allegedly shows the dog "Sascha", who in the spring of 1943 ran up to members of the predecessor association, the then 16th Infantry Division (motorized), half starved in the Kalmyk steppe. The coat of arms of the 116th Panzer Division was shown in the Bundeswehr until 2004 in the coat of arms of the Panzergrenadier Battalion 212 .

literature

• Peter M. Quadflieg : Gerhard Graf von Schwerin. Wehrmacht General Chancellor Advisor lobbyist. 1st edition. Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2015, ISBN 978-3-506-78229-8 .
• Heinz G. Guderian : The last year of the war in the West. The history of the 116th Panzer Division - Greyhound Division - 1944–1945. 2nd Edition. SZ-Offsetdruck-Verlag, Sankt Augustin 1997, ISBN 3-932436-01-6 .
• Heinz B. Heidt: Oath of the flag and humanity. Diary 1942–1945: 116th Panzer Division ("Greyhound Division"). France - Huertgen Forest - Ardennes - Lower Rhine - Ruhrkessel. Germania, Weinheim 2005, ISBN 3-934871-04-6 .
• Kurt Wendt (Ed.): Why? Illustrated book of the 116th Panzer Division, formerly the 16th Panzer Grenadier Division, 16th Infantry Division (motorized). Self-published, Rellingen 1980.
• Kurt Wendt (Ed.): Finale of the Invasion -Why? Part 2 . Illustrated book of the 116th Panzer Division, formerly the 16th Panzer Grenadier Division, 16th Infantry Division (motorized). Self-published, Rellingen 1985.
• Kurt Wendt (Ed.): We for All . The knight's cross bearers of the division. Self-published, Rellingen 1996.
• Baptist Palm (Ed.): Hürtgenwald, The Verdun of the Second World War . Private print, Vossenack 1984 (Former Mayor of Vossenack and member of the 116th PD).
• Kurt Kaeres: The hurray fell silent . Hürtgenwald 1944/1945. Helios Verlag, Aachen 2002, ISBN 3-933608-50-3 .
• Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945. Volume 6. The Land Forces 71-130 . 2nd Edition. Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1979, ISBN 3-7648-1172-2 .

Web links

Commons : 116th Panzer Division  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature on the 116th Panzer Division in the catalog of the German National Library
• Family association of the Greyhound Division. Former website of the family association of the Greyhound Division (dissolved in 2005), accessed on October 13, 2009 . 
• Memorial Greyhound Division Vossenack. Friends of the "Greyhounds urge peace" e. V., accessed on March 20, 2015 (English). 
• Organizational History of the German Armored Forces 1939 - 1945. (PDF; 292 kB) Retrieved September 15, 2011 (English). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Aachener Zeitung: Greyhound memorial has disappeared without a trace
2. ^ Entry on Vossenack military cemetery in the " KuLaDig " database of the Rhineland Regional Association , accessed on October 26, 2017.