129th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
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129th Infantry Division |
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|---|---|
 Troop registration |
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| active | October 1, 1940 to May 8, 1945 |
| Country |
.svg){kind=small} German Empire
|
| Armed forces | Wehrmacht |
| Armed forces | army |
| Branch of service | infantry |
| Type | Infantry Division |
| structure | structure |
| Installation site | Hanau |
| Nickname | Hessian-Thuringian 129th ID |
| Commanders | |
| list of | Commanders |
The 129th Infantry Division (also Hessian-Thuringian 129th ID) was a major unit of the army of the German Wehrmacht in World War II .
Division history
Areas of application :
- Germany : October 1940 to June 1941
- Eastern Front , Central Section: June 1941 to September 1944
- East Prussia : September 1944 to May 1945
The 129th Infantry Division took part in the attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941 with Army Group Center as part of Operation Barbarossa . Until July 1941 it was in use in the Białystok area . In the autumn of 1941 she took part in the advance on Moscow to Kalinin , where the forward movement ended because the mud severely restricted mobility.
On October 31, 1941, heavy house-to-house fighting broke out there when the 129th Infantry Division defended the north and south-east of the city against Soviet attacks. The order was: “Hold until the frost comes.” As part of the 9th Army , the 129th Infantry Division fought in the Battle of Rzhev in 1942 and withdrew to Bryansk , Mogilew and Vitebsk in Belarus in 1943 . In the summer of 1944, when Army Group Center collapsed near Bobruisk and Baranowitschi , the division suffered heavy losses and had to be reorganized. In the last year of the war, remnants of the division fought in East Prussia until the surrender .
| In the battle of the lower Narew in August 1944, the 129th Infantry Division under the leadership of Major General von Larisch and the 5th Jäger Division under the leadership of Lieutenant General Sixt stood out for their steadfastness and attacking momentum. |
people
| period of service | Rank | Surname |
|---|---|---|
| October 1, 1940 to Aug 22, 1942 | Lieutenant General | Stephan Rittau |
| August 22, 1942 to September 25, 1943 | General of the Intelligence Force | Albert Praun |
| September 25, 1943 to January 31, 1944 | Major general | Karl Fabiunke |
| January 31, 1944 to February 11, 1945 | Major General / Lieutenant General | Heribert von Larisch |
| February 11 to May 8, 1945 | Major general | Bernhard Ueberschär |
- ↑ Killed by Soviet artillery fire near Martinowo.
| period of service | Rank | Surname |
|---|---|---|
| October 25, 1940 to January 1941 | Major (later major general) | Johann Steets |
| 1941-1942 | major | Hans-Hermann Sachsenbacher |
| 1942-1943 | major | Karl Ernst Rahtgens |
| October 15, 1943 to November 15, 1944 | Lieutenant colonel | Joachim Möller |
| November 15, 1944 to May 1945 | major | Dieter Kaempfe |
Well-known members of the division
- Bernhard Hofmann : SA group leader, was major in the reserve, battalion commander of I. Btl./IR 427, received the Knight's Cross on September 26, 1942
- Karl Ernst Rahtgens: Officer of the 129th Infantry Division, was executed as a member of the July 20th conspiracy
Award
A total of 26 members of the 129th ID were awarded the Knight's Cross and 101 with the German Cross in Gold.
structure
| 1940 | 1944 |
|---|---|
| 427th Infantry Regiment | Grenadier Regiment 427 |
| 428th Infantry Regiment | Grenadier Regiment 428 |
| 430 Infantry Regiment | 430th Grenadier Regiment |
| Artillery Regiment 129 | |
| Engineer Battalion 129 | |
| Panzerjäger detachment 129 | |
| Reconnaissance Department 129 | Fusilier Battalion 129 |
| Divisional News Department 129 | |
| Division Supply Leader 129 | |
literature
- Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in World War II 1939–1945 , Volume 6: The land forces. No. 71-130. 2nd Edition. Osnabrück 1979. VI, 336 pages. ISBN 3-7648-1172-2 .
- French Maclean: Quiet Flows the Rhine: German General Officer Casualties in World War II , JJ Fedorowicz Publishing, 1996, ISBN 978-0-921991-32-8 .
- Heinrich Boucsein: Hold or Die: The Hessian-Thuringian 129th Infantry Division in the Russian Campaign and East Prussia , Kurt Vowinckel-Verlag, 1999.
- Samuel W. Mitcham : German Order of Battle, Volume One: 1st to 290th Infantry Divisions in World War II . Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 2007, pp. 181 + 182. ISBN 978-0-8117-3416-5 .
Individual evidence
