133rd Fortress Division (Wehrmacht)

Troop registration number of the 133rd Fortress Division of the Wehrmacht

The 133rd Fortress Division was a major unit of the army of the German Wehrmacht in World War II .

Division history

2. Fortress Brigade Crete, Fortress Brigade Crete and Staff Fortress Brigade Crete

The 2nd Brigade Fortress Crete was established in February 1942 in Dresden in Military District IV set up and the bar then to Crete laid. After the 1st Fortress Division was transferred to Croatia, in July 1942 the brigade was renamed the Fortress Brigade Crete and subordinated to the 12th Army . In September the brigade was refreshed from the fortress division Crete , especially from the 164th Infantry Division, which had not yet been transferred to Africa . These included parts of the Artillery Regiment 619. In 1943 the unit was renamed the Staff Fortress Brigade Crete and placed under the fortress commander.

133rd Fortress Division

The division was set up on January 21, 1944 on the Greek island of Crete from the staff of the Fortress Brigade Crete . In October 1944, the commander Klepp fell ill and due to the lack of a replacement, Colonel Benthack was quickly promoted to major general to take over the 133rd Fortress Division. The division remained on Crete until the end of the war in 1945 and was taken prisoner by the British there .

structure

1942

Panzer Department Crete
(Fortress) Infantry Regiment 746 (later Grenadier Regiment 746, see below)
Fortress Battalions 621 (Tropics)
Fortress Battalions 622 (Tropics)
Fortress Battalions 623 (Tropics)

1944

Grenadier Regiment 733, later transferred to the mainland and subordinated to the 41st Infantry Division
746th Grenadier Regiment
Artillery Regiment 619
Panzer -teilung 212 (as Panzer -teilung Crete )
Division units 133

Commanders

Major General Heinrich Lechner : from the establishment to July 1942
Colonel Christian Wittstatt : February to March 1944
Major General / Lieutenant General Dr. Ernst Klepp : March 1944 to October 1944
Lieutenant General Hans-Georg Benthack : October 1944 until dissolution

Web links

133rd Fortress Division on EHRI portal from the Federal Archives

literature

Samuel W. Mitcham (2007). German Order of Battle. Volume One: 1st - 290th Infantry Divisions in WWII. PA; United States of America: Stackpole Books, pp. 185 + 186. ISBN 978-0-8117-3416-5 .

Individual evidence

^ Ian V. Hogg: German Order of Battle, 1944: The Regiments, Formations and Units of the German Ground Forces . Arms & Armor Press, 1975, ISBN 978-0-88254-355-0 , pp. 135 ( google.de [accessed on January 5, 2019]).
^ Marlen von Xylander: The German occupation of Crete, 1941-1945 . Verlag Rombach, 1989, ISBN 978-3-7930-0192-8 , pp. 38 ( google.de [accessed on January 4, 2019]).
^ Marlen von Xylander: The German occupation of Crete, 1941-1945 . Verlag Rombach, 1989, ISBN 978-3-7930-0192-8 , pp. 133 ( google.de [accessed on January 4, 2019]).
^ Ian V. Hogg: German Order of Battle, 1944: The Regiments, Formations and Units of the German Ground Forces . Arms & Armor Press, 1975, ISBN 978-0-88254-355-0 , pp. 113 ( google.de [accessed on January 5, 2019]).

[1] Ian V. Hogg: German Order of Battle, 1944: The Regiments, Formations and Units of the German Ground Forces . Arms & Armor Press, 1975, ISBN 978-0-88254-355-0 , pp. 135 ( google.de [accessed on January 5, 2019]).

[2] Marlen von Xylander: The German occupation of Crete, 1941-1945 . Verlag Rombach, 1989, ISBN 978-3-7930-0192-8 , pp. 38 ( google.de [accessed on January 4, 2019]).

[:0-3] Marlen von Xylander: The German occupation of Crete, 1941-1945 . Verlag Rombach, 1989, ISBN 978-3-7930-0192-8 , pp. 133 ( google.de [accessed on January 4, 2019]).

[4] Ian V. Hogg: German Order of Battle, 1944: The Regiments, Formations and Units of the German Ground Forces . Arms & Armor Press, 1975, ISBN 978-0-88254-355-0 , pp. 113 ( google.de [accessed on January 5, 2019]).