148th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

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148th Infantry Division

Troop registration

Troop registration
active September 18, 1944 to April 28, 1945
Country German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire
Armed forces Wehrmacht
Armed forces army
Branch of service infantry
Type Infantry Division
structure structure
Installation site Liguria
Second World War Italian campaign
management
list of Commanders

The 148th Infantry Division was a major military unit of the Wehrmacht .

Division history

The division was created on September 18, 1944 in Liguria from the conversion of the 148th Reserve Division . In the following period, the division was used in the fight against gangs on the border between Tuscany and Liguria, while units of the division took part with other units in some larger anti-gang operations. So between the end of November and the beginning of December 1944 at the Catilina and Barbara companies in the Apennines between La Spezia and Massa Carrara , where numerous civilians were also killed.

Surrender negotiations between Lieutenant General Otto Fretter-Pico and officers of the Brazilian Expeditionary Corps on April 29, 1945 near Fornovo di Taro

Between 26 and 28 December 1944, the division was along with some Italian associations of RSI on Operation Winter Storm involved. The Italian-German offensive, which was spatially limited to the upper reaches of the Serchio in the Lunigiana and aimed mainly by Mussolini, was intended to bind Allied troops in the western section of the Gothic position and thus postpone an Allied offensive on Bologna in the endangered eastern section. During the operation led by Division Commander Lieutenant General Otto Fretter-Pico , it was possible to advance on a front length of 20 km to 8 km deep into the section held by the 92nd US Infantry Division and capture the small town of Barga before the Allies with the Indian 8th Infantry Division brought in new troops and, thanks to massive air support, were able to take possession of the won terrain again.

On February 5, 1945, it was the 148th Infantry Division in the western Apuan Alps that successfully repelled a major attack by the Allies on the Tyrrhenian coast . During Operation Fourth Term , the 92nd US Infantry Division was supposed to advance into Versilia and liberate the city of Massa , but this failed due to German resistance and the inexperience of some Allied troops.

The section successfully defended by the division in February finally had to be evacuated at the beginning of April when the Allies began another attack on April 5 in Operation Second Wind in the direction of Massa. The city was again led by the 92nd US Infantry Division, which was supported by the 442nd US infantry regiment , consisting of Japanese immigrants of the second generation , captured on April 9, while Carrara, about 5 km away fell into the hands of the Allies on April 11th.

In the course of the spring offensive on the Goths, launched by the 5th US Army on April 14, 1945 , the 148th Infantry Division initially moved towards La Spezia , which was evacuated on April 22nd on the orders of Lieutenant General Fretter-Pico. The majority of the division withdrew over the Cisapassstraße towards the Po plain , smaller scattered parts back towards Genoa . The latter were completely wiped out northwest of La Spezia during fighting with Italian partisan units. On April 25, the remnants of the Fornovo di Taro division reached about 22 km southwest of Parma . While attempting to cross the Taro River , she was involved in fighting with partisan units and trapped with remnants of the 90th Panzer Grenadier Division on April 26th by the approaching Brazilian Expeditionary Corps. After several unsuccessful attempts to break out of the Fornovo pocket, those trapped surrendered on April 29, 1945 and ended up in American captivity.

War crimes

In addition to the above-mentioned gang fighting campaigns, in which the 148th Infantry Division also deployed soldiers, the shooting of 14 civilians in Regnano Castello, a district of the municipality of Casola in Lunigiana in the province of Massa-Carrara in Tuscany on 23 November 1944 involved only members of the division, so that this massacre can be assigned to members of the 148th Infantry Division without a doubt.

structure

source

people

Division commander was from the formation on September 18, 1944 to the surrender on April 29, 1945 Lieutenant General Otto Fretter-Pico.

literature

  • Carlo Gentile : Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in Partisan War: Italy 1943–1945. Schöningh, Paderborn 2012, ISBN 978-3-506-76520-8 . (Cologne, Univ., Diss., 2008.)
  • Antonio Melis: La Linea Gotica: Guida ai luoghi, alla storia e ai personaggi. Editoriale Programma, Treviso 2019 ISBN 978-88-6643-657-7 .
  • Samuel W. Mitcham : German Order of Battle: 1st-290th Infantry Divisions in World War II. PA; United States of America: Stackpole Books. 2007 ISBN 978-0-8117-3416-5 .
  • GA Shepperd: La campagna d'Italia 1943-1945. Garzanti, Milan 1970.
  • Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945. Seventh volume Die Landstwehr Forces No. 131 - 200.Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1973.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Azioni tedesche contro i civili in Toscana. In: regione.toscana.it. Retrieved November 6, 2019 (Italian).
  2. ^ GA Shepperd: La campagna d'Italia 1943-1945. Pp. 412-413
  3. ^ Antonio Melis: La Linea Gotica: Guida ai luoghi, alla storia e ai personaggi. P. 32
  4. ^ Antonio Melis: La Linea Gotica: Guida ai luoghi, alla storia e ai personaggi. Pp. 32-33
  5. ^ GA Shepperd: La campagna d'Italia 1943-1945. P. 433
  6. ^ Il Palazzo del Governo nei giorni della Liberazione. In: isrlaspezia.it. Retrieved November 7, 2019 (Italian).
  7. ↑ 80 soldati uccisi a Riccò dai partigiani: Campastrino, la foiba di casa nostra che nessuno ricorda. In: gazzettadellaspezia.it. February 10, 2019, accessed November 7, 2019 (Italian).
  8. ↑ Resistance a. In: istitutostoricoparma.it. Retrieved November 7, 2019 (Italian).
  9. ↑ Regnano Castello Casolla in Lunigiana 11/23/1944 (Massa-Carrara - Toscana). In: straginazifasciste.it. Retrieved November 5, 2019 (Italian).
  10. ^ Georg Tessin: Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in the Second World War 1939-1945. Seventh Volume The Land Forces No. 131 - 200. P. 66