15th Panzer Grenadier Division

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15th Panzer Grenadier Division

15-panzer-grenadier-symbol.jpg

Troop registration
active July 1, 1943 to May 5, 1945 (surrender)
Country Flag of Germany (1935–1945) .svg German Empire
Armed forces Wehrmacht
Armed forces army
Type Panzer Grenadier Division
structure structure
Second World War Italy 1943-1944

Western Front 1944–1945

Commanders
list of Commanders

The 15th Panzer Grenadier Division was a major unit of the army of the German Wehrmacht in World War II .

history

Paratroopers on reconnaissance tanks of the Armored Reconnaissance Division 115 of the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division in a village in Italy (1943)

After the German-Italian troops surrendered in Tunisia in May 1943 , units that were supposed to be transferred to North Africa gathered in Sicily . The provisional division command Sicily was formed from them . This resulted in the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division on July 1, 1943, which was used on the Italian front until mid-1944 .

After the Allied landing in Sicily on July 10, 1943, the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division fought on the island as part of the XIV Panzer Corps . By August 8, she retreated to the north in fighting and crossed over to mainland Italy by August 16.

Then the division was in reserve in the Naples area . Parts were used from 9 September to combat the Allied landing in the Bay of Salerno . Then the division withdrew as part of the XIV Panzer Corps further north.

From October 1943 to June 1944, she defended the Gustav Line south of Rome at changing focal points . In case of counter-attacks etc. a. on Aprilia she suffered heavy losses. From June retreat under the command of the LI. Mountain Corps in Tuscany southwest of Florence .

At the end of July 1944 the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division moved to the western front to the 1st Army in the area south of Paris and Troyes . Defensive battles followed at Verdun and the further retreat via Lorraine into the Saar area. There, in October / November, fighting still took place along the western wall .

After that, in preparation for the Battle of the Bulge , the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division moved to the 7th Army of Army Group B . At XXXXVII. Panzer Corps took over the flank protection for the ultimately failed offensive.

In February / March she switched to the LXXXVI. Army Corps of the 1st Parachute Army in the Kleve area . After further withdrawals, she surrendered to Lamstedt on May 5, 1945 and went into British captivity.

War crimes

Members of various units of the division were involved in numerous war crimes in southern and central Italy between September 1943 and July 1944. The actions can be roughly divided into two temporally and spatially different areas, with the majority of the excesses against the civilian population between the end of September and December 1943 in the area of ​​the Gustav Line and a smaller part in the summer of 1944 in Tuscany . These included the massacre committed on October 7, 1943 by members of the 115 Panzer Grenadier Regiment in a tufa quarry near Bellona in the province of Caserta , which killed over 50 people, the majority of them civilians. The attempt was also made to cover up the crime by subsequently blasting the quarry. Members of the 1st Battalion of the same regiment carried out another massacre on December 28, 1943 in Vallerotonda in the province of Frosinone in which over 40 civilians, including women and children, were shot at random. According to the Atlante degli Stragi Naziste e Fasciste in Italia project, which was financed by the German Federal Government and led by a Commission of Historians , between September 1943 and July 1944 around 300 people were killed by members of the 15th Panzergrenadier- Division killed.

After the withdrawal to the Western Front, there were further war crimes by division members in Saint-Léger as well as in Bar-sur-Seine and Mesnil-Saint-Père .

structure

15th Panzer Grenadier Division
July 1943 		15th Panzer Grenadier Division
December 1943
  • Panzer Division 215
  • Armored Division 115
  • Panzer Grenadier Regiment 104
  • 115th Panzer Grenadier Regiment
  • Panzer Grenadier Regiment 129
  • Panzer Grenadier Regiment 104
  • Panzer Grenadier Regiment 129
  • Artillery Regiment (motorized) 33
  • Artillery Regiment (motorized) 33
  • Throwing Department Sicily
  • Army Flak Artillery Department (motorized) 33
  • Army Flak Artillery Department (motorized) 33
  • Fast division 15
  • Armored Reconnaissance Division 115
  • Panzerjäger detachment 33
  • Panzerjäger detachment 33
  • Engineer Battalion (motorized) 33
  • Engineer Battalion (motorized) 33
  • News Department 33
  • News Department 33

Commanders

  • Lieutenant General Eberhard Rodt , July 1 to October 3, 1943
  • Colonel Ernst-Günther Baade , October 3 to November 20, 1943 m. d. F. b.
  • Lieutenant General Eberhard Rodt, November 20, 1943 to October 9, 1944
  • Colonel Karl-Theodor Simon , September 9 to November 1, 1944 mdFb
  • Colonel Hans-Joachim Deckert, November 1, 1944 to January 27, 1945 mdFb
  • Lieutenant General Eberhard Rodt, January 27 to May 8, 1945.

mdFb (entrusted with the management) means that the regular division commander is not with the division for a longer period due to illness, injury or vacation and is represented by a suitable officer.

Awards

17 members of the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division were awarded the Knight's Cross and 50 the German Cross in gold.

Surname Award Award date Rank unit
Rodt, Ebehard Oak leaves April 28, 1945 Lieutenant General Kdr. 15th Panzer Grenadier Division
Born, Heinrich Knight's cross April 14, 1945 First lieutenant Leader of the 4th / Pz.Gren.Rgt. 104
Jözwiak, Gerhard Knight's cross March 17, 1945 Sergeant Platoon leader in the 12./ Pz.Gren.Rgt. 112
Jünemann, Walter Knight's cross 0October 4, 1944 sergeant Company troop leader in the 4th / Pz.Gren.Rgt. 112
Bischoff, Leonard Knight's cross April 30, 1945 lieutenant Platoon leader 1./Pz.Gren.Rgt. 115
Dyroff, Adam Knight's cross December 11, 1944 major Kdr. III./Pz.Gren.Rgt. 115
Klose, Helmut Knight's cross November 16, 1944 Sergeant Major Kp.Truppfhr. 6./Pz.Gren.Rgt. 115
Maucke, Wolfgang Knight's cross February 18, 1945 Colonel Kdr. Pz.Gren.Rgt. 115
Schauwecker, Heinz-Eugen Knight's cross December 31, 1944 First Lieutenant d. R. Chief 7./Pz.Gren.Rgt. 115
Vistula, Ernst Knight's cross 0May 5, 1945 major Kdr. II./Pz.Gren.Rgt. 115
Winterhoff, Karl Knight's cross December 18, 1944 Lieutenant dR Platoon leader 6./Pz.Gren.Rgt. 115
Huebner, Alois Knight's cross 0December 5, 1943 Sergeant Major Platoon leader I./Pz.Gren.Rgt. 129
Tax, Dr. Friedrich Wilhelm Knight's cross August 26, 1943 major Kdr. I./Pz.Gren.Rgt. 129
Zapf, Albert Knight's cross February 23, 1944 First lieutenant Fhr. III./Pz.Gren.Rgt. 129
Meder, Albert Knight's cross 0November 5, 1944 Major d. R. Kdr. Pz.Jg.Abt. 33
Baron von der Borch, Alhard Knight's cross August 19, 1944 Rittmeister Kdr. Pz. Aufkl.Abt. 115
Schwermann, Paul Knight's cross March 11, 1945 Captain Head of Army Flak Dept. 315

Well-known members of the division

literature

  • Rolf Stoves: The armored and motorized large German formations 1935–1945. Dörfler Zeitgeschichte, Eggolsheim 2003, ISBN 3-89555-102-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Rolf Stoves: The armored and motorized large German associations. 2003, p. 107.
  2. ↑ a b c d Rolf Stoves: The armored and motorized German large units. 2003, p. 108.
  3. ↑ Carlo Gentile: I crimini di guerra tedeschi in Italia 1943-1945. Einaudi, Turin 2015 ISBN 978-88-06-21721-1 p. 396
  4. ↑ cava di Bellona, ​​October 7, 1943 (Caserta - Campania). In: straginazifasciste.it. Retrieved October 25, 2019 (Italian).
  5. ↑ Collelungo Vallerotonda 28-12-1943 (Frosinone - Lazio). In: straginazifasciste.it. Retrieved October 25, 2019 (Italian).
  6. ↑ 15th Panzer Grenadier Division / XIV. Panzer Corps. In: straginazifasciste.it. Retrieved October 25, 2019 (Italian).
  7. ↑ Carlo Gentile: I crimini di guerra tedeschi in Italia 1943-1945. Einaudi, Turin 2015 ISBN 978-88-06-21721-1 p. 452 footnote 199
  8. ↑ Walter-Peer Fellgiebel: The bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939-1945. Podzun-Pallas, Friedburg 2000, ISBN 3-7909-0284-5 , p. 293.
  9. ^ A b c Günter Wegmann: The knight's cross bearers of the German armed forces. Part VIIIa: Armored Force. Volume 1: A-E. Biblio Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3-7648-2322-4 .
  10. ^ Günter Wegmann: The knight's cross bearers of the German armed forces. Part VIIIa: Armored Force. Volume 2: F-H. Biblio Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-7648-2389-4 .