16th Flak Division

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The 16th Flak Division was a major combat unit of the German Air Force in World War II .

The headquarters of the 16th Flak Division was set up on April 1, 1942. The main task of the command consisted of leading all flak forces in the Luftgau Belgium -North France , especially in the coastal regions there. The first division commander was Lieutenant General Kurt Steudemann on June 15, 1942, with his command post near Lille . After less than six months of operation, the subordinate regiments of the division were able to achieve their 200th kill. On March 1, 1943, there was a first change in leadership at the division's management level. On this day, the new division commander, Major General Rudolf Eibenstein , was appointed who was in charge of the division until April 30, 1944. In mid-April 1943 the division was structured as follows:

• Flak Regiment 3 : Watten area (Northern France)
• Flak Regiment 95 : Antwerp area ( Belgium )
• Flak Regiment 129 : Zeebrugge area (Belgium)
• Flak regiment 132 : Boulogne area (northern France)
• Anti-aircraft regiment 431 : Lille area (Northern France)
• Flak Regiment 656 : Beauvais area (90 km north of Paris )

In the following months the subordinate regiments of the 16th Flak Division were exposed to a constant fluctuation of entries and exits. With effect from May 1, 1944 then took over command of the division Colonel Friedrich-Wilhelm Deutsch . Under his leadership, the division was then given the command of all flak forces in the area of Army Group B from August 29, 1944 under the command of General Field Marshal Walter Model . With the advance of the Allies, the previous command post in Lille had to be given up and, from September 22, 1944, to Huis ter Heide ( Holland ). During this time the regiments of the 16th Flak Division were so successfully involved in the German success, the failure of the Allied Operation Market Garden , that the division was named in the Wehrmacht report on September 26, 1944 . During this time the division was divided as follows, as of September 20, 1944:

• 18th Flak Brigade
  • Flak regiment FAS 30
  • Anti-aircraft regiment 95
  • Flak Regiment 112

• 19th Flak Brigade
  • Flak Regiment 8
  • Flak Regiment 87
  • Flak Regiment 111

• 20th Flak Brigade
  • Flak Regiment 15 ( Aachen )
  • Flak Regiment 20th
  • Flak Regiment 100
  • Flak Regiment 129 and that
  • Flak headlight regiment 195 .

As a result of the further advance of the Allied forces, the division's command post had to be relocated again. On October 23, 1944 he was in Doetinchem under the command of III. Anti-aircraft corps . At the beginning of December 1944, the division had 77 heavy and 85 medium and light batteries , which made them the strongest anti-aircraft unit on the Western Front . At the end of January 1945 there were still 49 heavy and 67 medium and light batteries.

On February 9, 1945, the division headquarters of the 16th Flak Division was finally converted. From this transformation the new staff of the VI. Flak Corps , whose new commanding general was Lieutenant General Ludwig Schilffarth . The subordinate units of the 16th Flak Division were assigned to other divisions in this course.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Karl-Heinz Hummel: The German flak cartillery 1935-1945. Your major formations and regiments . VDM, Zweibrücken 2010, ISBN 978-3-86619-048-1 , p. 83-85 .