163 Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
|
163 Infantry Division |
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|---|---|
 Troop registration |
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| active | November 18, 1939 to March 31, 1945 |
| Country |
.svg){kind=small} German Empire
|
| Armed forces | Wehrmacht |
| Armed forces | army |
| Branch of service | infantry |
| Type | Infantry division |
| structure | structure |
| Installation site | Doberitz |
| Nickname | Trotting elk |
| Commanders | |
| list of | Commanders |
| insignia | |
| Another troop identification |
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The 163rd Infantry Division was a major unit of the army of the German Wehrmacht during World War II .
Division history
The 163rd Infantry Division was set up on November 18, 1939 at the Döberitz and Jüterbog military training areas in Wehrkreis III as a division of the 7th wave . By assigning field replacement battalions 3, 5 and 23, it was strengthened from January 1, 1940 to a full division. By April 1940 the division was deployed and trained, then moved by ship to Norway and was used there as an occupation force in the association of Group XXI (later Army Norway ).
At the beginning of the attack on the Soviet Union , the division was transferred to the federation of the Finnish army and there it fought in South Karelia , advanced to the river Swir and in February 1942 was transferred to Lapland in the area west of Kandalaksha in exchange for Finnish troops .
More than two and a half years of positional warfare followed, which the 163rd Infantry Division in the Union of the Norwegian Army , later in the 20th Mountain Army under Colonel General Eduard Dietl and Colonel General Lothar Rendulic spent continuously in the combat area west of Kandalakscha.
The armistice between Finland and the Soviet Union from September 2, 1944 forced the German troops to evacuate all of Finland. As part of this difficult operation, the 163rd Infantry Division managed to withdraw in an orderly manner through all of Finnish and Norwegian Lapland.
In January 1945 the 163rd Infantry Division was again occupying Norway , but then moved by land and rail transport to Oslo, in order to cross over to Denmark in February 1945 .
There, the division in the Aarhus area was reclassified into an Infantry Division 45 and relocated to Pomerania, where it was part of the 3rd Panzer Army under Colonel General Erhard Raus and from March 5, 1945 under General of the Panzer Troop Hasso von Manteuffel the major Soviet offensive experienced in Western Pomerania. In heavy fighting, the 163rd Infantry Division was crushed by the Red Army in March 1945 near Stargard . Only remnants managed to escape to the lower Oder and were by 1 April 1945 Navy assigned and the 3rd Marine Infantry Division integrated.
people
| period of service | Rank | Surname |
|---|---|---|
| November 11, 1939 to June 30, 1942 | Lieutenant General | Erwin Engelbrecht |
| July 10 to December 29, 1942 | Major general | Anton Dostler |
| December 29, 1942 to March 31, 1945 | Major general | Karl Rübel |
structure
When setting up:
- 307th Infantry Regiment
- 310 Infantry Regiment
On January 1, 1940:
- 307th Infantry Regiment
- 310 Infantry Regiment
- 324th Infantry Regiment
- Artillery Regiment 234
- Division Units 234
literature
- Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945 . Volume 7: The Land Forces 131–200 . Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1972, ISBN 3-7648-0872-1 , pp. 136-138.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in World War II 1939–1945 . Volume 7: The Land Forces 131–200 . Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1972, ISBN 3-7648-0872-1 , p. 136f.
- ↑ Guides to German Records Microfilmed at Alexandria, VA. No. 68. Records of German Field Commands: Divisions (141st-187th), Part VIII , The National Archives, National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration, Washington 1974, p. 41.
