197th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

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197th Infantry Division

197th Infantry Division Logo.svg

Troop registration
active December 1, 1939 to July 22, 1944
Country Flag of the German Empire German Empire
Armed forces Wehrmacht
Armed forces army
Branch of service infantry
Type Infantry Division
structure See: Outline
Second World War Western campaign
Fall yellow

German-Soviet War

Kettle battle near Smolensk
Double battle near Vyazma and Bryansk
Battle for Moscow
Operation Mars
Operation Bagration
Commanders
Please refer: List of commanders

The 197th Infantry Division was a major unit of the army of the German Wehrmacht .

history

The division was set up on December 1, 1939 in Wehrkreis XXI ( Reichsgau Wartheland in occupied Poland) near Posen .

On July 22, 1944, the division in the Vitebsk pocket was completely destroyed in the Soviet attack operation Bagration , which led to the collapse of the German Central Army Group.

Storage and operational areas

date army Army Group Operational area
July 1940 XXXVII. Army Corps z. Vfg. Netherlands
March 1941 2nd Army & 11th Army HGr C Military District XII
August 1941 2nd Panzer Army HGr middle Smolensk
September 1941 4th Army Vyasma
November 1941 4th Panzer Army Moscow
June 1942 4th Army Spas-Demensk
July 1942 9th Army Rshew
April 1943 4th Army Newel
January 1944 3rd Panzer Army Vitebsk

structure

from 1939 from 1940 from 1943
  • 321st Infantry Regiment
  • 332nd Infantry Regiment
  • 321st Infantry Regiment
  • 332nd Infantry Regiment
  • 347th Infantry Regiment
  • 332nd Grenadier Regiment
  • Grenadier Regiment 347
  • Division Battalion 229
  • light artillery division 229
  • Artillery Regiment 229
  • Engineer Battalion 229
  • Anti-tank department 229
  • Infantry Division News Department 229
  • Infantry Division Supply Leader 229
  • Field Replacement Battalion 229

Commanders

Rank Surname date
Lieutenant General Hermann Meyer-Rabingen 0December 1, 1939 to March 31, 1942
Colonel Ehrenfried Boege February 12 to March 31, 1942 (in charge of the tour)
Major General / Lieutenant General Ehrenfried Boege 0April 1, 1942 to November 15, 1943
Lieutenant General Eugene Woessner November 15, 1943 to March 13, 1944
Colonel Hans Hahne March 14 to June 24, 1944 (in charge of the tour)

See also

literature

  • FW Küppers: Deeds and fate of the Middle Rhine, Rhenish Hesse, Saar-Palatinate 197th Infantry Division , self-published, Wiesbaden, 1969.
  • Willi Nickel (editor): Our work in West and East 1939–1945. 197th Infantry Division , self-published, 1986.
  • Willi Nickel u. a., Kameradschaftsverband (Ed.): From Combat Association to Trad.Gem. 50 years of the 197th Infantry Division , 1989.
  • Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945 . 2nd Edition. tape 7 . The Land Forces 131–200 . Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1979, ISBN 3-7648-1173-0 .