12th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)

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2nd Infantry Division,
2nd Motorized Infantry Division,
12th Panzer Division

Troop registration
Troop registration

Troop registration number of the 2nd Infantry Division
Troop registration number of the 2nd Infantry Division

active October 1934 to May 8, 1945
Country German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire
Armed forces Wehrmacht
Armed forces army
Branch of service Armored force
Type Panzer Division
structure structure
garrison Szczecin
Second World War Attack on Poland
Western campaign
German-Soviet war
Commanders
list Commanders

The 12th Panzer Division was a major unit of the German Wehrmacht during World War II . It is not to be confused with the 12th SS Panzer Division of the Waffen SS .

history

Pre-war period

The division was set up in Stettin in October 1934 under the code name Artillerieführer II . After the proclamation of military sovereignty in 1935, the association received its official designation 2nd  Infantry Division on October 15 . In 1937 the division was motorized, so that on October 12, 1937 it was given the addition of “ motorized ”. The 12th Panzer Division was established in October 1940 in the East Sudetenland with the addition of the 29th Panzer Regiment from the 2nd Inf. set up.

1939

After a month's deployment in the attack on Poland under the XIX. Army Corps , the division was in position in the Saar Palatinate and the Eifel until June 1940 .

1940

In the western campaign , the division advanced on the Somme and Loire . On October 5, 1940, the regrouping to the 2nd Infantry Division followed, the renaming to the 12th Panzer Division took place on January 10, 1941.

1941

From July 1941, the division went to war against the Soviet Union and initially operated as part of Army Group Center in the direction of Minsk and Smolensk . In September 1941 the division was assigned to Army Group North , with which it took part in the Leningrad blockade . From October 16 to December 30, 1941, the division took part in the Battle of Tikhvin .
The losses of the 12th Panzer Division in the period from June 22, 1941 to December 15, 1941 amounted to 552 officers and 13,394 NCOs and men. In terms of numbers, this is a division that has been completely substituted.

1942

Barrier, which was destroyed in August 1942 while the Red Army forces crossed the Neva were cordoned off.

In the last days of 1941 until the early summer of 1942 there was a back and forth between formation efforts in Estonia and exhausting operations as combat groups of all sizes up to individual tanks at the front of the 18th and 16th Armies. The division was torn apart until it was disbanded. In early summer it was brought together again and prepared for the company Moorbrand to remove the Pogostje boiler. As the forces were insufficient, the focus was subsequently on the Northern Lights company . On August 20, a group of Bayer was formed to seal off Red Army forces crossing the Neva. On August 27, the division was even more torn apart. The 5th Panzer Grenadier Regiment was used to pierce the neck of the bottle near Tortolowo. The provision of entire units of different strengths for individual operations of the First Ladoga Battle continued until the end of October. The lack of strength and the need at the front obviously did not permit any major planning and management of longer operations.
On orders from OKH , the division was transferred to Army Group Center in November 1942. The division was to be used for an attack (code name "Taubenschlag") at Weliki Luki, which was later canceled. From November 11 to 14, 1942, the division carried out an operation (code name “monkey cage”) against partisans on the orders of AOK 11 . From December 1942 to February 1943 she operated in the Bjeloj, Lutschessatal and Newel area .

1943

Preparation of a news relay from the 12th Pz.Div. on the Citadel Company. The cable drums are checked.

In mid-February the division was transferred to Orel in order to stop a deep and wide advance of the Red Army in the direction of Ssewsk . The unit took over a section of the front that was far too wide and the fighting lasted until April.
The division was then pulled out of the front line and prepared for use within the Citadel Company . It belonged to the reserve of Army Group Center (Esebeck Group) and was only used for the attack on July 11th. The following day, the division was withdrawn from the attack operations "in view of the severe Soviet intrusions in the area of ​​the 2nd Panzer Army" and used to repel the counter-offensive by the Red Army near Bolchow. The division spent up to August 1943 with operations in the Orel area , followed by fighting to retreat to Desna in the Brjansk area . At the end of 1943 the division was under the LVI. Armored Corps of the 2nd Army on the Sosh sector and went back to Bobruisk .

1944-1945

PzKpfw IV of the 12th Panzer Division in Russia 1944

In the spring of 1944, after the Leningrad blockade broke up, the division was temporarily used as a reserve with the 18th Army in the Pleskau area. From April she was in the Ostrow area in the rear area of ​​Army Group North for refreshment . After the success of the Russian summer offensive , the division was hastily thrown back to the central section and at the end of June tried in vain to open a route to the west for the 9th Army , which was trapped in the Bobruisk area, via Marina Gorka . The already outflanked “Bodenhausen Group” was cut off by Soviet troops and had to fight their own retreat south of the Nalibocka forest via Stolpce to Nowogrodek . In mid-August 1944 it was withdrawn via Grodno and as a reserve for the Doppelkopf company as part of the XXXIX. Panzer Corps of the 3rd Panzer Army in the area northwest of Schaulen . From October 1944 she was finally forced to go to northern Latvia and locked in the Kurland Basin , where she had to surrender as part of the 18th Army in May 1945.

structure

2nd Infantry Division
(motorized)
1939 		2nd Infantry Division
(motorized)
1940 		12th Panzer Division

1941 		12th Panzer Division

1943
  • Panzer Regiment 29
  • Infantry Regiment (motorized) 5
  • Motorized Infantry Regiment 25
  • Rifle Brigade 12
    • Rifle Regiment 5
    • Rifle Regiment 25
  • Panzer Grenadier Regiment 5
  • Panzer Grenadier Regiment 25
  • Motorbike Rifle Battalion 22nd
  • Reconnaissance Department (mot.) 2
  • Reconnaissance Department 2
  • Panzer Reconnaissance Division 12
  • Observation Department 2
  • Artillery Regiment (motorized) 2
  • I./Artillery Regiment 38
  • Artillery Regiment (motorized) 2
  • I./Artillery Regiment 38
  • Artillery Regiment (motorized) 2
  • 2nd Panzer Artillery Regiment
  • Army Flak Artillery Department 303
  • Anti-tank division 2
  • Panzerjäger detachment 2
  • Engineer Battalion (motorized) 32
  • Panzer Pioneer Battalion 32
  • News department (mot.) 2
  • News Department 2
  • Field Replacement Battalion 2
  • Supply leader 2 (motorized)
  • Supply troops 2

The Rifle Replacement Battalion (later Panzergrenadier Replacement Battalion) 5 was responsible for providing replacement staff.

Commanders

2nd Infantry Division

12th Panzer Division

  • Major General Josef Harpe - January 10, 1941 to January 15, 1942
  • Major General Walter Weßel - January 15, 1942 to February 27, 1943
  • Lieutenant General Erpo von Bodenhausen - February 27, 1943 to May 1, 1944
  • Major General Gerhard Müller - May 1 to July 7, 1944
  • Lieutenant General Erpo Freiherr von Bodenhausen - July 7, 1944 to April 14, 1945
  • Major General Horst von Usedom - April 14, 1945 until surrender

Well-known members of the division

References

literature

  • 12th Panzer Division. In: Veit Scherzer (Ed.): German troops in the Second World War. Volume 4. Scherzers Militär-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2008, ISBN 978-3-938845-14-1 , pp. 295-237.
  • Samuel W. Mitcham : German Order of Battle. Panzer, Panzer Grenadier, and Waffen SS Divisions in World War II , Stackpole Books, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8117-3438-7 .
  • Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945. Volume 2. The Land Forces 1–5 . 2nd Edition. Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1973, ISBN 3-7648-0871-3 .
  • Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945. Volume 3: The Land Forces 6-14 . 2nd Edition. Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1974, ISBN 3-7648-0942-6 .
  • The Federal Archives contain further sources on the history of the division; see. Research
  • Gerd Niepold: 12th PD: The history of the 12th Panzer Division - 2nd Infantry Division (motorized) 1921–45 . Gerd Niepold, self-published, Koblenz 1988.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in World War II 1939–1945. Volume 2. The Land Forces 1–5 . 2nd Edition. Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1973, ISBN 3-7648-0871-3 . ; P. 100.
  2. ↑ Scherzer 2008; P. 295.
  3. ↑ a b c d See Scherzer 2008; Pp. 296-302.
  4. ^ Gerd Niepold: 12th PD: The history of the 12th Panzer Division - 2nd Infantry Division (motorized) 1921–45. Gerd Niepold, self-published, Koblenz 1988. p. 40
  5. ^ Gerd Niepold: 12th PD: The history of the 12th Panzer Division - 2nd Infantry Division (motorized) 1921–45. Gerd Niepold, self-published, Koblenz 1988. p. 41 u. 51
  6. ^ "Ia, Diary 3, Russia. Was journal partaining to the of the division on the northern front in the Lyuban area and to its transfer in Nov 1942 to the Roslavl area on the central front via Velikiye Luki, Nevel, and Gorodok. Also, data concerning Operation “Affenkäfig” (the destruction of partisan units in the Velikiye Luki area). The division was subordinate to AOK 18, I., XXVIII., L., XXVI., And XXX. AK, AOK 11, LIX. AK, H.Gr. Middle, AOK 9, XXXII. Pz.K., and the XXIII. AK at various times during this period. Apr 1 - Dec 31,1942 "
  7. ↑ WALTER BUSSMANN: KURSK-OREL-DNJEPR - experiences and experiences in the staff of the XXXXVI. Panzer Corps during the "Enterprise Citadel", Vierteljahreshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 41 (1993) 4. P. 511
  8. ↑ See Scherzer 2008; P. 295 f.
  9. ↑ Scherzer 2008; P. 303.
  10. ↑ "The tears flowed within" . Der Spiegel, March 16, 1992