2nd Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)

2 Panzer Division - 2 Pz.Div. - XX
Troop registration
active	October 15, 1935 to May 8, 1945 (surrender)
Country	German Empire
Armed forces	Wehrmacht
Armed forces	army
Branch of service	Armored force
Type	Panzer Division
garrison	Vienna
Second World War	Attack on Poland French campaign Balkan campaign German-Soviet war Battle for Moscow Battle of Kursk Landing of the Allies in Normandy Battle of the Bulge

The 2nd Panzer Division (short: 2nd Pz.Div. ) Was a large unit of the army of the German Wehrmacht . In international comparison it was one of the first fully motorized divisions . For other armored divisions of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS with the same number, see 2. Panzer Division .

history

1935-1938

The 2nd Panzer Division was set up in Würzburg in October 1935 and placed under the command of Heinz Guderian . The bandage was fully motorized for performing quick operations. After the annexation of Austria, the division was moved to Vienna in spring 1938 . At the beginning of the Second World War , it was one of six German tank divisions that had been set up by then.

1939-1940

The 2nd Armored Division took as part of the 14th Army on the invasion of Poland in part and was then in the Eifel relocated to the western campaign participate. Here she was part of the XIX. Army Corps (later "Gruppe Guderian") under Heinz Guderian and fought, among other things, in the Battle of Sedan and the Battle of Dunkirk . In September 1940 the 4th Panzer Regiment was transferred to the 13th Panzer Division , for which the division received the newly established 304 Rifle Regiment.

1941-1943

2nd PzD tanks in Greece (1941)

After another relocation to Poland, the division was deployed from Romania in the Balkan campaign and advanced to Greece by May 1941 , taking Athens . After the conquest of Greece, the division was to be transferred by sea from Patras to Taranto , from where it was to go to the Eastern Front . Two transport ships, which carried a large part of the division's artillery and vehicle fleet, were lost on May 21, 1941 in a mine lock laid by HMS Abdiel the night before . During the attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, the division was initially part of the OKH reserve and was followed by Army Group South without intervening in the fighting.

As of October 1941, the Division was for the attack on Moscow the Central Army Group allocated while in the tank groups 3 and 4 used. In early 1942 she was subordinated to the 9th Army , with which she fought in the Battle of Rzhev until the beginning of the next year . After a refresher, she took part in the Citadel operation in the summer of 1943 , where she was deployed on the north side. This German offensive had to be broken off due to the Soviet Oryol operation , among other things . The division spent the rest of the year with defense tasks in the area of ​​Army Group Center (see Smolensk Operation ).

1944-1945

After heavy losses, the division was relocated to France in the spring of 1944 to refresh . Surprised by the Allied landing in Normandy , it was almost completely destroyed in August 1944 and in autumn consisted of only one staff department . The division was reorganized in September at Willich and Bitburg , took part in the Ardennes offensive and finally capitulated in Plauen .

Commanders

• Lieutenant General Heinz Guderian - Listed by January 31, 1938
• Lieutenant General Rudolf Veiel - February 1, 1938 to February 17, 1942
• Lieutenant General Hans-Karl von Esebeck - February 17 to May 31, 1942
• Major General Arno von Lenski - June 1-30, 1942
• Lieutenant General Hans-Karl von Esebeck - July 1 to August 10, 1942
• Colonel Vollrath Lübbe - August 10-28, 1942
• Major General Arno von Lenski - August 29 to September 4, 1942
• Colonel Karl Fabiunke - September 5-30 , 1942
• Lieutenant General Vollrath Lübbe - October 1, 1942 to January 31, 1944
• Lieutenant General Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz - February 1 to May 4, 1944
• Lieutenant General Franz Westhoven - May 5-26, 1944
• Lieutenant General Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz - May 27 to August 31, 1944
• Colonel Eberhard von Nostitz - September 1 to 4, 1944 (deputy)
• Major General Henning Schönfeld - September 5 to December 14, 1944
• Major General Meinrad von Lauchert - December 15, 1944 to March 19, 1945
• Major General Oskar Munzel - March 20 to April 3, 1945
• Major Waldemar von Gazen - April 3-4 , 1945
• Colonel Carl Stollbrock - April 4 to May 8, 1945

structure

The division was structured as follows:

Outline 1939 Poland	Structure 1943 Eastern Front
Panzer - Brigade 2 3rd Panzer Regiment 4th Panzer Regiment	3rd Panzer Regiment
Rifle Brigade 2 Rifle Regiment 2 Motorcyclists - Battalion 2	Panzer Grenadier Regiment 2 304th Panzer Grenadier Regiment
74th Artillery Regiment	74th Panzer Artillery Regiment
	Army Flak Artillery Department 273
Reconnaissance Department 5	Panzer Reconnaissance Division 2
Panzerjäger Department 38	Panzerjäger detachment 38
Pioneer -Bataillon 38	Panzer Pioneer Battalion 38
News Department 38	Panzer News Department 38
Resupply Troops 82	Tank supply troops 82

Well-known members of the division

• Fritz-Rudolf Schultz (1917–2002), officer and politician (FDP), was from 1970 to 1975 the defense commissioner of the German Bundestag
• Ludwig Richard (1915–2005), founder of the Austrian bus route Dr. Richard
• Emil Spannocchi (1916–1992), Austrian general in the federal army

literature

• Franz Steinzer: The 2nd Panzer Division. Dörfler Verlag, 2003, ISBN 978-3-89555-090-4 .
• Veit Scherzer : German troops in World War II. , Volume 2, Scherzers Militaer-Verl., Ranis / Jena 2008, ISBN 978-3-938845-08-0 .
• 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 .

Web links

• Organizational History of the German Armored Forces 1939 - 1945. (PDF; 292 kB) Retrieved September 15, 2011 (English). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Cf. Veit Scherzer (Ed.): German troops in the Second World War , Volume 2, Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2008, ISBN 978-3-938845-08-0 ; Pp. 209-243.
2. ^ David Brown: The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean. November 1940 – December 1941 . Whitehall histories. tape II . Routledge, London 2002, ISBN 978-0-7146-5205-4 , pp. 105 .