203rd Security Division (Wehrmacht)
The 203rd Security Division was a German infantry division of Army Group Center during World War II .
history
On June 1, 1942, the staff of the 203 Security Brigade was renamed the 203rd Security Division. The division, still assigned to Army Group Center , was only deployed in the rear army area, among other things, to fight partisans .
During Operation Bagration (June 1944) the 203rd Security Division was part of the XXIII. Army corps deployed in the Petrikow area on the Pripjet . In the formation of the 2nd Army , the division was pushed back via Pinsk on the south bank of the Jasiolda to Kobryn and until the end of July 1944 to Brest-Litovsk . At the beginning of August the division had to go back to Ostrolenka via Drohiczyn on the northern bank of the Bug . The Security Regiment 608 was involved in the Wola massacre that same month . The division was then assigned to the 4th Army .
On December 21, 1944, the regrouping into the 203rd Infantry Division took place on the front between the Bobr and Narew area in Poland .
structure
- Security Regiment 613
- State Rifle Battalion 221
- State Rifle Battalion 243
- State Rifle Battalion 420
- State Rifle Battalion 608
- Landesschützen-Battalion 916
- State Rifle Battalion 473
- Reserve Police Battalion 91st
- Landesschützen-Regiment 34
- Landesschützen-Battalion 244
- State Rifle Battalion 642
- Landesschützen-Regiment 27
- State Rifle Battalion 706
- State Rifle Battalion 323
- Security Regiment 608
- State Rifle Battalion 825
- State Rifle Battalion 432
- Artillery Division 507
- East Company 1./203
- Eastern cavalry squadron 2nd / 20th
- East battery 203 (from 1944)
- News Company 203
- Pioneer Company 203 (from 1944)
- Supply units 203
commander
- Lieutenant General Rudolf Pilz (1888–1975), January 1943 - August 19, 1944, former commander of the 358th Infantry Division , 333rd Infantry Division and 464th Replacement Division
- Lieutenant General Max Horn (1889–1981), August 19, 1944 - November 18, 1944, former commander of the 214th Infantry Division and 719th Infantry Division
- Lieutenant General Wilhelm Thomas (1892–1976), November 18, 1944 - December 21, 1944, former commander of the 321st Infantry Division , 539th Landesschützen Division, as commander of the 203rd Infantry Division
literature
- Rolf Hinze: Das Ostfront-Drama 1944 , Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1987, p. 435
- Dieckert / Großmann: The fight for East Prussia , Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1994, p. 214
- Samuel W. Mitcham (2007). German Order of Battle. Volume One: 1st - 290th Infantry Divisions in WWII. PA; United States of America: Stackpole Books. Pp. 252 + 253, ISBN 978-0-8117-3416-5 .
Web links
- Replacement Brigade 203 / 203rd Security Division / 203rd Infantry Division on EHRI portal from the Federal Archives