208 Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
|
208 Infantry Division |
|
|---|---|
| active | August 1939 to 1945 |
| Country |
.svg){kind=small} German Empire
|
| Armed forces | Wehrmacht |
| Armed forces | army |
| Type | Infantry Division |
| structure | structure |
| Installation site | Luebben |
| Commanders | |
| list of | Commanders |
The 208th Infantry Division was a major military unit of the Wehrmacht .
Division history
- Poland : September 1939 to May 1940
- France and Belgium : May 1940 to December 1941
- Eastern Front , Central Section: December 1941 to October 1943
- Eastern Front, Southern Section: October 1943 to October 1944
- Poland and Czechoslovakia : October 1944 to May 1945
The 208th Infantry Division was set up as a division of the 3rd wave of deployment in August 1939 in Lübben in the Spreewald . After its establishment, it was the III. Subordinate to the Army Corps and moved towards Hohensalza near Flatow in order to participate in the attack on Poland in September 1939 . They reached Kutno and stayed for a while as an occupying force in Poland.
In 1940 the 208th Infantry Division was mobilized on the Western Front in the case of Yellow . There she was subordinate to the 18th Army and marched from Holland on Antwerp in Belgium. In addition, it was one of the German units at the Battle of Dunkirk in May / June 1940. After that, it served until December to secure the coast on the Belgian coast and at Calais in French Normandy . Their losses during the western campaign totaled: Fatalities: 12 officers, 46 NCOs and 273 men; Wounded: 38 officers, 169 NCOs and 825 men, four NCOs and 55 men were also missing.
At the end of 1941, the 208th Infantry Division was transferred to the Eastern Front and subordinated to Army Group Center and the 2nd Panzer Army at Vyazma and Schisdra . In 1942, the 309 and 337 infantry regiments were deployed in the Battle of Rzhev near Sychovka .
The division was in action in the trench warfare northwest of Oryol near Sukhinichi , Slobodka and Dubrowka until 1943 . In July 1943 she got into heavy defensive battles against the advancing Red Army and partisans near Bolchow . After that it could only function as a reserve unit of the 2nd Panzer Army. In August 1943, the division was moved to the southern section and subordinated to Army Group South near Sjewsk in the Kursk area . A series of retreat skirmishes began at the heights of Kiev up to the Dnieper , which initially ended at Zhitomir . The winter of 1943/44 brought a reclassification into a "Division of the New Type 44"; in addition, the 208th Infantry Division was now subordinate to the 4th Panzer Army at Winnitza . Then it was reintegrated into the 1st Panzer Army . Together with this tank formation, part of the Northern Ukraine Army Group with the 208th Infantry Division was encircled in March 1944 near Kamenez - Podolsk on the border with Romania ( Kamenez-Podolski Battle ). The 208th Infantry Division was located between the villages of Smerinka and Bar in the east of the kettle. She managed to break out of the Strypa, Horodenka and Beremjany near Buczacz . In the further course it then had to make its way through the Beskids towards the west and was arrested at Gorlice in December 1944. In the spring of 1945 the 208th Infantry Division was on the run or in retreat battles from Slovakia to Silesia . The last position battles took place from March 9th to 15th, 1945 near Striegau , then near Waldenburg . Eventually she capitulated to the Red Army near Hohenelbe -Turnau in Czechoslovakia .
structure
| 1939 | 1943 |
|---|---|
| 309th Infantry Regiment | Grenadier Regiment 309 |
| 337th Infantry Regiment | Grenadier Regiment 337 |
| 338th Infantry Regiment | Grenadier Regiment 338 |
| Artillery Regiment 208 | |
| Engineer Battalion 208 | |
| Anti-tank department 208 | Panzerjäger detachment 208 |
| Reconnaissance Division 208 | Division Fusilier Battalion 208 |
| News Department 208 | |
| Supply Force 208 | |
people
| period of service | Rank | Surname |
|---|---|---|
| September 1, 1939 to December 13, 1941 | Lieutenant General | Moritz Andreas |
| December 13, 1941 to February 1, 1943 | General of the Infantry | Hans-Karl von Scheele |
| February 1 to April 1943 | Lieutenant General | Karl-Wilhelm von Schlieben |
| April to June 22, 1943 | Major general | Georg Zwade |
| June 22, 1943 until unknown | Lieutenant General | Hans Piekenbrock |
| period of service | Rank | Surname |
|---|---|---|
| August 26, 1939 to June 1, 1940 | Captain | Werner thank you |
| 1940-1942 | Lieutenant colonel | Grain |
| August 1, 1942 to October 25, 1943 | Lieutenant colonel | Fritz Bessell |
| October 25, 1943 to November 25, 1944 | Lieutenant colonel | Lemcke |
| November 25, 1944 to 1945 | Lieutenant colonel | Erhard Gemmrig |
Well-known members of the division
- Klaus Hoheisel (1906–1998), was from 1962 to 1965, as Brigadier General of the Army of the German Armed Forces , Commander of the Army Officer School III
- Max Momsen (1896–1939), was from 1934 rector and professor for physical and military education at the college for teacher training in Cottbus
literature
- Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945 . Volume 8: The Land Forces 201–280 . 2nd Edition. Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1979, ISBN 3-7648-1174-9 .
- Werner Haupt: The German infantry divisions . Ed. Dörfler im Nebel-Verlag, Eggolsheim 2005, ISBN 3-89555-274-7 .
Web links
- 200th through 370th German Infantry, Security, and Panzer Grenadier Divisions. Organizations and Histories 1939–1945 ( Memento from February 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 461 kB), Nafziger Collection, Combined Armed Research Library.
