21st Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)

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21st Panzer Division

Troop registration number of the 21st Panzer Division

Troop registration
active August 1, 1941 to May 8, 1945 (surrender)
Country German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire
Armed forces Wehrmacht
Armed forces army
Branch of service Armored force
Type Panzer Division
structure see structure
Second World War Africa campaign
Company Theseus
first battle of El Alamein
second battle of El Alamein
Battle of the Kasserin Pass

Repel Operation Overlord

Sword beach section
Defense against Operation Tonga
Fight for Caen

Eastern Front

Commanders
list of Commanders
insignia
Troop registration Troop registration
Troop registration, variant Variant of the troop badge
Additional symbols of the DAK Symbol of the DAK

The 21st Panzer Division was a large armored unit of the Wehrmacht during World War II . The division was formed from the 5th light division for the first time in August 1941 and was later reorganized several times after it had previously been destroyed.

history

Use in North Africa

On August 1, 1941, the 21st Panzer Division was created in the Africa campaign through the reclassification of the 5th light division. She was part of the German Africa Corps under General Field Marshal Erwin Rommel . In the second battle of El Alamein and the retreat through Libya to the west in late 1942, the division suffered great losses. In the Tunisian campaign, she led the attack at the Battle of the Kasserin Pass , together with the 164th Light Africa Division and Italian allies, in March 1943, unsuccessfully defended the Narrows of Tebaga, which had already been fortified in Roman times, and became - like most German units - in May Destroyed near Tunis in 1943 .

Formation in France and struggle in Normandy

The Rapid Brigade 931 was reclassified on July 15, 1943 in the Rennes area in occupied France and was given the now vacant name of the 21st Panzer Division . In Operation Overlord or Operation Neptune in June 1944, the 21st Panzer Division, which had been commanded by Lieutenant General Edgar Feuchtinger since May 8, 1944 and had around 20,000 soldiers, was south of the city of Caen near Falaise near the eastern landing zone Sword . Feuchtinger's command post was in Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives . It was the only German tank unit that could have attacked immediately after landing. However, the division could not be deployed immediately because it was “ v. Rundstedt ( Commander-in-Chief West ) in operational reserve (held), but he had strict orders not to dispose of them without the approval of the OKW, i.e. Hitler's. ”Feuchtinger was able to take the infantry and reconnaissance troops assigned to the division on June 6th shortly after 1:00 am deploy, "but his tanks were condemned to immobility in the hours of darkness, during which they could have marched unhindered from Falaise to Caen, because Army Group B had not received any orders for their use." The 7th Army was only able to do this at 6.45 cause a clearance, "but since the communication links were broken, another two hours passed before Feuchtinger [...] received an operational order." The landing of the 3rd British Infantry Division in Sword could no longer be affected by the delay, the German defense succeeded however, to prevent the planned rapid intake of Caen. The 21st Panzer Division remained in action in the battles for Caen until the loss of the Battle of Normandy , but was weakened considerably in the battle and due to a lack of supplies and destroyed by Allied forces in the Falaise pocket.

The end of the war

In September 1944, the third new formation took place in Lorraine. The Panzer Brigade 112 was now named and gradually expanded into a division . From the end of September 1944, the division fought in Alsace and on the Saar . At the beginning of 1945 the division was moved to the Eastern Front, where it fought in East Germany and Poland from February to May 1945 . Shortly before the end of the war, the remnants of the division were taken prisoner by the Soviets on the Lusatian Neisse and were largely used in the Silesian coal mines. The few survivors were not released until the early 1950s.

Commanders

photos

  • Advance of Panzerjäger-Division 39 in Africa

  • Field Marshal Erwin Rommel inspecting units of the 21st Panzer Division on the Atlantic Wall

structure

1942 North Africa 1943 Tunisia 1944 Western Front 1945 Eastern Front
  • 100th Panzer Regiment
  • Panzer Regiment 22
  • 125th Panzer Grenadier Regiment
  • Panzer Grenadier Regiment 192
  • Panzer Reconnaissance Department 580
  • Panzer Reconnaissance Division 21
  • Panzerjäger detachment 200
  • Panzer Pioneer Battalion 220
  • Tank supply troops 200

literature

  • Heinz-Dietrich Aberger: The 5th (lei.) / 21. Panzer Division in North Africa. Prussischer Militär-Verlag , 1994, ISBN 3-927292-17-6 .
  • Chris Ellis: 21st Panzer Division: Rommel's Africa Korps Spearhead. Ian Allan Ltd., 2001, ISBN 0-7110-2853-2 .
  • Jean-Claude Perrigault: 21 Panzer Division. Normandy, Tarnopol, Arnhem.
  • Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945. Volume 4. The Land Forces 15–30 . 2nd Edition. Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1976, ISBN 3-7648-1083-1 .
  • Bernd Hartmann: Panzers in the Sand: The History of Panzer Regiment 5, Volume 1: 1935-1941 . Stackpole Books, 2011, ISBN 978-0-8117-0723-7 (English).
  • Bernd Hartmann: Panzers in the Sand: The History of Panzer Regiment 5, Volume 2: 1942-1945 . Stackpole Books, 2011, ISBN 978-0-8117-0773-2 (English).

Web links

Commons : 21st Panzer Division  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ken Ford: The Mareth Line 1943. The end in Africa. Osprey Publishing, 2012, ISBN 978-1-78096-093-7 .
  2. ↑ Chester Wilmot : The Struggle for Europe. Book guild Gutenberg, Zurich 1955, p. 296 f.