22nd Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)

22nd Panzer Division
Troop registration
Lineup	September 25, 1941
Country	German Empire
Armed forces	Wehrmacht
Armed forces	army
Branch of service	Armored force
Type	Panzer Division
structure	structure
Insinuation	6th Army
equipment	Panzer 38 (t)
Second World War	German-Soviet War Battle of Stalingrad
Commanders
list of	Commanders

The 22nd Panzer Division was a Panzer division of the Wehrmacht during World War II . The division was set up in occupied France in 1941 and relocated to the Eastern Front, where it was finally destroyed at the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942/43.

history

War missions

The 22nd Panzer Division was set up on September 25, 1941 from the 204 captured tank regiment and two other new rifle regiments in occupied France. The 22nd Panzer Division was the last German Panzer Division to be equipped with Panzer 38 (t) . In March 1942, she was subordinated to Army Group South and moved to the southern section of the Eastern Front.

The first battle during a German offensive operation on March 20, 1942 failed and the combat strength fell to 30-40% of the target strength (according to the war strength certificate ). The division remained in the Crimea until it took part in the German bustard hunt under Erich von Manstein .

After the successful offensive, the 22nd Panzer Division was sent to Kharkov in May 1942 , from where it took part in the German Fall Blau summer offensive . The division crossed the Don and took part in the advance to Stalingrad.

In the area across from the Soviet bridgehead at Serafimowitsch and Kletskaya, the 22nd Panzer Division had been tasked with protecting the northern flank of the 6th Army together with the Romanian 1st Panzer Division, which was also armed with R-2 tanks . The equipment of both divisions turned out to be inadequate compared to the Soviet tank divisions equipped with T-34s.

Fall of the 22nd Panzer Division

After Operation Uranus , the Red Army's pincer attack with 1.5 million soldiers on the German 6th Army and the German 4th Panzer Army , started on November 19, 1942 , the division was almost completely destroyed.

After the unsuccessful, desperate defense of the Russian city of Petshany from November 19-22, 1942, which very few soldiers had survived, the survivors set out to cross the River Tschir , where they had various combat groups that they could help .

resolution

The order to disband was issued on February 9, 1943, and on instructions from Army Group Don , the remainder of the division should be incorporated into the 6th Panzer Division , at whose command post the remaining units should report on February 11, 1943, but the Dissolution on the orders of XXXXVIII. Armored Corps declared invalid and March 1 invalid. On the same day, the supply troops were incorporated into the 79th Infantry Division .

Two days later the combat group of the 22nd Panzer Division was directly assigned to the XVII. Subordinate to the army corps and disbanded the division headquarters The authority was from XVII. Army corps transferred to Major Burgsthaler, the division disbanded and reorganized as Kampfgruppe Burgsthaler until it was disbanded in April 1943.

Commanders

• Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Apell : Listed on September 25, 1941 - October 7, 1942
• Lieutenant General Hellmut von der Chevallerie : October 7, 1942 - November 1, 1942
• Lieutenant General Eberhard Rodt : November 1, 1942 - dissolution on March 5, 1943

structure

1942	1943
Armored Regiment 204	204th Panzer Regiment
Rifle Brigade 22nd Rifle Regiment 129 Rifle Regiment 140	Panzer Grenadier Regiment 129 Panzer Grenadier Regiment 140
Motorbike Rifle Battalion 24
Armored Reconnaissance Division 22	Armored Reconnaissance Division 140
Artillery Regiment 140	Tank Artillery Regiment 140
	Army Flak Department 289
Panzerjäger detachment 140	Panzerjäger detachment 140
Pioneer -Bataillon 50	Panzer Pioneer Division 140
News Department 140	Panzer News Department 140
Supply Troops 140	Tank supply troops 140

Well-known members of the division

• Hermann von Oppeln-Bronikowski (1899–1966), gold medalist at the 1936 Olympic Games
• Franz Josef Strauss (1915–1988), politician (CSU), 1953–1962 and 1966–1969 Federal Minister with various areas of responsibility, Prime Minister of the Free State of Bavaria from 1978 until his death
• Herbert Zimmermann (1917–1966), well-known German radio commentator on football games after the Second World War

literature

• 22nd Panzer Division. In: Veit Scherzer (Ed.): German troops in the Second World War. Volume 6. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2010, ISBN 978-3-938845-27-1 , pp. 143-165.
• Rolf Stoves: The 22nd Panzer Division, 25th Panzer Division, 27th Panzer Division and the 233rd Reserve Panzer Division: formation, structure, deployment . Podzun-Pallas, Friedberg 1985, ISBN 3-7909-0252-7 .
• 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 .

Web links

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