24th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
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24th Infantry Division |
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|---|---|
 Polar bear troop registration |
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| active | October 1935 to May 8, 1945 |
| Country |
.svg){kind=small} German Empire
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| Armed forces | Wehrmacht |
| Armed forces | army |
| Branch of service | infantry |
| Type | Infantry Division |
| garrison | Chemnitz |
| Second World War |
Attack on Poland Western campaign German-Soviet war |
| Commanders | |
| Please refer: | List of commanders |
The 24th Infantry Division was a large unit of the army of the German Wehrmacht .
history
The division was set up on October 15, 1935 in Wehrkreis IV ( Dresden ) in Chemnitz from parts of the 4th Division of the Reichswehr.
Sudetenland and Prague
At the end of May 1938, large parts of the division moved to the Weiden area in the Upper Palatinate for an exercise . For a possible invasion of Czechoslovakia , explorations were carried out in the border area, but still on German soil. As a result of the Munich Agreement , the units crossed the border on October 1, 1938 with the order to occupy the area around Tachau . There was no fighting. A few days later the troops occupied the area around Marienbad .
After the smashing of Czechoslovakia, the 24th Infantry Division occupied Prague . On March 15, 1939, it was marched across Komotau , and the first parts reached the city on the same day. The division stayed in the Prague area for six weeks and was then moved back to its peacetime locations.
attack on Poland
At the beginning of the attack on Poland , the division under Lieutenant General Friedrich Olbricht went on September 1, 1939 on the left open wing of Army Group South in the association of the 8th Army of the X Army Corps from the area northeast of Wroclaw to attack with a general direction Łódź . In the next few days there were battles in the Warta area on the banks of the Warta , further east around Łowicz and finally the battle of the Bzura . At times, artillery divisions had to be handed over to the 30th Infantry Division to the left and to the rear of the division , as strong Polish units had attacked them, creating a danger behind the 24th Infantry Division.
On September 18, the division of the 10th Army and the XI. Subordinated to the army corps and moved mainly by foot to the west of Warsaw . During combat operations, it reached the bank of the Vistula between Modlin and Warsaw on September 22 , where it met other German troops. Large parts of the division were withdrawn to rest rooms, artillery units remained to bombard Warsaw.
Western campaign
After the attack on Poland was over, the division was transferred to the Eifel . It took over the security of the border in the Bitburg area in the winter of 1939/40 .
The 24th Infantry Division crossed the German border on May 10, 1940 as part of the 12th Army , marched through northern Luxembourg and on to Belgium without contact with the enemy . From there the division swung south across the Belgian-French border and crossed the Meuse at Sedan . To the south of the city there were heavy fighting with the French army near the municipality of Mont-Dieu, which lasted several days. After a period of rest, the division was directed to the east, towards Sedan, in order to proceed from there further south-east along the Meuse towards Nancy .
After the encirclement of large French units and their capitulation, the division experienced the armistice with France here. She was then relocated to the Belgian North Sea coast for the later planned attack on Great Britain, where she was responsible for securing the area between the mouth of the Scheldt and the Belgian-French border.
War against the Soviet Union
At the beginning of June 1941, the division reached its new location in southeastern Poland near Tomaszow. On June 22nd at 3:30 in the morning she crossed the border to the Soviet Union in the formation of the IV Army Corps. The advance took place north of Lemberg in a south-easterly direction through the Ukraine via Tarnopol on the Stalin Line , further towards Vinnitsa to Uman . Here, in heavy fighting, large Soviet troops were included in the Battle of Uman .
On August 22, 1941, the Dnepr was crossed at Cherkassy . In September 1941, the 24th Infantry Division took part in the Battle of Kiev when they established contact with the 16th Panzer Division in fighting for the village of Orshiza .
The division was then transferred to the Crimean peninsula , where it took up position at the end of November 1941 after walking some 600 kilometers on foot. The 24th Infantry Division played a major role in the Battle of Sevastopol from 1941 to 1942 . In the fighting in the Crimea she was in the association of the XXXXII. Corps deployed. On December 17, 1941, the 24th ID, together with the 22nd ID , 132nd ID and 50th ID, formed the focus of attack from the north. At the end of December 1941, the fighting was concentrated in the heavily fortified Fort Stalin.
In June 1942 the fighting against the forts of Sevastopol resumed with great intensity. The 24th ID received the order to be part of the LIV. Army Corps to conquer the Soviet fortifications through the mine lanes parallel to the Belbek valley, cleared by pioneers . The attack cost enormous losses on both sides. The 132nd ID had to be withdrawn and temporarily replaced by the 24th ID, as it was no longer operational. The 24th Infantry Division was replaced by the 4th Mountain Infantry Division . Men of the Pioneer Battalion 24 managed to blow up the "Maxim Gorki I" fort and its extensive underground bunkers. On June 17, 1942, the 31st Infantry Regiment captured the forts “GPU”, “Molotov” and “Cheka”. Three days later, the northern fort and the Konstantinovsky battery, which were used to control the port facilities, fell. A few days later, the division was able to take the power station in the city of Sevastopol, and on June 30, 1942, the defenders of the port city surrendered.
In August 1942 the division was relocated to the northern section of the eastern front between Lake Ladoga and Volkhov . In September 1942 she took part in the First Ladoga Battle at Mga am Volkhov . From February 1943, the gradual retreat to the west, the Second Ladoga Battle and the Third Ladoga Battle took place . Until January 1944, the division was in defensive combat south of Leningrad . From February 1944, Latvia withdrew and, as a result of the collapse of Army Group Center in the summer of 1944, it was enclosed in the Courland Basin . On May 9, 1945, the remnants of the division south of Riga were taken prisoner by the Soviets.
Structure and locations
January 1939
- Infantry Regiment 31 - Plauen , Zwickau , Glauchau
- Infantry Regiment 32 - Teplitz-Schönau , Brüx , Komotau , Dux
- Infantry Regiment 102 - Chemnitz, Altenburg , Freiberg
- Artillery Regiment 24 - Altenburg, Plauen, Brüx, Frankenberg / Sa.
- 2nd / Artillery Regiment 60 (motorized) - Chemnitz
- I./Artillerie-Regiment 84 - Zeitz
- Observation Department 24 - Chemnitz
- Pioneer Battalion 24 - Riesa
- Anti-tank department 24 - Borna
- Medical department 24 - Chemnitz
- News Department 24 - Chemnitz
- Cavalry Regiment 10 - Torgau
- Infantry Division Supply Leader 24th
Commanders
| year | Rank | Surname |
|---|---|---|
| October 15, 1935 | Major General / Lieutenant General | Werner Kienitz |
| April 1, 1938 (in charge of the tour) | Lieutenant General | Sigismund von Förster |
| November 10, 1938 | Major General / Lieutenant General | Friedrich Olbricht |
| February 15, 1940 | Major General / Lieutenant General | Justin von Obernitz |
| June 14, 1940 | Colonel / Major General / Lieutenant General | Hans von Tettau |
| February 14, 1943 | Colonel | Ernst Anton von Krosigk |
| March 1, 1943 | Colonel / Major General | Kurt Versock |
| June 10, 1943 | Major general | Walter Wissmath |
| July 6, 1943 | Major General / Lieutenant General | Kurt Vorsock |
| February 19, 1944 | Colonel | Kurt Opelt |
| February 21, 1944 | Colonel | Herbert von Wagner |
| February 24, 1944 | Lieutenant General | Hans von Falkenstein |
| June 3, 1944 | Lieutenant General | Kurt Versock |
| September 3, 1944 | Colonel / Major General | Harald Schultz |
literature
- 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 .
- Hans von Tettau, K. Versock: The history of the 24th Infantry Division , Dörfler, 1956.
- W. Fleischer, " Troop Identification of the German Army and Air Force ", Dörfler-Verlag 2002, ISBN 3-89555-444-8 .
- P. Schmitz, KJ Thies “ The troop numbers of the associations and units of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II. Volume 1: Das Heer “, Biblio-Verlag 1987, ISBN 3-7648-2477-8 .
