246th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
246th Infantry Division |
|
---|---|
active | August 26, 1939 to August 3, 1944 |
Country | German Empire |
Armed forces | Wehrmacht |
Armed forces | army |
Type | Infantry Division |
structure | structure |
Installation site | Darmstadt |
Commanders | |
list of | Commanders |
The 246th Infantry Division (246th Inf-Div.) Was a major military unit of the German Wehrmacht , which was used during the Second World War , especially in the Western campaign and the war against the Soviet Union .
Division history
The 246th Inf.-Div. was repositioned in Darmstadt as part of the 3rd wave from August 26, 1939 . After the necessary training in Germany , the division belonged to the so-called "vacation divisions", which were not active until January 1940. Then she was used to secure the border between Karlsruhe and Brühl , then on the Lauter . During the western campaign, the division remained in position and served the rear section of the Maginot Line . She then returned to Germany for leave of absence from August 1940 to February 1941. From March 1941 to February 1942 she was again stationed in occupied France and was then transferred from March 1942 to the central section of the Eastern Front, where she was subordinate to the Army Group Center and mainly defended her positions on the so-called "taxiway" Smolensk - Moscow including the city of Bely against the 22nd Soviet Army and took part in the 1942 Battle of Rschew in the Seydlitz company against partisan activities south of Rschew . In 1943, she and the 9th Army withdrew to rear positions near Duchowschtschina as part of the Buffalo Movement Company . In June 1944, the 246th Infantry Division with the 35,000 strong 53rd Army Corps was enclosed in Vitebsk during Operation Bagration . It came about on June 25, 1944 to heavy fighting in the city area, in which the division suffered heavy losses. The unit was broken up near Vitebsk, between Shilki and Ostrowno. The surviving division commander, Major General Claus Müller-Bülow , was taken prisoner by the Soviets.
The division was officially dissolved on August 3, 1944. The division number 246 was reassigned a little later when the 565th Volksgrenadier Division was renamed the 246th Volksgrenadier Division .
people
period of service | Rank | Surname |
---|---|---|
September 1, 1939 to December 13, 1941 | Lieutenant General | Erich Denecke |
December 13, 1941 to May 16, 1943 | Lieutenant General | Maximilian Siry |
May 16 to September 12, 1943 | Major general | Konrad von Alberti |
September 12 to October 5, 1943 | Major general | Heinz Fiebig |
October 5, 1943 to April 20, 1944 | Lieutenant General | Wilhelm Falley |
April 20 to June 27, 1944 | Major general | Claus Müller-Bülow |
period of service | Rank | Surname |
---|---|---|
August 26, 1939 to April 20, 1940 | Captain | Wilhelm Knüppel |
April 20 to August 1, 1940 | major | Peter Pantenius |
August 1940 to February 1941 | major | unknown |
February to December 1941 | Lieutenant colonel | Friedrich Kuhn |
December 1941 to January 1943 | Lieutenant colonel | Max Freiherr von Schade |
January 1943 to June 1944 | Lieutenant colonel | Gerhard Rauch |
structure
- The 313 Infantry Regiment was transferred to the 337th ID in December 1941 .
- The 689 Infantry Regiment came from 337 ID in December 1941.
- 352nd Infantry Regiment
- 404 Infantry Regiment
- Artillery Regiment 246
- Anti-tank department 246
- Engineer Battalion 246
- Field Replacement Battalion 246
- Reconnaissance Department 246
- Infantry Division Supply Troops 246
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.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Norbert Kannapin: The German field post: Organization u. Location 1939-1945 . Biblio-Verlag, 1979, ISBN 978-3-7648-1169-3 , pp. 82 ( google.de [accessed on October 11, 2018]).
- ↑ a b c d Rolf Hinze: The collapse of Army Group Center in the East in 1944 . Motorbuch Verlag, 1980, ISBN 978-3-87943-681-1 ( Google Books ).