256th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

256th Infantry Division
Troop Union Badge
active	August 26, 1939 to July 21, 1944
Country	German Empire
Armed forces	Wehrmacht
Armed forces	army
Branch of service	infantry
Type	Infantry division
structure	structure
Strength	15,000
Installation site	WK IV with charges from WK XIII
Nickname	The green regiment
Commanders
list of	Commanders

The 256th Infantry Division was a major military unit of the Wehrmacht in the German Reich . The division was also known as The Green Regiment .

The division was put together on August 26, 1939 as Division 4th  wave of deployment from the supplementary units of Wehrkreis IV and a third of Wehrkreis XIII .

The dissolution took place on July 21, 1944 after their deployment in Vitebsk . In September 1944 the division was reorganized as the 256th  Volksgrenadier Division . It consisted mainly of inexperienced people or members of the Volkssturm .

Division history

256th Infantry Division

A third of the 256th Infantry Division was set up on August 26, 1939 from charges from Defense District XIII and the supplementary units of Defense District IV as an infantry division of the 4th  wave of deployment . During the western campaign in June 1940, the division was used in Brittany , where it remained as an occupation force until February 1941. On November 20, 1940, the 256th ID had to surrender a third of its personnel to the 291st ID , but this was replaced. In February 1941, the division was transferred to Poland , from where it also took part in the war against the Soviet Union from June and advanced into Soviet territory. On April 11, 1943, the Grenadier Regiment 476 (formerly IR 476) was disbanded and later set up again on July 4, 1944. The 256th ID was disbanded on July 21, 1944 after its destruction near Vitebsk .

256th People's Grenadier Division

As a replacement, the 568th Volksgrenadier Division was renamed the 256th Volksgrenadier Division , which was carried out on the Königsbrück military training area .

The division fought in Alsace and took part in January 1945 as one of the LXXXIX's four infantry divisions . Corps under General of Infantry Gustav Höhne on Operation Nordwind in part, an attempt to Saverne north of Strasbourg recover. The division attacked at Bitche , but their attack was stopped and thrown back after about 10 km of space gained far before Zabern . The division was then involved in retreat battles in Saarland , Hunsrück and the Middle Rhine .

Commanders

256th Infantry Division

• Lieutenant General Josef Folttmann : September 1, 1939 to January 10, 1940
• Major General / Lieutenant General Gerhard Kauffmann : January 10, 1940 to January 4, 1942, promoted to Lieutenant General in April 1941
• Colonel Friedrich Weber : January 4 to February 14, 1942
• Colonel / Major General / Lieutenant General Paul Danhauser : February 14, 1942 to November 24, 1943, promoted to major general in April 1942 and lieutenant general in March 1943
• Lieutenant General Albrecht Wüstenhagen : November 24, 1943 until his death in the field near Vitebsk in June 1944

256th People's Grenadier Division

• Colonel / Major General Gerhard Franz : September 17, 1944 to April 8, 1945, promoted to Major General in December 1944
• Major General Friedrich "Fritz" Warnecke : April 8, 1945 until dissolution

General Staff officers (la)

• Captain Otto Deyhle:? until June 1940
• Major Albrecht von Warburg: June 1940 to November 1942
• Lieutenant Colonel Adolf Hornig: November 1942 to December 10, 1943

structure

• 456th Infantry Regiment
• 476th Infantry Regiment
• 481st Infantry Regiment
• 256th Artillery Regiment
• Engineer Battalion 256
• Field Replacement Battalion 256
• Anti-tank department 256
• Reconnaissance Department 256
• Infantry Division News Department 256
• Division Supply Leader 256

literature

• Barbara Selz: The green regiment. The path of the 256th Infantry Division from the point of view of the 481 regiment - Kehrer, Freiburg i. Br. 1970.
• Mitcham, Samuel W., Jr. (2007). German Order of Battle. Volume One: 1st - 290th Infantry Divisions in WWII. PA; United States of America: Stackpole Books. Pp. 303, 304, ISBN 978-0-8117-3416-5 .
• 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 .

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.