258th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
|
258th Infantry Division |
|
|---|---|
| active | August 26, 1939 to 1944 |
| Country |
.svg){kind=small} German Empire
|
| Armed forces | Wehrmacht |
| Armed forces | army |
| Type | Infantry Division |
| structure | structure |
| Commanders | |
| list of | Commanders |
The 258th Infantry Division (258th ID) was a major military unit of the Wehrmacht .
Division history
Areas of application :
- Poland : September 1939
- Germany : December 1939 to January 1940
- France : June 1940
- Poland: July 1940 to April 1941
- Eastern Front , Central Section: June 1941 to September 1944
The 258th Infantry Division was deployed as a division of the 4th wave of deployment in Defense District II on August 26, 1939.
In June 1941 she took part in the attack on the Soviet Union as part of Operation Barbarossa . From September to October 1941 she was involved in the double battle near Vyazma and Bryansk . The division moved into the city of Vyazma on September 7, 1941 . Major Lübke from the II. Battalion / IR 479 made it possible to break into the second protective position in Moscow on October 22, 1941 as part of the Taifun company by conquering the tactically important town of Naro-Fominsk on the Roslavl- Moscow road . In December 1941, the fighting on the Smolensk- Moscow taxiway intensified , with the 258th Infantry Division having the main task of conquering the bridge over the Nara (Oka) . The fighting over the towns of Burzewo and Juschkowo caused great losses, the temperature drop to −35 ° C resulted in numerous failures due to frostbite. Another attack on Moscow was no longer possible, so that the division had to retreat behind the Nara on December 4, 1941.
In 1943 the 258th Infantry Division took part in the great summer battles, including the Battle of Kursk . Before the Wehrmacht could start their attack, the Voronezh Front under Marshal Rokossovsky, who had already been informed, came before them on July 5, 1943 with an artillery attack on the German deployments. The 258th ID received the command on the right flank of the XXXXVI. Panzer Corps to break up the Soviet defenses on the Trossna- Kursk motorway . The fighting took place, among other things, between the mine lanes of the “Eichkaterschlucht”, in which there were strong Soviet fortifications. Colonel Assmann, the regimental commander of GR 478, led the attack on the position system of the Soviet 280th Rifle Division, which was brought to a halt there with heavy losses. The gain in land by July 9, 1943 was minimal. In October 1943, the 258th Infantry Division was one of the units defending the Wotan employment at Melitopol . Around Bogdanowka, “Oktoberfeld”, Akimowka, Danilo Iwanowka and a plantation field, very intense fighting developed until October 21, 1943 with the capture of Melitopol by the Red Army. In February 1944 the 258th Infantry Division defended Nikopol on the Dnieper in vain . In March 1944 it was reinforced by division group 387 . In the cauldron of Iasi (Romania) it was fully destroyed.
people
| period of service | Rank | Surname |
|---|---|---|
| August 26, 1939 to August 1, 1940 | Lieutenant General | Walter Wollmann |
| August 1, 1940 to October 2, 1941 | Lieutenant General | Waldemar Henrici |
| October 2, 1941 to January 18, 1942 | Major general | Karl Pflaum |
| January 18, 1942 to October 1, 1943 | Lieutenant General | Hans-Kurt Höcker |
| October 1, 1943 to September 4, 1944 | Lieutenant General | Eugen-Heinrich Bleyer |
| September 4, 1944 until unknown | Colonel | Rudolf Hielscher |
structure
| 1939 | 1942 | 1943-1944 |
|---|---|---|
| 458th Infantry Regiment | Grenadier Regiment 458 | |
| 478th Infantry Regiment | 478th Grenadier Regiment | |
| 479th Infantry Regiment | 479th Grenadier Regiment | |
| - | - | Divisional group 387 |
| Reconnaissance Department 258 | Cycle Squadron 258 | Fusilier Battalion 258 |
| Artillery Regiment 258 | Artillery Regiment 258 | Artillery Regiment 258 |
| Anti-tank department 258 | Panzerjäger detachment 258 | |
| Engineer Battalion 258 | ||
| News Department 258 | ||
| Supply units 258 | ||
| - | - | Field Replacement Battalion 258 |
- ↑ Subordinated to the division on March 13, 1944, consisting of staff as well as regimental group 525 and regimental group 542.
- ↑ in four sections.
- ^ Divisions I, II and IV as well as III./Artillerie-Regiment 387.
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 .
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
- ^ Samuel W. Mitcham : German Order of Battle: 1st – 290th Infantry divisions in World War II. Stackpole, 2007. p. 308.
