262nd Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
|
262nd Infantry Division |
|
|---|---|
| active | August 26, 1939 to November 2, 1943 |
| Country |
.svg){kind=small} German Empire
|
| Armed forces | Wehrmacht |
| Armed forces | army |
| Type | Infantry Division |
| structure | structure |
| Installation site | Vienna |
| Nickname | Steffl Division |
| Second World War | Company Citadel |
| Commanders | |
| list of | Commanders |
The 262nd Infantry Division (262nd ID) was a major military unit of the Wehrmacht .
history
Areas of application :
- Siegfried Line : September 1939 to June 1941
- Eastern Front , Southern Section: June to September 1941
- Eastern Front, Central Section: September 1941 to October 1943
The division was set up on August 26, 1939 in Military District XVII (Vienna) . After the beginning of the Second World War , the division was part of the 7th Army and moved to the Saar-Palatinate to take part in the case of Gelb , the attack on France . The Maginot Line was crossed in June 1940 and the mission ended on June 19, 1940 with the capture of the Bitsch Fortress in Lorraine .
The staff / IR 462, the III. Battalions of infantry regiments 462, 482 and 486 as well as the III. Department / AR 262 were transferred to the 137th Infantry Division . The 262nd Infantry Division of Army Group South was assigned to Operation Barbarossa , the attack on the Soviet Union . The advance took place from Brody , Miropol and Zhitomir to Korosten . In August / September 1941, the division took part in the Battle of Kiev and was then deployed in Trubchevskin near Bryansk / Central Russia. During the Taifun enterprise , the German offensive on the capital Moscow, the towns of Jelets and Jefremow were the division's easternmost targets. After the Soviet counter-offensive in the winter of 1941/42, the retreat to the area around Orel took place .
The division maintained the position between Novosil and Orel until July 1943. During the company Citadel and the resulting tank battle of Kursk , the large unit served as a reserve for the 9th Army . Their combat deployment took place in August 1943 at the Soviet breakthrough point between Brjansk and Orel. In the following fighting, the division was greatly decimated and in the end only had the strength of a combat group. The remains gathered at Orsha . The division was officially dissolved on November 2, 1943, and its remnants were part of division group 262
people
| period of service | Rank | Surname |
|---|---|---|
| September 1, 1939 to September 15, 1942 | Lieutenant General | Edgar Theisen |
| September 15, 1942 to July 1, 1943 | Lieutenant General | Friedrich Karst |
| July 1 to October 15, 1943 | Lieutenant General | Eugene Woessner |
| period of service | Rank | Surname |
|---|---|---|
| August 26, 1939 to June 1, 1940 | Captain | Wilhelm Haidlen |
| June 1, 1940 to July 10, 1943 | Captain | Ulrich Freiherr Varnbuler from and to Hemmingen |
| July 10 to November 15, 1943 | Lieutenant colonel | Richard Euler |
- Lieutenant Michael Kitzelmann (born January 29, 1916 in Horben, today part of Gestratz , Westallgäu ; † June 11, 1942 in Orel in central Russia)
Kitzelmann served as a lieutenant in the 262nd Infantry Division, where he fought against during the war of extermination in the Soviet Union increasing war crimes and civilian genocide. In 1942 he was convicted and executed by a field war court of his division in Orel for undermining military strength .
structure
- 462nd Infantry Regiment
- 482nd Infantry Regiment
- 486th Infantry Regiment
- Artillery Regiment 262
- Engineer Battalion 262
- Field Replacement Battalion 262
- Anti-tank department 262
- Reconnaissance Department 262
- News Department 262
- Supply troops
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 .
- Christian Zentner , Friedemann Needy: The great lexicon of the Third Reich. Weltbild, Augsburg 1995, ISBN 978-3-89350-563-0 .
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.
Remarks
- ↑ today's Miropol'ye / Ukraine between the rivers Donets, Oskol and Don.
