278th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

278th Infantry Division, 278th People's Grenadier Division
Coat of arms of the 278th Infantry Division
active	November 17, 1943 to May 2, 1945
Country	German Empire
Armed forces	Wehrmacht
Armed forces	army
Type	Infantry division
structure	See outline
Second World War	Italian campaign
Commanders
list of	Commanders

The 278th Infantry Division was a major military unit of the Wehrmacht .

Division history

The formation of a 278th Infantry Division began as early as May 22, 1940 as part of the 10th wave of formation in Silesia . However, after the victory in the western campaign , this lineup was canceled.

As part of the 22nd wave of deployment, the 278th Inf.-Div. then finally from November 17, 1943 with the 14th Army in Northern Italy. The division received mainly the staff and various units of the 333rd Infantry Division , which was dissolved in the Army Group South in the Ukraine , but also units of the 110th, 161st, 294th and 356th Inf.-Div. The recruits born in 1926 were mainly responsible for replenishment.

In the large formation of Army Group C and there with the 10th Army , the 278th Inf.-Div. After the formation was completed, deployed to the front in central Italy from June 1944 , where it distinguished itself several times and was counted among the particularly well-proven divisions. The division fought heavy fighting mainly around the cities of Ancona , Rimini and Forlì . On April 3, 1945, the division was renamed the 278th Volksgrenadier Division . The last major attack by the Allies on the German Italian front on April 10, 1945 led to the rapid collapse of the weakened and hardly supplied units and to some irregular withdrawals towards the Alps. The 278th Volksgrenadier-Div. was smashed at the end of April 1945 on the Panaro River in the Po plain . The remnants surrendered - like the entire Army Group C - on May 2, 1945 and were taken prisoner by the US at Belluno .

War crimes

During the deployment in central Italy, members of the division were involved in war crimes against the civilian population. According to the project, financed by the German federal government and led by a historians' commission, Atlante degli Stragi Naziste e Fasciste in Italia (Atlas of the Nazi and Fascist massacres in Italy) were plundered on July 12, 1944 in Offagna in the province of Ancona Division killed seven civilians including women and children.

people

Division commanders of the 278th ID

period of service	Rank	Surname
June / July 1940	General of the Infantry	Hubert Gercke
December 1, 1943 to January 28, 1944	Lieutenant General	Harry Hoppe
January 28 to March 5, 1944	Major general	Paul Bornscheuer
March 5, 1944 until the surrender	Lieutenant General	Harry Hoppe

General Staff Officers (Ia) of 278 ID

period of service	Rank	Surname
January 20, 1944 to February 26, 1945	Lieutenant colonel	Wolfgang Klennert
February 26 to May 8, 1945	major	Erich Freiherr Loeffelholz von Colberg

structure

Outlines of the 278th ID 1940 and 1944

1940 (planned)	1944
547th Infantry Regiment	992nd Grenadier Regiment
548th Infantry Regiment	993rd Grenadier Regiment
549th Infantry Regiment	Grenadier Regiment 994
Artillery Division 278	Artillery Regiment 278
Division units 278	Engineer Battalion 278
	Panzerjäger detachment 278
	Division Fusilier Battalion 278
	Field Replacement Battalion 278
	News Department 278
	Resupply Troops 278
	Battaglione D'Assalto "Forlì"

literature

• Carlo Gentile : Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in Partisan War: Italy 1943–1945. Schöningh, Paderborn 2012, ISBN 978-3-506-76520-8 . (Cologne, Univ., Diss., 2008.)
• Werner Haupt : Theater of War Italy 1943–1945. Podzun-Pallas-Verlag, Bad Nauheim 1977.
• Werner Haupt: The German infantry divisions . Ed. Dörfler im Nebel-Verlag, Eggolsheim 2005, ISBN 3-89555-274-7 .
• Harry Hoppe: The 278th Infantry Division in Italy 1944/45 , Podzun Pallas Verlag, Bad Nauheim 1953.
• 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.

Notes and individual references

1. ^ Samuel W. Mitcham : German Order of Battle: 1st-290th Infantry Divisions in World War II. PA; United States of America: Stackpole Books. 2007 ISBN 978-0-8117-3416-5 .
2. ^ Offagna, July 12, 1944 (Ancona - Marche). In: straginazifasciste.it. Retrieved December 10, 2019 (Italian). 
3. ^ After the Second World War, Brigadier General of the German Armed Forces and stage manager for army armaments in the troop office