29th Infantry Division (motorized) (Wehrmacht)
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29th Infantry Division |
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|---|---|
 Troop registration |
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| Lineup | October 1, 1936 |
| Country |
.svg){kind=small} German Empire
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| Armed forces | Wehrmacht |
| Armed forces | army |
| Branch of service | infantry |
| Type | Infantry Division |
| structure | structure |
| garrison | Erfurt / Thuringia |
| Nickname | Falcon Division |
| Second World War | attack on Poland |
| Commanders | |
| list of | Commanders |
The 29th Infantry Division ( 29th ID ( mot. ) ), 1943, after its reorganization in the 29th Panzer Grenadier Division renamed, was a major unit of the Army of the German Wehrmacht .
Division history
The 29th Infantry Division was reorganized in Erfurt in Wehrkreis IX in October 1936 , with significant participation from the old 15th Infantry Regiment of the Reichswehr . In autumn 1937 the infantry division was motorized, ie equipped with trucks , and henceforth referred to as the 29th Infantry Division (motorized). The mobilization took place on August 24, 1939.
During the attack on Poland , the 29th Motorized Infantry Division, as part of the XIV Motorized Army Corps of the 10th Army, was involved in the encirclement of Polish forces near Radom . As part of the 16th Army , the division took part in the western campaign. It advanced near the English Channel and was in strategic reserve at the Battle of Dunkirk . Later she made a quick advance into eastern France with Heinz Guderian's Panzer Group . It remained stationed there as an occupying force until early summer 1941.
In the Association of Panzer Group 2 , the 29th Motorized Infantry Division had been involved in the attack on the Soviet Union since June 22, 1941 . She was involved in the basin battles of Minsk , Smolensk and Bryansk and supported Guderian's tank units near Tula . In the Battle of Tula , the division suffered great losses and lost many vehicles. In the first half of 1942 the 29th Motorized Infantry Division was in action at Orel . From June the advance followed via Kharkov on the Donbogen to shortly before Stalingrad (see case Blau ).
According to contemporary representations (see e.g. memoirs of Colonel General Heinz Guderian ), the 29th ID (mot.) Was one of the best mobile divisions of the Wehrmacht .
Battle for Stalingrad
During the Battle of Stalingrad , the Panzergrenadiers of the 29th Motorized Infantry Division distinguished themselves by conquering the grain silo in September 1942 (see Attack on Stalingrad ) and suffered heavy losses in the close combat inside the building. On December 28, 1942, six of the eight battalions were still operational, the enclosed division still had 30 artillery pieces, but only a few anti-tank weapons. On January 21, 1943, the remains of the division in Stalingrad were completely destroyed by the 21st Army of the Red Army .
From September 3, 1942, the 29th Motorized Infantry Division marched under Major General Max Fremerey in the direction of the southern part of Stalingrad . The attack began from the direction of the Voroponowo railway station , northeast of Elchi and aimed to reach the Volga river and split the 62nd and 64th armies, the latter being concentrated in the area of Elschanka, Sadowaya station and Kuporosnoe. On September 3rd, the defense lines of the 33rd Guards Rifle Division were overrun and the eastern approaches to Pelschanka were taken. The south-west sector of the city defense of Stalingrad was seriously threatened. On September 4, the 29th Motorized Infantry Division and 94th Infantry Divisions forced the 157th and 29th Rifle Divisions and the 154th Marine Infantry Brigade to evacuate the area around Elchi. On the night of September 4 to 5, 1942, the Red Army began a counter-offensive in this sector under massive fire from Katyusha rocket launchers , but it quickly collapsed again. The gain in terrain of the 29th Motorized Infantry Division and 24th Infantry Division slowed noticeably, and the Soviet resistance to the Volga increased continuously. The commander of the XXXXVIII. Panzer Corps , General Kempf , regrouped his attack formations and formed mixed combat groups from 29th Motorized Infantry Division and 24th PD, which were involved in hard battles against forces of the 204th and 126th Rifle Divisions near Peschanka destroyed. South of the Tsaritsa , the 4th Panzer Army tried again and again to penetrate Stalingrad's southern defensive belt. The 29th Motorized Infantry Division advanced southwest of Kuporosnoe and drove a large unit of the 64th Army from Staro-Dubovka . In the vicinity of the Verkhnyaya Elschanka bridgehead, the tank grenadiers got into the first house-to-house fighting with elements of the 35th Guards Rifle Division. On September 10th, the west bank of the Volga was reached, a combined attack with the 14th PD south of the suburb of Minnina drove the 131st Rifle Division out of the Gornaya Polyana collective farm and the 35th Guards Rifle Division again had to move inside its defensive positions at Kuporosnoe move. On the night of September 10-11, Soviet counter-attacks took place in this sector and destroyed the tank grenadier bridgehead before reinforcements could arrive. In the official communications, reaching the Volga was already portrayed as an impending victory over Stalingrad. The commander of Army Group B , Colonel General Weichs , ordered the 4th Panzer Army to take the city "piece by piece".
On September 12, 1942, the battle for the Stalingrad suburbs reached its climax and concentrated on a 1.5 to 3 km wide section in the north and on the western foothills of the Balkas, which flows into the Volga. The attack of the 24th Infantry Division, 94th Infantry Division and 29th Infantry Division (motorized) stopped for a while, as the enemy reinforced itself with newly arrived tanks. On the eve of September 13, 1942, the battle for the suburbs was practically over and Friedrich Paulus commanded his 80,000-strong armed force (389 ID, 295 ID, 71 ID, 94 ID, 24th PD, 14th PD and 29th ID) . ID (mot.)) To take Stalingrad. The attack for the 4th Panzer Army / XXXXVIII. Panzer Corps was placed on September 15, 1942, during the break-in of Stalingrad-Mitte by the LI. Army Corps took place on September 13th. The XXXXVIII. Panzer Corps was supposed to conquer the area near Elschanka, Minnina and Kuporosnoe, 29th Motorized Infantry Division had its focus in the last two places. The southwest of Minnina was taken against the bitter resistance of the 35th Guards Rifle Division (Dubyanski), 271st Rifle Regiment (10th NKVD Division) and reinforcements from Pesochin's 131st Rifle Division. It is thanks to Dubjanski's guardsmen who decisively delayed the advance of 29th Motorized Infantry Division from the south on the city center that Stalingrad did not fall on September 14th. It was not until the evening of that day that the extent of the slaughter of the Red Army became known. On September 16, 1942, fierce fighting developed between the guards' riflemen and tank grenadiers at the Elschanka estuary, with the result that the remnants of the 62nd and 64th Army withdrew to a narrow strip of shore between Elschanka and Zariza. The numerically small German infantry units were neither able to completely encircle and destroy the enemy, nor to occupy the tactically important buildings in the southern part of the city. The Red Army took advantage of this situation and seized these buildings with small units ranging in size from groups to companies. Some of these buildings included the grain silo, canning and lumber factory.
The 29th Motorized Infantry Division received the order to destroy Dubjanski's guardsmen and two regiments from Pesochin's 131st Rifle Division, which had holed up in the wood factory and the electric power station. The resistance was much tougher than expected, including the fight over the railway bridge on the Elschanka River and the Stalingrad 2 south station. On September 17, 1942, the northern area of the wood factory and the power station were cleared. The advance in the south broke into a series of local, scattered one-on-one battles over tactically important building complexes such as the grain silo, the surrounding buildings around the south station, the dense network of houses east of the railway line and south of the Zariza, the canning factory and some buildings on the western Elschanka side. The defense tactics of the Red Army in the house fortresses, sometimes only with 2 to 5 soldiers, were very successful in inflicting heavy losses on the 4th Panzer Army. The tank grenadiers were thus forced to take block by block in explicitly bloody street and house fights on the way to Zariza in the north, with the granary becoming the greatest obstacle. Due to a lack of ammunition on the part of the defending marines, the close-quarters combat in the burning grain silo, which occurred from floor to floor, was often fought with knives, rifle butts, bayonets and folding spades.
The French writer and historian Raymond Cartier describes the experiences of the 29th Motorized Infantry Division during the fighting over the grain silo :
“ The conquest of the great silo by the 29th motorized division was the first of those unreal battle scenes that give the Battle of Stalingrad its incomparable character. The detonations that echoed in the enormous concrete block stretched the eardrums until they burst. The building where Russians and Germans murdered each other was still full of grain. The Germans got the upper hand. In mid-October they had conquered about ten kilometers of shore in the southern sector between Kuperovskoye and the end of the flight of stairs in Red Square. "
Dubjanski's Guards Rifle Division consisted of only 700 soldiers and still held parts of the canning factory and a 1.5 km wide strip to the lower Elschanka River. The 101st Guards Rifle Regiment (only 80 soldiers) was trapped north of the canning factory, but was able to break out and set up again for defense on the north bank of the Elschanka. Although the total number of Red Army soldiers in the southern part of the city was only around 5,000, they in turn inflicted heavy losses on the German attackers. The strong presence of dive bombers made large-scale daytime attacks almost impossible for the Red Army at this stage. It was not until September 21 that the left wing of Chuikov's 62nd Army showed signs of disintegration due to the progress made by 94th Infantry Division and 29th Infantry Division. The combat strength of the division was on September 26, 1942 three medium (500-700 men) and three average (400-500) infantry battalions and one strong (600 and more) engineer battalion.
On September 29, 1942, the 29th Motorized Infantry Division was withdrawn from Stalingrad South after completing their combat mission, in order to return to combat operations after a one-week rest period in their area of disposal. On 29./30. September 14th PD and 29th Motorized Infantry Division had to fend off a Soviet counter-offensive by the 51st and 57th Armies north of Astrakhan in the Romanian sector in the lake region south of Stalingrad. In October 1942, the 29th Motorized Infantry Division was the only German reserve in the Stalingrad region, but could no longer be used in the urban area, as it was in the area around Beketowka (south of Kuperosnoe) on one of the 64th Army counter-offensives 9 km long section of the front, which took place from October 25 to November 2, 1942.
For Operation Hubertus in November 1942, u. a. two regiments of the 29th Motorized Infantry Division, which were at the time as a reserve of the 4th Panzer Army in Gorodishche . However, Paulus and Weichs came to the conclusion that the last reserve could not be withdrawn without losing the southern section to the 64th Army.
Reorganization and Italy 1943–1945
In March 1943, the 29th Motorized Infantry Division was re- established in France and renamed from the 345th Infantry Division . On June 23, 1943, the division was transformed into the 29th Panzer Grenadier Division. After the Allies landed in Sicily ( Operation Husky ), they defended the northern route to Messina . From July 1943 to May 1945, the division served on the Italian front . On the mainland near Salerno ( Operation Avalanche ), Anzio ( Operation Shingle ) and San Pietro . Shortly before the end of World War II, the 29th Panzer Grenadier Division in northern Italy surrendered to the British 8th Army .
structure
- IR (mot.) 15
- I. Btl.
- II. Btl.
- III. Btl. (Jäger battalion from the tradition of the Kurhessisches Jäger Btl. 11 "Marburger Jäger")
- IR (mot.) 71
- I. Btl.
- II. Btl.
- III. Btl.
- Motorcyclist Battalion 29
- Artillery Regiment (motorized) 29 (IV.Btl. (Heavy) = I.Btl./AR 65)
- Panzer Division 129
- Engineer Battalion (motorized) 29
- Panzerjäger detachment 29
- Reconnaissance Department 29
- Infantry Division Supply Leader (Motorized) 29
- Infantry Division Intelligence Division (Motorized) 29
In 1936, the infantry replacement battalion (motorized) 71, and later Grenadier replacement battalion (motorized) 71, was responsible for providing the staff.
Changes in the structure of the 29th ID (mot.) From 1936 until it was renamed 29th PzGrenD in 1943
| 29th ID on October 6, 1936 | 29th ID (mot.) 1942 | 29th PGD 1943 |
| IR 15 (stick, booklet I.-III., Supplement) IR 71 (booklet II., Supplement) IR 86 (stick, booklet I., III.) |
IR (mot.) 15 IR (mot.) 71 |
GR (mot.) 15 GR (mot.) 71 |
| Motorcyclist Battalion 29 | ||
| Reconnaissance Department 29 | Panzer Reconnaissance Division 129 | |
| Panzer Division 129 | ||
| AR 29 (Staff, Dept. II.-III.) AR (mot.) 65 (Dept. I.) |
AR (motorized) 29 | AR (motorized) 29 |
| Army Flak Artillery Department 313 | ||
| Anti-tank department 29 | Panzerjäger detachment 29 | Panzerjäger detachment 29 |
| Engineer Battalion 29 | Engineer Battalion (motorized) 29 | Engineer Battalion (motorized) 29 |
| Infantry Division Intelligence Division 29 | Infantry Division News Department (motorized) 29 | Panzergrenadier News Department 29 |
| Motor Department 9 | ||
| Infantry Division Supply Leader (motorized) 29 | Panzer Grenadier Supply Troops 29 | |
| Field Replacement Battalion 29 |
people
| period of service | Rank | Surname |
|---|---|---|
| Listed until March 1, 1938 | Lieutenant General | Gustav Anton von Wietersheim |
| March 1, 1938 to May 7, 1940 | Lieutenant General | Joachim Lemelsen |
| May 7 to July 1, 1940 | Major general | Willibald Freiherr von Langermann and Erlencamp |
| July 1, 1940 to September 20, 1941 | Major general | Walter von Boltenstern |
| September 20, 1941 to September 25, 1942 | Major general | Max Fremerey |
| September 25, 1942 to January 1943 | Major general | Hans-Georg Leyser |
| March 1 to June 23, 1943 | Major general | Walter Fries |
| period of service | Rank | Surname |
|---|---|---|
| 1938 to July 14, 1939 | major | From the castle |
| July 15, 1939 to December 1941 | Lieutenant colonel | Gerhard Franz |
| December 1941 to 1942 | major | Paul Müncheberg |
| 1942 to January 24, 1943 missing when attempting to break out of the Stalingrad pocket |
Lieutenant colonel | Friedrich-Wilhelm Meisner |
| Reorganization March 1943 until renaming | Lieutenant colonel | Georg Stuenzner |
| period of service | Rank | Surname |
|---|---|---|
| June 23, 1943 to March 5, 1944 | Lieutenant General | Walter Fries |
| 5th - 20th March 1944 | Colonel | Hans Boelsen |
| March 20 to August 31, 1944 | Lieutenant General | Walter Fries |
| August 31, 1944 until the end of the war | Lieutenant General | Fritz Polack |
| period of service | Rank | Surname |
|---|---|---|
| Listed until September 1943 | Lieutenant colonel | Georg Stuenzner |
| October 1943 to April 25, 1944 | Lieutenant colonel | Heinrich Miller |
| April 25 to November 30, 1944 | Lieutenant colonel | Josef Moll |
| November 30, 1944 until the end of the war | major | Walter Hofmann |
Awards
A total of 29 members of the 29th Infantry and Panzer Grenadier Division were awarded the Knight's Cross and 90 with the German Cross in Gold .
| Rank | Surname | unit | Award date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lieutenant colonel | Karl-August Pochat | Commander, Reconnaissance Dept. 29 (motorized) | 5th August 1940 |
| Lieutenant colonel | Hans Hecker | Battalion Commander PiBtl 29 (motorized) | 5th August 1940 |
| Colonel | Walter Wessel | Regimental commander IR 15 (motorized) | August 15, 1940 |
| Major general | Willibald von Langermann and Erlencamp | Division commander 29th ID (motorized) | August 15, 1940 |
| major | Günther Kratsch | Battalion commander I. Btl. (Mot.) / AR 65 | September 29, 1940 |
| Lieutenant Colonel i. G. | Gerhard Franz | Ia 29th ID (mot.) | July 24, 1941 |
| Sergeant | Oskar Albrecht | Gun leader 14th Panzerjäger-Kp. / IR 15 (motorized) | July 24, 1941 |
| lieutenant | Wilhelm Henz | Leader 2. Kp./Kradschützen Btl. 29 | August 8, 1941 |
| Major general | Walter von Boltenstern | Division commander 29th ID (motorized) | August 13, 1941 |
| Colonel | Wilhelm Thomas | Regimental commander IR 71 (motorized) | October 13, 1941 |
| Captain | Baron Jürgen von Goerne-Plaue | Commander, Reconnaissance Dept. 29 (motorized) | October 20, 1941 |
| lieutenant | Hermann Ruppert | Platoon leader 3rd Kp./IR 15 (motorized) | January 12, 1942 |
| Colonel | Walter Wessel | Regimental commander IR 15 (motorized) | RK with oak leaves on February 17, 1942 |
| Major general | Max Fremerey | Division commander 29th ID (motorized) | July 28, 1942 |
| Lieutenant colonel | Vitus Stürber | Leader GR 71 (motorized) | December 29, 1942 |
| lieutenant | Ludwig Hirschmann | Platoon leader 11. Kp./AR 29 (mot.) | January 19, 1943 |
| Lieutenant colonel | Walther Kruger | Regimental commander GR 71 (motorized) | August 27, 1943 |
| Colonel | Fritz Polack | Regimental commander AR 29 (motorized) | August 27, 1943 |
| Captain | Karl-Heinz Holzapfel | Battalion Commander PiBtl 29 (motorized) | September 11, 1943 |
| Lieutenant colonel | Georg von Stünzner | Ia 29th Pz.Gren-Div. | September 17, 1943 |
| Colonel | Max Ulich | Regimental commander GR 15 (motorized) | November 2, 1943 |
| Corporal | Ewald Scherling | Machine gunner 9th Kp./GR 15 (motorized) | January 26, 1944 |
| Lieutenant General | Walter Fries | Division commander 29th Pz.Gren-Div | RK with oak leaves on January 29, 1944 |
| Rittmeister | Baron Ernst-Georg von Heyking | Battalion Commander III. Btl./GR 15 (mot.) | April 6, 1944 |
| Captain | Helmut Meitzel | Battalion Commander II. Btl./GR 15 (motorized) | July 27, 1944 |
| Captain | Hans-Günther Doenicke | Battalion Commander I. Btl./GR 71 (motorized) | July 27, 1944 |
| Lieutenant General | Walter Fries | Division commander 29th Pz.Gren-Div. | RK with swords on August 11, 1944 |
| First lieutenant | Fritz Schmidt | Adjutant II.Btl./GR 15 (mot.) | December 9, 1944 |
| Captain | Hans Drexler | Company commander 4th Kp./Panzeraufklärungs-Abtlg. 129 | January 12, 1945 |
Well-known members of the division
- Ottomar Hansen (1904–1993), was from 1961 to 1964, as major general of the Army of the German Armed Forces , commander in Defense Division IV
- Josef Moll (1908–1989), was from 1966 to 1968, as Lieutenant General of the Army of the Bundeswehr, Inspector of the Army
War crimes
On September 8, 1939, soldiers of the IR 15 under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Walter Wessel near Ciepielów (see Ciepielów Massacre ) shot 300 prisoners of war of the Polish 74th Infantry Regiment on charges of partisan activity. Wessel died on July 20, 1943 of an accident during an inspection trip in Italy, a trial was opened against other members of the unit in 1971, which had to be discontinued due to a lack of evidence.
In Italy members of the division were involved in other war crimes. Shortly before the end of the war on April 29, 1945, 125 civilians , including several women, were shot in the massacre of San Martino di Lupari north of Padua by members of the 29th Panzer Grenadier Division.
According to the Atlante degli Stragi Naziste e Fasciste in Italia (Atlas of Nazi and Fascist Massacres in Italy) project, which was financed by the German Federal Government and led by a historians' commission , there were around 180 massacres and executions in Italy between September 1943 and April 1945 People killed by members of the division.
References
literature
- Joachim Lemelsen / Julius Schmidt: 29th Division, 29th Infantry Division (motorized), 29th Panzer Grenadier Division, Podzun-Pallas-Verlag, Bad Nauheim 1960.
- David M. Glantz: Armageddon in Stalingrad: September-November 1942 (The Stalingrad Trilogy, Volume 2). University of Kansas Press, Lawrence 2009, ISBN 978-0-7006-1664-0 .
- Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945. Volume 4. The Land Forces 15–30 . 2nd Edition. Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1976, ISBN 3-7648-1083-1 .
- Georg Tessin: Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945. Biblio Verlag Osnabrück, 1977.
Individual evidence
On the pages of the book:
- David M. Glantz: Armageddon in Stalingrad: September – November 1942 (The Stalingrad Trilogy, Volume 2). University of Kansas Press, Lawrence 2009.
- ↑ pp. 16, 28, 30-32, 64-65.
- ↑ pp. 70-71.
- ↑ p. 73.
- ↑ pp. 80-81.
- ↑ p. 84.
- ↑ p. 86.
- ↑ pp. 89-91.
- ↑ pp. 93-94.
- ↑ pp. 99-100.
- ↑ p. 112.
- ↑ p. 114.
- ↑ p. 119.
- ↑ pp. 129-130.
- ↑ pp. 143-144.
- ↑ p. 151.
- ↑ pp. 129-130, 163.
- ↑ pp. 190-191.
- ↑ p. 197.
- ↑ p. 231.
- ↑ pp. 136, 240.
- ↑ pp. 256, 345.
- ↑ p. 497, 524.
- ↑ pp. 611-612.
Further evidence
- ↑ Balka - Ukrainian loess gorge / erosion gorge.
- ^ Raymond Cartier: The Second World War. Vol. 2 1942-1944. Lingen Verlag, Cologne 1967, p. 662.
- ↑ San Martino di Lupari, April 29, 1945 (Padova - Veneto). In: straginazifasciste.it. Retrieved October 27, 2019 (Italian).
- ^ 29th Panzer Grenadier Division "Falke". In: straginazifasciste.it. Retrieved October 27, 2019 (Italian).
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