297th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
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297th Infantry Division |
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| active | January 31, 1940 to May 8, 1945 |
| Country |
.svg){kind=small} German Empire
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| Armed forces | Wehrmacht |
| Armed forces | army |
| Type | Infantry division |
| structure | See outline |
| Installation site | Bruck an der Leitha |
| Second World War | Battle of Stalingrad |
| Commanders | |
| list of | Commanders |
The 297th Infantry Division was a major unit of the army of the German Wehrmacht during World War II . Their workforce consisted mainly of Austrians.
Division history
Areas of application:
- Germany: January to May 1940
- France: June 1940
- Generalgouvernement: July 1940 to June 1941
- Eastern Front , Southern Section: June 1941 to October 1942
- Stalingrad : October 1942 to January 1943
- France: April to July 1943
- Serbia: July to September 1943
- Albania: September 1943 to October 1944
- Montenegro and Croatia: October 1944 to May 1945
The 297th Inf.-Div. was set up in Bruck an der Leitha ( military district XVII) from January 31, 1940 as part of the 8th wave of deployment . A little later, the association took part in the western campaign in France , but only as a reserve unit .
As early as July 1940, the 297th Inf.-Div. as an occupying force in the Government General for the occupied Polish territories. They continued to train their soldiers. On October 1 and October 30, 1940, the division deployed 2 battalions and a regimental staff to reorganize the 327th Infantry Division and the 113th Infantry Division . The taxes were replaced again.
From June 22, 1941, the division fought in the framework of Army Group South in the Ukraine, mainly in the association of the 6th Army. It was used in the conquest of Zhitomir, Uman, Cherkassy, Kiev, Poltava. North of the Donets region , they advanced to Kharkov , where trench warfare and heavy defensive battles lasted for months.
During the summer offensive of 1942 Fall Blau , the 297th Inf.-Div. Attack fighting in the great Donbogen and to the south of Stalingrad. She was temporarily subordinate to the 4th Panzer Army and predominantly the 6th Army . The 297th Inf.-Div. belonged in the Battle of Stalingrad from November 1942 to the IV Army Corps under General of the Pioneers Erwin Jaenecke . In January 1943 the 297th Inf.-Div. worn out in the Battle of Stalingrad. Its last commander surrendered on January 26, 1943, the remnants of the 6th Army capitulated on January 31. and February 2, 1943.
Hitler ordered the complete reorganization of the divisions of the 6th Army, thus the 297th Inf.-Div. rebuilt, beginning on March 7, 1943 in the Bordeaux area and then continued and completed from July 1943 in Serbia. At the beginning of September the division came to its first deployment to disarm the Italian troops in Albania. The division remained there until October 1944, both to protect the coast against possible Allied landings and to fight partisans. Then the 297th Inf.-Div. withdrew via Montenegro to Bosnia and had to endure heavy fighting with the steadily growing Tito partisans. The anti-partisan operations became more and more a fight against real armed forces, especially since the supply of the Allies for the Tito troops became more and more extensive. The retreat movement of Army Group E through Croatia was also experienced by the 297th Inf.-Div. Shortly before reaching the southern German border at that time, however, the surrender took place on May 8, 1945, so that almost all members of the division near Cilli / Radkersburg were taken prisoners of war in Yugoslavia, many of whom did not survive.
people
| period of service | Rank | Surname |
|---|---|---|
| April 5, 1940 to January 16, 1943 | General of the artillery | Max pepper |
| January 16-26, 1943 | Major general | Moritz von Drebber |
| April 1, 1943 to February 17, 1944 | Lieutenant General | Friedrich-Wilhelm German |
| February 17 to October 26, 1944 | Lieutenant General | Otto Gullmann |
| October 26, 1944 to May 8, 1945 | Lieutenant General | Albrecht Baier |
| period of service | Rank | Surname |
|---|---|---|
| February 8 to October 1940 | major | Heinz Brandt |
| October 20 to August 15, 1941 | Lieutenant colonel | Karl-Theodor Koerner |
| October 17, 1941 to September 18, 1942 | Lieutenant colonel | Walter Nagel |
| unknown until January 25, 1943 | Lieutenant colonel | Arthur Weber |
| April to September 10, 1943 | Lieutenant colonel | Hans-Georg Eismann |
| September 10, 1943 to January 20, 1945 | Lieutenant colonel | Heinz Toop |
| January 20, 1945 to May 8, 1945 | Lieutenant colonel | Wilfried von Sobbe |
structure
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Others
On the site of the former location of Pestschanka, a place 20 kilometers west of Volgograd , the Republic of Austria in cooperation with the Austrian Black Cross erected the memorial in Pestschanka , which commemorates the battle for Stalingrad .
Well-known members of the division
- Heinz Brandt (1907–1944) was an Olympic champion in show jumping
- Willy Riedel, commander of the III. Division in Infantry Regiment 524 received the German Cross in Gold and the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves on October 8, 1942 at the Battle of Stalingrad. After the war, Riedel became a colonel in the National People's Army and commanded the 6th motorized rifle division from October 30, 1956 to December 31, 1957 .
literature
- Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945. Volume 9. The Land Forces 281-370 . Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1974, ISBN 3-7648-1174-9 .
- Georg Tessin: Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS 1939–1945 Volume 9 Biblio-Verlag Osnabrück 1974
- Alois Beck: Bis Stalingrad… [(1941–1943)] / Alois Beck as well as co-authors from simple soldiers to general. 3. Edition. Abt, Ulm 1990, ISBN 3-924170-00-2 .
- Hermann Achleitner: As a doctor in Stalingrad , Beck, Ulm 1983.
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
- ↑ http://www.historisches-tonarchiv.de/stalingrad/stalingrad-truppen.htm .
- ^ Daniel Niemetz: The field gray legacy: The Wehrmacht Influences in the Military of the Soviet Zone / GDR (1948 / 49-1989) Volume 13 of the military history of the GDR. Ch. Links Verlag 2010, ISBN 3-86284-053-0 , p. 19.
- ^ Rüdiger Wenzke: Ulbricht's soldiers: Die Nationale Volksarmee 1956 to 1971. Ch. Links Verlag 2013, ISBN 3-86284-206-1 , p. 105.
