2 e division blindée

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Association badge of the 2nd Panzer Division

The 2 e division blindée ( German  2nd Panzer Division , short 2 e DB ) was an association of the French army that was set up in World War II .

history

The origins of the division go back to formations of free French troops under De Gaulle and colonial troops under the command of Major General Leclerc , who had conquered the Kufra oases in Libya in March 1941 , coming from Chad . Leclerc's troops joined the British 8th Army in the Tunisian campaign in January 1943 .

Landing of a tank of the 2nd Division in Normandy in August 1944

After the end of this campaign, the 2nd French Division (FFL) was set up in May 1943, which was renamed the 2nd Panzer Division in August of the same year. In the spring of 1944, the division, which had meanwhile been equipped with US tanks and vehicles (including the M4 Sherman , M3 Stuart and M10 Wolverine ), moved to England. In early August 1944, the division landed at Utah Beach and was then the XV. Corps within the 3rd US Army under General George S. Patton . She took part in Operation Cobra and then advanced to Le Mans , from where she swung north to take part in the Battle of Falaise-Argentan . Here they liberated Alençon on August 12 and formed the advance division of the XV. Corps advancing on Argentan . On August 24, 1944, the division, followed by the 4th US infantry division, entered Paris ( Battle of Paris ), which the German city commander Dietrich von Choltitz handed over to the Resistance and thus also to "Free France" De Gaulle the following day has been.

For the liberation of Strasbourg on November 23, 1944, the division was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation . A division of the division reached Berchtesgaden on May 4, 1945 and took part in the search of the Berghof on Obersalzberg .

After the war ended, the division was relocated to France , where it was deactivated in March 1946. A division under this name was reactivated during the Cold War and was one of the armored divisions of the Armée de Terre . Your ideal successor in the current French army has been the 2 e brigade blindée , based in Orléans , since 1999 .

Composition of the division during the liberation of Paris

  • 1 Régiment de reconnaissance: (Reconnaissance regiment)
    • 1 er Régiment de Marche de Spahis Marocains (armored car)
  • 1 Régiment de chasseurs de chars: (Armored Jägerregiment)
    • Régiment blindé de fusiliers-marins ( M10 Wolverine tank destroyer )
  • 1 Régiment d'infanterie portée: (Reinforced infantry regiment)
    • Regiment de Marche du Tchad
  • 1 he battalion of the Regiment de marche du Tchad
  • 2 e battalion of the Regiment de marche du Tchad
  • 3 e du battalion Régiment de marche du Tchad
  • 3 Régiments d'Artillerie:
    • 3 e Régiment d'Artillerie Coloniale
    • 64 e régiment d'artillerie
    • 40 e Régiment d'Artillerie North Africa
  • 1 groupe d'Artillerie anti-aérienne: (Flak Regiment)
    • 22 e groupe colonial de FTA
  • 1 battalion du Génie: (Engineer battalion)
    • 13e e battalion du Génie
  • 3 Compagnies de combat et d'équipage de pont (3 swimming bridge companies)
  • Unités de transmissions (telecommunication units)
  • Unités de transport (transport units)
  • Service (troop service units)
  • 1 battalion médical: (medical battalion)
    • 3 compagnies médicales (3 medical companies)
  • 1 re compagnie médicale et groupe d'ambulancières Rochambeau (Rochambelles)
  • 2 e compagnie médicale et groupe d'ambulancières de la Marine (Marinettes)
  • 3 e compagnie médicale et groupe de volontaires anglais (British Quaker Volunteers)

1 détachement de la circulation routière (DCR) (traffic command )

Number of combat vehicles:

Trivia

The 9th company of the Régiment de marche du Tchad, which u. a. was involved in the liberation of Paris, consisted mainly of republican Spaniards who had fought in the Spanish Civil War and who fled to France after the end of the war in 1939 (called la Nueve ). She took over the protection of the town hall on August 24 at 9:22 p.m. and waited there for the main part of the division (2nd DB). Lieutenant Amado Granell, a Spaniard, was the first of the liberators ("libérateur") to be greeted in the conquered town hall by Georges Bidault , president of the Conseil national de la Résistance. The actor Jean Gabin also served as a tank commander in the division.

The film La Nueve - The Forgotten Heroes of Liberation by Alberto Marquardt and the comic The Homeless by Paco Roca are about this company .

Web links

  • Gerald Modlinger on: Gerhard Roletscheck reports: Spring of Terror. (about the French occupation in 1945, around Diessen and Utting) in the Augsb. General dated November 11, 2012

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Isabelle Le Gonidec: La Nueve: ces Espagnols qui ont libéré Paris en 1944. In rfi.fr/culture of December 9, 2011
  2. ↑ Premiere: “La Nueve - The Forgotten Heroes of Liberation” by Alberto Marquardt