8th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)
8th Panzer Division |
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Troop registration |
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active | October 16, 1939 to May 8, 1945 (surrender) |
Country | German Empire |
Armed forces | Wehrmacht |
Armed forces | army |
Branch of service | Armored force |
Type | Panzer Division |
structure | structure |
garrison | cottbus |
Second World War |
French campaign Balkan campaign German-Soviet war |
Commanders | |
list | Commanders |
The 8th Panzer Division was a large unit of the army of the German Wehrmacht during World War II .
history
The 8th Panzer Division was formed on October 16, 1939 in Cottbus in Wehrkreis III from the 3rd light division and took part in the French campaign. After the end of the operations in the west, it was transferred to the Balkans in April 1941 , where it was used for a short time.
From July 1941, the division went to war against the Soviet Union and operated as part of Army Group North around Leningrad , Valdai and Cholm . In December 1942 the division was assigned to Army Group Center , with which it took part in the Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943 .
In late 1943, the division was transferred to Army Group South , and in the course of 1944 it withdrew to Budapest via Ukraine and Slovakia . The division was divided and surrendered to the Red Army at Brno and Deutsch Brod in May 1945 .
Commanders
- Lieutenant General Adolf-Friedrich Kuntzen - October 16, 1939 to February 20, 1941
- Major General Erich Brandenberger - February 20 to February 21, 1941
- Lieutenant General Walter Neumann-Silkow - February 21 to May 26, 1941
- Major General Erich Brandenberger - May 26th to December 8th, 1941
- Lieutenant General Werner Hühner - December 8, 1941 to March 20, 1942
- General of the Panzer Troop Erich Brandenberger - March 20 to August 6, 1942
- Lieutenant General Josef Schrötter - August 6 to November 10, 1942
- General of the Panzer Troop Erich Brandenberger - November 10, 1942 to January 17, 1943
- Lieutenant General Sebastian Fichtner - January 17 to September 20, 1943
- Major General Gottfried Frölich - September 20, 1943 to April 1, 1944
- Major General Werner Friebe - April 1 to July 21, 1944
- Major General Gottfried Frölich - July 21, 1944 to January 5, 1945
- Major General Heinrich-Georg Hax - January 5 to May 8, 1945 (surrender)
structure
3rd light division raided Poland
until October 16, 1939 |
8th Panzer Division April 1940 Western campaign |
8th Panzer Division 1943 Eastern Front |
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The 8th Rifle Replacement Battalion in Frankfurt (Oder) , and later the 8th Panzer Grenadier Replacement Battalion in Sorau, was responsible for providing the staff .
Well-known members of the division
- Heinz Hax (1900–1969), was a three-time Olympic participant and from 1958, as major general, deputy commanding general of the III. Corps of the Army of the Bundeswehr
- Heinz Kasch (1926–2016) was from 1983 to 1986, as Lieutenant General of the Army of the German Armed Forces , Deputy Inspector of the Army
literature
- 8th Panzer Division. In: Veit Scherzer (Ed.): German troops in the Second World War. Volume 3. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2008, ISBN 978-3-938845-13-4 . Pp. 464-501.
- Samuel W. Mitcham : German Order of Battle. Panzer, Panzer Grenadier, and Waffen SS Divisions in World War II. Stackpole Books, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8117-3438-7 .
- Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945. Volume 3: The Land Forces 6-14 . 2nd Edition. Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1974, ISBN 3-7648-0942-6 .
Web links
- Literature on the 8th Panzer Division in the catalog of the German National Library
- Organizational History of the German Armored Forces 1939 - 1945. (PDF; 292 kB) Retrieved September 15, 2011 (English).