31st Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

31st Infantry Division
Troop registration, the Brunswick lion
active	October 1, 1936 to May 8, 1945
Country	German Empire
Armed forces	Wehrmacht
Armed forces	army
Type	Infantry Division
structure	structure
garrison	Braunschweig
Nickname	Lion Division
Second World War	Invasion of Poland Western campaign war against the Soviet Union
management
list of	Commanders
list of	First General Staff Officer

The 31st Infantry Division , the 31st Grenadier Division from July 21, 1944 and the 31st Volksgrenadier Division from October 9, 1944 , was a major unit of the army of the German Wehrmacht .

history

The division was set up in Braunschweig on October 1, 1936 and mobilized in August 1939 as part of the 1st wave . The name "Löwendivision" goes back to the Braunschweig lion .

1941

The 31st Division was transferred to Dęblin on the Vistula in April 1941 and was the XII. Army Corps subordinated. At the end of May, the 31st Infantry Division under the new commander General Kurt Kalmukoff moved to Brest-Litovsk for Operation Barbarossa . On June 24, the division at Pratulin in the section of Panzer Group 2 was completely brought over the Bug and took part in the battle at Białystok and Minsk after the advance north of Slonim on the Zelvianka section . On July 13, the Berezina was crossed at Perevoz and on July 16, the Dnieper section was crossed at Stary Bychow. On August 18, the Southeast-section was achieved and southwest in the space of Roslavl a line of defense between Pochep respect and Letoshniki. At the beginning of October 1941 the division became the LIII during the advance to Desna . Assigned to Army Corps . During the battle of encirclement of Bryansk exceeded the Division on October 13 near the Krylowka Bolva River and reached on October 27, the Oka section at Belew. In the winter of 1941/42, the division in the area of XXXXIII. Army Corps participated in the southern section of the Battle of Moscow . During the Battle of Tula , the Russian counter-offensive took place on December 4th, which forced the 31st Division to retreat to Juchnow after an unsuccessful counterattack via Zubowo .

1942/43

In July 1943 on the northern front arc of Kursk in the section of XXXXVI. When the Panzer Corps was deployed, the engineer battalion cleared 31 minefields for a tank attack by the Manteuffel group .

1944

The 31st Division, pushed back in the area east of Mogilew in the spring of 1944 , exchanged its section on the right wing of the 4th Army and at the interface with the 9th Army, with the 260th Infantry Division , where it was deployed in confusing forest positions. The command post was in Judino. In addition to the expansion of the main battle line , shock troops were still successfully deployed.

After the start of Operation Bagration , the division was part of the XII. Army corps overrun by the attack of the Soviet 49th Army near Tschaussy and almost completely destroyed in the pocket east of Minsk by early July 1944 . Lieutenant General Wilhelm Ochsner was captured.

On July 21, 1944, the 31st Grenadier Division was reorganized by the 550th Grenadier Division, which was being set up, and the remnants of the 31st Infantry Division . On October 9, 1944, the division was reclassified to the 31st Volksgrenadier Division .

people

Commanders

period of service	Rank	Surname
October 1, 1936 to April 1, 1937	Lieutenant General	Herbert Fischer
April 1, 1937 to April 30, 1941	Lieutenant General	Rudolf Kaempfe
May 22 to August 13, 1941	Lieutenant General	Kurt Kalmukoff
August 15, 1941 to January 21, 1942	Lieutenant General	Gerhard Berthold
January 21 to February 28, 1942	General of the Infantry	Friedrich Hoßbach
February 28 to April 14, 1942	Lieutenant General	Gerhard Berthold
April 16, 1942 to April 1, 1943	Lieutenant General	Kurt Pflieger
April 1 to May 16, 1943	Lieutenant General	Hermann Flörke
May 16 to August 2, 1943	General of the Infantry	Friedrich Hoßbach
August 2, 1943 to June 1944	Lieutenant General	Wilhelm Ochsner

First general staff officer

period of service	Rank	Surname
1939 to February 1940	Lieutenant colonel	Hartwig Pohlmann
February 1940 to March 14, 1942	major	Fritz Ulrich
March 14, 1942 to July 18, 1943	major	Josef Selmayr
July 1943 to March 1944	Lieutenant colonel	Konrad Freiherr von Wangenheim
March to August 1944	major	Doda Freiherr zu Inn and Knyphausen
August 1944 to 1945	major	Heinz Hoffmann

structure

Changes in the structure of the 31st ID from 1939 to 1944

1939	1942	1943-1944
12th Infantry Regiment	Grenadier Regiment 12
17th Infantry Regiment	17th Grenadier Regiment
82nd Infantry Regiment	Grenadier Regiment 82
31st Artillery Regiment
Engineer Battalion 31
Anti-tank department 31	Panzerjäger detachment 31
Reconnaissance Department 31	Cycling Department 31	Fusilier Battalion 31
Observation Department 31	-
Field Replacement Battalion 31
News Department 31
Infantry Division Supply Leader 31

Awards

A total of 25 members of the division were awarded the Knight's Cross and 118 with the German Cross in Gold.

literature

• Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945 . 2nd Edition. tape 5 . The Land Forces 31-70 . Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1977, ISBN 3-7648-1107-2 .
• Martin Heinzelmann: The tracks of the lion. About the secret crimes of the 31st Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht. Cuvillier publishing house. Göttingen 2009. ISBN 978-3-86955-027-5 .
• Rolf Hinze: Lion Division: 31st Infantry and Grenadier Division, 31st People's Grenadier Division . Hinze, Meerbusch 1997, ISBN 3-928322-08-7 .
• Friedrich Hoßbach: Infantry in the Eastern Campaign 1941/1942. Giebel & Oehlschlägel Verlag, 1951

Remarks

1. ^ From October 1, 1934 to October 15, 1935 Halberstadt Infantry Regiment .
2. ^ From October 1, 1934 to October 15, 1935 Braunschweig Infantry Regiment.
   The III. Battalion (Jäger-Bataillon) of the IR 17 carried the name "Goslar Jäger" in the tradition of the 10th Hanoverian Jäger Battalion in Goslar . Originally, the Braunschweig Infantry Regiment No. 92 and the Braunschweigische Hussar Regiment No. 17 had a skull and crossbones emblem , which was transferred to the Regimental Staff, 1st and 2nd Battalion of IR 17.
3. ↑ The Artillery Regiment 31 consisted of the I. – III. Division and the I / Artillery Regiment 67.
4. ↑ In December 1939 withdrawn from the army.