387th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
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387th Infantry Division |
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|---|---|
 Troop registration |
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| active | February 1, 1942 to March 13, 1944 |
| Country |
.svg){kind=small} German Empire
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| Armed forces | Wehrmacht |
| Armed forces | army |
| Type | Infantry Division |
| structure | See outline |
| Installation site | Döllersheim military training area |
| Second World War | War against the Soviet Union |
| Commanders | |
| list of | Commanders |
| insignia | |
| Troop registration number 2 |
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| Troop registration 3 |
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The 387th Infantry Division was a major military unit of the Wehrmacht in the German Reich .
Division history
The division was set up on February 1, 1942 at the Döllersheim military training area near Allentsteig in Lower Austria as one of five so-called "Rheingold divisions" of the 18th wave of replacement troops from military districts V , VII and XVIII .
After the division was transferred to the Eastern Front, it took part in the fighting in the northeast Kursk area , the attack on Stary Oskol and the advance to Voronezh as part of the 2nd Army . Here it remained in service until the end of the year when it was transferred to the Hungarian 2nd Army , which was located south along the Don . It was used by the German XXIV Panzer Corps . During the Soviet operation Ostrogoschsk-Rossosh as part of the Voronezh-Kharkiv operation , the 387th Infantry Division was almost completely wiped out in the retreat fighting in the area near Rossosh , Novaya Kalitwa, Michailowka and Kuliowka.
After it was broken up, the remains of the division were collected at Kremenchug in February 1943 . Together with the remnants of the 298th and 385th Infantry Divisions , the division was reorganized.
The division was also used in the defensive battles in the Isjum area and in the retreat battles to the Dnieper near Dnjepropetrovsk as part of the 1st Panzer Army . Here she fought in the Dnepropetrovsk bridgehead and at Krivoy Rog . At the beginning of 1944, when the 6th Army was deployed in the Nikopol bridgehead , the division got into heavy fighting over the Ingulez in the course of the Nikopol-Krivoy Roger operation and was smashed for the second time.
On March 13, 1944, the remnants of the 387th Infantry Division at Bereznegowatoje were combined to form division group 387 in regimental strength, which was subordinated to the 258th Infantry Division . The previous division staff was used after the division was dissolved to reorganize the 98th Infantry Division , which had been destroyed in the Crimea .
| Period | Army Corps | army | Army Group | room |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 1942 | in preparation | OKH | Dollersheim | |
| April 1942 | in feed | south | Kursk | |
| May to June 1942 | III. Hungarian | 2. | ||
| July 1942 | VII | Voronezh | ||
| August to November 1942 | B. | |||
| December 1942 | 2. Hungarian | Don arch | ||
| January 1943 | XXIV | 8. Italian | ||
| February 1943 | Lanz | Rossosh | ||
| March to May 1943 | z. Vfg. | south | Kremenchug | |
| May to August 1943 | XXX | 1. Pz | Donets , Isjum | |
| August to October 1943 | XXXX | |||
| October 1943 to January 1944 | XXX | Krivoy Rog | ||
| January 1944 | 6th | Nikopol | ||
| February to March 1944 | XVII |
Operations and operational areas
| Period | room | annotation |
|---|---|---|
| February to May 1942 | Dollersheim | Lineup |
| April to June 1942 | Seminowka area north of Kursk | Provision |
| 25.-30. June 1942 | Pogoskeje | Baptism of fire |
| July to November 1942 | Voronezh / bridgehead area | Defensive battle at Lebjaskj |
| August 17, 1942 | Kawerja (?) Near Voronezh | |
| December 1942 to January 1943 | Donbogen | Destruction in the fighting in the Rossosh - Nowo Kalitwa - Michailowka area |
| January 12, 1943 | Donbogen | 12. Kp./IR 543/387 ID - Location: Ewdokiyevka (Jewdokijewka) / Mitrofanovka (Mitrovanoka) |
| 16.-18. January 1943 | Donbogen | Retreat movements across the Chernaya Kalitwa with the aim of withdrawing to the west - a breach is made in the encirclement ring that has already been closed |
| January 19, 1943 | Donbogen | The headquarters of the Alpinikorps, the XXIV Panzer Corps and the Tridentina Division gather in the Opyt kolkhoz |
| January 20, 1943, morning | Donbogen | Withdrawal to Postojalyi under heavy attacks |
| January 20, 1943, evening | Donbogen | Heavy fighting near Karajschnik on the Rossosch - Nikolajewka runway. Skirmishes of retreat at Scheljakino |
| January 22, 1943 | Donbogen, Novo Postojalowka - Lenissnitschansckij sovkhoz | Destruction of 387 ID, the Führer-Companion Btl. And the SS division Fegelein |
| January to February 1943 | Withdrawal struggles by the remains via Waluiki, Charkow, Poltava to the Dnieper bridgehead Kremenchug | |
| February to April 1943 | Reorganization from remnants of the 298 ID (Gren.Rgt. 525), 385 ID (Gren.Rgt. 537) and 387 ID (Gren.Rgt. 542) | |
| May to June 1943 | Donets beachhead | Use at Lisichansk |
| July to August 1943 | Donets beachhead | Use at Isjum |
| September to December 1943 | Retreat fighting on the Dnieper | Defensive fighting between Dnepropetrovsk and Krivoy Rog |
| January to February 1944 | Nikopol bridgehead | Defensive battles |
| March 1944 | Retreat via Apostolowo behind the Ingulez | Dissolution of the decimated division in the Beresnegowatny area. (Verst.Gren.Rgt. 542 is assigned to the 258th ID as "Rgts.Gru.542" and destroyed in August 44 on the Pruth) |
structure
- 541st Infantry Regiment
- 542nd Infantry Regiment
- 543rd Infantry Regiment
- 387th Artillery Regiment
- Reconnaissance Department 387
- Panzerjäger detachment 387
- Engineer Battalion 387
- News Department 387
- Supply Force Commander 387
The infantry regiments were renamed grenadier regiments in October 1942.
In the fighting on the Don, the division was destroyed to the point of being destroyed and, by order of February 17, 1943, formed a combat unit the size of a reinforced grenadier regiment with the remains of the 385th Infantry Division . Surplus parts of the old division had to be handed over to the reorganization of the 79th Infantry Division , 295th Infantry Division and 100th Jäger Division, which had been destroyed in Stalingrad .
By order of March 25, 1943, the division was reorganized from the remnants of the 298th , 385th and 387th Infantry Division . After the reorganization, the division took the following structure:
- Grenadier Regiment 525 (from 298th ID)
- Grenadier Regiment 537 (from 385th ID)
- 542nd Grenadier Regiment
- 387th Artillery Regiment
- Fusilier Battalion 387
- Field Replacement Battalion 387
- Panzerjäger detachment 387
- Engineer Battalion 387
- News Department 387
- Supply Force Commander 387
The division was dissolved on March 13, 1944, the remnants formed the division group 387, which was subordinated to the 258th Infantry Division .
Commanders
| Rank | Surname | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Lieutenant General | Arno year | February 1, 1942 to January 21, 1943 |
| Colonel | Kurt Gerok | January 21 to February 15, 1943 |
| Colonel | Eberhard von Schuckmann | February 15 to May 6, 1943 |
| Major general | Erwin Menny | May 6 to July 10, 1943 |
| Major general | Eberhard von Schuckmann | July 10 to October 13, 1943 |
| Colonel | Werner von Eichstädt | October 13 to December 24, 1943 |
| Major general | Eberhard von Schuckmann | December 24, 1943 to March 13, 1944 |
Individual fates
Many soldiers in the 387th Infantry Division did not survive their mission. The German Office (WAST) in Berlin provides information on those killed in the German armed forces and former members of the armed forces. Military maps, units and war diaries of the units can be viewed in the reading room of the Federal Archives-Military Archives in Freiburg . Grave sites of fallen and missing persons are stored online by the name of the deceased at the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge in Kassel. However, a summary of the losses of the 387th Infantry Division cannot be derived from it.
literature
- Thomas Schlemmer (Ed.): The Italians on the Eastern Front 1942/43. Documents on Mussolini's war against the Soviet Union. Oldenbourg Verlag 2005, ISBN 978-3-486-57847-8 .
- Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945 . tape 10 . The Land Forces 371-500 . Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1975, ISBN 3-7648-1002-5 , p. 46 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- Samuel W. Mitcham Jr. : German Order of Battle, Volume Two: 291st – 999th Infantry Divisions, Named Infantry Divisions, and Special Divisions in WWII. Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg 2007. ISBN 978-0-8117-3437-0 .
- Lajos Vollner, Voronezh, The fate of Hungarian soldiers on the Don / Russia between 1942/43 Bauer-Verlag, Thalhofen 2011, 228 pages, ISBN 978-3-941013-73-5 .
Web links
- Organizational History of 371st through 719th German Infantry, Security and Panzer Grenadier Divisions 1939–1945 (PDF; 394 kB), Nafziger Collection, Combined Armed Research Library.
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. War diary of the High Command of the Wehrmacht / 1942 / Part II / Page 1360: "387 ID on the transport to Kiev - Rovno".
- ↑ Mention of the 387th ID. in the status report of the OKH of August 15, 1942: “The attacks southeast were particularly strong. Jelez. The enemy succeeded here in another break-in on the right wing of 387 ID; the break-in was sealed off. "
- ↑ website of WAST , website of the military archive in Freiburg ( Memento of 30 March 2009 at the Internet Archive ), website of the German War Graves Commission
