388th Field Training Division

The 388th Field Training Division was a German infantry division during World War II . Due to the history of the division, it represents an unusual large association .

Division history

The division was set up on September 9, 1942 as a field training division in the northern sector of the Russian front for Army Group North and was therefore available to support the three security divisions 207 , 281 and 285 . For this purpose soldiers of the 16th and 18th Army and people born in 1924 from the RAD were used for training. Was home base only Plock and later Marienburg in Military District I . Usually after about four months the recruits were exchanged for untrained personnel.

Initially the division consisted of around 7,000 men without heavy weapons and with insufficient additional equipment. Throughout the division there were numerous complaints about the association, which resulted from the lack of experience, lack of equipment, lack of language skills; they were mainly ethnic Germans of French and Polish origin; and criminal past of the division members. Supply bottlenecks made the situation even worse. From the time it was set up until May 1943, 181 criminal cases were already documented.

The division was used against partisans from October 1942 and due to the lack of training, the loss of 112 recruits until February 1944 was relatively large. The commander of the division issued the order for partisan struggle to “treat villagers without ID as bandits” and to “possibly resist”. punishable by shooting every fifth local resident ”.

At the end of December 1943, the division was supplemented by six grenadier training regiments in the course of the 23rd wave of deployment, but without any artillery or supply units . At that time the division had almost 5,000 soldiers.

With the victory of the Soviets in Leningrad , the division withdrew to Courland , where it remained in the Courland pocket until the end of the war .

In February 1944, the division was reduced to three battalions by surrendering two grenadier battalions (II./639 and III./640) to the 61st Infantry Division and one grenadier battalion (II./640) to the 126. Infantry division reclassified. Only the 391 Grenadier Training Regiment of the 391st Field Training Division was added.

On May 19, 1944, the 388th Field Training Division was renamed Field Training Division North . With the renaming of Army Group North to Army Group Courland followed in February 1945 with upgrading to an infantry division and renaming again to Infantry Division Courland . The division never reached combat strength or could take part in active fights due to a lack of training.

The command of the division was Lieutenant General Johann Pflugbeil , who was already 60 years old .

structure

Field training regiment 639, later grenadier regiment 639 (from Breslau , military district VIII )
Field training regiment 640, later grenadier regiment 640 (from Stettin , military district II )
Food Office 388

Web links

388th field training division on EHRI portal from the Federal Archives

literature

Samuel W. Mitcham (2007). German Order of Battle. Volume Two: 291st - 999th Infantry Divisions, Named Infantry Divisions, and Special Divisions in WWII. PA; United States of America: Stackpole Books. P. 90, ISBN 978-0-8117-3437-0 .

credentials

^ ^A ^b ^c Jürgen Kilian: Wehrmacht and Occupation in the Russian Northwest 1941 - 1944: Practice and everyday life in the military administrative area of Army Group North . Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, 2012, ISBN 978-3-657-77613-9 , p. 556 ( google.de [accessed on July 20, 2019]).
↑ Jürgen Kilian: Wehrmacht and Occupation in the Russian Northwest 1941-1944: Practice and Everyday Life in the Military Administrative Area of Army Group North . Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, 2012, ISBN 978-3-657-77613-9 , p. 128 ( google.de [accessed on July 20, 2019]).
↑ ^a ^b Christian Hartmann: Wehrmacht in the Eastern War: Front and military hinterland 1941/42 . Walter de Gruyter, 2012, ISBN 978-3-486-70226-2 , p. 165 ( google.de [accessed on July 20, 2019]).
↑ Jürgen Kilian: Wehrmacht and Occupation in the Russian Northwest 1941-1944: Practice and Everyday Life in the Military Administrative Area of Army Group North . Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, 2012, ISBN 978-3-657-77613-9 , p. 558 ( google.de [accessed on July 20, 2019]).

[:1-1] A ^b ^c Jürgen Kilian: Wehrmacht and Occupation in the Russian Northwest 1941 - 1944: Practice and everyday life in the military administrative area of Army Group North . Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, 2012, ISBN 978-3-657-77613-9 , p. 556 ( google.de [accessed on July 20, 2019]).

[2] Jürgen Kilian: Wehrmacht and Occupation in the Russian Northwest 1941-1944: Practice and Everyday Life in the Military Administrative Area of Army Group North . Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, 2012, ISBN 978-3-657-77613-9 , p. 128 ( google.de [accessed on July 20, 2019]).

[:0-3] Christian Hartmann: Wehrmacht in the Eastern War: Front and military hinterland 1941/42 . Walter de Gruyter, 2012, ISBN 978-3-486-70226-2 , p. 165 ( google.de [accessed on July 20, 2019]).

[4] Jürgen Kilian: Wehrmacht and Occupation in the Russian Northwest 1941-1944: Practice and Everyday Life in the Military Administrative Area of Army Group North . Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, 2012, ISBN 978-3-657-77613-9 , p. 558 ( google.de [accessed on July 20, 2019]).