4th Cavalry Division (Wehrmacht)
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4th Cavalry Division |
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| active | February 23, 1945 to May 8, 1945 (surrender) |
| Country |
.svg){kind=small} German Empire
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| Armed forces | Wehrmacht |
| Armed forces | army |
| Branch of service | cavalry |
| Type | Cavalry Division |
| structure | structure |
| Strength | 11,317 soldiers |
| Second World War | Belarus 1944 Hungary 1945 |
| Commanders | |
| list of | Commanders |
The 4th Cavalry Division was a major military unit of the Wehrmacht in the German Reich . She was the successor to the 4th Cavalry Brigade.
Division history
The newly formed 4th Cavalry Brigade was deployed in the central section of the Eastern Front against the Soviet summer offensive in 1944 and suffered considerable losses. After a brief refresher, the 4th Cavalry Brigade took up defensive positions near the Bug and the Narew in August . In December she moved to Lake Balaton in Hungary and took part in the relief attacks on Budapest . This was followed in March 1945 by the Spring Awakening Offensive , in which the division took part. Then she withdrew to Austria and capitulated in the Graz area .
The division has always fought together with the 3rd Cavalry Division under the command of the 1st Cavalry Corps.
structure
The 4th Cavalry Division was the successor to the 4th Cavalry Brigade, which the OKH set up on the Eastern Front in May 1944 from the existing cavalry regiments North, Middle, South and other motorized and armored units. On February 23, 1945, the 4th Cavalry Brigade was renamed the 4th Cavalry Division without further reinforcement.
| 4th Cavalry Brigade 4th Cavalry Division |
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Commanders
4th Cavalry Brigade
- Colonel Freiherr von Wolff
- Colonel from Nordenskjöld
4th Cavalry Division
- Lieutenant General Rudolf Holste - February 28, 1945 to March 24, 1945
- Lieutenant General Helmuth von Grolman - March 24, 1945 to May 8, 1945
Knight's Cross bearer
| Surname | Award | date | Rank | unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holste, Rudolf | Oak leaves for the Knight's Cross | August 27, 1944 | Colonel | Kdr. 4th Cavalry Brigade |
| Count of Plettenberg, Georg | Oak leaves for the Knight's Cross | February 5, 1945 | Rittmeister | Kdr. Heavy Cavalry Division 4 |
| Henke, Günther | Knight's cross | October 6, 1944 | lieutenant | Platoon leader 7./RR 41 |
| Weinreich, Fritz | Knight's cross | March 17, 1945 | Sergeant | Platoon leader 4./RR 41 |
| Wonde, Hermann | Knight's cross | March 23, 1945 | lieutenant | Leader 6./RR 41 |
| Bullinger, Herbert | Knight's cross | February 1, 1945 | Rittmeister | Kdr. II./KR 5 |
| Spit, Jakob | Knight's cross | August 15, 1944 | Lieutenant d. R. | Squadron leader in KR 5 |
| Count of Plettenberg, Georg | Knight's cross | April 30, 1945 | Rittmeister | Kdr. Heavy Cavalry Division 4 |
| Sunday, Karl-Heinrich | Knight's cross | October 4, 1944 | First Lieutenant d. R. | Leader I./ Heavy Cavalry Division 4 |
Well-known members of the division
- Helmuth von Grolman (1898–1977), from March 20, 1959, first military commissioner of the German Bundestag
literature
- Rolf Stoves: The armored and motorized large German formations 1935–1945 . Ed. Dörfler im Nebel-Verlag, Eggolsheim 2003, ISBN 3-89555-102-3 .
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Rolf Stoves: The armored and motorized large German associations 1935-1945 . Ed. Dörfler im Nebel-Verlag, Eggolsheim 2003, ISBN 3-89555-102-3 , p. 282-284 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 1939–1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , pp. 187 ff.
