4th Air Force Field Division

The 4th Air Force Field Division was a military association of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War . It was erected by Luftwaffe personnel and was used in the German-Soviet War from winter 1942 to June 1944 .

history

The 4th Air Force Field Division was set up together with the 2nd to 6th Air Force Field Division on September 25, 1942 at the Groß Born military training area. The division's training ended on October 10, 1942. Together with the 3rd Air Force Field Division, it was deployed in the II Air Force Field Corps at the front of the Army Group in the middle from December 1942 near Vitebsk .

When all Luftwaffe field divisions were handed over to the German Army from September 20, 1943 , the division was renamed the 4th Field Division (L) on November 1, 1943 .

After the city of Newel had been retaken by Soviet troops in October 1943, the 4th Air Force Field Division took up parts of the defeated 2nd Air Force Field Division. In January 1944, the division took parts of the broken 3rd Air Force Field Division.

The division was trapped near Vitebsk during the Soviet Operation Bagration on June 25, 1944 and broken up on June 27, 1944 during an attempted breakout. The division commander, Lieutenant General Robert Pistorius was killed along with most of the soldiers. The survivors were taken prisoner by the Soviets.

After the annihilation, the division was not reorganized until the end of the war.

structure

4th Field Division (L)

• Jäger Regiment 49 (L) (1st and 2nd Battalion)
• Jäger Regiment 50 (L) (1st and 2nd Battalion)
• Jäger Regiment 51 (L) (1st and 2nd Battalion)
• Artillery Regiment 4 (L) (I. – III. Division)
• Panzerjäger-Division 4 (L) (three companies)
• Division troops 4 (L) with companies and squadrons

Commanders

• Lieutenant General Rainer Stahel (September 25, 1942)
• Major General Hans-Georg Schreder (November 22, 1942)
• Major General Wilhelm Völk (April 8, 1943)
• Major General Hans Sauerbrey (November 5, 1943)
• Major General Wilhelm Völk (November 20, 1943)
• Major General Heinrich Geerkens (December 1943)
• Lieutenant General Robert Pistorius (January 24 to June 27, 1944)

literature

• Antonio Muñoz: Goering's Grenadiers: The Luftwaffe Field Divisions, 1942–1945 , Europa Books Inc. 2002. ISBN 1-89122-740-8 .
• Gerd Niepold: Middle Eastern Front, June 44 , ES Mittler 1985. ISBN 3813201961 .
• Kevin Conley Ruffner: Air Force Field Divisions 1941-1945 , Osprey Publ., Oxford 1990. ISBN 1-85532-100-9 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ruffner: Luftwaffe Field Divisions 1941-1945 , p. 9.
2. ^ Ruffner: Luftwaffe Field Divisions 1941-1945 , p. 11.
3. ^ Ruffner: Luftwaffe Field Divisions 1941–1945 , p. 16.
4. ^ Ruffner: Luftwaffe Field Divisions 1941-1945 , p. 37.
5. ^ Ruffner: Luftwaffe Field Divisions 1941-1945 , p. 38.