46th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

46th Infantry Division
active	November 24, 1938 to May 1945
Country	German Empire
Armed forces	Wehrmacht
Armed forces	army
Branch of service	infantry
Type	Infantry Division
structure	structure
Installation site	Carlsbad
Nickname	Jumping deer
Commanders
list of	Commanders

The 46th Infantry Division (46th ID), from March 1945 the 46th Volksgrenadier Division , was a major unit of the army of the German Wehrmacht .

Division history

Areas of application :

Poland : September 1939 to May 1940
France : May 1940 to June 1941
Eastern Front , Southern Section: June 1941 to September 1944
Hungary , Czechoslovakia : September 1944 to March 1945

the river Prut 1941

The 46th Infantry Division was set up on November 24, 1938 as part of the 1st wave of deployment in Karlsbad in the Sudetenland and mobilized in August 1939. It was the last division of the 1st wave of deployment. From May to June 1940 the 46th Infantry Division marched into Holland and Belgium , then fought on the Somme and the Amiens bridgehead . From there, the division pursued French troops across the Seine and Loire rivers to the Maine-et-Loire department .

On June 5, 1940, a combat report from the western campaign reported: “During the rapid advance of our infantry south of the Somme , it became evident that we were frequently threatened from the flank or from the rear by colonial troops who allowed themselves to be overrun and then in the Ambush fought bitterly. “This French defense tactic (“ hedgehog tactic ”) was considered despicable and unrest by the German troops, especially when dark-skinned soldiers, Tirailleurs sénégalais , were involved. The following massacre of African prisoners of war tried to justify German officers by equating the regular colonial troops with partisans. Dark-skinned prisoners were often not even taken by the 46th Infantry Division in the first place, but were shot immediately if they tried to surrender. A report from the same day states: "Twenty-seven Tirailleurs Sénégalais were shot, two French were taken prisoner."

In the spring of 1941, the 46th Infantry Division was part of the occupation forces in occupied France until it was transferred via Romania to Prilep , where it was made available as a reserve of the 12th Army for the attack on Greece. From there it went over the Banat to the deployment area of Army Group South to Bessarabia . In the association of the 11th Army , which did not attack until the beginning of July 1941, the river crossings over the Prut , Dniester and Bug were made as part of Operation Barbarossa . The XXX. Subordinated to the Army Corps , the division reached the Dnieper near Berislavl on the advance in southern Ukraine at the end of August . At the end of September the breakthrough to the Crimean peninsula took place over the Isthmus of Perekop . The 46th ID had as part of the LIV. Army Corps together with the 73rd ID the order to take the isthmus over a width of seven kilometers in a frontal attack. According to Manstein's plan, this company was to serve as a “ door opener ” so that subsequent associations, including mountain troops, could spread out in a fan shape across the Crimea. Already at this point it was suspected that the German forces would not be sufficient to conquer the heavily defended Crimea. The 46th Infantry Division took Armjansk and was brought forward via Dschankoi to advance to Kerch and in the association of XXXXII. Army corps at the Parpatsch position for coastal defense on the Kerch peninsula .

After strong forces of the Red Army suddenly landed on the coast of the Kerch peninsula in early 1942, the entire eastern part of the peninsula had to be abandoned. The division withdrew to the Koy Assan / Wladislawowka area. The Commander in Chief of Army Group South then sent her the following telex:

“I am denying the 46th Division the soldiery honor for the slack handling of the Russians landing on the Kerch peninsula and their hasty retreat from the peninsula. Awards and promotions are blocked until further notice. This telex is only to be communicated up to and including the regimental commanders. "

- signed by Reichenau Field Marshal General

Due to the protests of the division commander and the regimental commanders, the division received the following telex from the successor to General Field Marshal von Reichenau:

"I would like to express my special appreciation to the 46th Division for the excellent performance they have had in the defensive battles in the isthmus since the beginning of January and look forward to corresponding proposals for promotions and awards."

- signed von Bock, Field Marshal General

On March 30, 1942, the 46th ID was classified as " fully suitable for defense ", ie fully operational for defensive operations. At that time it still had nine weak infantry battalions and about half of its heavy weapons and divisional artillery. Three battalions from IR 122 and IR 105 were attached to the division. In May 1942, the division took part in the recapture of the Kerch peninsula and then took over the coastal protection on the peninsula again. Security tasks were carried out in the Crimea from July to August 1942, until an offensive on the Caucasus was to take place in September 1942 . As a result of Operation Edelweiss, 46th Infantry Division took part in the attack in the Caucasus; it broke into the Taman Peninsula , advanced to Tuapse and fought on the western edge of the mountains as far as the High Caucasus.

In March 1943 the division had to be reorganized after the evacuation of the Caucasus and the retreat to the Kuban bridgehead . The 46th ID was flown back to the Crimea in April 1943 with transport machines and was supposed to be refreshed in the rear area. From April to August 1943 the division was involved in heavy defensive battles near Isjum and had to withdraw from the Donets to the Dnieper in the late summer of 1943 . In January 1944 the loss-making defensive and retreat struggles began in southern Ukraine, with the fighting intensifying in February / March 1944 in the Krivoy Rog region . With great losses, the division withdrew to the west via the Bug and Pruth rivers, until it was captured by Soviet units in the Roman- Jassy area . The 46th Infantry Division escaped to Hungary via the Carpathian Mountains , until the advancing Red Army involved them in skirmishes in the Puszta and the Tisza plain. From October to December 1944 there was fighting in the Mátra Mountains , Danube and Tisza, until Budapest was conquered by the Soviet Army. The 46th Infantry Division was renamed the 46th Volksgrenadier Division in March 1945 when it was defending the "Margaret Position" between Budapest and Lake Balaton . Then she withdrew via Moravia and capitulated to the Red Army in Deutsch-Brod .

War crimes

During the fighting in Kerch from May to October 1942, Pioneer Battalion 88 in the Adzhimushkay quarry used gasoline against several thousand soldiers and refugees under Colonel Yagunov who had sought refuge in the catacombs.

Sources on the 46th Infantry Division can be found in the Federal Archives-Military Archives (BA-MA RH2 / 429).

people

Division commanders of the 46th ID
period of service	Rank	Surname
August 26, 1939 to July 24, 1940	Lieutenant General	Paul von Hase
July 24, 1940 to September 17, 1941	Lieutenant General	Karl Kriebel
September 17, 1941 to March 26, 1942	Lieutenant General	Kurt Himer
April 5, 1942 to February 7, 1943	Major general	Ernst Haccius
February 7 to February 13, 1943	Lieutenant General	Arthur Hauffe
February 13 to February 27, 1943	Colonel	Charles of Le Suire
February 27 to August 20, 1943	Lieutenant General	Arthur Hauffe
August 20, 1943 to July 10, 1944	Lieutenant General	Kurt Röpke
July 10 to August 26, 1944	Colonel	Curt Ewrigmann
August 26, 1944 to March 1945	Major general	Erich Reuter

General Staff officers (Ia) of 46 ID
period of service	Rank	Surname
June 15, 1939 to June 17, 1940	Lieutenant colonel	Ottomar Babel
June 17 to September 30, 1940	Captain	Walter Reissinger
September 30, 1940 to December 11, 1941	Lieutenant colonel	Reinhard Petri
December 11, 1941 to January 6, 1942	-	unknown
January 6 to May 20, 1942	Lieutenant colonel	Reinhard Petri
May 20 to December 1, 1942	Lieutenant colonel	Harry Pinski
December 1, 1942 to April 15, 1944	Lieutenant colonel	Günther Oetjen
April 15, 1944 to January 10, 1945	Lieutenant colonel	Hans Tümpling
January 10 to February 10, 1945	major	Wernher Freiherr von Schönau-Wehr
February 10 to March 1945	major	Ludwig Wierz

Awards

A total of 33 members of the 46th ID were awarded the Knight's Cross and 130 with the German Cross in Gold.

structure

Changes in the structure of the 46th ID from 1939 to 1945
1939	1942	1943-1945
42nd Infantry Regiment	Grenadier Regiment 42
72nd Infantry Regiment	72nd Grenadier Regiment
97th Infantry Regiment	Grenadier Regiment 97
Reconnaissance Department 46	Cycling Department 46	Fusilier Battalion 46
115th Artillery Regiment	114th Artillery Regiment
Anti-tank department 52	Panzerjäger detachment 52
Engineer Battalion 88
News Department 76
Commander of Infantry Division Supply Forces 46
Field Replacement Battalion 46

The artillery regiment 115 consisted of three artillery departments of the AR 114 and the 1st artillery department of the AR 115. From 1942 AR 115 was replaced by AR 114.

Well-known members of the division

Martin Karl (1911–1942), was an Olympic champion in rowing

literature

Alexander von Bentheim: The Way of the 46th Infantry Division , self-published, 1952.
Veit Scherzer : 46th Infantry Division. Crimea - Caucasus - Kuban bridgehead - Isjum - Jassy . Path and deployment of a Franconian-Sudeten German infantry division 1938–1945. Scherzers Militär-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2009, ISBN 978-3-938845-19-6 .
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 .

Individual evidence

^ “ During the rapid advance of our infantry south of the Somme, it became distressingly obvious that we were often threatened from the side or rear because the colonial troops let our attack roll over them but afterward reappeared and fought tenaciously. ”BA-MA, RH 26-46 / 47:“ Evening report on June 5th ”; English translation by Raffael Scheck: “They Are Just Savages”. German Massacres of Black Soldiers from the French Army in 1940 . In: The Journal of Modern History 77, 2005, No. 2, pp. 325-344, doi: 10.1086 / 431817 , here p. 341.
^ ^A ^b Raffael Scheck: “They Are Just Savages”. German Massacres of Black Soldiers from the French Army in 1940 . In: The Journal of Modern History 77, 2005, No. 2, pp. 325-344, doi: 10.1086 / 431817 , here p. 341.
↑ " Twenty-seven Tirailleurs Senegalais were shot, two Frenchmen were taken prisoner. "BA-MA, RH 26-46 / 47:" 46 Division. Evening report from the Panzerjäger 52 ”department, June 5, 1940; English translation by Raffael Scheck: “They Are Just Savages”. German Massacres of Black Soldiers from the French Army in 1940 . In: The Journal of Modern History 77, 2005, No. 2, pp. 325-344, doi: 10.1086 / 431817 , here p. 330.
↑ Victor Israelyan: On the battlefields of the Cold War: A Soviet ambassador's confession . Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003, ISBN 978-0-271-02297-0 ; see. Vsevolod Abramov: Kertjenskaja katastrofa . Jauza, Moscow 2006.
↑ fallen, posthumously lieutenant general.

[1] “ During the rapid advance of our infantry south of the Somme, it became distressingly obvious that we were often threatened from the side or rear because the colonial troops let our attack roll over them but afterward reappeared and fought tenaciously. ”BA-MA, RH 26-46 / 47:“ Evening report on June 5th ”; English translation by Raffael Scheck: “They Are Just Savages”. German Massacres of Black Soldiers from the French Army in 1940 . In: The Journal of Modern History 77, 2005, No. 2, pp. 325-344, doi: 10.1086 / 431817 , here p. 341.

[Scheck341-2] A ^b Raffael Scheck: “They Are Just Savages”. German Massacres of Black Soldiers from the French Army in 1940 . In: The Journal of Modern History 77, 2005, No. 2, pp. 325-344, doi: 10.1086 / 431817 , here p. 341.

[3] " Twenty-seven Tirailleurs Senegalais were shot, two Frenchmen were taken prisoner. "BA-MA, RH 26-46 / 47:" 46 Division. Evening report from the Panzerjäger 52 ”department, June 5, 1940; English translation by Raffael Scheck: “They Are Just Savages”. German Massacres of Black Soldiers from the French Army in 1940 . In: The Journal of Modern History 77, 2005, No. 2, pp. 325-344, doi: 10.1086 / 431817 , here p. 330.

[4] Victor Israelyan: On the battlefields of the Cold War: A Soviet ambassador's confession . Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003, ISBN 978-0-271-02297-0 ; see. Vsevolod Abramov: Kertjenskaja katastrofa . Jauza, Moscow 2006.

[5] , posthumously lieutenant general.