47th People's Grenadier Division

47th People's Grenadier Division
active	September 17, 1944 to May 8, 1945
Country	German Empire
Armed forces	Wehrmacht
Armed forces	army
Branch of service	infantry
Type	Infantry Division
structure	See: Outline
Installation site	Wild spots
Second World War	German Western Front 1944/1945 Battle of Aachen Battle in the Huertgen Forest North Wind Company
Commanders
Please refer:	List of commanders

The 47th Volksgrenadier Division was a major military association of the Wehrmacht in the German Reich .

history

On September 17, 1944, the unit was set up at the Wildflecken military training area (Lower Franconia) from parts of the 577th Grenadier Division, which was still being set up. Half of it was made up of fees from air force and naval units. The age structure was very heterogeneous with one third each of the recruits born in 1926/1927 and experienced Eastern fighters.

From October 6, 1944, the division was relocated to Aarhus (Denmark) and should be ready for use by October 31. On October 22nd, the workforce was 9,314, with a shortfall of 837. Beginning on November 9th, the division for Army Group B (Western Front) was marched. There she was used in the 3rd Battle of Aachen. Here she suffered heavy losses. On November 24th, the combat strengths of the grenadier regiments were only 60, 215 and 36 men. Therefore, on the same day the "Kampfgruppe Engel" was formed, which brought together the remains of the 12th and 47th Volksgrenadier Divisions under the command of the former. As of November 26th, the regiments were detached from the front and relocated to the Wollersheim-Sinzenich-Vlatten area to refresh, with divisional headquarters in Burvenich. Around 3,000 reinforcements had arrived by December 8th.

The division's second combat mission was from December 11, 1944 to January 5, 1945, participating in the battle in the Huertgen Forest . For this purpose, the division was added to the defense front west of the Roer in order to replace the 3rd Parachute Division , which was assigned to the Ardennes offensive .

During the Nordwind operation in Alsace , the division was held in reserve from January 9, 1945. The third combat mission began on January 19 with the replacement of the 25th Panzer Grenadier Division and 7th Paratrooper Division . After the Americans were dropped on the Moder , the division formed the LXXXIX together with the 25th Panzer Grenadier Division . Army Corps . However, an attack to form a bridgehead east of the Moder failed.

The division remained in the Rhine Palatinate and on the Upper Rhine until April. On April 14, 1945, the division commander supported the surrender of the city of Ludwigsburg to the French 1st Army without a fight . The divisional staff and remnants withdrew to Tyrol . There they were in a combat group of the LXIV. Army corps incorporated, which defended the Fernpass from April 26 to May 2, 1945 .

Insinuation

Period	Army Corps	army	Army Group	room
September 1944			OKH	Wild spots
October 1944			OKH	Aarhus
November 1944	LXXXI	5th Panzer Army	B.	Aachen
January 1945	LXXXIX	1st Army	G	Rheinpfalz
March 1945	LXXXX	1st Army	G	Rheinpfalz
April 1945	LXXX	19th Army	OB West	Upper Rhine

structure

• Grenadier Regiment 103
  • I. Battalion
  • II Battalion
• Grenadier Regiment 104
  • I. Battalion
  • II Battalion
• 115th Grenadier Regiment
  • I. Battalion
  • II Battalion
• Artillery Regiment 147
  • 1st to 4th department
• Division Fusilier Company 147
• Field Replacement Battalion 147
• Engineer Battalion 147
• News Section 147
• Infantry Resupply Leader 147
• Panzer Hunting Department 147

Commanders

Rank	Surname	date
Lieutenant General	Max Hermann Bork	September 18, 1944 to March 1945
Colonel	Georg Ernst von Grundherr zu Altenthann and Weyherhaus	March 1st to May 2nd 1945 (fallen)
Colonel	Karl Langesee	May 2-8, 1945

References

swell

• Federal Archives-Military Archives Freiburg: ZA1 / 955 (B-602), Bork, Max: 47th Volksgrenadier-Div., October 1, 1944 - January 5, 1945: Third Battle of Aachen, carbon copy, German, 16 pages (1 sketch) , 1947
• Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv Freiburg: ZA1 / 1053 (B-700), Bork, Max: 47th Volksgrenadier-Div., January 6th - March 31st 1945: from Alsace through the Palatinate over the Rhine, carbon copy, German, 27 pages ( 4 annexes), 1947

literature

• Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in the Second World War 1939–1945 , 20 vols. Osnabrück 1967.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Commander of the German troops in Denmark, Dept. Ia, War Diary 1944.