48th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

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171th Reserve Division
48th Infantry Division

Badge of the 48th Infantry Division

Division badge
active October 1, 1942 to May 1945
Country German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire
Armed forces Wehrmacht
Armed forces army
Branch of service infantry
Type Infantry Division
Strength 15,000 debit
Insinuation last Army Group Ostmark
Commanders
list of Commanders

The 48th Infantry Division (ID) was a major military unit of the German Wehrmacht during World War II .

Division history

171 Reserve Division

The division was set up on October 1, 1942 as the 171st Reserve Division (RD) through a regrouping of Division No. 171 in Belgium and was relocated to the Arnhem area in the Netherlands immediately after it was set up . From February 1943, the 171st RD monitored the stretch of coast near Dixmuiden . In November, a reclassification to the 48th ID at Ostend in Belgium began, which ended in February 1944.

48th Infantry Division

Then the division was used for coastal protection near Ostend. In the middle of August, the Allied landing in Normandy had now begun on June 6, 1944 was the 48th ID to build a security line with parts of the 9th Armored Division and the 338th Infantry Division in the room Relocated around Paris . During the uprisings of the French resistance in the city , the division deployed units to protect the bridges over the Seine . After the fall of Paris, the division withdrew to Lorraine . From mid-September 1944, the 48th Infantry Division was deployed on the Moselle near Wasserbillig to protect the mouth of the Saar . In the following battles she suffered heavy losses until the end of October 1944 and was therefore relocated to the hinterland for replenishment. In mid-November 1944, the XII. SS Army Corps , with the remnants being incorporated into the 559th Volksgrenadier Division. The supply units were directly subordinated to the 1st Army and the staff was moved behind the front for other purposes. These units were relocated to Slovakia in December of that year to reorganize the division. However, this process was never completed, so that only one combat group was used in the Battle of Vienna .

Commanders

Surname rank period of service
Friedrich Prince Lieutenant General October 1, 1942 to February 1, 1944
Karl Casper Lieutenant General February 1 to October 1944
Gerhard Kegler Major general October 1944
Arnold Scholz Colonel October 1944 to May 1945

structure

171 Reserve Division 48th Infantry Division
  • Reserve Grenadier Regiment 19th
  • Reserve Grenadier Regiment 71
  • Reserve Grenadier Regiment 216
  • Grenadier Regiment 126
  • Grenadier Regiment 127
  • Grenadier Regiment 128
  • Reserve Artillery Regiment 252
  • Artillery Regiment 148
  • Reserve tank destroyer company 1071
  • Panzerjäger detachment 148
  • Reserve Engineer Battalion 1071
  • Reserve cycling squadron 1071
  • Fusilier Battalion 148
  • Field Replacement Battalion 148
  • Reserve News Company 1071
  • Infantry Division Intelligence Division 148
  • Reserve Division Supply Troops 1071
  • Commander of Infantry Division Supply Forces 148

literature

  • 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 .