58th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
58th Infantry Division |
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Troop registration |
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active | August 26, 1939 to May 8, 1945 (surrender) |
Country | German Empire |
Armed forces | Wehrmacht |
Armed forces | army |
Branch of service | infantry |
Type | Infantry Division |
structure | structure |
Strength | Target: 15,000 |
garrison | Luneburg |
Second World War |
attack on Poland |
Commanders | |
list of | Commanders |
The 58th Infantry Division was a major unit of the German Wehrmacht and was reorganized on August 26, 1939 by Wehrkreis X Hamburg as part of the second wave of formation (mobilization divisions). The installation took place in Lüneburg, Flensburg, Rendsburg and Oldenburg. In September 1939 she moved to the western border in the Saar area for security and further training.
history
The division's first combat mission took place in the western campaign on May 10. until June 25, 1940 in the Association of XXIII. Army Corps of the 16th Army. She then served as an occupation force in Belgium until April 20, 1941 .
The division was then assembled in East Prussia , in order to take part in the war against the Soviet Union from June 22, 1941 in the association of the 18th Army of Army Group North. The division penetrated within sight of Leningrad and was then used there from September 1941 to December 1942 in defensive battles off Leningrad as well as at Oranienbaum and on the Volkhov. This was followed by brief missions at Demyansk and Novgorod, then from April to September 1943 again at Leningrad. The Soviet breakthrough on Newel forced several divisions to be transferred to the south wing of Army Group North, including that of 58th Inf. Div. In the heavy fighting there, the division was able to achieve new defensive successes. The breakthrough of the Soviets through the German lines in front of Leningrad and the advance to the Estonian borders led to the division's relocation, this time to the Narva , where it remained deployed until July 1944.
The enormous success of the Soviets in the summer battle of 1944 meant that u. a. the 58th Inf.-div. back to the new south wing of the HGr. Moved back north and defended himself there in the Dünaburg area. The evacuation of Estonia and Livonia in September 1944 and the breakthrough of the Soviets in early October to the Baltic Sea north of Memel made it necessary to relocate the division by sea to defend Memel in the bridgehead there, where it crossed the Curonian until the evacuation at the end of January 1945 Spit remained in Samland. Then the 58th Inf.-Div. in action to defend the Samland until it was lost and their remnants marched across the fresh spit to the Vistula lowland, where a catchment area was set up near Stutthof . From there the crossing took place to the Hela peninsula, on which the surrender took place on May 8, 1945 and the day after the march of the survivors into Soviet captivity began.
structure
1939 | 1944 |
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Infantry Regiment 154 |
Grenadier Regiment 154 |
Divisional Fusilier Battalion 58 | |
Artillery Regiment 158 | |
Engineer Battalion 158 | |
Anti-tank department 158 | Panzerjäger detachment 158 |
Reconnaissance Department 158 | |
Field Replacement Battalion 158 | |
Infantry Division News Division 158 | |
Infantry Division Supply Leader 158 | Divisional Supply Regiment 158 |
Commanders
- Lieutenant General Iwan Heunert - September 1, 1939 to September 4, 1940
- Lieutenant General Friedrich Altrichter - September 4, 1940 to April 2, 1941
- Lieutenant General Karl von Graffen - April 2, 1941 to May 1, 1943
- Lieutenant General Wilhelm Berlin - May 1 to June 7, 1943
- Lieutenant General Curt Siewert - June 7, 1943 to April 13, 1945
- Colonel Fritz Klasing - April 13 to May 8, 1945
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 .
- Kurt von Zydowitz: The history of the 58th Infantry Division 1939-1945. Potzdun 1952.