61st Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

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61st Infantry Division

Association badge of the 61st Infantry Division

Association badge of the 61st Infantry Division
active August 16, 1939 to May 8, 1945
Country German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire
Armed forces Wehrmacht
Armed forces army
Type Infantry Division
structure See: Outline
Installation site Insterburg
Second World War attack on Poland

Western campaign
against the Soviet Union

Commanders
list of Commanders

The 61st Infantry Division was a major unit of the army of the German Wehrmacht during World War II .

history

The 61st Infantry Division was formed on August 16, 1939 in Military District I in East Prussia from the divisions already existing there ( 1st , 11th and 21st ) in the 2nd wave of formation and filled with reservists who had already served . In the Neidenburg - Tannenberg area a meeting was held and a security line was established.

attack on Poland

Since the morning of September 1, 1939, the 61st Infantry Division of the 1st Army Corps of the 3rd Army, alongside the 11th Infantry Division, was involved in the attack on Poland . After artillery preparation and the approach of several waves of dive bombers , Mława was captured on September 4, 1939 . After long marches, Pułtusk and Wyszków were subsequently taken until the Polish troops surrendered in Warsaw on September 27, 1939 . In the following time, the division was used to secure the demarcation line to the Soviet occupation area and in November 1939 was transferred to the Cologne - Düren - Aachen area . It is reported from her time in Poland that looted property was shifted to East Prussia.

Western campaign

After the armies behind the Siegfried Line were alerted on May 9, 1940 , the 61st Infantry Division also advanced west. She was subordinate to the 4th Army Corps of the 6th Army and initially hardly involved in combat operations. Only the 151 Infantry Regiment, along with the Pioneer Battalion 51 and other units of the division, were involved in the capture of the Eben-Emael fortress . Persecution battles followed in Ostbelgien, at the Albert Canal and the capture of Dunkirk. From June 11, the division followed the attacking troops south from the Somme , but did not come to battle.

From June 26, 1940, the division was used for the occupation of northwestern France and the protection of the French Channel and Atlantic coast until it was moved to East Prussia in February 1941.

War against the Soviet Union 1941–1943

During the attack on the Soviet Union , the division was the XXVI. Army corps of the 18th Army ( Army Group North ) subordinated. The advance went in 10 days from the Memel area via Mitau to Riga . Following marches through northern Latvia in mid-July, fighting broke out again in Estonia in the Viljandi - Põltsamaa area . The division pushed through together with the 254th ID to the north coast and then took Reval . From September 14th, the division, which was considerably strengthened for this purpose, carried out the conquest of the Baltic Sea islands Moon , Ösel and Dagö , which lasted until October 21st. In frosty weather of 30 degrees, the division was moved to the Tikhvin area at the end of November and used against freshly brought Siberian troops. From December 9th, the front line on the Volkhov was withdrawn. During the Volkhov battle , the divisional staff led two separate sections: one on the Volkhov (IR 151) and one on the northern edge of the Volkhov basin. Division commander Major General Franz Scheidies died during the battle in early April 1942 . The costly fighting subsided in July 1942 after the Soviet 2nd Shock Army was destroyed. The Grusino area was refreshed and reclassified. In October the 61st Infantry Division was relocated to a quiet section south of the Pogostje basin.

On January 12, 1943, the Red Army managed to break through the German front at the so-called bottleneck and thus lift the blockade of Leningrad . The 61st ID was alerted and had severe losses in Possjolok 5 and the Sinyavino height measurements. From March, the worn-out division in the Kirischi bridgehead was given a quieter section and a replacement was added to it. From August 14th, however, major battles followed in the third Ladoga battle (Russian: "Operation Brusilov "). The division remained in the Mga (Мга) area until early January 1944.

War against the Soviet Union in 1944

After the difficult defensive and retreat battles from the Gatchina area to the Estonian border, the division was badly hit, so that at the beginning of February 1944 a march regiment and remnants of the 9th Air Force Field Division were incorporated in the Narva area . Until July 9, the division fought on various sections of the Narva Army Group . Then it was moved to the Dünaburg area to help close the gap that had arisen between the Army Groups "North" and "Center". In August the division fought at Bauske and in September was relocated to the Valga area as Army Group Reserve , where defensive battles broke out from September 15. When the German retreat on Riga began, the division was accelerated to Vainode in Courland to seal off enemy intrusions. At the end of October 1944, the division was then transported to Gotenhafen by ship .

61st People's Grenadier Division

After being refreshed and renamed the 61st Volksgrenadier Division, a section of the front in the Gumbinnen area was taken over. In the course of the Soviet offensive from January 13, 1945, heavy fighting had to be held again. Remaining parts of the division ended up in the Heiligenbeil / Balga pocket after heavy losses and were incorporated into 21st Infantry Division at the beginning of April . The divisional headquarters were relocated to Koenigsberg and there led mixed units. After a breakthrough to Pillau failed, the 61st Division ceased to exist on April 10, 1945.

Storage and operational areas

In the following, the assumptions and areas of operation at some points in time are shown.

date corps army Army Group Operational area
September 1939 I. 3rd Army North Poland
January 1940 IV. 6th Army B. Germany
January 1941 XXVI. 6th Army D. France
January 1942 XXXIX. 16th Army North Soviet Union
January 1943 XXVIII. 18th Army North Soviet Union
January 1944 XXVI. 18th Army North Soviet Union

structure

  • 151st Infantry Regiment
  • 162nd Infantry Regiment
  • 176th Infantry Regiment
  • Artillery Regiment 161
  • Division Troops 161

Commanders and leaders

date Rank Surname
August 16, 1939 Major general Siegfried Haenicke
March 27, 1942 Colonel / Major General Franz Scheidies
April 7, 1942 Major general Werner Hühner
February 1, 1943 Major general Günther Krappe
April 30, 1943 Major general Gottfried Weber
May 1, 1943 Major general Günther Krappe
December 11, 1943 Major general Joachim Albrecht von Blücher
February 1, 1944 Lieutenant General Günther Krappe
December 1944 Lieutenant General Rudolf Sperl

Award winners

The Knight's Cross for the Iron Cross was awarded to 39 soldiers, the oak leaves to four.

Division commander Siegfried Haenicke was one of 19 people who owned the Pour le Mérite in addition to the Knight's Cross .

Well-known members of the division

literature