65th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

65th Infantry Division

Coat of arms of the 65th Infantry Division

Troop registration
active July 11, 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
structure structure
Installation site Bitsch military training area
Second World War Italian campaign
Commanders
list of Commanders

The 65th Infantry Division was a major military unit of the Wehrmacht .

Division history

The infantry division was set up on July 11, 1942 at the Bitsch military training area and relocated to Antwerp for further deployment . After the first watch duties at the mouth of the Scheldt and further weeks of training, the division was relocated to the Netherlands in the coastal defense section A1 ( Walcheren , Noord-Beveland and Zuid-Beveland ). In July 1943 the association was stationed in Saint Omer , France , but withdrew to Italy a month later after a two-week stopover in Austria .

The division was initially moved to the Apennines between the provinces of Reggio Emilia and Massa-Carrara and occupied the passes of Cisa and Cerreto in September 1943 . Then she stood on the Ligurian coast between Rapallo and La Spezia before in October on the eastern section of the Gustav Line between the river Sangro and the places Guardiagrele and Orsogna was moved and there in heavy defensive battles against attacking troops of the British 8th Army involved has been.

At the end of December she was removed from the front and transferred to Genoa . When the Allies landed at Anzio , it was moved to the Lazio region along the Rome - Anzio railway line in the area of ​​the Campoleone railway junction. From late January to early March, the division took part in the German counter-attacks on the Allied bridgehead in the area of Cisterna di Latina and Aprilia . After the failure of the two offensives, the division held its starting positions at Campoleone until the beginning of the Allied offensive at the end of May and was then pushed back towards the Alban Hills with the other German units . In March 1944, the division had been refreshed by troops from the Mielau Infantry Division . In the Alban Hills she was involved in loss-making battles in the Castelli Romani in Velletri , Rocca di Papa and Lake Alban, among others . On June 3, the remainder of the division received the order to retreat further towards Rome. The Allied advance on Rome forced the German troops to flee again beyond Rome. On June 4, the remnants of the 65th Infantry Division crossed the Tiber and continued their withdrawal movement northwards on the Via Aurelia . It was only in the range of Orbetello - Lake Bolsena , the only 900-strong Division arrived at the Dora-line to a halt. On June 10th she was pulled from the front to freshen up.

After new personnel had been brought in from the East Prussian infantry division , it was relocated to the Arno Front at the end of July , before retreating first to Pistoia and then to the Apennines on the Gustav Line . In the following months the division fought south of Bologna and was used, among other things, in the fight against partisans . In the spring of 1945 the division fought on the Futapass and in the Battle of Bologna. Parts of the division surrendered on the Po , the remnants of the unit that had crossed the Po at Sermide in the Trento area to Western Allied troops .

War crimes

Members of various units of the division were involved in several war crimes in Italy between June and December 1944. Members of the Grenadier Regiment 146 were involved in an anti-gang operation in the Apennines southwest of Bologna between September 27 and 30, 1944. In four days, almost 100 people were killed on the upper reaches of the Reno in the Ronchidoso district of the municipality of Gaggio Montano and in Ca 'Berna near Lizzano in Belvedere, including over 50 women and children.

According to the Atlante degli Stragi Naziste e Fasciste in Italia project, financed by the German Federal Government and led by a historians' commission, just over 200 people were killed by members of the 65th Infantry by the end of the war in Italy Division killed.

structure

Changes to the structure of the 65th ID from 1942 to 1943
1942 1943
145th Infantry Regiment Grenadier Regiment 145
146th Infantry Regiment Grenadier Regiment 146
- Grenadier Regiment 147
(from I./145 and II./146 as well as from parts of Art. Rgts, and Div. Füs. Btl.)
Tank destroyer and reconnaissance division 165 Division Fusilier Battalion 65
165th Artillery Regiment
Engineer Battalion 165
Divisional News Department 165
Division Supply Leader 165

people

Division commanders of the 65th ID
Rank at that time Surname Period
Lieutenant General Ludwig Friederich Hans Bömers July 10, 1942 to January 1, 1943
Lieutenant General Wilhelm Johann Georg Rupprecht January 1, 1943 to May 31, 1943
Lieutenant General Gustav Heisterman von Ziehlberg May 1943 to December 1, 1943
Lieutenant General Hellmuth Pfeifer December 1, 1943 to April 22, 1945 †

literature

  • Samuel W. Mitcham (2007a). German Order of Battle. Volume Two: 291st - 999th Infantry Divisions, Named Infantry Divisions, and Special Divisions in WWII. PA; United States of America: Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0-8117-3437-0 .
  • Mitcham, Samuel W., Jr. (2007b). Panzer Legions: A Guide to the German Army Tank Divisions of WWII and Their Commanders. Mechanicsburg, PA, United States: Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0-8117-3353-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c 65th Infantry Division. In: portal.ehri-project.eu. Retrieved October 29, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b c The Hand Grenade Division - History. In: handgrenadedivision.com. Retrieved October 29, 2019 .
  3. ^ A b Carlo Gentile : Itinerari di guerra: La presenza delle troupe tedesche nel Lazio occupato 1943-1944. Online publications of the German Historical Institute in Rome , Rome or JS26–27 PDF
  4. ^ Carlo Gentile: Itinerari di guerra: La presenza delle troupe tedesche nel Lazio occupato 1943-1944. Online publications of the German Historical Institute in Rome , Rome or JS28 PDF
  5. ↑ Ca 'Berna, Lizzano in Belvedere September 27, 1944 (Bologna - Emilia-Romagna). In: straginazifasciste.it. Retrieved October 29, 2019 (Italian).
  6. ↑ Ronchidoso, Gaggio Montano 28-30.09.1944 (Bologna - Emilia-Romagna). In: straginazifasciste.it. Retrieved October 29, 2019 (Italian).
  7. ↑ 65th Infantry Division. In: straginazifasciste.it. Retrieved October 29, 2019 (Italian).