71st Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

71st Infantry Division
Troop association badge: The shamrock
active	August 26, 1939 to May 1945
Country	German Empire
Armed forces	Wehrmacht
Armed forces	army
Branch of service	infantry
Type	Infantry Division
structure	structure
Strength	15,000
Insinuation	6th Army
Installation site	Division headquarters in the Waterloo barracks, Hildesheim
Nickname	The Lucky, Shamrock Division
Second World War	Western campaign , German-Soviet War , Battle of Kiev , Battle of Kharkov (1942) , Battle of Stalingrad , Italian front , Battle of Monte Cassino
Commanders
list of	Commanders

The 71st Infantry Division (71st ID) was a major unit of the army of the German Wehrmacht in World War II . It was set up on August 26, 1939 as a division of the 2nd wave of deployment by Infantry Commander 19 in Hildesheim . She fought in Verdun , Stalingrad and Monte Cassino , among others . Her symbol was the four-leaf clover and after congratulations on the victory in Verdun in June 1940 by Field Marshal Busch to Lieutenant General Weisenberger, from then on she was called the " lucky one ".

Division history

In the history of the division of the 71st Infantry Division, a basic distinction is made between the line-up and personnel composition up to the Battle of Stalingrad as a caesura on the one hand, and the complete reorganization after the destruction in 1943 on the other.

Mobilization in 1939

In August 1939, the 71st Infantry Division was set up in military district XI and was primarily recruited from soldiers from what is now Lower Saxony: Hanover , Hildesheim , Braunschweig and the western Harz . Mainly those born between 1910 and 1920 were drafted. Mobilization took place on 25/26. August 1939 by the infantry commander 19 in Hildesheim under the code word " Sigurd 9757 ". In the spring of 1939, under Colonel Wolf, IR 211 was already prepared for combat operations as Exercise Infantry Regiment 1 at the Bergen military training area and was assigned a section on the Siegfried Line. The training in the rear army area consisted mainly of weapon operation, combat training, silent approach, movement in the dark and shooting training. The first division commander was Major General Ziegler in Hildesheim, former commander of the 19th Infantry Division. The positions of regimental commanders were filled with experienced officers from the First World War. Shortly after the general mobilization, the remainder of the 71st Infantry Division was moved to Pirmasens in night marches to secure the border in order to move into their space for the western campaign in France .

Calls

• Siegfried Line - September 1939 to May 1940
• France - May 1940 to June 1941
• Eastern Front - June to October 1941
• France - October 1941 to April 1942
• Eastern Front - April to August 1942
• Battle of Stalingrad - August 1942 to January 1943
• Denmark - March to August 1943
• Slovenia - August to September 1943
• Italy - September 1943 to December 1944
• Hungary and Austria - December 1944 to May 1945

Western Front 1940

After the 71 ID had marched southwest through Luxembourg and southern Belgium, they crossed the Chiers river and broke into the Maginot Line . The fighting accumulated in the attack on the tactically significant height 311. This made the 71st Infantry Division one of the first units to overcome the Siegfried Line. On May 18, 1940, the division continued its advance in cooperation with engineers and tank destroyers by taking the village of Villy, the 505 tank factory and other fortifications in the La Ferté area ( Maginot line ).

Together with the IR 188, which was subordinate to the 71st ID, the capture of Olizy and the height 342 succeeded. The period between May 21 and June 10, 1940 was characterized by defensive battles on the Maginot Line, which was further expanded to protect against counter-attacks. By May 22, 1940, seven officers and 170 NCOs and crew ranks had been reported dead. At the beginning of June 1940, in the Bois d'Inor forest , also known as the “ Green Hell ”, numerous counter-attacks by Moroccan snipers and Foreign Legionnaires had to be fought off before the division could move east of the Meuse into the Verdun area. On June 15, 1940, the 71st Infantry Division was ordered to take Fort Vaux and Fort Douaumont , with IR 211 bearing the brunt of the attack. The attack succeeded under the leadership of the battalion commander, Captain Corduan, who had already fought near Verdun in the First World War. With the fall of the two fortresses, the way to the Verdun citadel was free, which fell after the Fort Froide Terre was taken. In June 1940 the 71st Infantry Division pursued the retreating enemy across the Moselle to Nancy. The mission on the western front ended with the bestowal of numerous awards: the Knight's Cross for the Iron Cross was awarded to Lieutenant General Weisenberger , Colonel von Scheele, First Lieutenant Germer and Sergeant Pape.

Between 1940 and 1941 the 71st Infantry Division served as a training division at the Königsbrück military training area .

Eastern Front 1941–1943

From June 1941 the 71st Infantry Division took part in the attack on the Soviet Union and on June 22, 1941, surprisingly broke into the Soviet border fortifications near Niemstow . On June 24, 1941, a defensive battle against 50 Soviet tanks developed near Niemirow, which fired from hidden positions against the German infantrymen. Further positions of the Red Army on the Wiszenka military training area were cleared up and defeated. At the end of June 1941 the breakthrough on the northern positions of Lemberg was achieved . For almost the entire month of July 1941, the division managed a lengthy period of marching through the Ukraine within the framework of the army reserve, which was made more difficult by bad weather and unfavorable terrain.

Battle for Kiev 1941

As part of the 6th Army, the 71st Infantry Division was to form the focus of the offensive on Kiev , which expanded into the Battle of Kiev . Long periods of rain made the roads impassable and thus delayed the advance. The Battle of Kiev was initiated by taking the towns of Ksawerowka (IR 211), Marjarowka (IR 194) and Gelenowka (IR 191). Between the borders of the 99th Light Division and the 95th Infantry Division , the 71st Infantry Division stormed the southern section off Kiev. The attack was delayed by a line of bunkers along the Weta River, which were penetrated in stubborn fighting in early August 1941 and the XXIX. Army Corps opened access to Kiev. Between August 10 and 24, 1941, the Red Army carried out major counter-attacks against the lost Weta position, but they failed. Here the 71st Infantry Division was replaced by the 296th Infantry Division and received a new 60-kilometer-wide combat section in the western sector of the heavily fortified city of Kiev on the banks of the Irpen River . The XXIX opened on September 16, 1941. Army Corps launched a major attack on Kiev, which ended three days later with the enclosure of the Red Army and the capture of the city. The 71st Infantry Division itself was not involved in the capture and was transported to the new operational area.

Battle of Kharkov 1942

On April 5, 1942, the OKW / WFSt command opened. No. 55616/42 the summer offensive on the Eastern Front. For this purpose, the 71st Infantry Division, which was relocated from France back to the Eastern Front in April 1942, received the order in conjunction with the 6th Army to push in the Soviet front ledge south of Kharkov and to relocate the main battle line to the Donets region in order to find a new starting position for to procure the Army Group South. While IR 211 supported the 294th Infantry Division in defensive tasks in Ternovaya, the other two regiments moved into their disposal rooms. Meanwhile, the Red Army broke through with a massive infantry and tank deployment as well as numerically superior deployment of personnel and materials near Peremoga east and southeast of Kharkov and tied up large parts of the German units. Units of the 71st Infantry Division defended the area north of Isjum on the Donets . The German associations u. a. encircling the 6th and 57th Soviet Armies. The resulting spring battle of Kharkov from May 17 to 24, 1942 ended with the defeat of the Red Army. The defensive position on the babka followed. Then the division advanced through Nikolayevka into the Oskol sector. The unit took part in pursuit battles via Belovodsk, Morozovskaya, the Tschir to the Don at Generalow. To the west of Kalatsch, further defensive battles developed. From August 1942 the infantrymen of the 71st Infantry Division crossed the Don, took Karpovka and Rossoschka until they finally reached Stalingrad.

Stalingrad 1942

→ Main article : Attack on Stalingrad

Advance on Stalingrad

On September 3, 1942, General Friedrich Paulus had the following armed forces available for the conquest of Stalingrad : 30,000 soldiers of the LI. Army Corps (389th, 295th and 71st Infantry Divisions) and 50,000 soldiers of the 4th Panzer Army, XXXXVIII. Panzer Corps and IV Army Corps (24th PD, 14th PD, 29th Motorized Infantry Division , 94th Infantry Division and the Romanian 20th Infantry Division), so a total of 80,000 soldiers. The LI. Army corps with the 71st Infantry Division under Major General Alexander von Hartmann was supposed to fight its way through the western and northwestern suburbs to Stalingrad . This route was the shortest and easiest from the outer to the inner defensive ring of Stalingrad.

On the evening of September 3, 1942, the 71st and 295th Infantry Division moved east, capturing Gumrak station in the fight against the Soviet 2nd Panzer Corps (Kravchenko) and the Soviet 112th Rifle Division (Colonel Ivan Efimowitsch Ermolkin). They drove the 23rd Panzer Corps under Major General AF Popov and the 399th Rifle Division under Colonel Nikolai Grigoryevich Trawnikow to the east towards Konnaia station. The aim was to concentrate the main forces for the attack on Gorodishche and Mamayev Hills . IR 211 and 194 broke through the defensive lines of the Soviet 112th SD, while on the right wing IR 191 overran the trenches of the 196th SD under Colonel Polikarpowitsch and captured Talovoi and the Opytnaia and Eschowka stations. This led to great losses on the part of the Red Army, which responded to the German advance with a counter-attack at the Stalingrad hospital. The impact wedge of 71 ID fought its way deep into the lines of the 62nd Army south of Gunmrak and " literally wiped the 87th and 196th SD out of the line of battle of the Soviet troops ". In the region around Gumrak there were then a number of other defensive battles against the remnants of the 112th SD, 196th SD and 87th SD.

On September 4, 1942, Major General AI Lopatin ordered a counterattack to prevent the 71st Infantry Division from gaining a foothold on the eastern bank of the Tsaritza. The Soviet 244th SD encountered IR 191, which had occupied the surrounding heights and had approached the city center along the Tsaritza for 4 km. Lopatin was falsely reported that Afanasiev's troops had destroyed most of the IR 191. On September 8, 1942, 295 ID and 71 ID continued their advance from Gorodishche and Razgulaewka on the main road from Gumrak to Stalingrad and pushed back hundreds of Red Army soldiers of the 87th SD, 42nd SB and a regiment of the 244th SD the vicinity of the hospital and the motor tractor station north of the Tsaritza, heavy fighting developed around Razgulaewka. As a result, the 87th SD soon had only 140 soldiers. Hartmann's 71st Infantry Division recorded only minor gains in land between the hospital and the Tsaritza. In the meantime the three IR of the division had to muster all their strength to shoot the trenches of the 42nd SB and 244th SD ready for storming.

The battle for the Stalingrad suburbs reached its climax on September 12th and took place mainly around the 1.5 to 3 km wide hilly terrain in the west and north of the city between Gorodishche, Alexandrowka, the Razgulaewka station and the hospital. On the evening of September 12th, the fighting subsided, the 6th Army was in possession of the tactically important mountain ranges, and the Soviet 62nd and 64th Armies in particular suffered heavy losses in the defensive battle.

Before the offensive on the city of Stalingrad, the 71st Infantry Division had its starting position west of the workers' settlement "Red October" and the Tsaritza River, opposite it on the side of the "Red Army" was the 6th Panzer Brigade, the 42nd Rifle Brigade and a rifle regiment of the 244th SD. The 295 ID and 71 ID received the order from the hospital to advance directly to downtown Stalingrad.

Stalingrad-Mitte combat sections IR 518, IR 194 and IR 191

Colonel Friedrich Roske issued the order to his unit that a rapid capture of the Volga and a victorious conclusion of the fight against the Red Army would also mean an early termination of the Eastern campaign:

“ We stand in this phase of the struggle, which is of exceptional importance for the war and especially for the Eastern campaign. The whole world looks at the troops from Stalingrad and besides, the quick and victorious conclusion of the battle with the reaching of the Volga also means a conclusion for the regiment. The troops are to be informed of this. I expect the whole regiment to exert a great deal of strength, which will be worthy of the achievements of IR 194 so far. "

- Colonel Friedrich Roske, Regiment Commander Infantry Regiment 194

A similar order of the day was issued for the soldiers of the 191 Infantry Regiment:

“ Soldiers of the 71st Division! We are approaching the climax of the battle for Stalingrad. Forward to the Volga! Everything for Germany! Then we'll take Stalingrad! "

- Captain Fricke, battalion commander II. Battalion / Infantry Regiment 191

Operation in the city center of Stalingrad September 1942

The 71st Infantry Division, together with the 295th Infantry Division, was one of the first large formations to reach their destination on the Volga. Due to the concentric waves of attack on the city center, the wedges of the 71st Infantry Division were severely thinned out and thus predestined targets for Soviet snipers. The first target was reached by reaching the ridge around the "brickworks" and the starting position was created for a rapid advance on the city center. In the city of Stalingrad itself, she quickly became involved in the heavy house-to-house fighting in the city center and had to learn local combat under difficult combat conditions, which led to heavy losses.

The 71st Infantry Division pushed the Soviet defense units against the hills of the city and south towards Tsaritza. At nightfall, IR 194 took Aviagorodok, approached 2 km of the railway line and reached the entrances from Hill 112.5 while IR 211 and 191 pushed the Red Army into a promontory northwest of the Tsaritza. On September 13, 1942, the 71st Infantry Division advanced towards the main train station with massive air support from dive bombers and the next day they reached the city center of Stalingrad north of the Tsaritzarinne. The battle for the inner city developed into a merciless and extremely confusing battle, which was fought with great fanaticism on both sides around the main train station, the government and party buildings and the Red Square with mutual success. In the afternoon, a series of Soviet counter-attacks with the support of 3 Katyusha rocket launcher regiments south of the Razgulaewka station as far as the Tsaritza were supposed to defuse the situation, as 295 ID and 71 ID were in position just before the city center and the Mamayev Kurgan.

Artillery support and air strikes by more than 60 dive bombers brought the Soviet counter-offensive to a complete standstill at dawn on September 14, 1942. At the same time, IR 194 and 211 broke the resistance of the 42nd SB Batrakow and captured Hill 112.5. Shock troops from IR 194 broke into the streets of the city center and stood in front of Stalingrad Central Station at around 12 noon. Tschuikow reported: " Individual groups of submachine guns moved east in the Balkas around Hill 112.5, infiltrated the city center from 2 p.m. and stood in front of the main station at 4 p.m. " The rapid advance of the 71st Infantry Division appeared to be 62. Army completely by surprise and forced them to mobilize all available reserves and throw them into the decisive battle. Important communication links were cut and supplies were cut off, and yet the German soldiers only reached the Volga for a short time. IR 194 threatened the ferry terminal and sank 2 Volga ferries. The fact that Stalingrad did not fall on September 14, 1942 was, among other things. a. to owe the resistance of the 35th Guards Rifle Division in the south of the city, which effectively stopped the 29th Motorized Infantry Division during their advance on the center.

The 13th Guards Rifle Division, which arrived in the night of September 14th to 15th, 1942, prevented the complete conquest of the city center by reclaiming the streets and buildings (railway depot, state bank) east of the main train station and intervening in the battle at Mamayev Kurgan. The 1st Battalion from Colonel Elin's 42nd Guards Rifle Regiment again occupied the main station, while Panikhin's 34th GSR failed to take the house of specialists. The combat strength of the 71st Infantry Division was numbered as follows on September 14, 1942: 8 infantry battalions, all in weak condition (300-400 men), 1 engineer battalion (PiBtl. 171) on average (300-400).

On September 15, 1942, bitter fighting developed around Stalingrad Central Station against the 42nd Guards Rifle Regiment of the 13th Guards Rifle Division. On the same day, IR 194 continued the battle for the main train station and IR 191 and 211 advanced on the north bank of the Tsaritza. The 24th PD tried to unite with the 71st ID near the Tsaritza on September 16, 1942, and 3 tanks were mistakenly shot down by the PAK of the 71st ID. Parts of the IR 194 in association with the 295th Infantry Division fought for possession of the Krutoi and Dolgii-Balka, but without being able to drive the enemy from his well-developed positions. In the center of Stalingrad, the main forces of 71st Infantry Division (IR 194 and 211) rubbed each other in a turbulent, completely chaotic and for both sides confusing battle from house-to-house and street-to-street over a width of 3.5 kilometers with the 13th Guards Rifle Division almost up. The fighting accumulated on September 16, 1942 in the vicinity of Red Square between IR 194 and 2nd Btl./34. GSR and 2nd Btl./42 GSR, in particular about the possession of the massive buildings (department store Uniwermag, Gorki Theater, party building) which flanked the square as well as the main train station and Kommunisticheskaia street. The 71st Infantry Division was unable to send reinforcements to Kampfgruppe Edelsheim (24th PD) at its bridgehead at the mouth of the Tsaritza, as all divisions in Stalingrad were tied up in exhausting house-to-house fights with heavy losses.

On September 17, 1942, the guardsmen gave up their positions in the main train station for the time being and tried again to recapture the specialists 'house in the technicians' estate. The fighting over the accesses to the Krutoi and Dolgiischlucht in the north continued, further south IR 211 and 191 with the 34th and 42nd GSR were incessantly fighting around the parks and key buildings along and east of Kommunisticheskaia Street, the firefights around the main station flickered again and the square of January 9, only 3 blocks away from the Volga, remained a vital defense node of the 62nd Army. At dusk, the 1st bag / 42. GSR destroyed in the main train station and all counterattacks on the house of specialists repulsed. In the evening, the Red Army again proclaimed the victory over the German attack formations at the main station and claimed to have counted 100 German soldiers who had died on the station premises. Finally, IR 211 was able to unite with the combat groups Hellermann and Edelsheim an der Tsaritza and bring the railway bridge over the river under control. During the night, IR 191 moved eastwards behind IR 211 and was thus able to intervene with IR 194 in the battle for the inner city.

The author William Craig describes the severity of the fighting for Red Square in September 1942:

“ In this square the dead lay in grotesque contortions on the lawn and the sidewalks in dark red puddles. The traces of blood from the wounded, who had dragged themselves somewhere, formed intertwined patterns on the pavement. The 'Univermag' was just an empty ruin. Mannequins riddled with bullets lay all over the place. Dead Germans and Russians, as they had fallen, lay side by side in the corridors. The whole department store had become a morgue. The 'Pravda' building collapsed during the air raids on August 23, 1942. There was no longer anyone in the houses of the City Soviets and the Red Army Club or in the Gorky Theater, empty window sockets and ugly black holes yawned in the walls. The shops in the side streets were no longer open either. Rotten tomatoes and mashed watermelons lay on the sidewalks, with parts of human bodies in between, swarmed around by swarms of flies "

On September 18, 1942, the Gorokhow group's offensive in northern Stalingrad failed, so that the 6th Army could focus on fighting with the 62nd Army around Mamayev Hill and the city center. Three regiments were embroiled in a swaying battle with the 13th GSD over the main station and the square of January 9th. Batrakow's 42nd SB withdrew to a defensive position west of the railway on the Tsaritza and thus tied the IR 211 again, which further exacerbated the precarious personnel situation of Hartmann's division.

On September 19, 1942, the 71st Infantry Division changed its combat technique, as the main battle line could no longer be maintained due to the heavy losses and the peculiarities of the terrain of the Balkas, as platoons and companies were reshaped in small groups like shock troops. So it was possible to attack Soviet house fortresses and defense nodes in isolation and break out of the defensive barrier. The landing of parts of the 284th SD on September 19, 1942 relieved the difficult situation for the badly battered 13th GSD in Stalingrad-Mitte and set new forces free. The high losses around Red Square and the main train station had meanwhile increased threateningly. Batrakov's 42nd SB and Afanasiev's 244th SD (fewer than 200 soldiers each) withdrew to the ruined houses east of the railway line and around May Day Square. The entire 62nd Army was in unstoppable backward movement house by house and street block by street block to the Volga during September 19th.

On September 20, 1942, the 13th GSD only had small isolated “defense islands” east of the main station, 42nd GSR on the left, 39th GSR in the center and 34th GSR on the right flank. The next day the fighting concentrated on local areas in Kommunisticheskaia, Respublinskaia, Krasnopiterskaia, Stalinskaia and Naberezshnaia streets. During these fighting, a combat group of around 150 submachine guns with around 10 assault guns displaced the 1st Btl./42 GSR from a block east of the main train station (nail factory?) And closed it halfway in another block on the corner of Krasnopiterskaia / Komsomoskaia Street a. In the north, another combat group of 71st Infantry Division broke through the barricades of 2nd Btl./34. GSR and got to January 9th Square, where she was only stopped by a counter-attack from Vologodskaia Street. The 42nd SB and 244th SD fended off several attacks by the IR 211 in Pushkinskaia Street, after the almost complete capture of the grain silo on September 20, 1942, they were the last active fighting troops of the Red Army in the southern part of Stalingrad.

On September 21, 1942, the grenadiers were able to successfully take a tactically important group of houses and effectively fight the central ferry terminal in Stalingrad. An unknown participant reported on the final phase in the battle for downtown Stalingrad:

“ Elite divisions were called in to stop the storm of the 71st. Next to the Südbahnhof there was a lot of wrestling for days over the grain store filled with wheat. In the smoke and stench of the smoldering wheat, each floor had to be conquered individually in the huge concrete block, and there was also the fact that a Soviet defensive position extended from the southern landing of the ferry to the high silo. In the division section, on October 3, the enemy forces fighting in the ruins of the house were so far destroyed that further neighboring sections could be taken over. "

September 22, 1942 brought a renewal of the German attack on the city, against the Dolgiischlucht, the oil refinery and Platz des January 9th, where the Volga ridge was also reached. The guardsmen lost 200 soldiers and reoccupied Krutoi Gorge, January 9th Square, Naberezshnaia, Solnechnaia, Kurskaia, Orlowskaia, Proletarskaia, Gogolia and Kommunisticheskaia streets. After a week of street fighting, the 13th GSD only had 1,000 combat-ready soldiers; their units consisted almost entirely of small isolated units that had withdrawn in a few bombed-out houses. IR 211 used a sewer ditch to successfully reach the Volga east of the main train station and had to retreat again at night. The 1st bag / 42. GSR was locked up in the Uniwermag department store on Red Square and completely destroyed; the left wing of the 13th GSD had already completely collapsed. The unabated pressure of the 71st Infantry Division caused the guardsmen to collapse all along the line. Almost the entire center, with the exception of a few pockets of resistance, had to be abandoned, only a 500 to 1000 meter wide bank could be maintained. According to the Red Army, however, 500 Germans were killed and 43 tanks (presumably assault guns) destroyed.

On September 25, 1942, the 71st Infantry Division was again involved in heavy fighting around Stalingrad-Center north of the Zarizaschlucht and was in a stalemate with the Red Army. North of the Tsaritsa, the 71st Infantry Division took possession of parts of the houses east of the party buildings as far as the Volga. In very bitter streets and house-to-house fights, the infantrymen won the ground step by step with flamethrowers , hand grenades and explosive charges and on September 26, 1942 the 71st Infantry Division hoisted the Reich war flag on the party building on Red Square . The 71st Infantry Division was the only one of the 6th Army in the entire division width to reach the Volga in the south of Stalingrad at the end of September 1942. The 211 Infantry Regiment was deployed on the right flank of the division between the rivers or streams Zariza and Minina. The units were therefore in well-developed and safe positions for a while and were only heavily decimated in the city center in the September fighting.

Three infantry battalions of 71 ID were severely exhausted and exhausted (fewer than 300 soldiers each) after the protracted and bloody fighting around Stalingrad-Mitte on September 28, 1942, and by mid-October 1942 all the infantry battalions of 71 ID were already there in the state of hors de combat and no longer able to take the remaining Soviet house fortresses. From September 14 to 26, 1942, the 71st ID, 295th ID and 389th ID had 1,000 dead, 3,000 wounded and 100 missing.

After the fighting in the center of Stalingrad had subsided, the 71st Infantry Division broke away from the concentrated attack formation and expanded into broader sections in the defensive positions on the Volga. They were able to largely take over the existing Soviet defensive positions.

IR 191 was now in the middle of the division between the Tsaritza and Minnina gorges, south of it IR 211 with the border to 371st Infantry Division and in the north IR 194 adjacent to 295th Infantry Division.

Major General von Hartmann was given overall responsibility for the south and center sectors from the Dolgiischlucht to the Elschanka River on September 27, 1942, after the 94th Infantry Division was withdrawn for the fighting in the north. IR 211 was used from the Elschanka river to Kuporosnoe, IR 191 from the Tsaritza to the Elschanka and IR 194 from the Tsaritza to the Dolgiibalka. However, IR 194 was too weak to make any significant progress against Pavlov's house and the positions of the Red Army on the banks of the Volga and their fortresses at Krutoi and Dolgii. The impenetrable defenses of Rodimzew in a dense network of buildings and fortresses north and south of the Place of January 9th were unbreakable for a single, severely weakened regiment. From September 28 to October 1, 1942, in conjunction with the 295th Infantry Division, a series of unsuccessful attacks were carried out with multiple company or battalion strengths, all of which failed. On October 5, 1942, the combat strength of the 71st Infantry Division worsened to 1 weak (300-400 men) and 7 fully exhausted (300) infantry battalions.

Between October 25 and November 1, 1942, the 64th Army launched a counter-attack in the south of Stalingrad, which, however, could be repulsed. During Operation Hubertus in November 1942, 71st Infantry Division was only able to carry out smaller raid operations.

Sinking in the Stalingrad pocket in 1943

Stalingrad November 1942 Fire plan of the all-round defense on the orders of Lieutenant Colonel Roske

On November 21, 1942, the Stalingrad pocket closed as part of Operation Uranus , when Soviet tanks took German positions near Kalatsch. The 71st Infantry Division received the order to entrench themselves in the city. In the urban area, Colonel Roske assigned the following defensive sections to the GR 194:

• Prison: Lieutenant Schölermann
• Jägerpark: Staff Sergeant Raboldt
• Official base: Oberfeldwebel Fraust
• Uniwermag department store: Lieutenant Drewes
• Bazaar: Sergeant Major Moser
• Riegel: Lieutenant Meyer
• Children's home: Lieutenant Brandenburg
• Pitomnik regimental command post: Captain Röse

The bases were set up for all-round defense according to a specific fire plan, in order to maintain communication between the positions, scouting parties commuted between the individual fighting positions connected by trenches. Landings of Soviet troops across the Volga should be prevented by Spanish horsemen and mines.

On December 11, 1942, when the supply situation of the enclosed 6th Army was already very critical, the Red Army undertook further attacks in order to push the German defensive ring further inwards. On January 26, 1943, the division commander Lieutenant General Alexander von Hartmann, Lieutenant Colonel (posthumously Colonel) Kurt Wilhelm Ernst Corduan (Regiment Commander IR 191) and Major (posthumously Lieutenant Colonel) August Friedrich Wilhelm Bayerlein (Regiment Commander IR 211) were killed in a firefight at a railway embankment in the Südstadt near Tsaritza. At this time, the staff of the sub-units on site was 3 officers, 7 NCOs and 183 ranks. The division secured u. a. the section between Yelschanka and Voroponowo and often had to fight with the last remaining battalions at burglary sites. Colonel Roske, who took command of the division after the death of Hartmanns, assigned the only available officer, Captain Hindenlang, with these special tasks. In his personal notes (printed in the division history of the 71st Infantry Division) Roske mentioned that a total of 17,000 soldiers were found in the southern basin, of which about 2000–3000 were able to fight.

The 6th Army was divided into two parts, the north and south basins collapsed in the period from January 27 to February 3, 1943. The 71st Infantry Division was one of the last units that was still in a conditional position in January 1943 combat Soviet tanks. The last line of resistance of the German southern basin ran from the main station to the Tsaritza. On January 30, 1943, the Red Army captured the station grounds and approached the last defensive ring, which was placed within 300 meters of Red Square. Colonel Ludwig of the 14th Panzer Division surrendered around 6:00 p.m. in a corner building at the western end of the Red Square in order to save the 2,000 wounded lying there. Towards evening the resistance of the GR 194 ended due to a lack of ammunition and Major General Roske ordered the cessation of all fighting. On January 31, 1943, the remnants of the 6th Army, from the 71st Infantry Division present, Major General Roske, Major Dobberkau, Captain Hindenlang, First Lieutenant Hoßfeld and the seriously injured First Lieutenant Wegener in the department store Uniwermag and a little later the battery of First Lieutenant Wüster in the area of ​​the Bathhouse on Dvinskaya Street / Karskaya Street.

Italy 1943-1945

From March to July 1943 the 71st Infantry Division in Denmark was completely reorganized from Grenadier Regiments 883 and 885 as well as replacements from Military District XI . In August 1943, the 71st Infantry Division was transferred to Carinthia with the assignment to help disarm the Italian troops in the Treviso - Gorizia - Trieste and Fiume area . This was followed by coastal protection and partisan fighting in the Monfalcone and Fiume area. Participation in the Battle of Monte Cassino from January to May 1944 was also significant .

Here the IR 211 defended a 4 km long section of the front in the town of Cassino and fought hand-to-hand combat with New Zealand units for possession of the station under the command of Colonel Barnbeck. IR 194 was used in front of the US landing head Anzio-Nettuno until mid-February 1944. In May 1944, Major Knuht and the IR 211 fought in the Third Montecassino Battle for the foothills of the Monti Aurunci, at Castelforte and Esperia, the German resistance to the numerically far superior Allied forces collapsed. The relation consisted of 6 heavily worn out battalions against 4 full-fledged divisions of the "Free French Expeditionary Corps" (Moroccan mountain troops). After the abandonment of the Cassino positions, the Abruzzo was deposed and defensive battles continued in central Italy until September 1944.

Further combat missions followed in Carinthia, Italy and Hungary until the end of the war . In northern Italy, the 71st Infantry Division was stationed on the Metauro River and the Goth Line and suffered heavy losses there too.

In 1945 the 71st Infantry Division surrendered to the British Army near Sankt Veit an der Glan .

structure

→ Main article : Structure of an infantry division of the Wehrmacht of the 2nd wave of deployment

The staff in 1939 consisted of the following divisions of General Command XI: 19th Division Hanover, 31st Division Braunschweig and 13th Infantry Division (motorized) Magdeburg. The staff consisted of 6% active staff, 83% reservists I, 8% reservists II and 3% soldiers. Divided according to ranks, the 71st Infantry Division had a total war strength of 15,273 people, including 491 officers, 98 officials, 2,273 NCOs and 12,411 men. There were also 4,854 horses, 823 horse drawn vehicles, 393 cars, 509 trucks, 3 armored vehicles, 497 Wehrmacht motorcycles and 190 sidecars. Each of the three battalions of an infantry regiment consisted of three rifle companies with nine light machine guns each and one heavy machine gun company with twelve heavy machine guns. From April 1941, the rifle companies were upgraded to twelve light machine guns and three grenade launchers, the machine guns to twelve heavy machine guns and six medium grenade launchers.

• Infantry Regiment 191 (renamed Grenadier-Rgmt. 191 from October 15, 1942), stationed in Hanover-Bothfeld
  • 1st battalion from the tribe of IR 59, Hildesheim
  • 2nd battalion from the tribe of IR 73, Celle
  • III. Battalion from the tribe of IR 74, Hameln
• Infantry Regiment 194 (renamed Grenadier-Rgmt. 194 from October 15, 1942), stationed in Halberstadt
  • 1st battalion from the tribe of IR 12, Quedlinburg
  • II. Battalion (III. Jäger Battalion) from the tribe of IR 17, Goslar and Blankenburg
  • III. Battalion from the tribe of IR 82, Northeim
• Infantry Regiment 211 (renamed to Grenadier-Rgmt. 211 from October 15, 1942), stationed in: Burg (near Magdeburg)
  • 1st battalion from the tribe of IR 33, Dessau
  • 2nd battalion from the tribe of IR 66, Burg
  • III. Battalion from the tribe of IR 93, Stendal and Salzwedel
• Artillery Regiment 171, stationed at the II. Division AR 31 in Halberstadt
  • four departments from regular contingents AR 19, AR 31, AR 55 and AR 67
• Pioneer Battalion 171, from the PiBtl tribe. 19, based in Holzminden
  • Staff from PiBtl. 4 in Magdeburg and PiBtl. 51 (mot.) From Dessau-Roßlau
• Anti-tank department 171, from anti-tank department 19, Hanover, stationed at Engelbostel b. Hanover
• Reconnaissance Battalion 171 from the General Command XI Cavalry - Regiment from Ludwigslust and Parchim
• Infantry Division News Department 171
• Commander of Infantry Division Resupply Forces 171

people

Commanders

Entry into service	Rank	Surname
August 26, 1939	Major general	Wolfgang Ziegler
October 15, 1939	Major General / Lieutenant General	Karl Weisenberger
February 15, 1941	General of the Infantry	Friedrich Herrlein
March 28, 1941	General of the Infantry	Alexander von Hartmann
January 27, 1943	Major general	Fritz Roske
March 14, 1943	Lieutenant General	Wilhelm Raapke
January 1, 1945	Major general	Eberhard von Schuckmann

• Colonel Johannes "Hans" Schmidt , regiment commander IR 191 (born March 30, 1895 in Stettin † December 3, 1943 in Vinnitsa / Ukraine )

In 1913 he joined the Reichsheer as a volunteer, in 1915 promoted to lieutenant in the reserve in IR 65, in 1918 promoted to first lieutenant, 1924 company commander of the 14th company / IR 16 in Osnabrück, 1927 promotion to captain, 1930 graduate engineer (which specialization?), In 1930 in the 4th Squadron / Prussian Reiter Regiment 13 in Lüneburg, 1931 Company Commander 10th Company / Prussian IR 2 in Lötzen, 1937 promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, 1938 Battalion Commander III. Btl./IR 132 in Znojmo, deployment in Poland in 1939, September 26, 1939 regimental commander IR 191/71. ID, 1940 promotion to colonel, deployments in the Saar-Palatinate, Luxembourg and France, 1942 Charkow, Donbogen, Stalingrad, November 1942, seriously wounded, 1943 promotion to major general, commander of the Army Weapons School of the 8th Army, on December 3, 1943 due to a serious illness Died in the Winnitza hospital.

• Colonel Hans-Karl von Scheele , Regiment Commander IR 191 (born May 23, 1892 in Magdeburg , † October 8, 1955 in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe )

von Scheele was deployed as an infantryman in the First World War and joined the Reichswehr after the war. The promotion to first lieutenant took place on August 1, 1935. In 1937 von Scheele was sent to the war school in Hanover as a tactics teacher. During the Second World War he took over the IR 191 and was awarded the Iron Cross on July 4, 1940 after the conquest of Nancy. On June 22, 1941 he was involved in Operation Barbarossa and took over the 208th Infantry Division on October 1, 1941 with the rank of major general. From February 1, 1943, he commanded the "Corps Scheele". For his bravery, he received the oak leaves for the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on April 2, 1943. The command of the LIII. and the LII. Army corps was transferred to him on October 1, 1943. In November 1943 he sustained a serious wound and was given the rank of general in the infantry. Due to injury, von Scheele was withdrawn from the front and was given duties in Feldzeugkorps II in 1944 and later as President of the Reich Court Martial .

• Major General Fritz Roske , regiment commander IR 194, division commander 71st ID from January 27, 1943 (* January 20, 1897 in Gera / Thuringia , Knight's Cross January 20, 1943, † December 25, 1956 in Bohmte )

After von Hartmann fell on January 26, 1943, Paulus Roske transferred the supreme command of the 71st Infantry Division and five days later surrendered to the Red Army in the Uniwermag department store. Major General Roske was taken to the Ukraz prison camp on December 29, 1948. From his Soviet captivity, he described the events of the Kessel in Stalingrad from his personal point of view in letters to his wife in Germany between 1955 and 1956, as well as drafts of orders to IR 194 and sketches of combat. On October 9, 1955, he was released to his family in Düsseldorf. Suicide on December 25, 1956 in Bohmte, where the grave is located.

• Colonel Hermann Barnbeck , Regiment Commander IR 211 (* October 7, 1894 in Rösehöfe in the Bückeburg / Schaumburg-Lippe district † October 25, 1944 in the Minden hospital )

Barnbeck served as a private during the First World War in 1914 and was promoted to first lieutenant after the Battle of Ypres in 1915. He was seriously injured several times during the fighting. In 1936 he became a first lieutenant and in 1937 a captain of the 14th Panzer Defense Company / IR 58. In 1940 he suffered a serious shot in the stomach and a spinal column during the campaign in the west, was captured by the French and freed by the Wehrmacht in June 1940. On April 1, 1942, Barnbeck was given command of IR 211, was represented by Major Kurt Corduan from II. Btl./IR 211 after an illness and returned to the troops in August. The Barnbeck Regiment was instrumental in the conquest of Stalingrad-Mitte. The IR 211 advanced from the railway line towards the Volga on September 15, 1942. The unit had already been severely weakened by previous attritions and lost many officers to Soviet snipers, who operated well camouflaged from the rubble and rows of houses. The driving force during the loss-making offensive on the inner city of Stalingrad was Colonel Barnbeck, who succeeded in destroying an entire Soviet rifle regiment in the northern section of the 71st Infantry Division, which threatened the advance in the rear and flank. Only one battalion of IR 211 survived the fighting in Stalingrad-Mitte. After the fighting, his unit captured 8 light artillery pieces, 121 machine guns and 56 grenade launchers. Barnbeck died of a serious illness on October 25, 1944 in the Minden hospital.

• Colonel Hugo Günter von Below , Ia staff officer

Hugo Günter von Below was born as the son of the Chilean Lieutenant Colonel Günther von Below and Mathilde von Below. His brother Nicolaus von Below was Hitler's air force adjutant. In view of the destroyed central station, Von Below had justified doubts as to whether the battle for Stalingrad could be won in this way and was also appalled by the high losses of his division. At the end of September 1942 von Below was flown out of Stalingrad because of severe jaundice , but had to return to the boiler in January 1943. Von Below was appointed Ia staff officer of the 6th Army and was after the surrender together with other officers in Soviet captivity until 1955. After the war he lived in Bad Godesberg .

• Captain Gerhard Münch , battalion commander III. Btl./IR 194

Captain Münch and his battalion played a decisive role in the conquest of downtown Stalingrad in September 1942. Towards the end of the war, Münch was still a general staff officer at OKW, and in the 1950s he joined the Bundeswehr . From April 1, 1964 to March 31, 1968, he was Brigadier General in command of Panzergrenadierbrigade 31 in Oldenburg. In the TV documentary Stalingrad - The attack, the boiler, the downfall of Guido Knopp from 2003, he was invited as a contemporary witness .

• Major Konrad Hermann Reinhard Fredebold , battalion commander III. Btl./IR 191 (* April 20, 1896 in Hanover-Stöcken † April 1, 1976 in Hanover)

Fredebold was awarded the Knight's Cross on August 30, 1942 because of the use of his regiment in the defense of the Kalatsch-Stalingrad-Frolow railway line against Soviet counter-attacks. In September 1942, Fredebold's battalion was one of the most advanced units in downtown Stalingrad and shelled General Chuikov's army command post on Pushkin Street.

• First Lieutenant Wigand Wüster , AR 171 (born August 11, 1920 in Göttingen)

Used in the Polish and French campaigns (Panzerwerk 505 / Maginot line; here he was on reconnaissance with the later general and "Arko" Robert Martinek ) and from 1941 in the Soviet Union. Wüster became known for his watercolors and memories of the war, including the battle of Stalingrad. Here he describes in detail his experiences from the summer of 1942 with his artillery unit in Stalingrad until the surrender, as well as his flight into the Stalingrad pocket at the end of December 1942 after a home leave. The time of captivity was spent by Wigand Wüster u. a. in the well-known NKVD camp No. 97 in Jelabuga , Tatarstan.

losses

After the Western campaign following losses were announced: 22 officers , 608 non-commissioned officers and 1,847 enlisted men .

Statistics show that on September 19, 1942, this unit suffered the heaviest losses of all units fighting in Stalingrad on the Eastern Front . Up to that day the 211th Infantry Regiment had lost 392, the 191st Infantry Regiment 377 and the 194th Infantry Regiment 304 men. The combat companies suffered the greatest losses, as they were worn out in house-to-house combat and could no longer be replaced. Due to the lack of official reports of casualties during the entire Stalingrad campaign, the exact figures cannot be substantiated; around 5,000 dead and 15,000 wounded are estimated.

literature

• David M. Glantz, Jonathan M. House: Armageddon in Stalingrad. September – November 1942 (=  The Stalingrad Trilogy . Band 2 ). University of Kansas Press, Lawrence 2009, ISBN 978-0-7006-1664-0 .
• Antony Beevor: Stalingrad . Viking Press, London 1998, ISBN 3-572-01312-7 .
• Guido Knopp: Stalingrad the drama . C. Bertelsmann Verlag, 2002, ISBN 3-570-00693-X .
• William E. Craig: The Battle of Stalingrad. Factual report . 8th edition. Heyne Verlag, Munich, 1991, ISBN 3-453-00787-5 (original title: Enemy at the gates , translated by Ursula Gmelin and Heinrich Graf von Einsiedel).
• Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945. Volume 6. The Land Forces 71-130 . 2nd Edition. Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1979, ISBN 3-7648-1172-2 .

Individual evidence

Working group Das Kleeblatt: The 71st Infantry Division 1939–1945: Combat and experience reports from the battles of the "Lucky Division" . Verlag Dörfler, 2006, ISBN 978-3-89555-363-9 . ↑ p. 15. ↑ p. 5. ↑ p. 13. ↑ p. 14. ↑ pp. 25-27. ↑ pp. 32-60. ↑ pp. 60-61. ↑ pp. 62-65. ↑ pp. 65-75. ↑ pp. 75-87. ↑ pp. 88-99. ↑ p. 100. ↑ pp. 106-111. ↑ pp. 113-124. ↑ pp. 124-127. ↑ pp. 127-131. ↑ pp. 131-137. ↑ pp. 137-162. ↑ pp. 162-169. ↑ pp. 171-188. ↑ pp. 229-231. ↑ p. 234. ↑ p. 241. ↑ p. 236. ↑ p. 250. ↑ p. 254. ↑ p. 252. ↑ p. 279. ↑ pp. 256-305. ↑ p. 378. ↑ pp. 462-463. ↑ pp. 466, 469. ↑ p. 14. ↑ p. 227. ↑ p. 102. ↑ p. 478 f.

David M. Glantz, Jonathan M. House: Armageddon in Stalingrad. September – November 1942 (=  The Stalingrad Trilogy . Band 2 ). University of Kansas Press, Lawrence 2009, ISBN 978-0-7006-1664-0 . ↑ p. 28. ↑ p. 31 f. ↑ p. 64. ↑ p. 67. ↑ p. 70. ↑ pp. 73-75. ↑ p. 79 f. ↑ p. 87. ↑ p. 93 f. ↑ p. 103. ↑ p. 109. ↑ p. 114. ↑ pp. 116-120. ↑ pp. 128-131. ↑ p. 137. ↑ p. 124. ↑ p. 140. ↑ p. 143. ↑ p. 145. ↑ p. 147 f. ↑ p. 162 f. ↑ pp. 189-191. ↑ p. 194. ↑ p. 198. ↑ pp. 201-205, 210, 212, 231. ↑ p. 255 f. ↑ p. 279. ↑ p. 284 f. ↑ p. 301 f. ↑ pp. 524-526. ↑ p. 618, 626.

Further individual evidence

1. ↑ was merged with the 1st Battalion under Dobberkau on September 11, 1942; Working group Das Kleeblatt: The 71st Infantry Division 1939–1945: Combat and experience reports from the battles of the "Lucky Division". 1st edition, Verlag Dörfler, Eggolsheim 2006 p. 231.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} amalgamation of Btl. I and II.
3. ↑ " And farther south, the main forces of 71st Division's 194th Regiment, with the bulk of the division's 211th Regiment on its right, engaged in a swirling and confused street-to-street and building-to-building fight with the battalions of 13th Guards Rifle Division's 34th and 42nd Regiments in a 3.5-kilometer-wide swath of rubbled buildings and bomb-pocked streets extending from the Dolgii Ravine southward past Railroad Station No. 1 to the Tsaritza River. The heaviest fighting occurred in the vicinity of 9th January Square, where 194th Regiment's lead battalions dueled furiously with 2nd Battalion, 34th Guards Regiment, and 2nd Battalion, 42nd Guards Regiment, for possession of the hulks of buildings flanking the square, and near railroad station , where 1st Battalion, 42nd Guards Regiment, clung resolutely to the station and adjacent ruined buildings aroung Kommunisticheskaia street ”
4. ↑ William Craig: The Battle of Stalingrad . Heyne, Munich 1991, p. 104.
5. ↑ Loess Gorge.
6. ↑ Red Square?
7. ↑ The 94th Infantry Division fought here and not the 71st ID.
8. ^ On January 26, 1943 Paulus moved with the staff of the 6th Army into the Uniwermag department store, where Colonel Roske commanded the 194 Grenadier Regiment. The remaining battalion commanders of the GR 194 were Major Dobberkau and Captain Hindenlang in Manfred Kehrig: Stalingrad. Analysis and documentation of a battle . In: Contributions to military and war history . Vol. 15. 3rd edition, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1979, ISBN 3-421-01653-4 , p. 533.
9. ^ Manfred Kehrig: Stalingrad. Analysis and documentation of a battle . In: Contributions to military and war history . Vol. 15. 3rd edition, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1979, ISBN 3-421-01653-4 , p. 534.
10. ^ Manfred Kehrig: Stalingrad. Analysis and documentation of a battle . In: Contributions to military and war history . Vol. 15. 3rd edition, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1979, ISBN 3-421-01653-4 , pp. 535f., 542-544.
11. ^ Andreas Hilger: Soviet Justice and War Crimes. Documents on the convictions of German prisoners of war, 1941–1949 in: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 3/2006 p. 461–516 ( PDF )
12. ^ Manfred Kehrig: Stalingrad. Analysis and documentation of a battle . In: Contributions to military and war history . Vol. 15. 3rd edition, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1979, ISBN 3-421-01653-4 , p. 19.
13. ↑ Here it is unclear which one is meant by Below, Kehrig leads in Manfred Kehrig: Stalingrad. Analysis and documentation of a battle . In: Contributions to military and war history . Vol. 15th 3rd edition, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1979, ISBN 3-421-01653-4 , p. 675, Major, Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel von Below, with a Colonel von Below in command of parts in November 1942 the 24th PD such as B. the "Scheele Group" took over. Cf. Manfred Kehrig: Stalingrad. Analysis and documentation of a battle . In: Contributions to military and war history . Vol. 15. 3rd edition, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1979, ISBN 3-421-01653-4 , p. 136.
14. ^ Manfred Kehrig: Stalingrad. Analysis and documentation of a battle . In: Contributions to military and war history . Vol. 15. 3rd edition, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1979, ISBN 3-421-01653-4 , p. 533.
15. ^ William E. Craig: The Battle of Stalingrad. Factual report . Heyne, Munich 1991, p. 365.
16. ^ William E. Craig: The Battle of Stalingrad. Factual report . Heyne, Munich 1991, p. 369.
17. ↑ See Stalingrad - The attack, the cauldron, the downfall in the Internet Movie Database , accessed on June 11, 2011.
18. ↑ Göttingen - Stalingrad - Munich, survival was not intended for us . Self-published, 2004; English-language partial publication: Wigand Wüster: To Artilleryman in Stalingrad . Leaping Horseman Books, 2007, ISBN 978-0-9751076-5-2 .
19. ↑ VO / OKH b. AOK 6, report on a trip to Stalingrad, AH Wu. 9/25/42 in Urban Operations: An Historical Casebook.