718th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

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The 718th Infantry Division was a German infantry division during World War II .

Division history

The division was set up on April 30, 1941 as part of the 15th wave of forces from the reserve army, mainly from military district XVIII , but also from military district I and IV , and then from June 1941 deployed as an occupation force in Yugoslavia with the 2nd Army . From July 1941 he was deployed to the 12th Army in Serbia for action against partisans, from February 1943 then standing in Sarajevo . In April 1942 the division was used against partisans in Operation Trio . In March 1943 the assignment to Army Group E followed .

On April 1, 1943, the 718th Infantry Division in Bosnia was reorganized in military district XVIII, the headquarters moved to Radkersburg (later Innsbruck ) and renamed the 118th Jäger Division . The reclassification took place by replacing older age groups with younger personnel from the military districts V, VII, XII and XVIII. The 118th Jäger Division was then deployed in Yugoslavia (including in September / November 1943 on the Adriatic around Cattaro and from January to October 1944 on the islands of Brač , Hvar and Korčula ) and was assigned to the 2nd Panzer Army for most of the time . At the end of 1944 the division was involved in the Apatin-Kaposvar operation .

The division withdrew from the region in 1945 via Hungary and the Lake Balaton region with the fighting during the Lake Balaton offensive as far as Austria .

In May 1945, the division fell in the space of Klagenfurt in Carinthia in English captivity .

War crimes

The occupying divisions of the 704th Infantry Division , 714th Infantry Division , 717th Infantry Division, and 718th Infantry Division were responsible for a variety of war crimes in the occupied territory.

At the end of the war, the former commander Johann Fortner was arrested by the Allies and extradited to Yugoslavia as a war criminal. There he was for war crimes by a tribunal sentenced to death and on 26 February 1947 in Belgrade by train executed .

Even under the command of the next in command, Josef Kübler , the division was involved in several war crimes and massacres in Serbia. Because of these atrocities, Kübler was also executed in Ljubljana on February 26, 1947 .

Commanders

structure

1941

  • 738 Infantry Regiment, later 738 Grenadier Regiment (three battalions, III. From Wehrkreis I)
  • 750 Infantry Regiment, later 750 Grenadier Regiment (three battalions, III. From Wehrkreis IV)
  • Artillery Division 668 with three batteries
  • Divisional units 718 (including bicycle, pioneer and news company)

1943

  • 738 Jäger Regiment (three battalions, III. From Defense District I)
  • Jäger-Regiment 750 (three battalions, III. From military district IV)
  • Artillery Regiment 668 (from February 1945 with a fifth division)
  • Division units 718 (expansion of the units to 1941 to include battalions or department sizes )

Web links

literature

  • Samuel W. Mitcham (2007). 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 . Pp. 253 + 254.