78th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

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78th Infantry Division
78th Sturm Division

Troop association badge of the 78th Sturm Division

Troop association badges: the Ulm Minster and the Iron Fist
active August 26, 1939 to May 8, 1945 (total capitulation)
Country German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire
Armed forces Wehrmacht
Armed forces army
Type Infantry Division
structure structure
Installation site Ulm
Second World War Western campaign

War against the Soviet Union

Double battle near Vyazma and Bryansk
Battle for Moscow
Operation Mars
Company Citadel
Smolensk operation
Operation Bagration
Commanders
list of Commanders

The 78th Infantry Division (other names: 78th Sturm Division , 78th Grenadier Division , 78th Volksgrenadier Division , 78th Volks-Sturm-Division ) was a major unit of the Army of the Wehrmacht in World War II .

history

The division was as an infantry division of the second line-up shaft on 26 August 1939 in Ulm , Military District V , by the artillery commander placed V. The first troop association badge was therefore also the Ulm Minster . A large number of the soldiers were reservists from the 5th (Ulm), 25th ( Ludwigsburg ) and 35th Infantry Division ( Karlsruhe ) as well as units from Ulm, Tübingen / Reutlingen , Heilbronn and Konstanz came from.

After its formation, the division remained in the German Reich for the remainder of 1939. Originally it was planned that she should take part in the second phase of the western campaign ( case red ). However, this did not occur due to the outbreak of the Rotlauf disease and the associated quarantine. It was not until June 1940 that the 78th Infantry Division was moved to the vicinity of Reims via Luxembourg and Belgium . A unit of troops was deployed to Lac sur Mer to prepare for Operation Sea Lion , and a third of the division was given up for the reorganization of the 305th Infantry Division in the autumn of 1940. To compensate, 4,000 newly trained recruits were added to the 78th Infantry Division .

In May 1941 the division was relocated to Poland , which was occupied by German troops . After the start of the German attack on the Soviet Union (→ German-Soviet War ) on June 22, 1941, the division was used in battles in Białystok , Mogilew and Roslawl as well as in the Vyazma-Brjansk Battle . At the beginning of December 1941, the 78th Division was one of those units that were able to move within a few kilometers of Moscow near the city of Rusa before they had to withdraw again due to the Soviet counterattack (→ Battle of Moscow ).

In the first half of 1942, the Division took in Gzhatsk part in several defensive battles, including the company's Winterreise , the relocation of the front of the line Yukhnov -Gschatsk- Rzhev . After further fierce fighting, the division was almost wiped out in the sector of the front near Rzhev during the Soviet offensive Operation Mars in December 1942 . Only 1,500 soldiers survived and the division had to be taken out of the fight for reorganization.

In the Sychevka area , it was reorganized as the 78th Sturm Division on December 27, 1942 , making it the only division of the German army so named. For this purpose, the division was supplied with modern equipment: It received a new reconnaissance company, assault guns , caterpillar tractors as a replacement for horse-drawn vehicles, anti-aircraft guns , heavy grenade launchers and 7.5 cm anti-tank guns . At the same time, it also received a new troop registration: The Iron Fist .

Thus refreshed , the division as part of took 9th Army in July 1943 on Operation Citadel part and then led defensive battles at Smolensk (1943), Bryansk (1943), Yelnya (1943) and Orsha (until June 1944). Between July 3 and 11, 1944, the 78th Division was enclosed and completely destroyed near the town of Cherven east of Minsk during the collapse of Army Group Center . Most of the surviving soldiers in the division went into Soviet captivity. Only a few soldiers managed to get through to the German lines 500 kilometers away as "fighters back" .

After the annihilation in July 1944, it was re-established on July 18, 1944 by renaming the 543rd Grenadier (blocking) division (29th wave), which had been set up on the Münsingen military training area since July 10, 1944 , initially as 78th Grenadier Division , from October 9, 1944 78th Volksgrenadier Division . From January 1, 1945 it was called the 78th Volks-Sturm-Division . This name has no connection with the Volkssturm .

After the reorganization, fighting followed in Galicia and the Carpathian Mountains. In the last year of the war, 1945, the division fought retreats in Upper Silesia , the Beskids and most recently in the Sudetenland . The order for unconditional surrender reached the 78th Division on May 8, 1945, not far from Olomouc ( Moravia ). The remaining 5,000 or so soldiers in the division were then taken into Soviet captivity .

Association membership

The division belonged to the 7th Army of Army Group C when it was formed . Later she belonged to 9th Army , 4th Army , 17th Army , Panzer Group 2 , Panzer Group 4 , 1st Panzer Army , 2nd Panzer Army , 3rd Panzer Army and 4th Panzer Army . The respective army groups were A , B , C , Central and Northern Ukraine .

structure

Changes in the structure of the 78th Infantry / Storm Division from 1939 to 1945
78th Infantry Division
1939
78th Sturm Division
1943
78th Volks-Sturm-Division
1945
195th Infantry Regiment Storm Regiment 195 Storm Regiment 195
215th Infantry Regiment Assault Regiment 215 Assault Regiment 215
238th Infantry Regiment Storm Regiment 14 Storm Regiment 14
Artillery Regiment 178 Artillery Regiment 178
Reconnaissance Department 178 Divisional Fusilier Battalion 78
Engineer Battalion 178 -
Anti-tank department 178 Panzerjäger detachment 178
- Grenade Launcher Battalion 5th -
- Assault Gun Division 189 -
- Flak Department 293 -
Infantry Division Intelligence Division 178 Storm Divisions News Department 178
Division Supply Leader 178 Divisional Supply Force Commander 178 Division Supply Regiment 178

Commanders

Division members

Holder of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

  • Colonel Georg von Neufville , September 22, 1941
  • Colonel Ludwig Merker, November 18, 1941
  • Lieutenant General Curt Gallenkamp , November 19, 1941
  • Lieutenant Colonel Alfons Hitter , December 14, 1941
  • Lieutenant Paul Dowerk, January 14, 1942
  • First Lieutenant Horst Stoffleth, August 20, 1942
  • Staff Sergeant Ludwig Barth, August 20, 1942
  • Lieutenant Colonel Ernst Kaether, December 10, 1942
  • Captain Wilhelm Kohler, December 10, 1942
  • Lieutenant General Paul Völckers, December 11, 1942
  • First Lieutenant Walter Reissinger, December 17, 1942
  • Captain Albert Schneider, December 23, 1942
  • Captain Berthold Gamer, January 25, 1943
  • Lieutenant Erich Fischer, March 31, 1943
  • Sergeant Josef Schreiber , March 31, 1943
  • Corporal Emil Rosshart, April 3, 1943
  • Lieutenant Colonel Oskar Eckholt , April 9, 1943
  • Lieutenant Colonel Walter Hollaender, July 18, 1943
  • Oberfeldwebel Wilhelm Schlecht, July 23, 1943
  • Captain Wilhelm Hilgers, July 31, 1943 (posthumous)
  • Major Rudolf Ihde, September 23, 1943
  • Captain Wilhelm Rüngeler, October 11, 1943
  • Lieutenant Karl Reinhart, December 20, 1943
  • Lieutenant Josef Liebenwein, April 7, 1944
  • Oberfeldwebel Ernst Jedele, April 15, 1944 (posthumous)
  • Lieutenant Walter Klocke, April 20, 1944
  • Captain Georg Gärtner, September 21, 1944
  • Major Hans Huzel, February 18, 1945
  • Captain Helmut Jeserer, April 30, 1945
  • Captain Erhard Liss, April 30, 1945
  • Captain Karl Heer, April 30, 1945 (posthumous)

Owner of the oak leaves for the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

  • Oberfeldwebel Josef Schreiber , October 5, 1943
  • Lieutenant Colonel Georg Gebhardt, February 19, 1945

Other personalities

After the war

Memorial stone for the fallen of the 78th Infantry Assault Division in the old camp Münsingen

Already in 1951 they started to contact alumni and hold division meetings. In 1955 the comrades relief organization was founded in Tübingen .

Connections to the Bundeswehr

There were contacts between former members of the division and soldiers of the paratrooper battalion 251 (Calw) until its dissolution in 1996, but these no longer exist. This also carried the "Iron Fist" as a battalion badge.

Memorials

  • Memorial stone on the Münsingen military training area, moved there from the Neckar Island in Tübingen in August 1999.
  • Memorial plaque of the 178 artillery regiment in the courtyard of the German artillery in Idar-Oberstein .
  • Memorial cross on the Castell mountain near Achkarren .
  • Memorial stone in Immendingen in the Bundeswehr barracks named after the bearer of the Knight's Cross, Josef Schreiber .

References

literature

  • Ludwig Merker: The book of the 78th Sturm-Division , ed. Kameradenhilfswerk d. 78th Sturm-Division e. V., self-published, 1965.
  • Mitcham, Samuel W., Jr. (2007). German Order of Battle. Volume One: 1st - 290th Infantry Divisions in WWII. PA; United States of America: Stackpole Books. P. 132 + 133, ISBN 978-0-8117-3416-5 .
  • 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 .
  • Fritz Vetter: The 78th Infantry and Storm Division 1938–1945 , Nebel Verlag, Eggolsheim-Bammersdorf, 2004 (new edition), ISBN 3-89555-182-1 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Fritz Vetter: The 78th Infantry and Storm Division 1938–1945, Nebel Verlag, Eggolsheim-Bammersdorf, 2004 (new edition) ISBN 3-89555-182-1 .
  2. Question from Angelika Beer on January 9, 1998 in the Bundestag

Remarks

  1. Stab / 195, III./195, III./215, III./238.
  2. I. and II. Battalion from Gren.Rgt. 1080.
  3. I. and II. Battalion from Gren.Rgt. 1081.
  4. ↑ Delivered by the 5th ID in November 1941 as a replacement for the dissolved IR 238.
  5. I. and II. Battalion from Gren.Rgt. 1079
  6. with I. - IV. Section from Art.Rgt. 1543.
  7. on October 22, 1944 from III./Gren.Rgt. 1070.