8th Jäger Division (Wehrmacht)

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8th Infantry Division
8th (Light) Infantry Division
8th Jäger Division

Troop registration number of the 8th Jäger Division

Troop badges, stylized swastika
active October 1934 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 See: Outline
garrison Opole
Second World War attack on Poland

French campaign
German-Soviet war

Double battle near Vyazma and Bryansk
Battle of Demyansk
Commanders
Please refer: Commanders
insignia
Identification symbol Circle with swastika

The 8th Infantry Division , later renamed the 8th Light Infantry Division and the 8th Jäger Division, was a large unit of the Army of the Wehrmacht .

Division history

The 8th Infantry Division was set up on October 1, 1934 under the code name Artillerieführer III in Wehrkreis III (Berlin) in Opole from the 7th (Prussian) Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Division of the Reichswehr . When the units were exposed, the staff was renamed the 8th Infantry Division on October 15, 1935. The division consisted of infantry regiments 28, 38 and 84 with three battalions each, as well as artillery regiment 8 with the 1st division of artillery regiment 44.

Attack on Poland and campaign in the west

The division took part in the attack on Poland in 1939 as part of the 14th Army and advanced from Silesia to Krakow , crossed the San and took part in the attack on the Polish army in Kraków between Lemberg and Lublin between Bug and San.

During the western campaign in 1940, the 8th Infantry Division under the 4th Army in Army Group A took part in the advance through Belgium and advanced along the Salm , the Ourthe and the Maas . She crossed the Sambre and advanced against the Allied troops trapped at Dunkirk . The division then advanced to Paris via the Oise and Somme departments . On June 14, 1940, the division took part in the entry into Paris together with the 28th Infantry Division . The division then crossed the Loire at Tours and saw the end of the campaign at Rouen . The division remained in France as an occupying force until 1941.

German-Soviet War

During the attack on the Soviet Union in 1941, the 8th Infantry Division fought under the command of the 9th Army as part of Army Group Center in the Brjansk and Vyazma area and pushed on towards Moscow . In November 1941 the division was transferred to France and regrouped to the 8th Light Infantry Division . The 84th Infantry Regiment was transferred to the 102nd Infantry Division ; the other two infantry regiments were converted into hunter regiments.

The 8th light infantry division was again relocated to the eastern front in the area of Army Group North , where it took part in the bridge building operation for the liberation of the German troops trapped in the Demyansk pocket . In July 1942, the division, at that time deployed on Landbrücke in the Demyansk area, was converted into the Jäger Division and renamed the 8th Jäger Division . In 1943 the division took part in the retreat across the Lowat to the Redja position and covered the retreat of the own forces leaving the pocket. Defensive battles followed in the Redja position and in the Penna area.

In early 1944 the division was relocated to the Novgorod area. She took part in the defensive battles in the Mjedwed area and the retreat battles via Ssolzy - Dno - Porchow to the pant production east of Ostrow and then in the defensive battles south of Pleskau.

In May 1944 the division was transferred to Romania to the 8th Army of Army Group South Ukraine , where it was deployed on the eastern edge of the Carpathian Mountains . This was followed by retreat battles on Eger over the Mangan position Arpad - Maramosz - Sziget - Koroly - Tokaj - Miskolc , then further defensive battles in the Erlau area. The division withdrew to the Brno area. After heavy fighting near Brno, the division should withdraw towards Moldova to surrender to the US Army . But this movement was no longer successful, and the remnants of the division were taken prisoner by the Soviets near Brno in May 1945 .

Storage and operational areas

date corps army Army Group Operational area
September 1939 VIII 14th south Southern poland
October 1939 4th B. Eifel
May 1940 A. Belgium, France
June 1940 reserve B. França
July 1940 7th Rouen
August 1940 to April 1941 9. A.
May 1941 B. East Prussia
May 1941 center Bryansk , Vyazma
November 1941 reserve 4th Moshajsk, Moscow
December 1941 VIII 1. D. France
March 1942 XX 16. North Demyansk
July 1942 X
August 1942 II
March 1943 X Ilmensee
June 1943 reserve
July 1943 X
March 1944 XXXVIII 18th Pleskau
April 1944 reserve
May 1944 XVII 8th. Southern ukraine Carpathian passes
October 1944 south Northern Hungary, Slovakia
December 1944 XXIX
February 1945 LXXII Slovakia, Moravia
April 1945 XXIX 1. tank center
April 1945 XXIV Moravia

structure

  • Infantry Regiment 28 (from 1942 Jäger Regiment 28)
  • Infantry Regiment 38 (from 1942 Jäger Regiment 38)
  • 84th Infantry Regiment (until 1941)
  • Cycling Department 8 (1942–1943)
  • Observation department 8 (from 1939 reconnaissance department 8)
  • Anti-tank department 8 (from 1939 tank destroyer department 8)
  • Engineer Battalion 8
  • Artillery Regiment 8
  • I. / Artillery Regiment 44 (until 1942)
  • News Department 8
  • Infantry Division Supply Leader 8 (from 1942 Commander of Infantry Division Supply Troops 8)
  • Field Replacement Battalion 8 (from 1939)

people

Division commanders of the 8th (light) infantry and hunter division
Rank Surname date
Lieutenant General Rudolf Koch-Erpach October 15, 1935 to October 25, 1940
Lieutenant General Gustav Höhne October 25, 1940 to July 23, 1942
Major general Gerhard Graf von Schwerin July 23 to December 2, 1942
Lieutenant General Friedrich Jobst Volckamer von Kirchensittenbach December 2, 1942 to September 1, 1944
Lieutenant General Christian Philipp September 1, 1944 to April 1945
Colonel Joachim Bergener April 1945 until surrender
First general staff officers (Ia) of the 8th (light) infantry and jäger division
Rank Surname date
Lieutenant colonel Edmund Blaurock June 15, 1938 to February 1941
major Willy Deyhle February 1941 to February 18, 1942
Captain Wilfried von Sobbe February 18 to March 25, 1942
Lieutenant colonel Willy Deyhle March 25 to August 18, 1942
major Paul-Heinz Brendel August 18, 1942 to August 15, 1943
Lieutenant colonel Emil Lorenz August 15, 1943 to November 20, 1944
major Roland Wagner November 20, 1944
received the honorary rank of regimental commander of the IR 28, Austro-Hungarian field marshal, general field marshal of the Wehrmacht from October 31, 1940

Well-known members of the division

  • Werner Haupt (1923–2005), librarian and non-fiction author

Awards

A total of 50 members of the 8th (light) infantry / hunter division were awarded the Knight's Cross and 126 the German Cross in gold.

literature

  • The history of the 8th (Upper Silesian-Sudeten German) Infantry / Jäger Division , publisher: Kameradschaftsbund der 8th Jäger Division, 1979, 356 pages.
  • Friedrich Grupe: Born 1916 - The flag was more than death , Universitas-Verlag, Munich 1997. ISBN 3-8004-1195-4 (Memories of an adjutant in the 28th Infantry Regiment)
  • Werner Haupt : Army Group North , Bad Nauheim 1967.
  • Werner Haupt: Leningrad, Volkhov, Courland , 1976.
  • Werner Haupt: The German infantry divisions, Podzun-Verlag.
  • Schematic war organization 1939–1945 BA / MA RH 2/348 to RH 2/355; RH 2 / 356K and R 2/769.
  • Franz Kurowski : Demjansk - The cauldron in the ice , Wölfersheim-Berstadt 2001.
  • Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945. Volume 3: The Land Forces 6-14 . 2nd Edition. Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1974, ISBN 3-7648-0942-6 .
  • Veit Scherzer : German troops in World War II. Volume 3: The divisions - divisions and brigades with the numbers 4 to 8. Scherzers Militär-Verlag.

Remarks

  1. ↑ one of them unconfirmed and unofficial