8th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)

8th Panzer Division
Troop registration
active	October 16, 1939 to May 8, 1945 (surrender)
Country	German Empire
Armed forces	Wehrmacht
Armed forces	army
Branch of service	Armored force
Type	Panzer Division
structure	structure
garrison	cottbus
Second World War	French campaign Balkan campaign German-Soviet war Leningrad blockade Kursk
Commanders
list	Commanders

The 8th Panzer Division was a large unit of the army of the German Wehrmacht during World War II .

history

The 8th Panzer Division was formed on October 16, 1939 in Cottbus in Wehrkreis III from the 3rd light division and took part in the French campaign. After the end of the operations in the west, it was transferred to the Balkans in April 1941 , where it was used for a short time.

Panzer IV of the 8th PzD in Russia (1941)

From July 1941, the division went to war against the Soviet Union and operated as part of Army Group North around Leningrad , Valdai and Cholm . In December 1942 the division was assigned to Army Group Center , with which it took part in the Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943 .

In late 1943, the division was transferred to Army Group South , and in the course of 1944 it withdrew to Budapest via Ukraine and Slovakia . The division was divided and surrendered to the Red Army at Brno and Deutsch Brod in May 1945 .

Commanders

• Lieutenant General Adolf-Friedrich Kuntzen - October 16, 1939 to February 20, 1941
• Major General Erich Brandenberger - February 20 to February 21, 1941
• Lieutenant General Walter Neumann-Silkow - February 21 to May 26, 1941
• Major General Erich Brandenberger - May 26th to December 8th, 1941
• Lieutenant General Werner Hühner - December 8, 1941 to March 20, 1942
• General of the Panzer Troop Erich Brandenberger - March 20 to August 6, 1942
• Lieutenant General Josef Schrötter - August 6 to November 10, 1942
• General of the Panzer Troop Erich Brandenberger - November 10, 1942 to January 17, 1943
• Lieutenant General Sebastian Fichtner - January 17 to September 20, 1943
• Major General Gottfried Frölich - September 20, 1943 to April 1, 1944
• Major General Werner Friebe - April 1 to July 21, 1944
• Major General Gottfried Frölich - July 21, 1944 to January 5, 1945
• Major General Heinrich-Georg Hax - January 5 to May 8, 1945 (surrender)

structure

Changes in the structure of the 3rd Light and 8th Panzer Divisions from 1939 to 1943

3rd light division raided Poland until October 16, 1939	8th Panzer Division April 1940 Western campaign	8th Panzer Division 1943 Eastern Front
Panzer Division 67	Panzer Regiment 10 I. + II. Department Panzer Department 67 (until September 1942)	Panzer Regiment 10
Cavalry Rifle Regiment 8 9th Cavalry Rifle Regiment	Rifle Brigade 8 Rifle Regiment 8 Motorcycle Rifle Battalion 8	8th Panzer Grenadier Regiment 28th Panzer Grenadier Regiment
Reconnaissance Regiment 8	Reconnaissance Department 59	Panzer Reconnaissance Division 8
Artillery Regiment 80	80th Artillery Regiment	80th Panzer Artillery Regiment
Anti-tank department 43	Panzerjäger detachment 43	Panzerjäger detachment 43
		Army Flak Artillery Department 286
Pioneer -Bataillon 59	Engineer Battalion 59	Panzer Pioneer Battalion 59
Divisional News Section 84	News Section 84	News Section 84
Infantry Division Supply Leader 59	Supply Troops 59	Supply Troops 59

The 8th Rifle Replacement Battalion in Frankfurt (Oder) , and later the 8th Panzer Grenadier Replacement Battalion in Sorau, was responsible for providing the staff .

Well-known members of the division

• Heinz Hax (1900–1969), was a three-time Olympic participant and from 1958, as major general, deputy commanding general of the III. Corps of the Army of the Bundeswehr
• Heinz Kasch (1926–2016) was from 1983 to 1986, as Lieutenant General of the Army of the German Armed Forces , Deputy Inspector of the Army

literature

• 8th Panzer Division. In: Veit Scherzer (Ed.): German troops in the Second World War. Volume 3. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2008, ISBN 978-3-938845-13-4 . Pp. 464-501.
• Samuel W. Mitcham : German Order of Battle. Panzer, Panzer Grenadier, and Waffen SS Divisions in World War II. Stackpole Books, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8117-3438-7 .
• 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 .

Web links

Commons : 8th Panzer Division  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature on the 8th Panzer Division in the catalog of the German National Library
• Organizational History of the German Armored Forces 1939 - 1945. (PDF; 292 kB) Retrieved September 15, 2011 (English). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} cf. Scherzer 2008; Pp. 465-472.
2. ↑ Incomplete, incorrect . See Scherzer 2008; P. 473.
3. ↑ See Scherzer 2008; P. 464 f.