96th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

96th Infantry Division
active	September 21, 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 debit
Installation site	Bergen / Lüneburg Heath
Nickname	Watzmann
Second World War	German-Soviet War

The 96th Infantry Division (ID) was a major military unit of the Wehrmacht , which fought in theaters of war on the western and eastern fronts during the Second World War .

Division history

The 96th Infantry Division was set up on September 21, 1939 at the Bergen military training area near Celle as the 5th wave of the military district XI . Permanent personnel from military districts VI and II were also used to replenish the population. The field usability should originally be established in November 1939. From 1940 to 1941 the 96th Infantry Division was still largely inactive, from August 1940 to February 1941 it was even on leave.

From August 1941, the 96th ID took part in Operation Barbarossa . The division was involved in the battles for the Leningrad blockade as part of the 16th Army . In 1942 the total number of infantry battalions was reduced to six, with I.Btl./283, I.Btl./284 and III.Btl./287 being disbanded.

In early 1944, the 96th Infantry Division was withdrawn from northern Russia and deployed in western Ukraine . The 96th Infantry Division was enclosed by several Soviet rifle and tank divisions in the so-called “ Hube Kessel ” or “Wandering Kessel” near Kamenez-Podolski . After a successful outbreak, the decimated bandage had to be refreshed. The division spent the remainder of 1944 in the Beskids . During the final phase of World War II, the 96th Infantry Division was stationed in Hungary , Slovenia and Austria from January 1945 to May 1945 . In Lower Austria she was taken prisoner by the US, but was partially handed over to the Soviet Union.

Incorporation and subordination of the 96th ID
date	Army Corps	army	Army Group	Location
December 1939	XXV	7th Army	C.	Upper Rhine
January to May 1940	reserve	7th Army	C.	Bruchsal
June 1940	XXXXIII	9th Army	B.	Eastern France
July 1940	XXXXIII	1st Army	C.	Eastern France
August 1940 to February 1941	Provision	-	-	WK XI
March to April 1941	XXXXII	16th Army	A.	Northern France
May to June 1941	XXXXII	15th Army	D.	Northern France
July 1941	in transit	-	center	-
August 1941	reserve	16th Army	North	Staraya Russa
September 1941	XXVIII
October 1941	XXXIX
November 1941	I.
December 1941 to November 1942	XXVIII	18th Army		Volkhov
December 1942 to February 1943	XXVI
March 1943 to January 1944	XXVIII
February to March 1944	LIX	4th Panzer Army	south	Shepetovka
April 1944	XXXXVI	1st Panzer Army	Northern Ukraine	Tarnopoly
May 1944	XXXXVIII	4th Panzer Army		Tarnopoly
June to July 1944	XXXXVIII	1st Panzer Army		Brody
August 1944	XXIV			Beskydy Mountains
September 1944	XI. SS
October to December 1944	XI. SS	17th Army	A.
January 1945	in transit	-	south	Hungary
February to March 1945	I. Cavalry Corps	6th Army		Hungary
April 1945	XXXXIII	8th Army		Pressburg , Vienna
May 1945	XXXXIII	8th Army	Ostmark	Lower Danube

structure

Organization of the 96th Infantry Division
November 1939	July 1944
283rd Infantry Regiment	Grenadier Regiment 283
284th Infantry Regiment	Grenadier Regiment 284
287th Infantry Regiment	Grenadier Regiment 287
Artillery Regiment 196
-	Division Fusilier Battalion 96
Division units 196 (instead of the reconnaissance department, only cycling squadron 196)

Commanders

General of the Infantry Erwin Vierow September 15, 1939 to August 5, 1940
Lieutenant General Wolf Schede August 7, 1940 to April 10, 1942
Lieutenant General Joachim von Schleinitz April 10 to October 6, 1942
Lieutenant General Ferdinand Noeldechen October 9, 1942 to June 28, 1943
Lieutenant General Richard Wirtz July 28 to November 30, 1943
Major General von Blücher December 1, 1943 to January 1944
Colonel Fischer January to August 1944
Lieutenant General Werner Dürking September 1 to September 11, 1944
Lieutenant General Richard Wirtz October 3 to November 10, 1944
Major General Hermann Harrendorf December 1, 1944 to May 8, 1945

literature

Hartwig Pohlman: History of the 96th Infantry Division 1939–1945 . Edited on behalf of the traditional association of the former 96th Infantry Division (Kameradenhilfswerk 96 e.V.). Podzun Verlag, Bad Nauheim 1959 (memory book).
Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945. Sixth volume. The Land Forces 71–130 . Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1972, ISBN 3-7648-0872-1 , pp. 142-146.

Web links

History of the 96th Infantry Division ( Memento of March 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in the Second World War 1939–1945. Sixth volume. The Land Forces 71–130 . Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1972, ISBN 3-7648-0872-1 , p. 142.
^ ^A ^b ^c ^d ^e Georg Tessin: Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in World War II 1939–1945. Sixth volume. The Land Forces 71–130 . Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1972, ISBN 3-7648-0872-1 , p. 143.
↑ Cf. Gerhart Hass: The German Historiography on the Siege of Leningrad (1941-1944) . In: Zeitschrift für Geschichtswwissenschaft 54, 2006, Issue 2, pp. 139–162, here p. 149.

[Tessin6-142-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in the Second World War 1939–1945. Sixth volume. The Land Forces 71–130 . Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1972, ISBN 3-7648-0872-1 , p. 142.

[Tessin6-143-2] A ^b ^c ^d ^e Georg Tessin: Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in World War II 1939–1945. Sixth volume. The Land Forces 71–130 . Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1972, ISBN 3-7648-0872-1 , p. 143.

[3] Cf. Gerhart Hass: The German Historiography on the Siege of Leningrad (1941-1944) . In: Zeitschrift für Geschichtswwissenschaft 54, 2006, Issue 2, pp. 139–162, here p. 149.