Armored Brigade 101

The armored brigade 101 was during the Second World War, an armored task force of the Wehrmacht .

history

The 101st Panzer Brigade was first set up in France in June 1941. On September 21, 1941, the unit was disbanded and its sub-units were used to set up other associations.

On July 18, 1944, an OKH order was issued to reorganize 10 tank brigades. In the course of this, the 101 tank brigade was set up again. The deployment began on July 21, 1944 at the Mielau and Arys military training areas in East Prussia . Before completion of the formation and training, the unit was relocated to the Tukkums area in Latvia in mid-August 1944 and used in the fight against Soviet units. Later it was moved to Estonia . Here the brigade was assigned to the 1st Army Corps of the 16th Army in Army Group North . During this time the brigade was also known as the Panzer Verband Lauchert (named after the commander, Colonel von Lauchert). After fighting in Estonia, they withdrew through Lithuania to the Tilsit area in East Prussia. In mid-October 1944 the brigade took part in the counter-offensive against the Red Army in East Prussia in the Nemmersdorf - Goldap area. The unit was disbanded in November 1944 at the Arys military training area. Their sub-units were used to reorganize the 20th Panzer Division .

Brigade commanders

Colonel Botho Elster
Colonel Meinrad von Lauchert
Major Breidenbach
Lieutenant Colonel Zahn

literature

Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945. Volume 14. The Land Forces. Name associations. The air force. Flying bandages. Flak deployment in the Reich 1943–1945. Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1980, ISBN 3-7648-1111-0 .