Panzer Division Bergen

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Panzer Division Bergen

active March to May 1945
Country German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire
Armed forces Wehrmacht
Armed forces army
Branch of service tank
Type Panzer Division
structure structure
garrison Hanover
Commanders
Sole Kdr. Colonel Erhard Grosan

The Panzer Division Bergen was a major unit of the army of the German Wehrmacht .

Division history

In view of the impending collapse of the Western Front in March 1945, the Deputy General Command XI in Hanover decided to set up PD Bergen from the Bergen Panzer Troop School, although it was no longer in possession of battle tanks and artillery. Colonel Erhard Grosan received the command of the newly established division.

On March 29, 1945, the Fallingbostel training force marched together with the Bergen Panzerjagdbrigade under Lieutenant Colonel Rode to the designated position on the Weser . From there fighting developed at Rinteln and Bodenwerder to the so-called Harz fortress . However, due to their inadequate armament, lack of ammunition and supplies, the PD Bergen was unable to stop the 2nd US Armored Division , and its main body was destroyed at Rinteln. A rearguard under Major Schulz could no longer establish a connection to the division and had to go to the Harz Mountains .

Colonel Grosan and Major Graf von Werthern formed the "Kampfgruppe Grosan" from the broken up remains of the division, which was able to assert itself for a time on the Aller to Soltau , then marched across the Elbe to Berlin and then to Schleswig-Holstein , and finally near Bad Segeberg capitulated. On May 9, 1945, Colonel Grosan and Captain Lotze received the Knight's Cross .

structure

  • Fallingbostel teaching team
    • Panzergrenadier Battalion, Captain Birngruber
  • Panzerjagdbrigade Bergen
  • Regiments without heavy weapons

literature

  • Helmut Ritgen: The armored troop schools of the army 1918 up to the establishment of the Bundeswehr .

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ http://www.bergenbelsen.co.uk/pages/Staff/Staff.asp?CampStaffID=290
  2. ↑ Equipping with bicycles and bazookas