Panzer Lehr Division

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Panzer Lehr Division

Panzerlehrdivision.svg

Troop registration
active January 10, 1944 to April 15, 1945 (surrender)
Country German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire
Armed forces Wehrmacht
Armed forces army
Branch of service Armored force
Type Panzer Division
Installation site Nancy - Verdun
Second World War Fight against the Allied landing
Battle for Caen

Ardennes offensive
Ruhrkessel

Destroyed Panzer IV of the Panzer Lehr Division in Villers-Bocage , France in June 1944 ( Battle of Caen )

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

history

The Panzer Division with the name Panzer-Lehr-Division was set up in France near Lunéville - Verdun in January 1944 . For this purpose, units were relocated to this room from the two armored troop schools in Bergen and Krampnitz . As the only division of the Wehrmacht - with the exception of parts of the artillery regiment - it was completely mechanized . Both Panzergrenadier regiments were equipped with armored personnel carriers (IFVs).

The first use led the Division to Vienna , where she arrived on 18 March 1944th Because Hitler feared that Hungary might leave the alliance under Horthy , Hungary was occupied ; the Panzer Lehr Division was also involved. In May, the division was relocated to northern France, as the apparently imminent Allied invasion required reinforcement of German troops in this area.

On June 6, 1944 (" D-Day "), the Panzer Lehr Division was 60 kilometers northwest of Le Mans in Nogent-le-Rotrou . At that time it had the following armored vehicles:

During the 150-kilometer journey to the Allied bridgehead , it was exposed to constant air raids, which caused heavy losses to the division. At the front, she took part in the battles for Caen , Bayeux , Tilly-sur-Seulles and Saint-Lô . By mid-June it had lost 5,400 men, 160 officers and 124 of its 190 tanks , or 65 percent.

After a reorganization and rebuilding of the division in Heilbronn and Paderborn , it took part with the majority of its units in the Ardennes offensive (December 16, 1944 to January 21, 1945).

Of the Panzer Lehr Regiment 130, only the 2nd Division took part in the Ardennes Offensive in December 1944.

The I. Division of the Panzer Lehr Regiment 130 was equipped with 60 new Panzer V "Panther" tanks in November 1944 and relocated to the Eastern Front in Hungary by mid-December 1944 . There the department took part in the Battle of Budapest until early January 1945 .

After the 1st department was moved to Germany in early 1945, the 2nd – 4th The company and the division staff were again equipped with new tanks. In mid-February 1945 these units were transferred to their division on the Western Front. The 1st Company of the 1st Division, however, was equipped with 10 new tanks V "Panther" with infrared night sights at the end of March 1945 and was tactically subordinated to the Panzer Division 5 of the 25th Panzer Grenadier Division on the Eastern Front . Here the 1st Company took part in the battle for the Seelower Heights in the Wriezen area in mid-April 1945 .

As part of the Battle of the Bulge, the division was involved in the siege of Bastogne (around December 20-27, 1944) and was able to advance as far as Rochefort . Heavy losses and strong Allied forces then forced the division to retreat to the Ruhr area . The majority of the division surrendered on April 15, 1945 in the resulting Ruhr basin . 2460 soldiers, 8 tanks and 50 armored vehicles were left from their original troop strength. Smaller groups managed to break through to the east; they later continued to fight in the Peine area , south of Hanover .

structure

  • Panzer Lehr Regiment 130
  • Panzer Grenadier Training Regiment 901
  • Panzergrenadier Lehr Regiment 902
  • 130th Panzer Artillery Regiment
  • Field Replacement Battalion 130
  • Armored Reconnaissance Training Department 130
  • Army Flak Artillery Department 311
  • Panzerjäger detachment 130
  • Panzer Lehr Pioneer Battalion 130
  • Tank Intelligence Division 130
  • Tank supply troops 130

Commanders

literature

  • Helmut Ritgen: The history of the Panzer-Lehr-Division in the west 1944-1945 . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1979, ISBN 3-87943-628-2 .
  • Franz Kurowski : The Panzer Lehr Division: 1944–1945 . Dörfler, Eggolsheim 2008, ISBN 978-3-89555-570-1 .
  • Otto Henning: As a tank and reconnaissance troop leader in the Panzer Lehr Division 1943–1945: with the Panzer Reconnaissance Training Department 130 in Hungary, Normandy and the Ardennes . Flechsig, Würzburg 2006, ISBN 3-88189-634-1 .
  • 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 , p. 273 ( limited preview in Google Book search).

Web links

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