199th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

Last updated October 22, 2024

The 199th Infantry Division (German : 199. Infanterie-Division) was an infantry division of the German Heer during World War II.

History

The 199th Infantry Division was formed on 1 November 1940 in occupied Norway,^[1] with Hans von Kempski as the initial divisional commander.^[2] It was assembled at the same time as the divisions of the 13th and 14th Aufstellungswelle , but is considered part of neither, and is instead counted as part of the 7th. The initial divisional personnel was drawn from other divisions in occupied Norway, including the 69th, 163rd, 181st, 196th, and 214th Infantry Divisions. The initial divisional staff was taken from the staff of the Commander of Rear Army Area Norway (German: Kommandeur rückwärtiges Armeegebiet Norwegen), initially formed on 10 January 1940 as Field Command 673.^[1] Additional personnel was taken from Landwehr formations.^[2]

Initially, the 199th Infantry Division consisted of the Infantry Regiments 341, 345, and 357, as well as the Artillery Regiment 199. These regiments were staffed as follows:^[1]

Infantry Regiment 341 took its staff from the staff of Infantry Regiment 307, its 1st Battalion from the 1st Battalion of Infantry Regiment 310, its 2nd Battalion from the 2nd Battalion of Infantry Regiment 307, and its 3rd Battalion from the 1st (Jäger) Battalion of Infantry Regiment 349. The former three battalions were taken from the 163rd Infantry Division, the latter battalion from the 181st Infantry Division.
Infantry Regiment 345 was as a whole taken from the 196th Infantry Division, where it had previously served.
Infantry Regiment 357 took its staff from Infantry Regiment 236, its 1st Battalion from the 1st Battalion of Infantry Regiment 355, its 2nd Battalion from the 1st Battalion of Infantry Regiment 357, and its 3rd Battalion from the 3rd Battalion of Infantry Regiment 159. The first and last of these formations served with the 69th Infantry Division, the middle two with the 214th Infantry Division.
Artillery Regiment 199 took its staff from the staff of Artillery Regiment 214, its 1st Detachment from the 1st Detachment of Artillery Regiment 233, its 2nd Detachment from the 6th and 9th Batteries of Artillery Regiment 222, as well as the 7th Battery of Artillery Regiment 234. The 3rd Detachment was formed from the 3rd Detachment of Artillery Regiment 169, with the 1st and 2nd Batteries of Artillery Regiment 169 and the 1st Battery of Artillery Regiment 214. In total, Artillery Regiment 199 was taken from elements of the 69th, 181st, and 196th Infantry Division.

The military value of the 199th Infantry Division was estimated to be low within the Wehrmacht, and it was kept away from combat until the very end of the war. In late 1940, the division was sent to Oslo. Between June 1941 and February 1945, the 199th Infantry Division was on garrison duty in the Narvik area.^[2]

On 1 April 1942, Kempski was replaced as divisional commander by Wilhelm Raithel.^[2] On 1 June 1942, Infantry Regiment 341 as well as the 3rd Detachment of Artillery Regiment 199 (the latter redesignated Artillery Detachment 270) were transferred to the 270th Infantry Division. As a result, the 199th Infantry Division was switched to a binary model, as it was left with only two Infantry Regiments.^[1]

On 1 August 1943, Raithel was replaced as divisional commander by Walter Wissmath. Wissmath was in turn replaced by Helwig Luz on 20 June 1944. Luz would command the 199th Infantry Division until the end of the war.^[2]

In early 1945, the 199th Infantry Division was strengthened with several smaller army formations, including the Fortress Battalions 649, 651, 652, and 1014. These battalions were overseen by elements of the staff of Fortress Infantry Regiment 856.^[1]

In 1945, the division was rushed to Germany to assist in the Wehrmacht's desperate defensive measures. Before deployment in the Berlin area, the third battalions of the Grenadier Regiments 345 and 357 were used to form a third Grenadier Regiment, numbered 373. This technically returned the 199th Infantry Division from a binary to a ternary model, but the actual fighting strength of the division remained at six infantry battalions.^[1]

The 199th Infantry Division was largely captured by Red Army forces in Mark Brandenburg. Smaller elements escaped via Havelberg to instead go into American captivity.^[1]

Superior formations

Organizational chart of the 199th Infantry Division^[1]
Year	Month	Commander^[2]	Army Corps	Army	Area
1940	November – December	Hans von Kempski	Army Reserves	Group XXI	Norway
1941	January – May		Army Reserves	Armee Norwegen
	June – July		Mountain Corps Norway
	August – December		Abschnitts-Stab Nord-Norwegen
1942	January – February		Abschnitts-Stab Nord-Norwegen
1942	March – December	Wilhelm Raithel	LXXI Army Corps
1943	January – July	Wilhelm Raithel
1943	August – December	Walter Wissmath
1944	January – June	Walter Wissmath
1944	July – December	Helwig Luz
1945	January – February			20th Mountain Army
	March		XXXIII Army Corps	20th Mountain Army
	April		Wehrmachtbefehlshaber Dänemark	None	Denmark
	May		Unclear		Germany

Noteworthy individuals

Hans von Kempski, divisional commander of the 199th Infantry Division (1 November 1940 – 1 April 1942).
Wilhelm Raithel, divisional commander of the 199th Infantry Division (1 April 1942 – 1 August 1943).
Walter Wissmath, divisional commander of the 199th Infantry Division (1 August 1943 – 20 June 1944).
Helwig Luz, divisional commander of the 199th Infantry Division (20 June 1944 – May 1945).

Related Research Articles

The 9th Mountain Division was the name given to two separate German military divisions by accident in 1945.

The 199th Infantry Brigade (Light) is a unit of the United States Army which served in the Army Reserve from 1921 to 1940, in the active army from 1966 to 1970 (serving in the Vietnam War), briefly in 1991–1992 at Fort Lewis, and from 2007 as an active army training formation at Fort Moore.

The 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team is a modular infantry brigade combat team (IBCT) of the Louisiana Army National Guard. It is headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana. Currently the brigade is part of the 28th Infantry Division of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.

The Georgia Army National Guard is the Army National Guard component of the Georgia National Guard, administratively part of the Georgia Department of Defense. It consists of more than 11,100 citizen-soldiers training in more than 79 hometown armories and regional facilities across the state. Georgia’s Army Guard is the sixth largest in the nation and includes combat, combat support and combat service support units.

The 67th Guards Rifle Division was formed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in January, 1943, based on the 1st formation of the 304th Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. It was officially redesignated in the 65th Army of Don Front, in recognition of that division's leading role in reducing the German 6th Army during Operation Ring, the destruction of the encircled German and Romanian forces at Stalingrad. During the following months it was substantially rebuilt while moving north during the spring of the year. The division put up a very strong defense in the Battle of Kursk, facing some of the main elements of Army Group South, and then attacked through the western Ukraine after the German defeat. Along with the rest of 6th Guards Army it moved further north to join 2nd Baltic and later 1st Baltic Front in the buildup to the summer offensive against Army Group Center, winning a battle honor and shortly after the Order of the Red Banner in the process. During the rest of 1944 it advanced through the Baltic states and ended the war near the Baltic Sea, helping to besiege Army Group Courland in 1945. The 67th Guards was disbanded in 1946.

The 197th Infantry Division was a Wehrmacht division in World War II. It was activated on 1 December 1939.

The Tennessee Army National Guard is a component of the United States Army and the United States National Guard. It is administered by the Tennessee Military Department. National coordination of various state National Guard units are maintained through the National Guard Bureau.

In the German Wehrmacht before and during World War II, infantry divisions were raised as part of a designated Aufstellungswelle or Welle (wave), sometimes translated as "draft". The Aufstellungswelle system was adopted by the Wehrmacht in late 1938. Peacetime units were the first wave, and 34 other waves followed until the 35th wave in April 1945. Several types of divisions were organized by Aufstellungswelle, including infantry, security, shadow and Volksgrenadier divisions.

The 162nd Infantry Division(162. Infanterie-Division) was an infantry division of the Heer of Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht during World War II.

The 166th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the German Heer during World War II. The unit, at times designated Commander of Reserve Troops 2 of Wehrkreis VI

The 180th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the German Heer during World War II. The unit, at times designated Commander of Reserve Troops X/II, 180th Division, Division No. 180, and Operation Division No. 180, was active between 1939 and 1945.

The 196th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the German Heer during World War II.

The 251st Infantry Division was an infantry division of the German Heer during World War II.

The 260th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the German Heer during World War II.

The 265th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the German Heer during World War II.

The 270th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the German Heer during World War II.

The 274th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the German Heer during World War II.

The 306th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the German Wehrmacht during World War II.

The 73rd Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in March 1943, based on the 2nd formation of the 38th Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War.

The 416th Infantry Division was a German infantry division of World War II.

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Tessin, Georg (1972). "199". Die Landstreitkräfte 131-200. Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939-1945 (in German). Vol. 7. Osnabrück: Biblio Verlag. pp. 289–292. ISBN 3764808721.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Mitcham, Samuel W. (2007). "199th Infantry Division". German Order of Battle. Volume One. 1st-290th Infantry Divisions in World War II. Stackpole Books. pp. 249–250. ISBN 9780811734165.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[:1-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Tessin, Georg (1972). "199". Die Landstreitkräfte 131-200. Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939-1945 (in German). Vol. 7. Osnabrück: Biblio Verlag. pp. 289–292. ISBN 3764808721.

[:0-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mitcham, Samuel W. (2007). "199th Infantry Division". German Order of Battle. Volume One. 1st-290th Infantry Divisions in World War II. Stackpole Books. pp. 249–250. ISBN 9780811734165.

[1]

[2]