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22nd Infantry Division 22nd Air Landing Division 22nd Volksgrenadier Division | |
---|---|
22. Infanterie-Division 22. Luftlande-Division 22. Volksgrenadier-Division | |
Active | 15 October 1935 – 8 May 1945 |
Country | Nazi Germany |
Branch | Army |
Type | Fallschirmjäger |
Size | Division |
Garrison/HQ | Bremen |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller Heinrich Kreipe |
The 22nd Infantry Division, which soon became the 22nd Air Landing Division, was a specialized German infantry division in World War II. Its primary method of transportation was gliders. The division played a significant role in the development of modern day air assault operations. [1] Towards the end of the war, the formation was reshaped into the 22nd Volksgrenadier Division.
Created as 22nd Infantry Division in 1935, one regiment participated in the 1939 Invasion of Poland; the rest of the division stayed in garrison on the Siegfried Line in case of a French attack in defense of Poland. The division retrained as 22nd Air Landing Division for rapid tactical deployment to capture enemy airbases and performed in that role during the invasion of the Netherlands suffering heavy losses during the failed Battle for The Hague (operation “Fall Festung”), and afterward advanced into France operating as ordinary ground infantry. Though planned for use in its air-landing role for the Battle of Crete, it was replaced by another division at the last minute. It joined Army Group South in Operation Barbarossa (1941), attacking from Romania and, operating exclusively as ordinary ground infantry, helped storm Sevastopol in the Crimea (1942).
The unit was thereafter transferred to Crete for garrison duty in "Fortress Crete" and mop-up operations in the Aegean, playing a major role in the Battle of Leros under the command of Generalmajor Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller.
During September 1943, forces of the unit committed the atrocities of the Viannos massacres.
On 26 April 1944 the divisional commander, Generalmajor Heinrich Kreipe, was abducted by a British Special Operations Executive team led by Major Patrick Leigh Fermor and Captain W. Stanley Moss. Kreipe's car was ambushed at night on the way from the divisional headquarters at Ano Archanes to the Villa Ariadne at Knossos and he was taken cross-country over the mountains to the south coast where he and his captors were picked up by a British vessel near Rodakino on 14 May. This operation was later portrayed in the book Ill Met by Moonlight (1950) written by Moss based on his wartime diaries, later adapted as a film of the same name. In late summer 1944, forces of the division were involved in more atrocities in Anogeia and Amari.
Withdrawn to the mainland in autumn 1944, the 22. Infanterie-Division spent the rest of the war in anti-partisan operations in Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in southeastern Europe, was renamed 22. Volksgrenadier-Division in March 1945, as it withdrew to Slavonia and finally surrendered to Yugoslav forces at the end of the war in May in Slovenia.
The 10th Infantry Division was created in October 1934 under the cover name Wehrgauleitung Regensburg to hide its violation of the Treaty of Versailles. It was renamed the 10th Infantry Division when the establishment of the Wehrmacht was announced publicly in October 1935.
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The 326th Infantry Division was the only Eastern Front veteran division to have fought in the battles of Normandy. It was formed on November 9, 1942, shortly after its return from Southern Russia to serve as an occupation force in France. On May 5, 1943, the division was transformed into a static division. The 326th Infantry Division was destroyed during the Battle of Normandy. A new 326th Volksgrenadier Division was formed on September 4, 1944, in Galanta by redesignation of the new 579th Volksgrenadier Division of the 32nd mobilisation wave. In 1945 the division, separated into two groups, entered U.S. captivity in the Ruhr Pocket and Harz respectively.
A first 277th Infantry Division was ordered to form on May 22, 1940, as part of the 10th mobilisation wave, but this order was rescinded after the French Surrender. A new 277th Infantry Division was formed in Croatia on November 17, 1943, as part of the 22nd mobilisation wave, the division was destroyed in the Battle of Normandy in August 1944. A third, 277th Volksgrenadier Division was formed on September 4, 1944, in Hungary by redesignation of the newly formed 574th Volksgrenadier Division of the 32nd mobilisation wave. In 1945 the division entered U.S. captivity in the Ruhr Pocket.
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The 305th Infantry Division was a German Army unit that saw extensive, front-line action during World War II. This division was present at the Battle of Stalingrad, the Battle of Monte Cassino, and surrendered to U.S. Army's 88th Infantry Division in Northern Italy near Trento in late April 1945.
The 162nd Turkistan Division was a military division that was formed by the German Army during the Second World War. It drew its men from prisoners of war who came from the Caucasus and from Turkic lands further east.
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