| 244th Infantry Division | |
|---|---|
| 244. Infanterie-Division | |
 Division insignia, 244th Infantry Division | |
| Active | 8 September 1943 – 7 October 1944 |
| Allegiance |  Nazi Germany |
| Branch | Heer (Wehrmacht) |
| Type | Infantry |
| Size | Division |
| Garrison/HQ | Antwerp (1943) Marseille (1944) |
| Engagements | Operation Dragoon |
The 244th Infantry Division (German : 244. Infanterie-Division) was an infantry division of the German army in World War II.
The 244th Infantry Division was founded on 8 September 1943 as a static division (German: bodenständige Division) in the Antwerp area under control of 15th Army and supervision by Wehrkreis I (East Prussia). Wehrkreis I had formed the Division E for recovering wounded soldiers on 19 June and used this Division E personnel for the formation of the 244th Infantry Division. Additionally, the division was joined by supply units of the former 39th Infantry Division, which had sustained heavy casualties in the southern sectors of the Eastern Front and was subsequently dissolved. [1] : 190 The initial divisional commander was Martin Gilbert. [2]
Initially, the division consisted of Grenadier Regiment 932, 933 and 934, as well as Artillery Regiment 244 and the Division Units 244. The three grenadier regiments contained three battalions each, and Artillery Regiment 244 consisted of three detachments. [1] : 190 In late December 1943, the 244th Infantry Division was assigned to Group Knieß, which in July 1944 became the LXXXV (85th) Army Corps. [3] : 13 Group Knieß was part of the 19th Army starting in January 1944. [1] : 190
On 19 April 1944, the Grenadier Regiments 932 and 934 each received an additional fourth battalion in the form of the former "eastern battalions" (German: Ost-Bataillone) 666 and 681. Starting in May 1944, the 244th Infantry Division was placed under the newly-formed Army Group G. [1] : 190
Following the Allied invasion of northern France ("Operation Overlord") that started on 6 June 1944, seven German infantry divisions were left on garrison duty of the southern French coast in August 1944. These were, from west to east, the 716th, the 198th, the 189th, the 338th, the 244th, the 242nd and 148th Infantry Divisions. [4] : 4 In the summer of 1944, the 244th Infantry Division was tasked with the defense of some 80 km of coastline and staffed with 11,640 personnel. [4] : 18 On 15 August 1944, the Allied landings in southern France ("Operation Dragoon") began with frontal Allied amphibious attacks by the 3rd US Infantry Division, 45th US Infantry Division and 36th US Infantry Division against the positions of the German 242nd Infantry Division. [4] : 37
As the Allied Operation Dragoon coincided with the Allied breakthroughs into the northern French countryside and the encirclement of German forces in the Falaise pocket in northern France, the disembarkment in southern France threatened to cut off all of Army Group G in southern France, including both the 1st Army and the 19th Army (and thus the 244th Infantry Division). [4] : 55
On 17 August at 09:40, orders came from Berlin to Army Group G to withdraw all forces except for those in fortresses or engaged in combat and to link up with Army Group B. One such fortress that was exempted from the withdrawal order was Marseille, thus exempting 244th Infantry Division from the withdrawal order. The LXXXV Corps was ordered by 17th Army commander Friedrich Wiese on 17 August to defend the Toulon–Marseille sector in the face of the rapid advances scored by the US VI Corps (Truscott). The Americans encircled the LXII Army Corps and captured its staff, leaving LXXXV Corps in charge of the remnants of LXII Corps' forces. [4] : 55–57
The division commander, Hans Schäfer, was ordered to defend Marseille without retreat, [2] rendering the 244th Infantry Division as a sacrifice (along with the 242nd Division) to enable the withdrawal of Army Group G. [4] : 58
The French 3rd Algerian Infantry Division sent parts of its forces towards the Battle of Toulon, but marched its Chapius group, including the 7th Algerian Rifle Regiment, towards the city of Marseille on 20 August instead. At this point, the garrison of the city numbered some 13,000 German defenders, including 2,500 Kriegsmarine and 3,900 Luftwaffe personnel, with 244th Infantry Division as the leading army contingent. Schäfer ordered much of the naval personnel transferred from the coastal fortresses into the second line of the land defenses and prepared for battle in the outer defensive belts. By 19 August, the German defenders had withdrawn from most of their positions outside of the city's perimeter. [4] : 62–65
Inspired by the major uprising by the French resistance in Paris on 19 August as well as the imminent arrival of French troops, maquis partisans massively ramped up their activity in the Marseille area, with Schäfer estimating enemy partisans to number as many as 80,000. Partisan activity was especially pronounced in the small towns outside of Marseille, where German attempts to set up forward defenses were regularly ambushed. The main French forces came into strike range on 21 August near Auriol, with the 7th Algerian Rifle Regiment, the 3rd Moroccan Tabors Group and the 1st Combat Command (Aimé Sudre) of the 1st French Armored Division. [4] : 62–65
The French thrust led through the positions of the various regiments of the 244th Infantry Division; Grenadier Regiment 934 battled the 3rd Moroccan Tabors at Cassis, whereas Grenadier Regiment 933 was positioned on the Aubagne crossroads before it was dislodged from there by the 1st Combat Command. Grenadier Regiment 932 guarded the northern outskirts of the city, where it was faced with various companies of the 7th Algerian Rifles. [4] : 68
The city of Marseille surrendered on 28 August. [2] Schäfer was subsequently questioned by British interrogaters. [5] : 180
After the surrender of Marseille on 28 August 1944, the entirety of the 244th Division except for two battalions stopped existing. Only the battalions IV./932 and IV./934 (the two former eastern battalions added to the divisions on 19 April 1944), were at this point stationed, away from the main body of the division, with the IV Luftwaffe Field Corps and thus survived the destruction of the division. They subsequently joined the 19th Army in the Upper Rhine sector, [1] : 190 and were eventually both used in the creation of the Russian Liberation Army. [6] : 229 Starting in August 1944, the division was marked in German records as "status unknown" (German: „Verbleib unbekannt“) and was formally dissolved on 7 October 1944. [1] : 190
| Year | Month | Army Corps | Army | Army Group | Area of operations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1943 | Oct. | Army group reserves | Army Group D | Antwerp (German-occupied Belgium) | |
| Nov./Dec. | Army reserves | 15th Army | |||
| 1944 | Jan.–Apr. | Group Knieß | 19th Army | Marseille (German-occupied France) | |
| May–Jul. | Army Group G | ||||
| Aug. | "Status unknown" | ||||
The Panzergrenadier Division "Großdeutschland", also commonly referred to simply as Großdeutschland or Großdeutschland Division, was an elite combat unit of the German Army that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II.
The 709th Static Infantry Division was a German Army infantry division in World War II. It was raised in May 1941 and used for occupation duties during the German occupation of France in World War II until the Allied invasion. It was on the Normandy coast when the invasion occurred and so fought in the Battle of Normandy. The division was trapped in the Cotentin Peninsula and destroyed in the defense of Cherbourg.
The 9th Panzer Division was a panzer division of the German Army during World War II. It came into existence after 4th Light Division was reorganized in January 1940. The division was headquartered in Vienna, in the German military district Wehrkreis XVII.
The 12th Infantry Division – later known as the 12th Volksgrenadier Division – was a Wehrmacht military unit of Nazi Germany that fought during World War II. The division was formed in 1934. It participated in the invasion of Poland in 1939 and the 1940 campaign in France and the Low Countries. In the Soviet Union, the division joined Operation Barbarossa. The division was destroyed in the Soviet Operation Bagration in the summer of 1944. The division was re-activated in September 1944 and posted to the newly created Western Front.
The Battle of Tannenberg Line or the Battle of the Blue Hills was a military engagement between the German Army Detachment Narwa and the Soviet Leningrad Front. They fought for the strategically important Narva Isthmus from 25 July–10 August 1944. The battle was fought on the Eastern Front during World War II. The strategic aim of the Soviet Estonian Operation was to reoccupy Estonia as a favorable base for the invasions of Finland and East Prussia. Waffen-SS forces included 24 volunteer infantry battalions from the SS Division Nordland, the SS Division Langemarck, the SS Division Nederland, and the Walloon Legion. Roughly half of the infantry consisted of the personnel of the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS. The German force of 22,250 men held off 136,830 Soviet troops. As the Soviet forces were constantly reinforced, their overall casualties are estimated by Estonian historian Mart Laar to be 170,000 dead and wounded.
The German 148th Reserve Division was a German reserve infantry formation during the Second World War. It was made up of three infantry regiments and an artillery regiment. Initially an occupation force in southern France, serving as a depot for rest and rifitting, it was activated as an infantry division and fought in Italy from 1944 to 1945. Redesignated the 148th Infantry Division in September 1944 to fight the allied invasion during Operation Dragoon, it later fought in the Po River battles, surrendering to the Brazilian Expeditionary Force on April 28, 1945, after being encircled in the Battle of Collecchio, near the city of Fornovo di Taro at Galano.
The 3rd Algerian Infantry Division was an infantry division of the Army of Africa which participated in World War II.
The 15th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the German Army during the interwar period and World War II, active from 1934 to 1945.
The 41st Infantry Division, formerly the 41st Fortress Division, was a German Army infantry division in World War II. It was employed on occupation duties in southern Greece, and surrendered to the Yugoslav partisans at the end of the war.
The 85th Infantry Division was a Wehrmacht division used in the Second World War. It participated in the German defence in the Battle of Normandy, and took part in the German counter-offensive in the Ardennes.
The 242nd Infantry Division was an infantry division of the German Army in World War II.
The Battle of Marseille was an urban battle of World War II that took place August 21–28, 1944, and led to the liberation of Marseille by Free French forces under the command of General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny. The groundwork was laid by the Allied invasion of southern France in Operation Dragoon on 15 August 1944 by the United States Seventh Army, with major support from the French First Army.
The 82nd Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in March 1943, based on the 2nd formation of the 321st Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War, including briefly in the Soviet Army.
The 376th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the German Army during World War II, active from 1942 to 1944 in two separate instances.
The 59th Infantry Division(German: 59. Infanteriedivision) was a military division of the Wehrmacht during World War II.
The 159th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the German Heer during World War II. The unit, at times designated Commander of Reserve Troops IX, 159th Division, Division No. 159, and 159th Reserve Division, was active between 1939 and 1945.
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 416th Infantry Division was a German infantry division of World War II.
The 242nd Rifle Division was the lowest-numbered infantry division of the Red Army to be formed from scratch following the German invasion of the USSR. It was largely based on what would become the shtat of July 29, 1941 and was very quickly assigned to the new 30th Army of Western Front. Despite many shortages of equipment and specialist personnel, and a near-complete absence of formation training, the division joined the active army on July 15, thrown into the fighting near Smolensk. In late August and early September it took part on the Front's offensives toward Dukhovshchina, in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to encircle and destroy a large part of the German 9th Army. At the start of Operation Typhoon on October 2 it was defending part of the sector attacked by 9th Army and 3rd Panzer Group south of Bely and was quickly overwhelmed. After fighting in encirclement for most of the rest of the month its remaining men were able to break out and reach Soviet-held territory, but the losses were to too great to justify rebuilding and the division was disbanded.
The 244th Rifle Division was the second of a group of 10 regular rifle divisions formed from cadres of NKVD border and internal troops as standard Red Army rifle divisions, very shortly after the German invasion, in the Moscow Military District. It was largely based on what would become the shtat of July 29, 1941, with several variations. Initially assigned to the 31st Army, it was soon reassigned to 30th Army in Western Front northeast of Smolensk; under this command it took part in the first Dukhovshchina offensive against German 9th Army before being transferred to 19th Army in the third week of August for the second attempt to take this objective. After this failed the division went over to the defense at the boundary between the 19th and 30th Armies, where it was overwhelmed by 9th Army and 3rd Panzer Group at the outset of Operation Typhoon and soon destroyed.