| 24th Infantry Division | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Active | October 1935 – May 1945 |
| Country |  Nazi Germany |
| Branch | Army |
| Type | Infantry |
| Size | Division |
| Engagements | Second World War |
The 24th Infantry Division (German : 24. Infanterie-Division) was a German Army infantry division active in World War II. It served across the Eastern Front in engagements such as the Sieges of Sevastopol and the Leningrad, finally being destroyed in the Courland Pocket in 1945.
The 24th Infantry Division was raised on 15 October 1935 in Chemnitz, and was placed under the command of Lieutenant General Werner Kienitz until April 1938, when command was passed to Lieutenant General Sigismund von Förster. In November, Lieutenant General Friedrich Olbricht was appointed commander. The 171st Infantry Regiment was separated from this division in August 1939 and handed over to the newly activated 56th Infantry Division, while elements of the 24th Infantry's staff were given to 87th Infantry Division. [1]
The division was first deployed into action in September 1939 during the Soviet-German invasion of Poland, as part of X Corps in the newly formed 8th Army. [2] The division attacked through Silesia in south-west Poland, but the components of X Corps began to stretch out over a wide area. Despite Colonel General von Rundstedt warning the 8th Army's commander about the weakness, little was evidently done, as they soon encountered fierce Polish resistance along the Bzura before turning northwards to the river Vistula. [3] [4] On September 5, the division was on the banks of the Warta and attempting to cross the river. Resisting heavy Polish anti-personnel fire, the arrival of the 10th Infantry Division helped the 24th substantially in clearing the banks. The division entered Glinno at the end of the day. [5]
Moving near the village of Piatek with the 30th Infantry Division, and the 1st Panzer Division near the banks of the Vistula, some eight Polish army divisions remained hidden from German intelligence in between them and the 4th Panzer Division outside Warsaw. [5] At the end of the campaign, one-third of the division's dead were assessed to have perished along the Bzura river; 155 men were killed in action and another 433 wounded. [5]
Remaining in occupied Poland until December, the division was then sent back to Eifel as a reserve division for the 12th Army for the duration of the eastern campaign. The following February, Lieutenant General Friedrich Olbricht was replaced by Obernitz. [1]
Although a number of records relating to the 24th Infantry Division were destroyed in a fire, it can be deduced that the actions of the 102nd Regiment were significant enough to earn its regimental commander, Otto von Knobelsdorff, a divisional commendation. [6]
In May 1940, the 12th Army attacked France by entering via Luxembourg; the 24th Division took part as a component of VI Corps. Unfortunately, their advance was slowed thanks to an earlier panzer advance having made driving difficult for mobilized units. Reaching the border with Belgium, the corps did not wait to clear away resistance, resulting in their infantry divisions and the 2nd and 6th Panzer Divisions taking casualties. [7] Over the course of May 15 –17, German forces occupied and reoccupied the village of Stonne as they fought French tanks. The 16th and 24th Infantry Divisions took over from the 10th Panzer Division and Infantry Regiment Großdeutschland. The two occupied the village for the last time at 1745, with French resistance in the area being present until May 25. [7]
In June, it was transferred to VII Corps of the 16th Army, and sent across the Meuse under its new commander, General of the Infantry Hans von Tettau. [1] In July, with the Battle of France over, the positioning of divisions was relaxed and the 24th, now part of the 9th Army's IV Corps, continued to police the country, being moved to the Scheldt estuary along the Belgium-Netherlands border. The division continued to police the estuary in April 1941, albeit now as part of the XXXVII Corps. During the quieting-down period, regiment-level cadres were handed over to the newly activated 113th Infantry Division. [1]
In May 1941, the division was moved back to occupied Poland, being stationed in Galicia with IV Corps, which was now part of the 17th Army. The following month the Wehrmacht made a major assault on the Soviet Union, with the 17th Army, part of Army Group South, attacking and occupying the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia. [8] August saw the 24th Division's temporary assignment to XXXXIV Corps of the 1st Panzergruppe as it took part in the Mass-encirclement of Soviet troops south of Uman; the next month saw the division's return to IV Corps as it took Kiev. During the Battle of Kiev, the 24th Infantry Division attacked from Kremenchuk in the south-east along the Dnieper, assisting in the encirclement of the Ukrainian capital. [9] The division remained as an occupying force until the end of October; Army Group South, meanwhile continued onwards to the black sea without it. In their time as an occupational force, some level of confusion was present amongst the men, who were baffled by the Soviet's technological sophistication in relation to propaganda portrayals, particularly with educational material. [10] On October 15 a report from the division was filed regarding the Soviet POWs they were transporting - 1,000 had been killed from exhaustion and executions in the long marches. Also in the report was a complaint over the state of the POW camps; Oleksandriya's camp #182 held accommodation for only 20,000, with Novoukrainka only 10,000 - this was not enough to house the impressive figures the Germans had already encircled with their Blitzkrieg tactics. This report was brought up in a war crimes trial that included General of the Infantry Karl von Roques, who received the report. [11]
Re-joining Army Group South in the Crimea, the division was moved to the 11th Army's LIV Corps. With the Soviet forces in the region too well-defended for Erich von Manstein's army to defeat, the axis forces instead besieged the city-turned-fortress of Sevastopol until June 1942, when they finally made an assault on the port. On June 9 the division took control of the Mekenziyevy Mountain train station, and Fort Stalin on the 13th. On the 17th, aided much by elements of the 197th Sturmgeschütz Battalion, forts "Dnepr"; "GPU" and "Molotov" fell on the same day. [12]
Bartenyevka was captured on the 18th, [13] followed by an anti-aircraft battery on Malenkhov hill and an armoured train later in June. On June 28, elements of the 24th Infantry and the 22nd Air Landing Infantry Division crossed a stretch of the North Bay in an operation to flank the Red Army's rear. The next day, the rest of the two divisions crossed the Severnaya Bay to continue the assault. By the end of the siege the division had lost 30% of its men: recorded at being 11,148 on June 1, by July 1 it was at 8,811. [1] [14]
Shortly after their success in the Crimea, the 24th Infantry Division was sent northwards as part of Army Group A with the 11th Army's XXX Corps to participate in Operation Nordlicht. [15]
However, the Soviet 8th Army broke seven kilometres into the German lines around Leningrad from just west of Gaytolovo as part of the Sinyavino Offensive; as such, the 24th and 170th Infantry Divisions; 5th Mountain and 28th Jäger Divisions first had to reinforce the 11th and 18th Army elements already present before their own arrival on the 28th. The following month the division then participated in the counter-offensive, moving from the south to pocket the Soviet force. [16] [17]
On February 19, 1943, the 102nd Grenadier Regiment launched an attack on the Kaliningrad town of Novokolhoznoe (also known as "Tschernyschewo"). The muddy terrain made the attack largely-ineffective, and two support tanks attached to the 502nd Heavy Panzer Battalion were stuck. [18] The division went through a command change the following week, with General of the Mountain troops Kurt Versock, an Iron Cross recipient, [19] taking over. [1] In March 1943 Soviet activity around Lake Ladoga was revived as sixteen Red Army divisions prepared a pincer movement in the hopes of recapturing the Kirov railway line desperately needed for supplying the city. Resisting the attack were the 24th and 215th Infantry Divisions; the 4th SS Polizei Division and the Spanish "Blue Division", which all made up L Corps.[ citation needed ]
The division remained along the Volkhov Front into January 1944. On January 16 the Soviet VI Rifle Corps made contact with a regiment of the 24th's, which was sent by XXXVIII Corps to defend the Novgorod railway lines needed for transport. With more pressure from Soviet forces, Colonel General Georg Lindemann ordered German forces in the area to abandon Novgorod; the division retreated in response. [20] With the immediate area around Leningrad re-captured by the Soviets, the 18th Army was pushed westward to Pskov.
During the retreat, Lieutenant General Versock was wounded, and his role was replaced by Lieutenant General Hans Freiherr von Falkenstein, while the division moved southward to the 16th Army's position in Polotsk in April. [21] [22] The division went through yet another command change as the situation became dire: General Kurt Versock retook command in June. [1]
On 22 June the 1st Baltic Front began pushing into the German lines at Vitebsk; in reaction, the division was given to Army Group North to defend Polotsk with the 3rd Panzer Army and 909th Assault Gun Brigade. [22] Colonel General Lindemann, the new commander-in-chief of Army Group North Ukraine, ordered both the 24th and 190th Infantry Divisions to defend his far-right flank from the oncoming Soviet forces. The following day, the 24th Anti-Tank Battalion engaged the Soviet I Tank Corps while the 24th Engineer Regiment charged into enemy lines to cover the 252nd Infantry Division's retreat. While doing so the division came under heavy fire in the forests, requiring the assistance of the 909th Assault Gun Brigade and the 519th Heavy Tank Destroyer Battalion. Under heavy fire and losing contact with divisions to his left and right, Versock withdrew to the north to re-join I Corps on the night of June 24. The following day Adolf Hitler ordered I Corps to halt their withdrawal, and extended their front by sixty miles, and that Army Group North was to counterattack to the forests in the south. [23]
On June 27, the division succeeded in delaying the advance of the Soviet 6th Guards Army at Obol, protecting the left flank of the 16th Army; the city, itself was lost later that day, however. On June 30, Polotsk was reinforced, per Adolf Hitler's orders, in order to stop the Soviet's 43rd Army. The 4th Shock Army and 6th Guards Army reached the city outskirts on July 2 and the city centre the following day. [22]
August saw a brief return to the 18th Army, who remained in Latvia, before being sent back to the 16th Army in October under Major General Harald Schultz; Versock had been promoted to commander of XXXXIII Corps in September. [21] In October, it and the 18th Army were encircled within the Courland Pocket; both armies remained sealed by the Soviets, who did not consider too much of a threat, [24] as "Army Group Courland" until their surrenders at the end of the war on May 9, 1945; Schultz was taken prisoner and was not released until 1955. [1]
|
|
|
The 1st Infantry Division was an infantry division that notably served in World War II as part of the Heer of Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht. It had been one of the original infantry divisions of the Reichswehr.
The 1st Panzer Army was a German tank army that was a large armoured formation of the Wehrmacht during World War II.
The 8th Panzer Division was a formation of the WehrmachtHeer. The division was formed by reorganising the 3rd Light Division in October 1939. It was transferred to the west and fought in the Battle of France, in May 1940, and the German invasion of the Balkans in April 1941. Soon after the division advanced towards Leningrad under Army Group North in Operation Barbarossa, and would remain on the eastern front for the remainder of the war. Staying on defensive fronts, it saw action in the relief of Kholm in 1942, Orel and the withdrawals of Army Group Centre in 1943, until transferred to Army group South. The division then fought in a series of retrograde movements, back through Ukraine, into Hungary and finally into Silesia and surrender in May 1945.
The 12th Panzer Division was an armoured division in the German Army, established in 1940.
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 3rd Panzer Division was an armoured division in the German Army, the Wehrmacht, during World War II.
The XXXIX Panzer Corps was a German panzer corps which saw action on the Western and Eastern Fronts during World War II.
The 46th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the German Army during World War II that fought on the Eastern Front. Towards the end of the war, it became the 46th Volksgrenadier Division.
The Battle of Raseiniai was a large tank battle that took place in the early stages of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The battle was fought between the elements of the German 4th Panzer Group and the Soviet 3rd Mechanized Corps with the 12th Mechanised Corps, in Lithuania, 75 km (47 mi) north-west of Kaunas. The Red Army tried to contain and destroy the German troops that had crossed the Neman River but was unable to prevent them from advancing.
The 56th Infantry Division was a German infantry division which fought during World War II.
The 6th Luftwaffe Field Division was an infantry division of the Luftwaffe branch of the Wehrmacht that fought in World War II. It was formed using surplus ground crew of the Luftwaffe and served on the Eastern Front from late 1942 to June 1944 when it was destroyed during Operation Bagration.
The 227th Infantry Division named "Rheinisch-Westfälische" was created on 26 August 1939 in Krefeld. The division was deployed for the last time in February 1945 in the Tuchola Forest.
The 268th Infantry Division was a German Army division active and operating during the Second World War.
The 36th Infantry Division was a German infantry formation of World War II. It was formed in Kaiserslautern on 1 October 1936. During World War II it was mobilized in August 1939, as part of the first wave. It was later reorganized and re-designated the 36th Infantry Division (mot) in November 1940. It was then de-motorized, reorganized and re-designated the 36th Infantry Division on 1 May 1943. The division was destroyed at Bobruysk in June 1944 during the Soviet Operation Bagration. It was reformed on 3 August 1944 as the 36th Grenadier Division and renamed the 36th Volksgrenadier Division in October 1944.
The 125th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the Heer, the army of Nazi Germany, in World War II.
The 82nd Infantry Division was a German Army infantry division in World War II. The 82nd was part of the sixth Aufstellungswelle of German infantry divisions.
The 31st Infantry Division was a German infantry division of the Army during World War II. It participated in the invasion of Poland in 1939 then the invasion of France and the Low Countries in 1940. As part of Panzergruppe 2. of Army Group Centre, it was involved in the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. After hard fighting throughout 1941 and 1942 it joined the 9th Army and fought in the Battle of Kursk in July and August 1943. Along with the rest of the 9th Army, the division conducted a fighting withdrawal for the remainder of 1943, during which it sustained heavy casualties. In the early stages of the Soviet Operation Bagration of June to August 1944, the 31st Infantry Division was destroyed, a fate which subsequently befell most of Army Group Centre. The division was officially disbanded on 18 July 1944.
Gottfried Frölich was a German general in the Wehrmacht during World War II, having served on the Western Front during World War I. A recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, he briefly commanded the 36th Infantry Division and then later led the 8th Panzer Division. He was relieved of his command for its performance during battles in Hungary in early 1945. He surrendered to British forces in May 1945 and was released three years later. He died in 1959.
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 XXVI Army Corps was a Wehrmacht army corps during World War II. It existed from 1939 to 1945. It was also known as Corps Wodrig during the Invasion of Poland.
| Authority control databases: National |
|---|
