Great German Panzergrenadier Division

Regional recruitment and formation based on specific areas was a model of the birth of German armored forces in World War II, but a few elite German armored forces were not formed according to this model, among which the first-class trump card of the National Defence Force, the Greater German Panzergrenadier Division, was one of them.

The history of this unit can be traced back to 19 19. After the armistice, the situation in Germany was turbulent. In order to resist the harassment of the left-wing revolutionary forces from Poland and the right-wing organization "Freedom Corps", armed forces like the Berlin Guards came into being. Although the threat was weakened, it remained as a guard of honor and security until 192 1. Shortly thereafter, when Weimar Germany was allowed to rebuild its army, a "new force" appeared.

At this time, the "garrison" mainly undertook a lot of security and etiquette work in the imperial capital Berlin. It has seven companies, and each company's personnel are drawn from one of the seven infantry divisions allowed to be retained by the Treaty of Versailles at that time, without favoritism.

1934, after Hitler came to power, it was renamed "Berlin Garrison" several times, and at the same time, 1 direct company was added to become 8 companies. 1937 changed its name again-"Berlin Guards". General von Fritsch, then commander-in-chief of the German Army, ordered every unit to send the best soldiers with military training to serve in the Berlin garrison. 1939, Hitler decided to give this unit the title of "Great Germany" because its officers and men included people from different parts of Germany. The official order was issued by General Von Blauch, the successor of General Von Fritsch, on June 12. Since then, the regiment has been named the "Great German Infantry Regiment", and the officers and men of the regiment have been awarded a unique honorary armband and a badge with the word "GD".

Throughout the summer of 1939, the Dade regiment was in a state of reform and training, and Jackson Yee benefited a lot from the training during this period. A week before the blitzkrieg against Poland, the Fuehrer's Guard was formed in this regiment and gradually developed into a battalion-level unit separated from the Great German Regiment.

At the same time, 98 divisions were mobilized, ready to attack Poland at any time. From June to early August, the troops moved quietly between the east and west positions. On September 1 day, the attack began, and the troops of 37 divisions went straight into the hinterland of Poland. Only the newly formed Great German Regiment is still in the process of transformation and training, and it seems that it is not ready for battle. As a result, the Great German Regiment missed the first stage of the campaign. However, the Fuehrer's guard battalion took part in 29 days of fighting.

1September 6, 939, the order came to make emergency preparations for the German army to airdrop Poland, but this plan was cancelled because the Soviet army sent troops to eastern Poland. In June of 5438+07, the troops were transferred back to Berlin, and the establishment reform of this period also ended. One of the companies was transferred to the capital to take charge of security work. The remaining troops were transported to the south of Munich on June 65438+1October 2 1 for further training and transformation. Before the start of 1 1, the Great German Regiment had been shaped into an elite force with strict discipline and was fully prepared for the battle.

However, it happened that this time was a temporary respite on the European battlefield. After Warsaw surrendered on September 29, all Polish Germans were transferred to the western front to prepare for the war with Poland's allies Britain and France. From June 6th165438+1October 6th165438+1October, the Great German Regiment was transferred from montfort to Westborg under the protection of Panzer CorpsNo. 19. This unit has just participated in the Polish campaign, and its commander is heinz guderian, a famous tank expert.

Soon after, two motorcycle assault barracks were added. The light bridging brigade and the 43rd engineering battalion with three companies are their specialties in mine clearance, destruction and bridging. From 1939, the Great German Regiment became a reinforced regiment with four well-trained battalions, and under the command of Colonel Stockhausen, it was making active preparations for the upcoming war on the Western Front.

After a well-known silent "sit-in" in winter, the Germans were fully rested and supplemented. The armored forces in the Polish campaign were characterized by huge losses, and the new destructive blitzkrieg tactics needed to be improved. In the last week of January, the German Army Corps moved from its position in montfort to Moser, which is 0/00 km southwest of Kloc, overlooking the Ardennes Mountains. Ardennes, with many forests and hills, is located in the south of Belgium and the north of maginot line. It is considered as a "tank restricted area" by Britain and France. In order to finally perfect the important details of the campaign, the legion retreated to Zell. Time passed slowly while waiting, and nothing important happened. In addition to the German regiment 16 company in early April, the newly transferred 640th assault artillery battalion was mainly equipped with Stug Ⅲ Ⅲ assault guns, one of the early types of assault guns.

In the brewing process of 1940 invading Norway and Denmark on April 9, 1940, the regiment was used as a reserve and a warning force, but the bloated 150 allied division once again chose to remain silent. Denmark fell one day. Although Norway's resistance lasted until June, as early as mid-April, the Germans had controlled most of the area, and the current commander of the Grand German Corps, Graf Schwann, had realized that that moment was coming.

Before May 1940, the Germans were ready to attack again, and the 2.5 million troops on the western front were ready to go. Hitler promulgated the "Manstein Plan" and appointed General Lund Stedt to command the A Army Group. This plan is a revision of the traditional plan put forward by the Supreme Command of the National Defence Force, with armored troops, motorized troops, artillery and supply troops as the top priority of the "blitzkrieg".

The assault began on1May, 940 10. At that time, large-scale air raids were carried out on air bases in the Netherlands and Belgium, so that paratroopers occupied the important Modich River ferry. The 9th armored division of Bok entered the Netherlands and went straight to the densely populated "Dutch fortress" area, where a large number of Dutch troops were assembled. In order to join forces with the French Seventh Army, the British Expeditionary Force crossed Belgium to support the Dutch and Belgians. Belgian allies retreated to the Del River and established a new line of defense according to its composition. 14 The Netherlands fell. Although the Allies achieved a little success in delaying tactics at the beginning, Lundetai Stedt had already pocketed the money. The Army Group A advancing in the middle only met the resistance of four light cavalry divisions (Ardennes hunting cavalry) and 10 hastily formed infantry divisions. Kleist's two armored groups carried out a quick and sudden attack, and broke into the Ardennes area with almost no loss and crossed the Moz River.

With the support of the artillery and engineers of the 10 armored division, the main force of the Great German Regiment attacked the fortifications in southern Belgium through Luxembourg, while some troops of the 3rd Battalion had parachuted. Lundstedt and his officers were aware of some French theories: it was difficult to launch a large-scale attack in the Ardennes. On the first day, it crossed the unsuspecting northern Luxembourg. On the second day, the German army still maintained this momentum, but neither the French infantry nor the Belgian cavalry made any progress. 1 1 Before dusk, guderian's tanks had arrived in Bologna on the Simons River. It was here the next day that the regiment tasted the taste of war for the first time and had some small battles with some remnants of Belgium. Although a broken bridge temporarily hindered its progress, it was robbed the next day. Pass through Belgium and continue south. Along the north bank of the river, the German army corps passed through the Sedan forest and approached the Moz River in Sedan.

In the middle of Army Group A, guderian and Reinhardt are going to cross the Mozi River on 13. Reinhardt's troops may be in Mundell and guderian's troops in the bend of the Selimozhe River, which is a gap in the French defense. As a result, the honor of winning the first bridgehead position was won by erwin rommel's 7th Armored Division, and they successfully crossed the river in Denan at dawn on 13. Further south, although Reinhardt and guderian didn't gather enough troops for the storm, they received orders to attack in the afternoon, hoping to enter France before they were ready. Although the attack supported by hundreds of planes made the French defense a little flustered, the Germans paid a high price. In the first wave, almost half of the soldiers were wiped out by French artillery and machine guns. After the siege of Sedang, the German regiment raided in two places, with the 7th company heading west and the main force heading east.

When the Germans were advancing, General Huntziger, the regional commander of the French army, rushed back to the right wing of the invading army of guderian with cavalry, but the second armor quickly reached the Ardennes Canal and seized two intact bridges.

After crossing the Moz River, the Dade Legion belonged to the 1 Armored Division and advanced southward. At this time, the assault engineer barracks left the army and moved to the western highlands, where they could overlook palsson. They were attacked by French cars and tanks during the road movement to the west. The main force crossing palsson encountered and contained a French armored force in the south of the town.

So far, the breakthrough in Saidang has completely disintegrated the position of the main allied forces in Belgium, but many ways have been tried to delay the penetration of this armored part, but no counterattack has prevented the victory in the next four days. As one of the actions to consolidate the position at the bridgehead of the Mose River, the German Legion fought fiercely with the 55th, 6th1Division and the 3rd Armored Division of the French Army in the southeast of Altai Mountain near Si Tong Heights, and the fighting lasted for two whole days until 65438.

On the way from Sedan to the English Channel, Krister made amazing progress. /kloc-In May of 0/8, he conquered San Quentin halfway, and the next day he arrived in Amiens and Dawrens, 40 kilometers away from the Strait. On May 20th, Abbeville fell, and when the contact between the British Expeditionary Force and the headquarters of Seburg was cut off, the actual intention of the German army now was to face the strait. On the same day that the German army corps began to March on St. Omer, the British commander Rod Gott ordered the expeditionary force to stick to the line from the south of Dunkirk to Arras in an attempt to stop the Germans from advancing from the north. He tried to push south from arras, but the original French support disappeared and the attack failed completely.

Dunkirk has fallen into the pocket of the Germans. The fragile canal defense line in the south is struggling to support the pressure from the A army, while in the east, the B army, which came directly from Belgium, is about to break through the Belgian army on the verge of collapse, and the expeditionary force is in danger. In Army Group A, the Great German Regiment launched an attack on the British defense line in southern Dunkirk on May 24th, and before May 26th, it had established a bridgehead position across the canal in Saint Pierre. On the same day, the Englishman Rod Gott was ordered to lead the expeditionary force to retreat from Dunkirk, and that night's retreat began in this narrow area. On 27th and 28th, Holt and Hizley were attacked, while fighting continued in southern Dunkirk, but the Belgians surrendered. Until now, this is a controversial topic. Hitler stopped the attack of armored forces, but entrusted the destruction task of the British expeditionary force to Goering's air force. This decision is considered by historians to be extremely flawed. The Germans turned to the south, where the French hid on the Somme and Aina rivers. The extremely important bridgehead position established on the Somme when the Germans advanced to the English Channel posed a great threat to the hastily constructed "Wei Gang Defense Line". On June 4, the regiment moved to Amiens, and the French coastal defense concentrated its main force to prevent the Germans from occupying the channel pier and cutting off British aid.

On June 5th, Bok's Army Group B launched an attack from the Wei Gang line in the northwest of Paris. The Great German Regiment is temporarily under the command of 10 armored division. On June 6th, he arrived in the south of Amiens with the 86th and 69th Infantry Regiments, and attacked the French positions the next day. While the first and second battalions were fighting, the third battalion arrived in Rossinore, joined the engineering assault company and launched a joint attack on the French defenders in the northeast of the town.

Next, after a decisive breakthrough in the Weigang line, the regiment turned to attack the French left on the Einar River, pursued the enemy to the Watts River, and launched a 9-day main attack on Lundstedt along the Einar River. Although the French organized strong resistance, they had to retreat to the banks of the Marne. The next day, with the tanks on their exposed flanks, Goodall broke through Sharon's line, and Paris was declared undefended.

On June 5438+00, when Bock arrived at the Seine below Paris, the Great German Regiment took part in a more intense battle in the south of Amiens. Although Watts Bridge was bombed, most of Kleist's troops rushed to northeast guiscard to support Army Group A.. On June 13, the delegation arrived in Paris via the Seine River above Cousy, Villier and Villeneuve. On June 15, he crossed the Seine River and continued to pursue the remnants of the second and fourth armies of the French army to the south. /kloc-in June of 0/7, guderian's armored forces reached the Swiss border, completely cutting off the back road of 500,000 French troops in maginot line and making peace in France.

While the negotiations were going on, the German regiment continued to advance southward and occupied Lyon on 19. As an occupying force, the regiment had a rare rest time in Lyon-one month. Arrived in Paris on July 6, stopped briefly in the capital, joined another company, and assembled into a motorized unit on June 17.

On July 26th, the Great German Corps went to Comar and Scretz Tower in Alsace to prepare the "Sea Lion Project", which was postponed indefinitely until June 26th, 10. During this period, the regiment was reorganized on a large scale, and the original heavy transport battalion was changed into 17 company and 20 company, and another mechanized artillery unit joined in early September. On June+10 in 5438, a motorcycle engineering company became 18 company. From the middle of 10 to the end of the year, the regiment was transferred to Valdahon training camp near the Swiss border to prepare for the training of Felix project. 1 1 month, this unit was expanded again and an air defense company was added.

By the end of 1940, the Great German Regiment had won a high reputation in the French campaign. In many important battles, the soldiers' perseverance and high training level have been reflected with little loss. At the beginning of the Western Front War, the regiment had 3,900 people, and the final casualties totaled 1, 108, including 22 deaths1,830 injuries and 57 missing.

The materials of the people lost in France have been completely replenished from 1940- 194 1 from summer to winter. During this period, the recruits were well trained and their equipment was tested. Although it was expensive, it brought a lot of rich combat experience and friendship with comrades-in-arms to the German army, which played a huge role in the first year of the Russian military campaign. After spending the winter in Valdahon training camp on the Swiss border, in the first few months of the new year, the Great German Corps went to Valdahon and the nearby Berf training camp for a period of intensive training. Except for a few senior officers, few people know the plan, that is, most officers attack Sue.

As early as June 1940, Hitler was convinced of the strategic value of attacking the Soviet Union. First, refuse to form an alliance with Britain; Secondly, obtaining "living space" is a fraudulent excuse for war; Finally, he was convinced of the Soviet Union's expansion ambition in Europe. Since then, the Supreme Division of the National Defence Force has begun to make an invasion plan, and the expanding hope of victory in this process has overshadowed the deterioration of the British side.

194 1 In the summer of, Hitler decided to March into Yugoslavia and Greece. On April 4th, the German Army Corps left Berf by train, arrived in Vienna, and then passed through Rabe, Budapest, Segudin, and finally arrived in Romania, where it belonged to 1 Panzer Corps, and was ordered to attack Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia, from the northeast, where it joined the large forces. On April 6th, 1 1, the regiment entered Yugoslavia via Alaide and Tengsifa, but did not leave. 1 1 On the evening of Sunday, a SS lieutenant raised the swastika at the German Embassy in Belgrade, and the German armored vanguard troops entered the city the next day. Subsequently, the First Battalion of the Great German Regiment also entered Belgrade, and from then until mid-July, it has been stationed as a security force in Vilka, Fonda and Vischer on the east bank of the Danube.

The occupation of Nancy prompted Hitler to revise the original attack plan on Soviet Russia, which was postponed from May 15 to the end of June. In mid-May, the regiment was ordered to take a train to Tete-Troborg area in Lohden, southeastern Germany, where it stayed until June 15, and was ordered to enter the southeast of Lower Warsaw. This will be the starting point of the attack, and the Great German Regiment will become the reserve of the Second Armored Cluster. The armored cluster inherited the excellent qualities of the armored cluster in the French campaign and became a real mobile force, but the dull conservatives in the General Staff denied its status as a "well-trained force". The four clusters were ready on the eve of the war. The number of Germans was about 3.05 million, plus 750,000 troops from Finland and Romania, 3,350 tanks, 7 184 guns and 600,000 cars. These troops are organized into three army groups, the Northern Army Group, the Central Army Group and the Southern Army Group, supported by 3,000 aircraft. German high-level officials agreed that the key to the Soviet-German war was the use of armored clusters, but Hitler was persuaded that although armored forces should be pioneers, they must maintain close cooperation with infantry like classic battles in order to form an encirclement before the Soviet troops retreated to Dnieper River.

On June 22, this huge army poured out to the Soviet Union on the front line of 1800 km, and the Soviet Union was unprepared for it. The Great German Regiment, which came from the south of Warsaw and belonged to Bok Central Army Group, crossed the border on 27th and 28th, and followed the 7th Armored Division to the target-Moscow.

On the 29th, the regiment set out from Stoke, Baiali, and fought the besieged Soviet troops in Slonim. On July 3rd, it sent an army from Balanovici, crossed the unbearable northern border Pripyat swamp, and headed for Minsk, where another big siege captured the Soviet army with1.5000. Continuing eastward, the German regiment fought a great battle in borisov and Balasi, He Na, where Napoleon was defeated. The soldiers could vaguely see the wooden pier built by Napoleon in the water. When the regiment went further into Soviet Russia, wars became more and more frequent from the Dnieper River in the north of Mogilev.

Here, the Great German Regiment joined the armored vanguard, belonging to the 10 armored division that forcibly crossed the river. In July 1 1, they began to cross the river by force, and for the next five days, both sides were sawing for the bridgehead position. On June 16, after getting rid of the shackles of tug-of-war, the regiment continued to advance to support the 4 th Armoured Army of Mistislav near Yelinia, and launched an attack on Soviet positions on June 2 1 22. On July 30, the regiment joined the attack on the road leading to the north of Dorogobzh, and met with stubborn resistance in Ustinova. In vasco, many wars and actions took place in southern Ye Lina. At the end of July and the beginning of August, the heat wave hit people. After more than a month of fighting, the great German army finally had a chance to rest-in Dankovo-vasco from August 6 to 8. After entering the defensive position, it defended a prominent part. The front line of this prominent part of the Central Army Group, which is more than 360 kilometers wide, is embedded in Soviet positions from the west of Yelinia. On August 7, 850,000 Soviet troops were captured in Smolensk. By the end of the month, the fierce fighting in the area around the Wo-Tsorovka-Rudner River in vasco gradually weakened.

As soon as the Soviet-German war started, the war spread to the south of Smolensk with rapid progress and sporadic small-scale fighting. Crossing the flat and empty plains in central Russia requires the support of artillery and armored forces, where the assault guns and artillery units of the Great German Regiment show their magical powers.

The fighting on the southern front was much fiercer, and the well-prepared Soviet army limited the progress of Lundstedt and Kleist. Contrary to the more discerning General Staff, they believe that the biggest goal should be in Moscow. They predicted that the war would end sooner or later, and Hitler was not encouraged. He decided to separate his troops from the central army group and attack the budyonny western defense line in Kiev. On August 25th, the Second Army and the Second Armored Cluster turned from the flank of the Central Army Group to the south. On September 1 day, the Great German Regiment went south, passing through Roslav, Lukavica and starodub. Crossing the Jesna River in Novgorod-Sevsky area, fierce fighting took place in the northeast of the city, establishing a reliable bridgehead position, and then marching further south to Gukov before September 8. The next day, it broke through the Semo River in Fuli, Phuket, but encountered stubborn resistance in the process of establishing a beachhead position until 13, and continued to push south. The regiment moved to Skikva, Konotop and Bilopier, which is the northern wing of Timoshenko's western line. The March was delayed by heavy rain and mud, but before 16, it came from the corner of the Dnieper River in the north. The main forces of the First Army and the Second Army meet at150km south of Kiev. 19, Kiev fell, and seven Soviet troops in the encirclement were annihilated. In addition to the loss of Uman in the south, nearly1500,000 people were wiped out.

After receiving Hitler's order to attack Moscow again, Bok moved eastward on June 2nd 10, surrounded Bryansk and Viaggi, and captured 663,000 Soviet troops. When autumn rain came, the German army advanced slowly to Moscow, and the great German army got a rare rest time in orel on the banks of the Oka River. I set out on 23rd and arrived at a campsite in the northeast of Tseske, which was disgusting. It has been strengthened for the next day. /kloc-in the last week of October, as the temperature dropped rapidly, the German army stopped at Tula, less than 90 kilometers from Moscow, but there were more and more battles along the way, which became more and more difficult to fight.

In the northwest, the Germans were only 40 kilometers away from the Soviet capital on 10/0/October 20, but their advantages had already been exhausted. Zhukov has taken over the Yugoslav capital affairs in Moscow, sent reinforcements from the Far East, and concentrated a large number of surviving soldiers. Many factors prevented guderian's armored forces from attacking Moscow through Tula. As an important force, the Great German Regiment fought in Evremov and Tula. At the end of the month, the Germans tried to surround Tula from the north. The regiment broke through the Soviet lines east of Ryazan and Kahila, but was quickly repelled, losing most of the troops of 17 Company. Before February 5, 65438, most Germans reached the limit of patience, and the vehicles could not start in the cold.

On February 7th, 65438, zhukov launched a fierce counterattack against Bok's exhausted central army group on the 65km front. The German army, which was on the defensive near Evremov and Tula, resisted the offensive for two weeks, and then was ordered to reach the boekhoff River around orel in the north.

Although the Germans were not equipped enough and insisted on fighting in the harsh winter of the Soviet Union, Hitler still refused to retreat. However, under the attack of Soviet Li Ling, the Germans in the south and north of Moscow suddenly collapsed, and this attack continued to expand until the entire defense line of the Central Army Group was trembling. In the last week of the end of the year, in the defense war north of the Oka River and the Burkhoff River, the Great German Regiment was once again ordered to repair the weak points of the defense line. When the breakthrough of the Soviet North-South Line threatened the whole Central Army Group to be surrounded, the group was divided into several units to support a relatively isolated infantry division.

Although I survived, this year was too difficult for the great German legion. Although it survived the hot summer, muddy autumn and even harsh winter in the Soviet Union, the price was painful, including more than 900 experienced officers and men killed and more than 3,000 injured.

The new year heralds a stronger Soviet army. They have accumulated more combat experience, better tanks, planes and artillery, and received more support from Britain and the United States. Behind the German lines, guerrillas are increasingly threatening the long supply lines. Throughout the winter in Berlin, the feedback to the Moscow campaign was quick and firm. Hitler appointed himself as the supreme commander and dismissed 35 generals, including guderian and hoppner.

At the beginning of 1942, in the orel section of the Oko River, the German large corps fought several small battles with all the personnel and equipment unaffected by the weather. In order to contain the enemy, an attack was launched near Groduk in 654381October 20th. After ten days of hard fighting with the enemy through guerrilla tactics in the suburbs and forest areas, Groduk finally dragged it safely to February, but it exhausted the blood of the regiment. As early as February 2, the third battalion was dissolved, and personnel and equipment were added to other battalions. As part of the battle plan to clean up the boekhoff-Agnaya Railway, on February 9th, the Great German Regiment launched an attack on Welch. The 1st and 2nd Battalions crossed Novokinski, Groduk and Vonde Djevka on the north side of the railway and arrived in Griese on 15, and the casualties increased again. By 19, the remaining two panzergrenadier battalions can only be reduced to one. The next wave of attacks was in Sofka and Jurova, after which the regiment was deployed in this area. At the same time, its troops were supplemented and further expanded into the Greater German Motorized Infantry Division.

1943 in may, the division was renamed from motorized infantry division to armored grenadier division. In fact, from this time on, the Great German Division was already an armored division. Because in the German establishment of World War II, only the armored division was equipped with an armored regiment, while the ordinary armored grenadier division had only one armored battalion. However, the Great German Division has a complete armored regiment, and its fighting capacity is far stronger than that of ordinary armored divisions. The armored regiment of the ordinary armored division has only two battalions, while the armored regiment of the Great German Division has three battalions. The third battalion was actually equipped with "Tiger" tanks, which were usually organized into independent heavy armored battalions.

1September, 943, the Great German Division retreated to the other side of the Donets River with the Germans. Further weakened in the fierce battle, the division was transferred back to France to rest. 1944 once again returned to the eastern front and fought Romania on the southern battlefield. At the end of July, he moved to the north and fought in Poland and East Prussia. In June+February, 5438, all the 3rd Battalion of its armored regiment were replaced with new heavy tanks of Tiger King. 1945 in may, the german master regiment was destroyed by the powerful Soviet army, and only a few soldiers fled to the western front to surrender to the British army.

The great German Panzergrenadier Division can be said to be the living history of the German army. During the whole World War II, 84 people won the Knights Cross, and the "Reich" division of SS became the two divisions with the highest honor. The great German Panzergrenadier Division continued the tradition of absorbing only the most good soldier from the beginning until the end of the war, and continued to recruit outstanding young people from all over the empire. Every German soldier is proud to serve in the great German division. If he wants to be a member of the division, he must first do well in other German troops and prove himself to be an elite in the army. If he can become an armored soldier in the division, he can be said to be the elite of the soldiers.