340th Volksgrenadier Division (Wehrmacht)
The 340th Infantry Division and later 340 people Grenadier Division was a military major unit of the Wehrmacht.
Division history
The 340 ID was set up in November 1940 as a grassroots Division of the 14th wave formation in the Schleswig in Military District X. It was composed of units of the 68th, 170th Infantry Battalion and the 290th Infantry Division.
From May 1941 to January 1942 she had her first deployment in northern France. On 12 May 1942, the division was transferred to the Eastern Front and the army group subordinated to south. In July 1942, she was with the 4th Panzer Army in the Kiev active. From July 1942 to January 1943 she fought with the 2nd Army at Voronezh and in March 1943 in Kursk. At this time their Iststärke had dropped to 7,200, including its subordinate remnants of the previously battered 377th Infantry Division. From September 1943, the withdrawal from Ukraine of Kiev Zhitomir over to Vinnitsa took place. In November 1943, the remains of the shattered her 327th Infantry Division were placed under (referred to as Division Group 327 ). In the following heavy defense battles, the 340th ID was even smashed and pulled out with a remaining grave thickness of less than 300 men from 10 January 1944 the front. After the reconstruction and reclassification, the division was used from February 13, 1944 again. In Brody, the 340th ID was included in April 1944, but could erupt again. In July 1944 it came again with Brody to an encirclement, this time of a whole army corps ( during the Lviv - Sandomierz operation). However, the division of the encirclement was able to escape by dodging to the south. Subsequently, the Division will smash the extent that the OKH on August 5, 1944 ordered the resolution.
The division was reorganized in September 1944 as 340 people Grenadier Division. The 340th VGD had their operations in December 1944 on the Western Front as part of the I SS Panzer Corps in the Battle of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge and later in 1945 with the XIII. Army Corps in the Eifel and in the fighting between the Rhine and Ruhr. In April 1945, the 340th VGD was as part of the LIII. Army Corps destroyed in the Ruhr pocket.
People
- Theodor Tolsdorff ( born November 3, 1909 Good Lehnarten, East Prussia, † May 25, 1978 in Dortmund)