11th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
The 11th Infantry Division was a military major unit of the Wehrmacht in the Third Reich.
Division history
The 11th Infantry Division was established in October 1934 under the codename infantry leader I under the rearmament of the Wehrmacht initially to 21 infantry divisions from parts of the 1st Division of the Reichswehr. After the introduction of conscription and the unmasking of the associations they made with the 1st and 21st Infantry Division, First Army Corps in the military district I ( Königsberg ). The division was stationed in East Prussia in the garrisons Olsztyn, Ortel Castle, Bishop's Castle, Sensburg and salvation mountain. In addition to East Prussia and Ermländern served in it particularly the Rhineland and Westphalia.
The Division moved in mid-August 1939 in the space Neidenburg, oversaw the Polish border at Soldau and passed on 1 September 1939 southeastward Neidenburg at 4.45 clock the line of scrimmage, where they forced the breakthrough through the Polish defenses direction Mlawa on 3 September 1939 and in the following days to the south of Warsaw pushed forward.
After the resistance in Poland had collapsed, the Division took over first to the beginning of November 1939 backup jobs and then moved to regroup and further training in the area of Remscheid.
At the start of the Western campaign on 10 May 1940, the division was ordered as Army Group Reserve to Maastricht, then thrust through Holland, Belgium and northern France via Lille to the south of the Somme front to track from there along the Loire evasive French troops to Southwest France. Subsequently, the Division took over security responsibilities to the Atlantic coast.
On 3 March 1941, the Division moved again to East Prussia, where they as part of Operation Barbarossa under Army Group North in the attack took part on 22 June 1941 on the Soviet Union. After the capture of Riga Siauliai and the Division forced a crossing of the Dvina and eventually reached over the old Russian border protrudable end of September Novgorod on Ilmensee. The Division went north Tschudowo defense over and then took part in the attack along the Volkhov part. The division in late December 1941, taken back into the space between the Volkhov and Kusinka. In the summer of 1942 she participated in the defense battle for the bridgehead Kirishi and in numerous defense battles south part of Lake Ladoga.
By January 1944, the division fought at the encirclement of Leningrad and then made the retreat to Narva with. As of September 18 Estonia was evicted and moved the division to Courland where they. At the 1st -6 Kurlandschlacht participated. On 7 May 1945 two-thirds of the division in the port of Libau could still be shipped to west. The remainder of the division, essentially the GR 23 and AR 11, surrendered on 8 May 1945 and went into Soviet captivity.
Assumption and use
Commanders
Structure
- Grenadier Regiment 2
- Grenadier - Regiment 23
- Grenadier - Regiment 44
- Artillery Regiment 11
- Division units 11
See also: Outline of an infantry division of Wehrmacht