1st Cavalry Division (Wehrmacht)
West campaign 1940 War against the Soviet Union in 1941
The 1st Cavalry Division was a military major unit of the Wehrmacht in the German Reich. It was established in October 1939 under affiliation of further units, by renaming the 1st Cavalry Brigade.
Division history
The 1st Cavalry Brigade was established on 1 April 1936, renaming the 5th rider Brigade in Insterburg. She was employed in the German attack on Poland in 1939 as part of the 3rd Army in the northern sector of the front. From there they attacked to the south, on the eastern edge of the whole front, in the direction of Warsaw. From 13 September, they fought in the Warsaw area, before it was withdrawn from the front on 17 September and was at rest.
Immediately after the Polish campaign the brigade was moved to the Dresden area and extended to the Division. On October 25, 1939, the name was changed in the 1st Cavalry Division. From 10 May 1940 near the beginning of the campaign in the west, the 1st Cavalry Division was in the 18th Army on the German - Dutch border and ventured into direction Zuiderzee. With the capitulation of the Dutch army on May 15 ended for the division of the struggle in this sector of the front. On 7 June 1940, she joined then at the 4th Army in the Amiens to reappear and formed a bridgehead across the Somme. For further attack and persecution fighting the Seine north of Paris has been exceeded and by the end of the campaign reached the Atlantic coast near La Rochelle and Rochefort.
In March 1941, the Division moved to the General and remained there until the beginning of the German attack on the Soviet Union. In June 1941 she was under the Panzer Group 2 in the Army Group Centre. Their main task was to cover the southern flank of the Pripyat Marshes back. In August, she reached together with the Panzer Group 2 on south to close the cauldron of Kiev. Later, she took part in the battle of encirclement around Bryansk, before she was pulled on 25 October from the front out and moved back to East Prussia. With effect from November 28, 1941 it was renamed the 24th Panzer Division and reclassified.
Structure
The 1st Cavalry Division was the successor to the 1st Cavalry Brigade, whose East Prussian cavalry regiments were 1 ( Insterburg ) and 2 ( Angerburg ) yet established in the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic. After the restoration of the military sovereignty in 1935, the army leadership was divided all cavalry organizations gradually into armored and motorized troops. Only the aforementioned Ride regiments remained in the 1st Cavalry Brigade. This received further associations fed and was enlarged for Cavalry Division.
- Reiter- Regiment 1
- Reiter- Regiment 2
- Reiter- Regiment 1
- Reiter- Regiment 2
- Reiter- Regiment 21
- Reiter- Regiment 22
- Mounted Artillery Division 1
- Reitendes Artillery Regiment 1
- Wheeled Department 1
- Wheeled Department 1
- Panzer - Jäger- Kompanie 40
- Pioneer Company 40
- Engineer Battalion 40
- News department 86