76th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
War against the Soviet Union 1941-1945
Case axis 1943
The 76th Infantry Division ( ID 76 ) was a major unit of the Wehrmacht and was, among others, during the German - Soviet war in the Battle of Stalingrad used.
Division history
The 76th ID was set on 26 August 1939 as a division of the second wave formation in Potsdam. During the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943, it was destroyed. The re-erection took place on 17 February 1943. Owing to heavy losses in the room Iaşi it was withdrawn from the front line of the front and refreshed in September and October 1944. The last units of the 76th ID capitulated in May 1945 in German - Brod from the Red Army and fell into Soviet captivity.
Battle of Stalingrad
The beginning of September 1942, the 76th ID was used in the Battle of Stalingrad in the north of Stalingrad. Contrary to earlier representations of the 76th ID was not used in the fighting around the town center. The 76th ID under Lieutenant General Carl Rodenburg was assumed as the 305th ID the Eighth Army Corps. The Division was directed next to the 384th ID at the left boundary and the 60th ID ( mot ) on the right flank with Borodin for the defense of the northern corridor between the Don and Volga one. The offensive of the Red Army from 3 to 12 September 1942 in the Kotluban region against the hill 143.3 and 144.1 broke down in the defensive fire of the 76th ID. The 76th ID was located mainly in the area around Samofalowka and the station 564 km and was faced with the 24th Army.
At the beginning of the battle on 14 September 1942, of the nine infantry battalions of the 76th ID five at medium combat strength ( 500-700 men) and four only average busy ( 400-500 men) by the wearing fighting in the suburbs of Stalingrad. The end of September was the 76th ID as a defense against the second Soviet offensive Kotluban outside of Stalingrad near the Don -bend in use. This Eremenko identified the boundary between Eighth Army Corps and XIV Panzer Corps, as the weakest point in the German defenses, and sought the slump in the 76th ID sector, where IR 230 and the Reconnaissance Battalion 176 had their positions. They managed to repel the Soviet offensive from the well-established positions in a coordinated defensive fire. A high number of enemy tanks was able to be destroyed, and the original front line was restored. The losses in the Kotluban offensive enabled the 76th Infantry Division by the loss of several infantry battalions in the state " hors de combat ".
The 76th ID in the Wehrmacht report was praised yet on September 25, already on 30 September 1942, the hard-hit nine infantry battalions of the 76th ID were aggregated into six battalions withdrawn on the orders of Friedrich Paulus from the Stalingrad battle for the time being and to their available space near Kalatsch transported on-Don.
In the winter of 1942/ 43, the 76th ID was destroyed in the battle of encirclement of Stalingrad.
Re-erection
On February 17, 1943, the High Command West decided to reissue determine the 76th ID. To this end, the reinforced infantry regiments were 876 and 877 incorporated into the Division. On May 13, 1944, the 5th Field Division (L ) was incorporated in the 76th ID and served the refresh.
1944 and 1945
On August 20, 1944, the 76th ID has been implicated in the Ukraine and eastern Romania in heavy fighting with Soviet troops. A major unit of the 6th and 8th Army was surrounded by troops of the Red Army.
In the defensive struggles to Letcani and Iaşi ( German: Jassy ) suffered the 76th ID heavy losses and had to retreat across the Bahlui River. In the Southern Carpathians, the 76th ID dissolved as a fighting force. While a majority of the division was destroyed in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania's partisans succeeded in some military units to reach the Hungarian border and there to join other Army organizations.
In September and October 1944, the 76th ID was again refreshed with troops before they capitulated in 1945.