102nd Infantry Division (Germany)
Encyclopedia
Organisation and history
The divisionDivision (military)
A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
was formed on 15 December 1940 in Wehrkreis II (Mecklenburg/Pomerania), in the 12th mobilisation wave, using elements of the 8th Infantry Division and the 28th Infantry Division.
The division fought on the Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
, spending much of its existence as part of Ninth Army
German Ninth Army
The 9th Army was a World War II field army.The 9th Army was activated on May 15, 1940 with General Johannes Blaskowitz in command.-1940:The 9th Army first saw service along the Siegfried Line when it was involved in the invasion of France...
assigned to Army Group Centre
Army Group Centre
Army Group Centre was the name of two distinct German strategic army groups that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. The first Army Group Centre was created on 22 June 1941, as one of three German Army formations assigned to the invasion of the Soviet Union...
.
On 25 November 1942 Soviets simultaneously launched attacks against the eastern, western, and northern flanks of the German Rzhev salient,known as
Operation Mars
Operation Mars
Operation Mars was the codename for the Rzhev offensive operation part of the Rzhev-Vyazma strategic offensive operation launched by Soviet forces against German forces during World War II. It took place between 25 November and 20 December 1942 in a salient in the vicinity of Moscow...
. North of the Osuga River,102nd successfully repelled repeated assaults by 20,000 infantry and over 100 tanks of 3 Soviet 31st Army divisions (The 31st Army led its attack with the 88th, 336th, and 239th Rifle Divisions, supported by the 332d and 145th Tank Brigades). Soviet infantry clad in winter white advanced in echelon, their ranks interspersed with supporting tanks. German artillery, machine guns, and small arms fire tore gaping holes in the ranks of the assaulting infantry as antitank weapons picked off the accompanying tanks. For three days and at a cost of more than half of their riflemen and most of their tanks,the Soviets hurled themselves in vain at 102nd Division's prepared defenses. Faced with this determined resistance, the 31st Army's assault collapsed, and, despite Zhukov's and Konev's exhortations, it could not be revived.
In 1943 it was involved in Operation Citadel
Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk took place when German and Soviet forces confronted each other on the Eastern Front during World War II in the vicinity of the city of Kursk, in the Soviet Union in July and August 1943. It remains both the largest series of armored clashes, including the Battle of Prokhorovka,...
and its aftermath, losing much of its strength in a series of fierce defensive battles around Orel
Oryol
Oryol or Orel is a city and the administrative center of Oryol Oblast, Russia, located on the Oka River, approximately south-southwest of Moscow...
; by October it was listed as assigned to Second Army
German Second Army
The 2nd Army was a World War I and World War II field army.-First World War:The 2nd Army during World War I, fought on the Western Front and took part in the Schlieffen Plan offensive against France and Belgium in August 1914...
and reduced to Kampfgruppe
Kampfgruppe
In military history and military slang, the German term Kampfgruppe can refer to a combat formation of any kind, but most usually to that employed by the German Wehrmacht and its allies during World War II and, to a lesser extent, in World War I...
level. The division had the following organisation in December 1943:
- Grenadier-Regiment 84
- Grenadier-Regiment 232
- Divisions-Gruppe 216
- Divisions-Füsilier-Battalion 102
- Artillerie-Regiment 104
- Pionier-Battalion 102
- Panzerjäger-Abteilung 102
- Aufklärungs-Abteilung 102
- Divisions-Nachrichten-Abteilung 102
- Divisions-Nachschubführer 102
January 1944 found the division back with Ninth Army, covering its southern flank in the Pripet Marshes. It avoided the disastrous encirclement and destruction of much of Ninth Army around Bobruisk in late June during the Soviet Operation Bagration, and was then assigned back to Second Army, holding a line of defence along the River Narew
Narew
The Narew River , in western Belarus and north-eastern Poland, is a left tributary of the Vistula river...
.
The Soviet army's East Prussian Offensive
East Prussian Offensive
The East Prussian Offensive was a strategic offensive by the Red Army against the German Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front . It lasted from 13 January to 25 April 1945, though some German units did not surrender until 9 May...
, from 13 January 1945 onwards, broke the under-strength division, which was pushed north and trapped in the Heiligenbeil pocket
Heiligenbeil Pocket
The Heiligenbeil Pocket or Heiligenbeil Cauldron was the site of a major encirclement battle on the Eastern Front during the closing weeks of World War II, in which the Wehrmacht's 4th Army was almost entirely destroyed during the Soviet Braunsberg Offensive Operation...
, being reassigned to Fourth Army
German Fourth Army
The 4th Army was a field army of Imperial Germany during World War I and of the Wehrmacht during World War II-World War I:At the outset of war, the Fourth Army, with the Fifth Army, formed the center of the German armies on the Western Front, moving through Luxembourg and Belgium in support of the...
. In February it held the perimeter near Mehlsack, before being assigned to defend Braunsberg until it fell on 20 March. A few troops broke through westwards and eventually surrendered to the Americans in Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...
: the other encircled divisional elements in the kessel were eventually taken over by the 28th Jäger Division, being involved in the final defence of the Kahlholzer Haken peninsula
Peninsula
A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....
at Balga
Balga
Balga was a medieval castle of the Teutonic Knights. Its ruins are in the Pogranichny municipality, Bagrationovsky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia; located on the shore of the Vistula Lagoon north of Mamonovo, about southwest of Kaliningrad....
.
Commanders
- Lieutenant-General John Ansat (10 December 1940 - 1 February 1942)
- Lieutenant-General Albrecht Baier (1 February 1942 - 10 March 1942)
- Major-General Werner von Räsfeld (10 March 1942 - 1 May 1942)
- Colonel-General Johannes FrießnerJohannes FriessnerJohannes Frießner was a German general during World War II.Born in Chemnitz, Kingdom of Saxony, Frießner enlisted in the German Army in 1911 and, after seeing extensive duty during World War I, served in the Reichswehr following the war.After his promotion to Generalmajor on 1 August 1940, during...
(1 May 1942 - 19 January 1943) - General Otto HitzfeldOtto HitzfeldOtto Hitzfeld was a German Officer during both World War I and World War II. He was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords on 9 May 1945...
(19 January 1943 - 5 November 1943) - Lieutenant-General Werner von BerckenWerner von BerckenWerner Rudolf Alfred Fedor von Bercken was a highly decorated Generalleutnant in the Wehrmacht during World War II who commanded several divisions. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield...
(5 November 1943 - March 1945)
See also
- Division (military)Division (military)A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
, Military unit, List of German divisions in WWII - HeerGerman ArmyThe German Army is the land component of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. Following the disbanding of the Wehrmacht after World War II, it was re-established in 1955 as the Bundesheer, part of the newly formed West German Bundeswehr along with the Navy and the Air Force...
, WehrmachtWehrmachtThe Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...