12th Luftwaffe Field Division

__NOTOC__ 12th Luftwaffe Field Division 12. Luftwaffen-Feld-Division 1942 – 1945 Nazi Germany Luftwaffe Infantry Division World War II Eastern Front Siege of Leningrad Riga Offensive (1944) Courland Pocket East Pomeranian Offensive The 12th Luftwaffe Field Division (German: 12. Luftwaffen-Feld-Division) was a major military organization of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War. The Luftwaffe Field Division was formed from Flieger-Regiment 12 at the end of 1942 and was assigned to Army Group North's 18th Army, XXVIII Army Corps in early 1943. It was sent to a Volkhov river sector, just south of the 61st Infantry Division and saw action near the Kirischi bridgehead and was partly responsible for stopping Soviet drives in the area Siege of Leningrad.Munoz 2025 119Kevin Conley Ruffner: Luftwaffe Field Divisions 1941–1945, Osprey Publ., Oxford 1990. 1-85532-100-9. In January 1944, it was listed as one of the stronger divisions in Army Group North, according to documents. It was scheduled as a 'Category III' formation that is capable of Full Defense. It made a fighting withdrawal to defend Luga and took heavy losses, listed as having 7424 men out of whom only 1481 were the actual bayonet strength. It had begun to withdraw with around 11,000 men. The division remained north of and defending Pskov until August 1944. During this time, it was almost constantly in action. In March 1944, it absorbed the remnants of the Felddivision 13 (L). During this time, its Jager regiments were reduced to two battalions. In May 1944, Army Group North stated in their daily war diary that only seven out of its thirty-two divisions were at 'full combat readiness'. Felddivision 12 (L) was considered 'one of the best divisions in the army group'. By September 1944, the German Divisions of Army Group North had been pushed back to Courland in Latvia Courland Pocket but still held the capital Riga. By 10 October, the German divisions in the Riga bridgehead had repulsed thirteen major assaults Riga Offensive. Withdrawn to replenish the division was placed on the islands of Hiumaa and Saaremaa in the Gulf of Riga. Where it defended against Red Army attempts to take the islands. Withdrawn from the islands, the division took its place defending Courland after the withdrawal from Riga. During this time, the strength of its regiments was reduced by 1 battalion each once more; although, it did absorb a Latvian security battalion to replace one in the 24th Regiment. After taking part in four of the battles for the Courland pocket, the division was withdrawn by ship to Danzig on 8 March 1945 and made part of the 2nd Army's XXIII Army Corps. It was employed there between Danzig and Zoppot and took part in the defence against the Soviets East Pomeranian Offensive until the end of March 1945, when it had been almost completely wiped out. A small group of men from the Division managed to make a fighting withdrawal through Loblau-Prangenau then via Zoppot to Gotenhafen. Where they boarded an evacuation ship on March 31, 1945, bound for Schlewswig-Holstein, they arrived in April 1945. Felddivision 12 (L) is considered as one of the two best Luftwaffe Field Divisions.Munoz 2025 135-136Glantz 2002 319-392 Order of Battle, 12th Field Division (L)Mitcham 2007a 307–308Munoz 2025 118–137 December 1942 23rd Field Jager RegimentEach Regiment comprised three Battalions which contained four companies. Each line company contained two heavy machine & thirteen light machine guns. The fourth or schwer or heavy company contained six heavy & three light machine guns, plus four 120mm and six 80mm mortars. NoteMunoz 2025 120 24th Field Jager RegimentIn February 1944 25th Field Jager Regiment (With I & II Battalions) was added to the Divisions table of organisation by absorbing II Battalion Jager-Regiment 25 & I Battalion Jager-Regiment 26 from Felddivision 13 (L). NoteMunoz 2025 120 12th Field Artillery Regiment Initially This contained two battalions I & II Artillerie-Abteilung each possessed 12 French model 1897 75mm Artillery Howitzers, split into 3 batteries of 4 guns. In November 1943 two more artillerie-abteilung were added III & IV. III Abteilung came from Luftwaffen Artillerie regiment 13 and comprised 4 105mm Howitzers. Whilst IV Abteilung comprised twelve french 155mm howitzers split into 3 batteries. NoteMunoz 2025 118-120 12th Field Bicycle Company By 16 January 1944 This battalion had been upgraded to a full Fusilier Battalion. NoteMunoz 2025 96 12th Field Panzer-Jager Battalion Initially This contained one company of towed 75mm L-40 PAk anti tank guns (12 guns), one company of light flak 12 x 20mm flak guns and an assault gun battery of 10 sturmgeschutz IV long barreled 75mm L48 assault guns. NoteMunoz 2025 118 12th Field Engineer Battalion Initially This contained three companies.Each of these companies were equipped with two heavy machine guns, nine light machine guns, six flamethrowers, two 80mm granatwerfer-34 mortars and an engineer column with engineer eqquipment. NoteMunoz 2025 118 12th Field Signal Company Initially This contained one company but was upgraded to three in November 1943. NoteMunoz 2025 118 12th Field Flak Battalion In November 1943 this battalion was removed from the division and became II Flak-Abteilung of Flak Regiment 6. NoteMunoz 2025 120 12th Field Divisional Supply Troops Commanders Generalleutnant Herbert Kettner 14 December 1942 - 15 November 1943 Generalmajor Gottfied Webber 15 November 1943 - 10 April 1945 Generalleutnant Franz Schlieper 10 April 1945 - 8 May 1945 Known division members Hanns Günther von Obernitz de (1899–1944), was from 1933 to 1934 chief police officer of Nuremberg - Fürth and from 1939 to 1944 NSDAP member of the Reichstag. Oberstleutnant Wolfgang Kretschmar CO Jager Regiment 24 (L) March 1943 - 27 December 1944 -Awarded 600th Oak Leaves 30 September 1944, 121st Swords 12 January 1945'The 24th Luftwaffe Light Infantry Regiment under its excellent commander Kretzschmar, stood like a rock in the surf' The Luftwaffe soldiers gave no ground without exacting a price. Kretzschmar died a soldier's death with his weapon in his hand. For his courageous leadership and his bravery in combat, 'Oberst' Kretzschmar was posthumously awarded the Oakleaves and crossed swords to the knights cross on 12 January 1945. NoteMunoz 2025 131 Oberleutnant Gunter Ohme CO 4 Kompanie Luftwaffen-Panzer-Jager-Abteilung 12 - German Cross in Gold November 1943Munoz 2025 120 Oberleutnant Werner Stuhlick Luftwaffen-Panzer-Jager-Abteilung 12 - German Cross in Gold November 1943Munoz 2025 120 Notes Footnotes Note Citations 30em References Conley Ruffner Kevin Volstad Ron (ill.) Luftwaffe Field Divisions 1941–45 2012 Bloomsbury Publishing 978-1-85532-100-7 https://books.google.com/books?id=LZ0eDAAAQBAJ Glantz David M. David M. Glantz The Battle for Leningrad 1941-1944 2002 University Press of Kansas 0-7006-1208-4 Mitcham Samuel W. German Order of Battle, Volume Two: 291st–999th Infantry Divisions, Named Infantry Divisions, and Special Divisions in WWII 2007a Stackpole Books 978-0-8117-3437-0 Mitcham Samuel W. German Order of Battle, Volume Three: Panzer, Panzer Grenadier, and Waffen SS Divisions in WWII 2007b Stackpole Books 978-0-8117-3438-7 Mitcham Samuel W. Samuel W. Mitcham German Order of Battle World War II 1985 Leo Cooper in association with Secker & Warburg Limited, London 0-436-28200-3 Munoz Antonio J. 2025 Hitler's Luftwaffe Infantry, The German Air Force Field Divisions 1942 - 1945 Frontline Books 978-1-03613-033-6 Peter Schmitz / Klaus -Jürgen Thies / Günter Wegmann / Christian Zweng: The German divisions 1941–1945, Bd. 3, Biblio Verlag 1996. 3-7648-2458-1. Stout Michael J. Goering's Ground Troops: The Luftwaffe Field Divisions of World War II 2026 Naval Institute Press 978-1-68247-977-3 12 Category:1942 establishments in Germany Category:1945 disestablishments in Germany Category:Military units and formations established in 1942 Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1945