11th Panzer Division

German army division during World War II 11th Panzergrenadier Division (Bundeswehr) 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland June 2020 11th Panzer Division 11. Panzerdivision— 11. PzDiv —XX (tactical symbol Panzer unit) 1 August 1940 – 8 May 1945 Nazi Germany German Heer Panzer Armoured warfare Division 20px Wehrmacht Wehrkreis VIII: Sagan World War II Invasion of Yugoslavia Operation Barbarossa Case Blue Battle of Kursk Battle of Korsun–Cherkassy Battle of the Bulge 50px 1940 50px at Kursk 50px Ghost The 11th Panzer Division (en 11th Tank Division) was an armoured division in the German Army during World War II, established in 1940. The division saw action on the Eastern and Western Fronts during the Second World War. The 11th Panzer Division did not participate in the war until the invasion of Yugoslavia. It fought in the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944 and, in the last year of the war, in southern France and Germany. The formation's emblem was a ghost. History Formation The 11th Panzer Division was formed on 1 August 1940 from the 11th Schützen-Brigade and the Panzer Regiment 15 removed from the 5th Panzer Division and elements of the 231st Infantry Division, 311th Infantry Division and 209th Infantry Division. Most of its members were from Silesia (Wehrkreis VIII).Mitcham (2000), p. 104. thumb|left|Panzer IVs of the 11th Panzer Division during the invasion of Yugoslavia The 11th Panzer Division saw action for the first time in the invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941. Passing through Bulgaria, it arrived in Belgrade and assisted in the capture of that city. The division was then sent to the Eastern Front where it was part of the Army Group South. It participated in the Battle of Kiev and later took part in the Battle of Moscow. At the Battle of Moscow Soviet propaganda made a fictional claim about the 11th Panzer Division in the fabricated encounter with Panfilov's Twenty-Eight Guardsmen.http://www.fort-russ.com/2015/07/how-panfilovs-twenty-eight-became.html How Panfilov's Twenty-Eight became a symbol of Red Army soldier's heroism Nikolai Palchikov July 13, 2015 Translated from Russian by J. Hawk Fort Russ 7 October 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20160919215031/http://www.fort-russ.com/2015/07/how-panfilovs-twenty-eight-became.html 19 September 2016 dead The division was engaged in retreat and defensive operations after the Soviet counteroffensive in December 1941. The 11th Panzer Division's advance finally came to a halt due to the strong resistance of the 316th Rifle Division and the 78th Rifle Division. Harsh weather conditions were also a factor.Braithwaite Rodric Rodric Braithwaite 2006 Moscow 1941: A City and Its People at War New York City Knopf 283–284 978-1-4000-4430-6 Case Blue and the Chir River Battles The 11th Panzer Division was part of Case Blue from June 1942 onward, participating in the capture of Voronezh and the drive towards Stalingrad. It avoided being entrapped with the 6th Army in the city but suffered substantial losses during the winter of 1942-43.Mitcham (2000), p. 105. 11th Panzer, as part of 48th Panzer Corps, was originally earmarked for Operation Winter Storm, the German effort to rescue 6th Army from encirclement, but attacks from the Soviet 5th Tank Army tied it down and prevented the division from participating in the counteroffensive.Glantz David M. House Jonathan Mallory Endgame at Stalingrad: Book Two: December 1942-February 1943 2014 University Press of Kansas Lawrence (Kan.) 978-0-7006-1955-9 100–101 In the course of defending the lower Chir river from Soviet 5th Tank Army, the 11th Panzer Division fought a series of tank battles in support of the besieged infantry of 48th Panzer Corps. Detraining on December 7, 1942, 11th Panzer Division's 15th Panzer Regiment immediately had to drive north to push back the 8th Motorcycle Regiment, the leading element of 1st Tank Corps, which had broken through the German front line southwest of Ostrovsky earlier in the day.Glantz David M. House Jonathan Mallory Endgame at Stalingrad: Book Two: December 1942-February 1943 2014 University Press of Kansas Lawrence (Kan.) 978-0-7006-1955-9 49–52 The next day, the 11th Panzer Division enveloped the bulk of the Soviet 1st Tank Corps at State Farm No. 79, counting 53 Soviet tanks destroyed before the remnants of 117th, 159th, and 216th Tank Brigades fought their way out of the trap and retreated behind friendly lines.https://www.historynet.com/study-command-general-balcks-chir-river-battles-1942.htm A Study in Command: General Balck's Chir River Battles, 1942 David T. Zabecki Dieter J. Biedekarken amp 18 July 2017 HistoryNet Before 11th Panzer could eliminate the Soviet bridgehead, 5th Tank Army's fresh 5th Mechanized Corps crossed the Chir river West of Surovikino, while elements of the 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps crossed the Chir southeast of Surovikino and captured Linsinskii, threatening the rear of the 336th Infantry Division. The next day, Balck dispatched half of 11th Panzer's 15th Panzer Regiment, supported by elements of the 336th Infantry Division, to smash the advance elements of 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps, while the remainder of 15th Panzer Regiment, supported by the division's 111th Grenadier Regiment, counterattacked and reduced 5th Mechanized Corps' bridgehead over the Chir.Glantz David M. House Jonathan Mallory Endgame at Stalingrad: Book Two: December 1942-February 1943 2014 University Press of Kansas Lawrence (Kan.) 978-0-7006-1955-9 65–69 On 19 December 1942 the 11th Panzer Division destroyed 42 Russian tanks without losing any of its own tanks just south of Oblivskaya. The division engaged a second Soviet attack destroying 65 more Soviet tanks without suffering any losses. By the end of the day the 11th Panzer Division had destroyed an entire Soviet Mechanized Corps. On 21 December 1942 the 11th Panzer Division destroyed much of the Soviet 5th Tank Army during a counterattack along the Chir. The division suffered heavy losses in the process. It was engaged in the failed relief attempt on Stalingrad and then participated in the defense of Rostov, which allowed the German troops retreating from the Caucasus to escape. On the defensive In July 1943, it participated in the Battle of Kursk and the defensive operations and retreat that followed the German failure. It was entrapped in the Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket in February 1944 and almost completely destroyed in the break-out from the pocket. The division was withdrawn from the front and sent to Bordeaux, France after receiving personnel drawn from the 273rd Reserve Panzer Division. After being stationed in the Toulouse area, the division was moved to a section of the Rhône in July 1944. When the Allies invaded southern France in August 1944 it retreated via the Rhône corridor, reaching Besançon. Later entering combat in Alsace, it helped in the defence of the Belfort Gap and was defeated in the Battle of Arracourt before going back to the Saar. In December 1944, the division fought as part of the Army Group G. At the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge, which it did not participate in, the division had 3,500 personnel, including 800 infantry. Following the failure of the German offensive, the 11th Panzer Division entered combat in Saarland and Moselle and fought at Remagen with 4,000 soldiers, 25 tanks and 18 guns that still remained, but was expelled from the region by the advancing US forces. It was then shifted to the southern sector of the front, with its forces stationed in and encircled in the Ruhr. The 11th Panzer Division retreated south east, eventually surrendering to US forces in the area around Passau on 2 May 1945. Some of the remnants of the 11th Panzer Division, under command of General Wend von Wietersheim, surrendered to the US 90th Infantry Division at the Czech town of Všeruby on 4 May 1945.The U.S. Army in Czechoslovakia 1945: An Operational Overview https://militaryhistoryonline.com/WWII/USArmyCzechOpOverview Military History Online 2023-06-15 Commanders The commanders of the division:Mitcham (2000), pp. 106–108. General der Panzertruppe Ludwig Crüwell (1 August 1940 – 15 August 1941) Generalleutnant Günther Angern (15 August 1941 – 24 August 1941) General der Panzertruppe Hans-Karl Freiherr von Esebeck (24 August 1941 – 20 October 1941) Generalleutnant Walter Scheller (20 October 1941 – 16 May 1942) General der Panzertruppe Hermann Balck (16 May 1942 – 4 March 1943) General der Infanterie Dietrich von Choltitz (4 March 1943 – 15 May 1943) Generalmajor Johann Mickl (15 May 1943 – 10 August 1943) Generalleutnant Wend von Wietersheim (10 August 1943 – 10 April 1945) Generalmajor Horst Freiherr Treusch und Buttlar-Brandenfels (10 April 1945) Orders of Battle The organisation of the division:http://www.cgsc.edu/CARL/nafziger/939GXPZ.PDF Organizational History of the German Armored Formation 1939-1945 United States Army Command and General Staff College 20 June 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20111208094147/http://www.cgsc.edu/CARL/nafziger/939GXPZ.PDF 8 December 2011 dead June 1941 Divisionstab 15. Panzer-Regiment 11. Schützen-Brigade 110. Schützen-Regiment 111. Schützen-Regiment 61. Kradschützen-Battalion 61. Panzerjäger-Abteilung 231. Aufklärungs-Abteilung 119. Artillerie Regiment 85. Nachrichten-Battalion 86. Pionier-Battalion 71. Flak-Battalion (attached) 2 / 21.Panzer Luftwaffe Observation Staffel (attached) July 1943 Divisionstab 15. Panzer-Regiment 110. Panzergrenadier-Regiment 111. Panzergrenadier-Regiment 61. Panzerjäger-Abteilung 11. Aufklärungs-Abteilung 119. Panzer-Artillerie-Regiment 277. Heeres-Flak-Battalion 209. Panzer-Pioneer-Battalion 89. Panzer-Nachrichten-Battalion 61. Feldersatz-Battalion See also Organisation of a SS Panzer Division Panzer division References Bibliography Mitcham Samuel W. 2000 The Panzer Legions Mechanicsburg, PA Stackpole Books 978-0-8117-3353-3 Stoves Rolf 1986 Die Gepanzerten und Motorisierten Deutschen Grossverbände 1935–1945 The Armoured and Motorised German Divisions and Brigades 1935–1945 Bad Nauheim Podzun-Pallas Verlag 3-7909-0279-9 y 11th Panzer Division (Germany) 1*11 Category:Military units and formations established in 1940 Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 Category:Military units and formations of Germany in Yugoslavia in World War II