Infanterie-Division Scharnhorst

[Richard Hargreaves]

Revisiting an old thread, this book has just come out; I've not seen a copy myself. I don't know whether any of our German members have:

http://www.amazon.de/Die-Infanterie-Div ... 329&sr=8-1

[Endzeit Jan]

Hi
I have the book. It is a small but super book. Many eyewitnesses reports. Some images.
Jan

[Jan-Hendrik]

IIa: ??.04.1945-08.05.1945 Maj.Elmar Sütz

Major Lutz.

Kommandeur: 28.03.1945 Oberstlt.Bergmann (gestrichen)

Oberst Borgmann (KIA 5. or 6.4.45)

Hello
According to Gellermann there was a Pz.Jgd.Verband with the division.
It was arranged into:
3 kp. with ever 10 Jgd.Kdo´s as well as one s.Kp with 1 s.GW Zg and 2 m.GW Zg.
Someone is something admits over this federation?

On 3.4.45 the PzJgdVerb. of Hptm. Langenohl ( Fahnenjunker of Schule III für Fahnenjunker/ Potsdam) joined the Division.

Source:

Rudolf Witzel 'Mit Mörsern, Haubitzen und Kanonen', p.378ff.

Per HANS it must have been Oberst (posthum) Heinrich Borgmann!

Hauptmann Langenohl should be Werner Langenohl.

Jan-Hendrik

[Jan-Hendrik]

Stellenbesetzung per 11.4.45

Jan-Hendrik

[Der Rittmeister]

Can anyone help me with information on the vehicles available to Infanterie-Division Scharnhorst as well as some info on its brief combat history?
Thanks.

/Marcus

Infanteriedivision Scharnhorst

XX Korps, 12. Armee, Heeresgruppe Vistula

The Infanteriedivision Scharnhorst was formed on 30 March 1945 from elements of 340. Volksgrenadierdivision, 167. Volksgrenadierdivision, Pionier-Schule Dessau and Volksartillerie-Korps 412 with additional manpower from the Führernachwuchsschulen (Officer Cadet schools) in Wehrkreis XI (Military District 11) and soldiers transferred from the Luftwaffe. A Füsilier-Bataillon was added soon after from surviving elements of Infanteriedivision Potsdam. It was organised as a Type 45 infantry division.

The three Grenadier Regiments were raised. Eighty percent of the recruits consisted of officer cadets, trainee NCOs and soldiers about to begin NCO training courses. The second regiment was partly made-up of highly decorated members of the Luftwaffe. As a Type 45 division the infantry equipment comprised K98 rifles, Sturmgewehr 44 assault rifles, MG34 and MG42 machine-guns, and Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck anti-tank weapons. Mortars, Anti-tank guns and infantry guns were surprisingly available at theoretical strength. The Panzerjäger-Abteilung (Anti-tank Battalion) had 7 Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer tank-hunters in it Jadgpanzer-Kompanie. Additional weapons and vehicles were received from Oranienbaum airbase. These included some 3-ton tractors, some Kübelwagen and Schwimmwagen jeeps, twin and quadruple anti-aircraft guns, and twenty Anti-aircraft machine-guns.

The division was ordered to assemble between 4 and 7 April in the area of Dessau-Roßlau (southeast of Magdeburg). On 8 April the division was named Infanteriedivision Scharnhorst.

The division was ordered into action on 12 April and deployed in the area around Barby (halfway between Magdeburg and Dessau-Roßlau on the western bank of the Elbe River) against the Americans.

On 11 April StuG-Abteilung 1170 (armed with 19 StuG and 12 StuH assault guns) was attached to the division near Lindeau. It worked in cooperation with Grenadier-Regiment Scharnhorst 1 against the US 83rd Infantry Division and Combat Command R of the 2nd Armored Division, who were trying to expand bridgeheads across Elbe near Barby. Fighting in the area took place between 13 and 17 April, before the focus of both German units switch to fighting the Soviets coming from the east.

Berlin Offensive
On 26 April the division took part in the Twelfth Army’s thrust towards Beelitz against the Soviets.

They surrendered to the Americans on 2 May 1945 at Tangermünde on the Elbe River.

The division was named after Gerhard Johann David Waitz von Scharnhorst (1755 – 1813), a general in Prussian service. As the Chief of the Prussian General Staff, he was noted for his military theories, his reforms of the Prussian army, and his leadership during the Napoleonic Wars.