Panzerdivision Bergen ?

[Jan-Hendrik]

Anybody with clearer info on the Kampfgruppe of Major Freiherr von Werthern ( remants of the Nachtkampfabteilung of the Panzertruppenschule ) ? They were send to Berlin , reached the River Elbe and ended in Schleswig-Holstein .

Any info on this Kampfgruppe highly apreciated !

Jan-Hendrik

[scarecrow]

By the way , in southern part was the XIII(US)Korps , northern part VIII(UK)Korps .

Which divisions were in these corps?

[Jan-Hendrik]

According to the book of Kleinebenne :

VIII(UK).AK

11th tank division
6th airborne division
15th (scottish ) infantry division
29th tank brigade
159th tank brigade

XIII(US)AK
5th tank division
84th infantry division
102th infantry divsion

Jan-Hendrik

[Endzeit Jan]

Hi
When was the KaGru moved in the direction of Berlin?
Jan

[Jan-Hendrik]

Must be after 8th April 1945 !

Jan-Hendrik

[Endzeit Jan]

II./Pz.Reg.2 ?????

Jan

[Jan-Hendrik]

Nope , rests of the Nachtkampfabteilung , as I already wrote . About II./PzRgt.2 remember what our dear Martin wrote in this topic :

http://forum.panzer-archiv.de/viewtopic ... %FCttichau

Jan-Hendrik

[Endzeit Jan]

hmmmmmmm
Müncheberg??

[Jan-Hendrik]

Hey , after they reached the Elbe the were ordered to move north to Bad Segeberg , there they surrendered to the brits . Von Werthern was immediatly transported to the UK to refer about the nightvision devices and their employment .

Jan-Hendrik

[Jan-Hendrik]

*push*

Jan-Hendrik

[Martin Block]

If I may go back to the original question at the start of this thread:

There is no trace whatsoever in the files of the OKH/GenStdH/Org.Abt. nor in those of the Gen.Insp.d.Pz.Tr. that something like a 'Pz.Div. Bergen' should have been formed during March 1945 or any time thereafter.

However, I think I found a document that might help to explain the story:

On 14.3.1945 In 6 forwarded a proposal about the merging of the training units of the replacement army into Panzer divisions
(Vorschlag für die Zusammenlegung der A.Tr.Teile der Panzertruppen in Pz.Divisionen).

In this proposal one can find the following designations:
- Pz.Div. Ostsee
- Pz.Div. Niedersachsen (name later crossed out and replaced by Thüringen)
- Pz.Div. Westfalen
- Pz.Div. Franken
- Pz.Div. Böhmen
- Pz.Div. Donau

You may already have guessed that this proposal was the base of discussion for the formation orders for the so-called Pz.Ausbildungs-Verbände Ostsee, Thüringen, Westfalen, Franken, Böhmen, and Donau about 10 days later.

Now the Stab for the Pz.Div. Niedersachsen (Thüringen) was proposed to be formed by Pz.Tr.Schule Bergen and a number of divisional units also was to come from there. And this is the simple reason why during the following days the designation Pz.Div. Bergen came into play.

IMHO it is merely a mix-up/misunderstanding or maybe even just a later proposal by some downstream authority. Also maybe its just a wrong memory written down sometime after the war.

Fact is a Pz.Div. Bergen never actually existed but at best merely was an unofficial premature designation for a unit that actually was created as Pz.Ausb.Verb. Thüringen a couple of days later.

Martin Block

[John R]

I have the XIII Corps G-2 intelligence reports for the period April 4 to 23, 1945. They do not specifically mention a "Panzer Division Bergen." However, a host of other units appear in the reports. I have not had a chance to really absorb the documents yet as I have just copied them at College park. Some of the units mentioned are elements of 5. SS-Panzer-Division, “Feldherrnhalle”, Panzer-Divisions “Clausewitz” and “Schlesien” 16. Pz, 116. Pz and countless other Heer, LW and SS units including mention of Tigers and Jagd Panthers. I’ll post what I find.

phil

Sorry to be joining this discussion 5 years late but the G-2 reports we would need would be for around 11-12 April as TiC II suggests that the remaining armd vehs from KG Schulze were knocked out on 11 April. Some of the armd vehicles shown in the various photos of the Bückeburg group look to me as if they are bogged in and one half-track could conceivably be attempting to tow/recover the other. Additionally, their distribution is odd as they are very close together and don't appear to be in any form of defensive layout (unless of course they were taken by surprise). Could it be that the group was not engaged by 5 US Armd Div at all but got bogged down and was then destroyed by the crews. There is no sign of battle damage (eg AP penetrations) on the few vehicles that are close to the camera. My research so far has not revealed which allied unit passed through this area. UK 5th Para Bde passed to the north of Bückeburg while the US 102nd Inf Div advanced to the south of the Wesergebirge feature. Bückeburg would appear to lie on the Allied Army boundary and just possibly was not cleared by either UK or US forces. Views?

John R

[Thierry]

I've been told the roadbook of this unit to be sold in UK at Mullock's auctions march 1st.....Probably a huge source of informations.

[Thierry]

Sorry. I made a mistake. It is the one of the Kampfgruppe von Werthern....not Panzerdivision Bergen.

[Germanicus]

Hello all you might want to check out lexicon der wehrmacht for reference as it mentions the Panzerdivision Bergen in detail as well as a Google search will clearly show there are many references to this obscure unit. Most respectfully Mark http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gli ... Bergen.htm