- 292nd Infantry Division (Germany)
The 292nd Infantry Division was a German
infantry formation which fought duringWorld War II .History and organisation
The division was formed on
6 February 1940 , in the 8th mobilisation wave, in "Wehrkreis" II (Pomerania ), with the following organisation:*Infanterie-Regiment 507
*Infanterie-Regiment 508
*Infanterie-Regiment 509
*Artillerie-Regiment 292
*Pionier-Bataillon 292
*Panzerjäger-Abteilung 292
*Divisionseinheiten 292It spent most of its subsequent existence with
Army Group Centre , on the Eastern Front. In 1941, subordinated to Fourth Army, it took part in the German advance on Moscow, and in 1943 was involved in Operation Citadel.Late 1944 saw the division with Ninth Army in the area of the
Pripet Marshes , but the successful Soviet liberation of territory during their summer offensives,Operation Bagration and theLvov-Sandomierz Operation , saw German forces steadily retreating; after a series of fierce defensive battles, the 292nd Infantry Division finally crossed the defence line of the RiverNarew on5 September 1944 .Facing the
2nd Belorussian Front on the Narew during the SovietEast Prussian Operation , the division was decimated during a series of defensive actions starting on14 January . In ten days it was forced back over the border ofEast Prussia , and cut off from its parent formation, Second Army; by2 February it had reachedHeilsberg , where it was nearly surrounded, but continued to conduct a fighting retreat (though reduced to "Kampfgruppe " level) along with the remainder of Fourth Army trapped in theHeiligenbeil pocket . The division was finally destroyed in the fight for the town ofHeiligenbeil , which fell on25 March . The survivors were absorbed in the German 170th Infantry Division, a few being evacuated over theFrisches Haff .Commanders
*Lieutenant-General Martin Dehmel (
6 February 1940 )
*Lieutenant-General Willy Seeger (29 September 1941 )
*Lieutenant-General Wolfgang von Kluge (August 1942)
*Lieutenant-General Richard John (20 July 1943 )
*Major-General Johannes Gittner (30 June 1944 )
*Lieutenant-General Rudolf Reichert (October 1944)See also
*
Division (military) ,Military unit , List of German divisions in WWII
* Heer,Wehrmacht References
* " [http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/Infanteriedivisionen/292ID-R.htm] ". German language article at www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de. Retrieved July 03, 2007.
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