272nd Volksgrenadier Division (Germany)

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name= 272nd Volksgrenadier Division


caption=
dates= 17 September 1944 - 14 April 1945
country= flagicon|Germany|Nazi Germany
allegiance=
branch= Army ("das deutsche Heer")
type= Infantry Division Volksgrenadier Type
size= 6 Battalions, 10,000 men total
battles= Battle of the Huertgen Forest
Hubertus Heights
Bergstein
Castle Hill (Hill 400)
Simmerath
Second Battle of Schmidt
The Roer River Dams
Battle of Kesternich
Retreat to the Rhine
Remagen
Battle of the Ruhr Pocket
disbanded= disbanded April 1945."'

Unit History

"'The 272nd Volksgrenadier Division (or more accurately, "Volks-Grenadier Division"), was a German infantry division formed on 17 September 1944 at the Döberitz Training Area in Germany by combining the then-forming 575th Volksgrenadier Division with the remnants of the veteran 272nd Infantry Division, which had barely managed to escape from the debacle in Normandy in August 1944.

Organized using the new Volksgrenadier Division structure designed in August, the division consisted of three 2-battalion infantry regiments, a four-battalion artillery regiment, a combat engineer battalion, an antitank battalion, signal battalion, fusilier company, and logistics regiment. At its full table of organization strength, it fielded 10,000 men. After 6 weeks of reorganization and training, the division was shipped to the Western Front in early November 1944, and fought in the Huertgen Forest, along the Roer River, and the retreat to the Rhine. It eventually was forced to capitulate in April 1945 when it was encircled in what became known as the Battle of the Ruhr Pocket, though a single regiment escaped but was later forced to surrender in the Harz Pocket. Its most singular engagement was during the Battle of Kesternich from 13 to 18 December 1944, when it managed to encircle and destroy an entire battalion from the 310th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. 78th Infantry Division, capturing over 300 men and officers.

Though, like other Volksgrenadier Divisions, the 272nd's ranks were filled with a large proportion of former German Luftwaffe (Air Force) and Kriegsmarine (Navy) personnel (up to 50% by some estimates), the division performed creditably, due in part to the large number of veteran commanders and non-commissioned officers it retained from the old 272nd Infantry Division, which itself was built on the foundation of the disbanded 216th Infantry Division.

Most notable about the Volksgrenadier Division concept was its pared-down manpower allocation (10,000 men vs. the older division structure of 16,000 men) and the reliance on large numbers of a new weapon, the assault rifle model 1944, or Sturmgewehr 44, a radical departure from the bolt action Mauser model 98 rifle.

Combining reliance on this new weapons technology, the Volksgrenadier Divisions were supposed to be the new model division representing the will of the German people, or das Volk, and their willingness to fight to the bitter end. Though a few Volksgrenadier divisions lived up to this ideal, most failed to meet expectations and by the war's end, the term Volksgrenadier came to be viewed by the Allies as meaning a second-rate, bottom-of-the-barrel type of soldier.

"'

Divisional Commanders

"'Oberst (Colonel) George Kossmala (30 September - 13 December 1944)

Generalmajor (Brigadier General) Eugen König (13 December 1944 - 14 April 1945)

Knight's Cross Winners

Major Friedrich Adrario, Antitank Battalion 272, 26 December 1944

Oberst Ewald Burian, Grenadier Regiment 980, 4 October 1944

Generalmajor Eugen König, Division Commander, 1 August 1942, (Oakleaves 4 November 1943)

Oberst Georg Kossmala, Division Commander, 13 March 1942, (Oakleaves 26 March 1944)

Hauptmann Adolf Thomae, 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Regiment 980, 24 February 1945

Major Hans Uhl, Division Ia (Operations Officer), 22 January 1943

Oberstleutnant Ernst Werner, 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Regiment 980, 19 August 1944

Order of Battle

"'Order of Battle, October 1944:

Staff Company

Volks-Grenadier Regiment 980

Volks-Grenadier Regiment 981

Volks-Grenadier Regiment 982

Artillery Regiment 272

Pioneer (Combat Engineer) Battalion 272

Antitank Battalion 272

Signal Battalion 272

Fusilier Company 272

Logistics Regiment 272

Field Replacement Battalion 272

"'

Bibliography

"'
* [http://www.militaria-biblio.de/Verlagsverzeichnis_11.version/MX5FtariaX5F12-453.html Tessin, Georg: Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS 1939-1945, Vol. 8. (Osnabrūck: Biblio Verlag, 1979)]

* Jenner, Martin: Die niedersächsiche 216./272. Infanterie-Division 1939-1945. (Nauheim: Podzun-Pallas Verlag, 1964)
* [http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/Siegfried/Siegfried%20Line/siegfried-fm.htm McDonald, Charles B., The Siegfried Line Campaign. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Center of Military History, 1984)]
* [http://www.amazon.com/dp/1585442585 Miller, Edward: A Dark and Bloody Ground: The Hürtgen Forest and the Roer River Dams, 1944 - 1945. (College Station, TX: Texas A & M University Press, 1995)]
* [http://aberjonapress.com/catalog/vwbtg/index.html Nash, Douglas: Victory was Beyond Their Grasp: with the 272nd Volks-Grenadier Division from the Hürtgen Forest to the Heart of the Reich. (Bedford: The Aberjona Press, 2008)]
* [http://www.historynet.com/wars_conflicts/world_war_2/3033136.html Miller, Edward G., “Desperate Hours at Kesternich,” World War II, Volume II, Number 4, November 1996, Cowles Enthusiast Media, History Group, Leesburg, VA]
* [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0812218310 McDonald, Charles B., The Battle of the Huertgen Forest (Philadephia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1963)]
* [http://www.amazon.com/dp/1591144949 Miller, Edward G., Nothing Less Than Full Victory (US Naval Institute Press, 2007)]

External links

* [http://www.272nd.org/272_history.htm 272nd Infantry Division]
* [http://www.dererstezug.com/navigation.htm Der Erste Zug]

See also

List of German divisions in WWII

Categories: | Drive to the Siegfried Line | Battle of the Huertgen Forest | Battle of Kesternich (World War II) | Ardennes Offensive | German Armed Forces | Volksgrenadier | Normandy Invasion