292nd Infantry Division (Germany)

The 292nd Infantry Division was a German infantry formation which fought during World 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 292

It 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 the Lvov-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 River Narew on 5 September 1944.

Facing the 2nd Belorussian Front on the Narew during the Soviet East Prussian Operation, the division was decimated during a series of defensive actions starting on 14 January. In ten days it was forced back over the border of East Prussia, and cut off from its parent formation, Second Army; by 2 February it had reached Heilsberg, 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 the Heiligenbeil pocket. The division was finally destroyed in the fight for the town of Heiligenbeil, which fell on 25 March. The survivors were absorbed in the German 170th Infantry Division, a few being evacuated over the Frisches 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.