2nd Infantry Division (Germany)

2nd Infantry Division
2nd Motorized Infantry Division
12th Panzer Division

The German 2nd Infantry Division was created from components of the Reichswehr's old 2nd Division in 1934, at first under the cover name "Wehrgauleitung Stettin" and later "Artillerieführer II"; it did not take its real name until October 1935. It was upgraded to 2nd Motorized Infantry Division in 1937, and fought under that name in Heinz Guderian's XIX Corp during the 1939 Invasion of Poland, first in the cut across the Polish Corridor to reach East Prussia, and then as support for the push on Brest-Litovsk. It was then transferred to the west, where it took part in the 1940 Battle of France.

In October 1940 the division was reorganized as the 12th Panzer Division, and in June 1941 it joined Operation Barbarossa, fighting in the battles of Minsk and Smolensk. It fought the rest of the war on the Russian Front, notably at the Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943, and surrendered to the Soviets in the Courland Pocket at the end of the war.

Commanding officers

2nd Infantry Division

*Hubert Gereke, 1 October 1934
*Paul Bader, 1 April 1937
*Josef Harpe, 5 October 1940

12th Panzer Division

*Generaloberst Josef Harpe, 5 October 1940
*Generalleutnant Walter Wessel, 15 January 1942
*Generalleutnant Erpo Freiherr von Bodenhausen, 1 March 1943
*Generalmajor Gerhard Müller, 28 May 1944
*Generalleutnant Erpo Freiherr von Bodenhausen, 16 July 1944
*Oberst Horst von Usedom, 12 April 1945

See also

* Panzer, Panzer Division
* Division (military), Military unit
* Wehrmacht, List of German divisions in WWII

References

Note: The Web references may require you to follow links to cover the unit's entire history.
*cite book | author=Guderian, Heinz | title=Panzer Leader (abridged) | edition=First Ballantine Books Edition | year=1957 | location=New York | publisher=Ballantine Books | origyear=1952 | id=ISBN 0-345-25329-9
* Pipes, Jason. " [http://www.feldgrau.com/heer12p.html 12.Panzer-Division] ". Retrieved April 2, 2005.
* Pipes, Jason. " [http://www.feldgrau.com/InfDiv.php?ID=2 2.Infanterie-Division] ". Retrieved April 12, 2005.
* Wendel, Marcus (2004). " [http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=1005 2. Infanterie-Division (mot)] ". Retrieved April 12, 2005.
* " [http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/Infanteriedivisionen/2ID.htm 2. Infanterie-Division (mot.)] ". German language article at www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de. Retrieved April 12, 2005.