106th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

The division was formed in September - October 1939 in Cologne ^[1] .

On November 22, 1940, Major General Ernst Dener led the 106th Infantry Division from the 6th Military District, the 12th Mobilization Wave. The division was trained in Cologne until June 1941.

Location

• Germany - November 1940 - June 1941;
• Eastern theater of operations: Army Group Center - June 1941 - November 1943.

Operation Barbarossa

It has been operating on the Eastern Front since July 1941, moving along the route: Poland, Vitebsk, Smolensk, Yartsevo, Karmanovo, Gzhatsk, Volokolamsk. At the beginning of the war, it was part of the 5th Army Corps .

As part of Army Group Center, the division participated in Operation Barbarossa and attacked Smolensk and then Moscow.

Dukhovshchina operation

The main blow in the Dukhovshchina offensive operation of the Soviet Western Front was dealt by the 19th Army of Lieutenant General I. S. Konev ( 89th , 91st and 166th Rifle Divisions) and the 30th Army of Major General V. A. Khomenko ( 242nd , 250th and 251st rifle and 107th tank divisions).

Operation Typhoon

In early October 1941, the 5th Army Corps, consisting of the 35th, 5th , and 106th Infantry Divisions, attacked the 244th Rifle Division . The 5th Wehrmacht army corps covered the right flank of the 56th motorized corps advancing on Vyazma . ^[2] The offensive of the significant forces of the tanks and infantry of the corps was restrained by the 244th division, supported by artillery and mortar units, which staunchly stayed all the first half of the day. ^[2] By 15:00 parts of the corps forced the 244th division to withdraw to the Gunino - Shatun - Borniki line .

October 27, 1941 the 5th Army Corps occupied Volokolamsk .

On November 25, 1941, the commander of the 106th Infantry Division rode out of the eastern outskirts of the village of Timonovo (at the northern tip of Lake Senezh ) for the line of advanced units of his 239th Infantry Regiment ^[3] . The Germans discovered a military object - a training ground for the courses "Shot" ^[3] .

In battles until December 1941, the division lost its entire staff and was repeatedly replenished ^[1] .

At the end of January, the infantry regiments of the division had two battalions each; in the companies there were 100 people. At the end of December, the 239th infantry regiment received 180 people, and the 240th infantry regiment - 140 people from the marching battalion, who arrived from Cologne to Orsha ^[1] .

As a result of the replenishment, each company of the 239th infantry regiment had 40–45 people, with the exception of 6 companies, where there were 57 people ^[1] .

The transfer of soldiers to manning the regiments from Orsha to the Rzhev region was carried out on transport aircraft ^[1] .

At the beginning of 1942 - fighting in the area of Mozhaysk and Gzhatsk .

In early January 1942, the division received a replenishment of two marching battalions with a total number of up to 630 people ^[1] . In addition, at the end of the first half of January, a tank battalion of the 7th Panzer Division was active in the division ^[1] .

During Operation Typhoon, the 4th Panzer Army suffered a number of defeats in the battles near Moscow and was forced to retreat.

By May 1942, from the 106th Infantry Division, who had fought in the 15th Army, all remained one battle group. from May 1942 - in the West, from March, the remainder of the 39th Infantry Division was included in the division as a division group of the 39th Infantry Division ^[4] .

On October 1, 1942, Dener was promoted to lieutenant general and headed the 82nd Army Corps .

In February 1944, the Milovitz depot division was included in the division.

Iasi-Chisinau Operation

On the afternoon of August 19, 1944, after about half an hour of artillery preparation, the enemy in several sections of the front of Army Group South Ukraine conducted reconnaissance of the defense of German troops by forces of no more than a battalion. The first attacks were successfully repelled with heavy casualties in the enemy’s people ^[5] .

On one of the sections of the front of the army group Dumitrescu, Soviet troops managed to slightly wedge themselves in the location of the 21st Romanian division in the vicinity of the settlement of Rasketi ^[5] .

On the left wing of the Dumitrescu group, numerous attacks on the positions of the 14th Romanian , 106th and 370th German infantry divisions were successfully repelled, not counting the secondary local penetrations in the defense of German troops ^[5] .

On Sunday, August 20, 1944, the expected offensive of large enemy forces began ^[5] .

The enemy achieved some great success in the sections of the 294th infantry division west of Butor, the 14th Romanian and 106th German infantry divisions (near Redena) on the northern flank.

In September 1944, the 106th Infantry Division was destroyed in Army Group Southern Ukraine . The remnants were transferred to the 15th and 76th infantry divisions. In March 1945, a new 106th Infantry Division was formed in the West with the inclusion of the last remnants of the defeated 708th People’s Grenadier Division (see 708th People’s Grenadier Division) ^[4] .

• 239th Infantry Regiment ^[1]
• 240th Infantry Regiment ^[1]
• 241st Infantry Regiment ^[1]
• 107th artillery regiment ^[1]

• Major General Ernst Dener - November 28, 1940 - May 3, 1942;
• Lieutenant General Alfons Hitter - May 3, 1942 - November 1, 1942;
• Lieutenant General Arthur Kullmer - November 1, 1942 - January 1, 1943;
• Lieutenant General Werner Forst - January 1, 1943 - February 20, 1944;

• Operation Typhoon
• Wehrmacht Infantry Division

• 102. Infanterie-Division
• Miha Grcar. 102. Infanterie-Division

• Fran Meyer: Tapfere Schlesier: Mit der 102. Infanterie Division in Rußland , Ministerpräsident a. D. Fran Meyer, Selbstverlag, 1983
• Georg Tessin: Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939-1945, Band 6: Die Landstreitkräfte . Nr. 71-130. 2. Auflage. Osnabrück 1979.VI, 336 Seiten. ISBN 3-7648-1172-2 .