German 1st Light Division

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1st Light Brigade
1st Light Division
6th Panzer Division

The German 1st Light Brigade was a mechanized unit established in October 1937 in imitation of the French Division Légère Mécanique, intended to take on the roles of army-level reconnaissance and security that had traditionally been the responsibility of cavalry. It included mechanized recon units, motorized infantry, and a battalion of tanks. In 1938 it was enlarged to become the 1st Light Division (sometimes described as Light Mechanized or Light Panzer to distinguish it from the later Light infantry divisions). In 1939 the division fought in the Invasion of Poland. Due to shortcomings that the campaign revealed in the organization of the Light divisions it was reorganized as the 6th Panzer Division afterward, in October 1939.

As the 6th Panzer Division it participated in the 1940 Battle of France, then transferred east for the rest of the year. In June 1941 it joined Operation Barbarossa, fighting at first under Army Group North but soon transferred to Army Group Center, where it fought in the Battle of Moscow and the Rzhev-Vyazma Salient. By May of 1942 it had suffered such losses that it was withdrawn to France for rehabilitation. It returned to the Russian Front at the end of the year and participated in the failed attempt to relieve the Sixth Army at Battle of Stalingrad. Thereafter it fought in the battles of Kharkov and Kursk, and the defensive battles back across the Ukraine and White Russia afterward. In early 1945 it was used in the attempts to relieve Budapest and then driven back into Austria, where it surrendered to the Soviets at the end of the war.

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Note: The Web references may require you to follow links to cover the unit's entire history.

Wendel, Marcus (2004). "1. Leichte-Division". Retrieved April 11, 2005.
"1. leichte Division". German language article at www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de. Retrieved April 11, 2005.