German 4th Panzer Division

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German tank of the 4th Division during the failed assault of Warsaw
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German tank of the 4th Division during the failed assault of Warsaw

The German 4th Panzer Division (4. Panzer-Division) was established in 1938. It participated in the 1939 invasion of Poland, the 1940 invasion of France, and the 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union. It remained on the Eastern Front, mainly under Army Group Center, until it was trapped along the coast in Courland in the summer of 1944. It was evacuated by sea and returned to the main front in West Prussia in January of 1945, and surrendered to the Soviets there at the end of the war.

Contents

[edit] History

The 4th Panzer Division was formed as 7th Panzer Brigade in Würzburg on November 10, 1935, as the first unit of the second series of German fast units. On October 10 of 1938 it was reinforced to a full division. During the Munich Crisis and the subsequent Anschluss of Czechoslovakia it was shielding the border with Poland in case of a pre-emptive strike by the Allies. In August of 1939 it was attached to the XVI Panzer Corps of the 10th Army under Gen. Walther von Reichenau.

After the outbreak of the Invasion of Poland of 1939, the division was one of the first to cross the border with Poland in the area of operations of the Army Group South. Equipped with roughly 341 tanks, including 183 Panzer I, 130 Panzer II, 12 Panzer IV and 16 PzBef. the division lacked some infantry and anti-tank units. Immediately after entering the Polish territory, on September 1, the division was stopped by the Polish Volhynian Cavalry Brigade under Col. Julian Filipowicz and engaged in heavy fighting of the battle of Mokra. The German tanks proved to be inadequately armoured and the Poles inflicted heavy casualties on the German unit and repulsed most of its units, which lost roughly 160 armoured fighting vehicles in the battle (between 70 and 100 of them being tanks), mostly to Polish-made Bofors 37 mm anti-tank artillery and Kb ppanc wz.35 anti-tank rifles.

After the supporting German 1st Panzer Division broke through the Polish lines near Kłobuck, the Poles withdrew and three days later the 4th Division continued its march towards Warsaw. It reached the capital of Poland on September 8 and tried to take the city by surprise. At 17.00 the forces of 4th Panzer Division attempted an assault on Warsaw's western borough of Ochota. The assault was repulsed and the German forces suffered heavy casualties. The following day the division was reinforced with artillery and the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler motorised infantry unit, and started yet another assault towards Ochota and Wola. The well-placed Polish AT guns and the barricades erected on main streets managed to repulse this assault as well. On several occasions lack of armament on the Polish side was made up by ingenuity. One of the streets leading towards the city centre was covered with turpentine from a nearby factory. When the German tanks approached, the liquid was set in flames and the tanks were destroyed without a single shot fired. The German forces suffered heavy casualties and had to retreat. The 4th Panzer Division alone lost approximately 80 tanks out of approximately 220 machines still operational. After the failed assault the 4th division was withdrawn to the rear and took part in the battle of Bzura, where it supported the German counter-attack. After that it was withdrawn to Niederrhein on the Rhine for reinforcements.

During the Battle of France of 1940 the division was attached to Erich Hoepner's XVI Panzer Corps, part of von Kleist's Panzer Group in the German 6th Army under the command of Walther von Reichenau. After a blitzkrieg assault through Liege and Charleroi it reached the area of Bethune, where it fought against the British Expeditionary Corps in what became known as the battle of Dunkirk. However, due to Adolf Hitler's orders it did not manage to capture Dunkirk itself. In early June of 1940 the division was again moved to the first line and in several days it managed to cross a large part of France and by the time the cease fire was signed it reached Grenoble almost unopposed. After several months of occupation duty in France, in late November the 4th Division was again withdrawn to Würzburg, where it was reorganized and reinforced. The German 36th Panzer Regiment was detached and assigned to the newly-formed German 14th Panzer Division, while the 103rd Artillery Regiment was reinforced with a third battalion.

After that the division was moved to East Prussia and then to the area of Brześć Litewski in occupied Poland, where it was assigned to the German XXIV Panzer Corps under Geyr von Schweppenburg. On June 22 of 1941 it took part in the opening stages of the Operation Barbarossa, that is the German attack on the Soviet Union. During the first day of the operation the division managed to strike a wedge into the Soviet positions and reach Kobryń some 65 kilometres behind the lines. Then the division spearheaded one of the pincers to surround and destroy a large Soviet force in the battle of Minsk, where the German army took approximately 300,000 Soviet prisoners of war. After the battle of Homel it reached Kiev, where it fought against yet another pocket of resistance.

In September the division was moved near Moscow and attached to the Army Group Centre preparing to take part in the battle of Moscow. After the assault started on September 30, 1941, the 4th Panzer Division reached Mtsensk and Tula as the southern pincer bound to surround the Soviet capital. However, the Germans had been almost paralysed when the autumn rains set in, turning the only road to Tula into a stretch of mud. Bogged down German tanks proved an easy target for Russian bombers. When the frost set in early November, the Germans could use the roads again, but faced the problem of not being equipped for winter warfare, as Hitler had anticipated a quick victory in the summer. Warm clothing and white camouflage suits were lacking, and more and more tanks and other vehicles were immobilised as temperatures dropped below freezing.

On December 5 the unit was withdrawn and ordered to defend a stretch of the front near Moscow against the Soviet winter counter-offensive. In heavy retreating fights the division lost almost all of its tanks and a month later it had only 25 machines still operational. It withdrew to the area of Orel, where the thaw halted the Soviet counter-offensive and the unit could be partially reinforced. Throughout the year of 1942 it fought in the year-long battle of Orel, a series of almost World War I-like skirmishes, assaults and counter-assaults. The first battalion of the 35th Regiment was disbanded and the remaining tanks were attached to the only remaining tank battalion. It took part in the failed battle of Kursk, after which it withdrew to the area along the Desna River. After a series of Soviet tactical pushes, the front line was finally established near Bobruysk, where the division spent the winter of 1943-1944.

In the spring of 1944 it was moved to the area of Kowel in occupied Poland, where it was to support the badly-beaten Army Group South during the expected spring offensive of the Soviets. However, Operation Bagration that started on June 22, 1944 was in fact aimed against the Army Group Centre and the division was forced to withdraw, along with the entire German army. Being attached to the German XXXIX Panzer Corps under Gen. Karl Decker, the 4th Division withdrew to the area of Warsaw, where the Soviets halted their offensive due to the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising. In the battle of Wołomin the 4th Division even managed to inflict some casualties on the Soviet III Armoured Corps.

After that the division was transported to northern Lithuania, where it was to support the badly-beaten Army Group North and was attached to the German 3rd Panzer Army. However, the Soviet advance cut the German army group in two and the division was mostly dispersed. Some of its sub-units were cut off from the rest of German-held territory together with the 16th and 18th Armies in Livonia, where they supported the defence until the very end of World War II. Other units were attached to smaller, often improvised units, and were destroyed by the Soviet offensive of April-May of 1945.

[edit] War Crimes

Parts of the division were responsible for a number of war crimes during the Polish Defensive War of 1939. The first incident occurred on September 1, 1939 when the division used civilians as human shields during the battle of Mokra.[1]

On September 3rd, when a Polish aeroplane was shot down and its crew taken prisoner, one of its passengers, was brutally interrogated, tortured (German soldiers cut off his nose, ears and tongue) and then executed.[2][3] On September 6 another Polish prisoner of war was executed in the village of Czermno.[3] In Mszczonów[4] eleven Polish POWs (8 in uniforms and 3 in civilian clothing) were shot in public view by the soldiers of the division.[3] As the division progressed towards Warsaw, on September 8 in Nadarzyn a captured Polish Major was ordered to dig his own grave before his execution. During an escape attempt he was recaptured and trampled to death by a group of soldiers.[3] The following day in the village of Ludwikówka, two additional Polish prisoners of war were executed.[3]

Another war crime took place on September 18th in the village of Śladów,[3] where German forces of the 4th Panzer Division[5] shot and drowned Vistula[6] 252 prisoners of war and 106 civilians,[7] some of whom were earlier used as human shields.[8]

[edit] Commanders

  • Generaloberst Georg-Hans Reinhardt (1 Sep 1939 - 5 Feb 1940)
  • Generalleutnant Ludwig Ritter von Radlmeier (5 Feb 1940 - 8 June 1940)
  • Generalleutnant Johann Joachim Stever (8 June 1940 - 24 July 1940)
  • Generalleutnant Hans Freiherr von Boineburg-Lengsfeld (24 July 1940 - 8 Sep 1940)
  • General der Panzertruppen Willibald Freiherr von Langermann und Erlencamp (8 Sep 1940 - 27 Dec 1941)
  • General der Panzertruppen Dietrich von Saucken (27 Dec 1941 - 2 Jan 1942)
  • General der Panzertruppen Willibald Freiherr von Langermann und Erlencamp (2 Jan 1942 - 6 Jan 1942)
  • General der Panzertruppen Heinrich Eberbach (6 Jan 1942 - 2 Mar 1942)
  • Generalleutnant Otto Heidkämper (2 Mar 1942 - 4 Apr 1942)
  • General der Panzertruppen Heinrich Eberbach (4 Apr 1942 - 14 Nov 1942)
  • Generalleutnant Erich Schneider (14 Nov 1942 - 31 May 1943)
  • General der Panzertruppen Dietrich von Saucken (31 May 1943 - ? Jan 1944)
  • Generalleutnant Hans Junck (? Jan 1944 - ? Feb 1944)
  • General der Panzertruppen Dietrich von Saucken (? Feb 1944 - 1 May 1944)
  • Generalleutnant Clemens Betzel (1 May 1944 - 27 Mar 1945)
  • Oberst Ernst-Wilhelm Hoffmann (27 Mar 1945 - 8 May 1945) This is the wrong link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Hoffmann. The correct link, though in German is http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Personenregister/HoffmannEW-R.htm

[edit] Orders of Battle

[edit] Fall Weiß, Poland 1939

  • Divisionstab
  • 4.Schützen-Brigade
    • Schützen-Regiment 12
  • 5.Panzer-Brigade
    • Panzer-Regiment 35
    • Panzer-Regiment 36
  • Artillerie-Regiment 103
  • Aufklärungs-Abteilung 7
  • Panzerabwehr-Bataillon 49
  • Pionier-Bataillon 79
  • Nachrichten-Abteilung 79

[edit] Operation Citadel, Orel 1943

  • Divisionstab
  • Panzergrenadier-Regiment 12
  • Panzergrenadier-Regiment 33
  • Panzer-Regiment 35
  • 103.Artillerie-Regiment
  • Panzerjäger-Abteilung 49
  • Feldersatz-Bataillon 103
  • Panzer-Pionier-Bataillon 79
  • Panzer-Nachrichten-Abteilung 79
  • Heeres-Flak-Abteilung 290
  • 84.Versorgungstruppen

[edit] References

Inline:
  1. ^ (Polish) Mieczysław Bielski (1991). Grupa Operacyjna Piotrków 1939. Warsaw: Bellona, 462. ISBN 83-11-07836-X.
  2. ^ (Polish) Kazimierz Leszczyński, Janusz Gumkowski (1961). Okupacja hitlerowska w Polsce (Nazi occupation of Poland). Polonia, 235.
  3. ^ a b c d e f (Polish) Zbrodnie Wehrmachtu i Waffen-SS w relacjach. Warsaw Uprising - What for. Retrieved on November 1, 2005.
  4. ^ (Polish) (2004) "Kampania wrześniowa 1939 roku - próba bilansu". Oblicza historii (02/2004). Retrieved on 2006-05-10.
  5. ^ (Polish) "ŚLADÓW". Wielka Encyklopedia PWN (web). (2004).
  6. ^ (Polish) "MIEJSCA MASOWYCH STRACEŃ". Wielka Encyklopedia PWN (web). (2004).
  7. ^ (Polish) Kampinos National Reserve site. Retrieved on November 4, 2005.
  8. ^ Gmina Brochów. w-turystyka.pl (2005). Retrieved on 2005-11-04.
General:
  1. 4. Panzer Division. lexikon-der-wehrmacht. Retrieved on May 14, 2005.
  2. Jason Pipes. 4.Panzer-Division. Feldgrau. Retrieved on May 14, 2005.
  3. Marcus Wendel. 4. Panzer-Division. lexikon-der-wehrmacht. Retrieved on May 14, 2005.
  4. selection of documents by Szymon Datner (1974). Zbrodnie Wehrmachtu (Crimes of the Wehrmacht). Główna Komisja Badania Zbrodni Hitlerowskich w Polsce, 289.
  5. Alexander Rossino (2003). Hitler Strikes Poland: Blitzkrieg, Ideology, and Atrocity. University Press of Kansas, 343. ISBN 0-7006-1234-3.

[edit] See also

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