The 19th Panzer Division ( en, 19th Tank Division) was an armoured division in the
German Army
The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...
, the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
, during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. It was created from the
19th Infantry Division.
The division fought exclusively on the Eastern Front, except for a brief period of refitting in the Netherlands in mid-1944. It took part in the battles of Moscow and Kursk as well as in the crushing of the Polish uprising at Warsaw. It eventually surrendered to Soviet forces in Czechoslovakia in May 1945.
History
The division was formed in November 1940 from the 19th Infantry Division,
gaining the 27th Tank Regiment and in turn giving up the 59th Infantry Regiment to the new
20th Panzer Division. The new division was part of
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named afte ...
which began in June 1941, suffering such heavy casualties in the first two months that one of its three tank battalions had to be disbanded by August. Among other operations, it fought around
Velikiye Luki
Velikiye Luki ( rus, Вели́кие Лу́ки, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪjə ˈlukʲɪ; lit. ''great meanders''. Г. П. Смолицкая. "Топонимический словарь Центральной России". "Армада-� ...
against the Soviet
29th Territorial Rifle Corps. The division took part in the advance in the central sector of the
Eastern Front and participated in the
Battle of Moscow
The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between September 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive ...
.
Further losses during the defensive operations in the winter of 1941–42 forced the division to disbanded another tank battalion, reducing it to just one. The 19th Panzer Division remained in the central sector until late 1942, when it was sent south to support the
Italian 8th Army The 8th Army ( it, 8ª Armata) was a field army of the Royal Italian Army, which fought in World War I and on the Eastern Front during World War II.
World War I
After the disastrous defeat at Caporetto (November 1917) the Italian Army was comp ...
. The division took part in defensive battles after the collapse of the German southern front following the
encirclement of the 6th Army at Stalingrad. It participated in the unsuccessful German offensive during the
Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk was a major World War II Eastern Front engagement between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in the southwestern USSR during late summer 1943; it ultimately became the largest tank battle in history ...
, suffering heavy casualties while operating in the area of
Belgorod. In October 1943 it was reinforced with an additional tank battalion.
[Mitcham, p. 150]
The division was part of the German defensive operations and retreat through the Ukraine in late 1943 and early 1944. It was part of the successful escape of the
1st Panzer Army
The 1st Panzer Army (german: 1. Panzerarmee) was a German tank army that was a large armoured formation of the Wehrmacht during World War II.
When originally formed on 1 March 1940, the predecessor of the 1st Panzer Army was named Panzer Gro ...
from the
Kamenets-Podolsky pocket
Kamianets-Podilskyi ( uk, Ка́м'яне́ць-Поді́льський, russian: Каменец-Подольский, Kamenets-Podolskiy, pl, Kamieniec Podolski, ro, Camenița, yi, קאַמענעץ־פּאָדאָלסק / קאַמעניץ, ...
in April 1944. The 19th Panzer Division, almost destroyed in the previous defensive battles, was sent to the Netherlands in May 1944 to be refitted. In the aftermath of
Operation Bagration
Operation Bagration (; russian: Операция Багратио́н, Operatsiya Bagration) was the codename for the 1944 Soviet Byelorussian strategic offensive operation (russian: Белорусская наступательная оп ...
, the Soviet offensive that destroyed the center of the German Eastern Front, the division was sent by rail from the Netherlands back to the Eastern Front. It took part in the defence of
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...
and the crushing of the
Polish uprising.
After the Soviet
Vistula–Oder Offensive in January 1945, the division was pushed south-west by the Soviet advance, first towards
Breslau and then into Czechoslovakia. It eventually surrendered to Soviet forces in May 1945 west of
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
.
Organization
Organization of the division:
* Headquarters
* 27th Panzer Regiment
* 73rd Panzergrenadier Regiment
* 74th Panzergrenadier Regiment
* 19th Panzer Artillery Regiment
* 19th Motorcycle Battalion ''(later 19th Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion)''
* 19th Tank Destroyer Battalion
* 19th Panzer Engineer Battalion
* 19th Panzer Signal Battalion
* 272nd Army Anti-Aircraft Battalion ''(later added 29 April 1943)''
*
Division commanders
The commanders of the division:
[Mitcham, p. 150–152]
*1 November 1940 — General der Panzertruppe
Otto von Knobelsdorff
*5 January 1942 — Generalleutnant
Gustav Schmidt (committed suicide to avoid capture, Beresowka, 7 August 1943)
*7 August 1943 — Generalleutnant
Hans Källner
*28 March 1944 — Generalleutnant
Walter Denkert
*May 1944 — Generalleutnant Hans Källner (killed in battle 18 April 1945 )
*22 March 1945 — Generalmajor Hans-Joachim Deckert
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
* ''Geschichte der niedersächsischen 19. Panzer-Division 1939 - 1945'' - Otto von Knobelsdorff
External links
*
{{Authority control
1*19
Military units and formations established in 1940
Military units and formations disestablished in 1945
de:19. Infanterie-Division (Wehrmacht)