The 113th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the Wehrmacht in World War II.

History

The division was created on 10 December 1940 in Grafenwöhr. It participated in

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 after ...

and the

Battle of Kiev (1941) The First Battle of Kiev was the German name for the operation that resulted in a huge encirclement of Soviet troops in the vicinity of Kiev during World War II. This encirclement is considered the largest encirclement in the history of warfar ...

, before being sent to Serbia for anti-partisan operations. After the defeat in the Battle of Moscow, the division was rushed back to Russia to help stop the Soviet counter-offensive.
In 1942, the division participated in the Second Battle of Kharkov,

Case Blue Case Blue (German: ''Fall Blau'') was the German Armed Forces' plan for the 1942 strategic summer offensive in southern Russia between 28 June and 24 November 1942, during World War II. The objective was to capture the oil fields of the Cauc ...

and the Battle of Stalingrad, where it was annihilated. The division was reformed on 21 March 1943 in

occupied France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...

. From 1 June 1943, it was relocated to the hinterland, where retaliatory actions against French partisans were carried out. On 20 July, the 113th Infantry Division was sent back to Russia, to take over a section of the "Buffalo Position" near Rzhev as part of Army Group Center. On 7 August, the Red Army attacked the division at the start of the

Smolensk operation The second Smolensk operation (7 August – 2 October 1943) was a Soviet strategic offensive operation conducted by the Red Army as part of the Summer-Autumn Campaign of 1943. Staged almost simultaneously with the Lower Dnieper Offensive (13 Au ...

. The mostly inexperienced soldiers of the division withdrew in panic, so that the battle-hardened 18th Panzer Grenadier Division had to be brought in to rectify the situation. In the following battles, the troops of the 113th Infantry Division continued to suffer high losses and were mostly subordinated to the neighboring divisions. Due to the low combat value of the division, it was disbanded on 2 November 1943. The remains of the division were transferred to the Divisions-Gruppe 113 of the 337th Infantry Division after the Battle of Nevel in November 1943.

Organization

Structure of the division: * Headquarters * 260th Infantry Regiment * 261st Infantry Regiment * 268th Infantry Regiment * 87th Artillery Regiment * 113th Reconnaissance Battalion * 113th Tank Destroyer Battalion * 113th Engineer Battalion * 113th Signal Battalion * 113th Divisional Supply Group

Commanding officers

* Generalleutnant

Ernst Güntzel Ernst is both a surname and a given name, the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian form of Ernest. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Adolf Ernst (1832–1899) German botanist known by the author abbreviation "Ernst" * Anton Ernst (1975 ...

, 10 December 1940 – 4 June 1941, * Generalleutnant

Friedrich Zickwolff __NOTOC__ Friedrich Zickwolff (1 August 1893 – 17 September 1944) was a German general during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. Zickwolff died on 17 September 1944 from an infectious disea ...

, 4 June 1941 – 10 May 1942, * Generalleutnant

Hans-Heinrich Sixt von Armin __NOTOC__ Hans-Heinrich Sixt von Armin (6 November 1890 – 1 April 1952) was a German general during World War II who commanded several divisions. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Armin surrendered following the Bat ...

, 10 May 1942 – 20 January 1943 : POW, * Generalmajor Friedrich-Wilhelm Prüter, 15 March 1943 – 25 November 1943.

War Crimes

The 113th division participated in the Massacre at

Babi Yar Babi Yar (russian: Ба́бий Яр) or Babyn Yar ( uk, Бабин Яр) is a ravine in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and a site of massacres carried out by Nazi Germany's forces during its campaign against the Soviet Union in World War II. T ...

under Friedrich Zickwolff.

References

Infantry divisions of Germany during World War II Military units and formations established in 1940 Military units and formations disestablished in 1943 Military units and formations of Germany in Yugoslavia in World War II {{Germany-mil-unit-stub