The 22nd Infantry Division was a specialized German infantry division in

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 ...

. Its primary method of transportation was gliders. The division played a significant role in the development of modern day

air assault Air assault is the movement of ground-based military forces by vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft—such as the helicopter—to seize and hold key terrain which has not been fully secured, and to directly engage enemy forces behind ...

operations.

History

Created as 22. Infanterie-Division in 1935, one regiment participated in the 1939

Invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week af ...

; the rest of the division stayed in garrison on the

Siegfried Line The Siegfried Line, known in German as the ''Westwall'', was a German defensive line built during the 1930s (started 1936) opposite the French Maginot Line. It stretched more than ; from Kleve on the border with the Netherlands, along the we ...

in case of a French attack in defense of Poland. The division retrained as 22. Luftlande-Division (''Air Landing Division'') for rapid tactical deployment to capture enemy airbases and performed in that role during the invasion of the Netherlands suffering heavy losses during the failed Battle for The Hague (operation “Fall Festung”), and afterward advanced into

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

operating as ordinary ground

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...

. Though planned for use in its air-landing role for the

Battle of Crete The Battle of Crete (german: Luftlandeschlacht um Kreta, el, Μάχη της Κρήτης), codenamed Operation Mercury (german: Unternehmen Merkur), was a major Axis Powers, Axis Airborne forces, airborne and amphibious assault, amphibious ope ...

, it was replaced by another division at the last minute. It joined Army Group South 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 afte ...

(1941), attacking from

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

and, operating exclusively as ordinary ground infantry, helped storm

Sevastopol Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...

in the

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...

(1942). The unit was thereafter transferred to

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

for garrison duty in "

Fortress Crete Fortress Crete (german: Festung Kreta) was the term used during World War II by the German occupation forces to refer to the garrison and fortification of Crete. The Greek island of Crete was seized by the Axis after a fierce battle at the en ...

" and mop-up operations in the Aegean, playing a major role in the

Battle of Leros The Battle of Leros was the central event of the Dodecanese campaign of the Second World War, and is widely used as an alternate name for the whole campaign. After the Armistice of Cassibile the Italian garrison on the Greek island Leros was str ...

under the command of Generalmajor

Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller __NOTOC__ Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller (29 August 1897 – 20 May 1947) was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. He led an infantry regiment in the early stages of the war and by 1943 was commander of the 22nd Air Landing ...

. During September 1943, forces of the unit committed numerous atrocities in Viannos. On 26 April 1944 the divisional commander, Generalmajor Heinrich Kreipe, was abducted by a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its p ...

team led by Major

Patrick Leigh Fermor Sir Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor (11 February 1915 – 10 June 2011) was an English writer, scholar, soldier and polyglot. He played a prominent role in the Cretan resistance during the Second World War, and was widely seen as Britain's great ...

and Capt Bill Stanley Moss. Kreipe's car was ambushed at night on the way from the divisional headquarters at Ano Archanes to the

Villa Ariadne A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

Knossos Knossos (also Cnossos, both pronounced ; grc, Κνωσός, Knōsós, ; Linear B: ''Ko-no-so'') is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and has been called Europe's oldest city. Settled as early as the Neolithic period, the na ...

and he was taken cross-country over the mountains to the south coast where he and his captors were picked up by a British vessel near Rodakino on 14 May. This operation was later portrayed in the book ''

Ill Met by Moonlight ''Ill Met by Moonlight: The Abduction of General Kreipe'' is a non-fiction partly-autobiographical book written by W. Stanley Moss, a British soldier, writer and traveller. It describes an operation in Crete during the Second World War to cap ...

'' (1950) written by

Moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta ('' sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and ...

based on his wartime diaries, later adapted as a film of the same name. In late summer 1944, forces of the division were involved in more atrocities in Anogeia and Amari. Withdrawn to the mainland in autumn 1944, the 22. Infanterie-Division spent the rest of the war in anti- partisan operations in Macedonia,

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

and

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and ...

in southeastern

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, was renamed 22. Volksgrenadier-Division in March 1945, as it withdrew to

Slavonia Slavonia (; hr, Slavonija) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria, one of the four historical regions of Croatia. Taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with five Croatian counties: Brod-Posavina, Osijek-Bar ...

and finally surrendered to Yugoslav forces at the end of the war in May in

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

Commanders

* Generalleutnant Adolf Strauß (15 Oct 1935 – 10 Nov 1938) * Generalleutnant

Hans Graf von Sponeck Hans Emil Otto Graf von Sponeck (12 February 1888 – 23 July 1944) was a German general during World War II who was imprisoned for disobeying orders and later executed. Pre-World War II career Sponeck was born in 1888 in Düsseldorf. He rece ...

(10 Nov 1938 – 10 Oct 1941) * General der Infanterie

Ludwig Wolff Ludwig Wolff (27 September 1857 – 24 February 1919), born in Neustadt in Palatinate, was a German chemist. He studied chemistry at the University of Strasbourg, where he received his Ph.D. from Rudolph Fittig in 1882. He became Professor ...

(10 Oct 1941 – 1 Aug 1942) * General der Infanterie

(1 Aug 1942 – 15 Feb 1944) * Generalmajor Heinrich Kreipe (15 Feb 1944 – 26 Apr 1944) * Generalleutnant

Helmut Friebe __NOTOC__ Helmut Friebe (4 November 1894 – 14 January 1970) was a German general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II who commanded the LXIV Army Corps. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. He took up h ...

(1 May 1944 – 15 April 1945) * Generalmajor Gerhard Kühne (16 April 1945 – 15 May 1945)

Orders of Battle

May 1940 – Fall Gelb

* Divisionstab * Infanterie-Regiment 16 * Infanterie-Regiment 47 * Infanterie-Regiment 65 * Artillerie-Regiment 22 * Panzerabwehr-Abteilung 22 * Aufklärungs-Abteilung 22 * Feldersatz-Bataillon 22 * Nachrichten-Bataillon 22 * Pionier-Bataillon 22

July 1944 – Crete

* Divisionstab * Grenadier-Regiment 16 * Grenadier-Regiment 47 * Grenadier-Regiment 65 * Artillerie-Regiment 22 * Panzerjäger-Abteilung 22 * Aufklärungs-Abteilung 22 * Feldersatz-Bataillon 22 * Nachrichten-Bataillon 22 * Pionier-Bataillon 22 * Flak-Bataillon 22

References

Works consulted

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:22nd Air Landing Division (Wehrmacht) Military units and formations established in 1934 Crete in World War II Airborne divisions of Germany in World War II Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 Military units and formations of Germany in Yugoslavia in World War II War crimes of the Wehrmacht