The 384th Infantry Division was formed during the winter of 1941/42, as part of the 18th wave. All infantry divisions of this wave, numbers 383 to 389, were referred to as “Rhine Gold” divisions. The 384th was sent to the 3rd Panzer Corps, 1st Panzer Army, just in time to be involved in defensive fighting during the Soviet offensive in the Second Battle of Kharkov, early in the summer of 1942. Afterwards, the division took part in the offensive operations that led to Stalingrad. After the Soviet counteroffensive,

Operation Uranus Operation Uranus (russian: Опера́ция «Ура́н», Operatsiya "Uran") was the codename of the Soviet Red Army's 19–23 November 1942 strategic operation on the Eastern Front of World War II which led to the encirclement of Axis ...

, most of the combat elements of the division were split between the 44th and the 376th Infantry Divisions, but both were surrounded at Stalingrad and destroyed. The surviving combat troops, in the form of the 2/536th battalion, were allocated to the

9th Panzer Division The 9th Panzer Division was a panzer division of the German Army during World War II. It came into existence after 4th Light Division was reorganized in January 1940. The division was headquartered in Vienna, in the German military district Weh ...

to help replace the panzer grenadiers in its schutzen brigade. The non-combat elements were set to northern France and the division was rebuilt. This process was completed in late 1943, and the division, minus its

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...

battalion and 3/384th Artillery Battalion, was again sent to

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. After almost a year at the front, in the autumn of 1944, the 384th was surrounded and then destroyed in defensive fighting near the city of Kishinev, during the Soviet Jassy–Kishinev Offensive.

Organization

Structure of the division: * Headquarters * 534th Infantry Regiment * 535th Infantry Regiment * 536th Infantry Regiment * 384th Artillery Regiment * 384th Reconnaissance Battalion * 384th Tank Destroyer Battalion * 384th Engineer Battalion * 384th Signal Battalion * 384th Field Replacement Battalion * 384th Divisional Supply Group

Commanders

Generalleutnant is the Germanic variant of lieutenant general, used in some German speaking countries. Austria Generalleutnant is the second highest general officer rank in the Austrian Armed Forces (''Bundesheer''), roughly equivalent to the NATO rank of ...

Kurt Hoffmann (10 January 1942 – 12 February 1942) *Generalleutnant

Eccard Freiherr von Gablenz __NOTOC__ Eccard Freiherr von Gablenz (26 January 1891 – 17 December 1978) was a German general in the Wehrmacht during World War II who commanded several divisions. He participated in the campaigns of Poland, France and the invasion of the Sovi ...

(13 February 1942 – 15 January 1943) *Generalmajor Hans Dörr (16 January 1943 – 23 February 1943) *Generalleutnant Hans de Salengre-Drabbe (24 February 1943 – 25 August 1944) (KIA).

References

* {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Infantry divisions of Germany during World War II Military units and formations established in 1942 Military units and formations disestablished in 1944 Königsbrück