The 203rd Security Division, was a rear-security division in the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. The unit was deployed in German-occupied areas of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, in the Army Group Centre Rear Area and was responsible for large-scale war crimes and atrocities.

Operational history

The division was formed in June 1942 on the basis of the 203rd Security Brigade that was itself formed in December 1941. It operated in the Army Group Centre Rear Area, of the occupied regions of the

behind Army Group Centre's front lines. Its duties included security of

communications Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

and supply lines, economic exploitation and combatting irregular fighters ( partisans) in Wehrmacht's rear areas. The so-called anti-partisan operations in "bandit-infested" areas amounted to destruction of villages, plunder and enslavement of civilian population. In July 1942, the division took part in '"Operation Peter". The unit received specific instructions regarding the villages deemed "bandit-friendly" (those failing to meet agricultural quotas). The division was to appropriate livestock, deport the population for slave labour to Germany and burn the villages down. The unit suffered heavy losses during the Soviet

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

summer offensive

Operation Bagration Operation Bagration () was the codename for the 1944 Soviet Byelorussian strategic offensive operation (), a military campaign fought between 22 June and 19 August 1944 in Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Byelorussia in the Eastern ...

in 1944. In October 1944 it was designated the 203rd Infantry Division, and continued to fight on the Eastern Front until Germany's surrender.

Commanders

* Generalleutnant Rudolf Pilz (January 1943 – 19 August 1944) * Generalleutnant Max Horn (19 August 1944 – 18 November 1944) * Generalleutnant Wilhelm Thomas (18 November 1944 – 26 December 1944) * Generalmajor Fritz Gädicke (26 December 1944 – April 1945)

References

Citations

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Operational history

Commanders

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography

Further reading