The 25th Infantry Division () was a military unit of the German Wehrmacht. It was later reclassified to 25th Motorized Infantry Division (), and in June 1943 to the 25th Panzergrenadier Division (). The 25th Panzergrenadier Division fought in the central sector of the Eastern front from June 1943 to July 1944. It was destroyed in the encirclement east of

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

and reformed in October 1944. It then fought in

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

between October 1944 and January 1945 and in eastern Germany January to May 1945. Most of the survivors of the division surrendered to the western

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

History

Battle of France and Eastern Front

The 25th Panzergrenadier Division was originally formed as an infantry unit, designated 25th Infantry Division and made up of Swabian and Bavarian personnel. It participated in the

Polish Campaign The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak Republic, and the Soviet ...

and the

Battle of France The Battle of France (; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (), the French Campaign (, ) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembour ...

. In late 1940, it was reorganized as the 25th motorized infantry division and took part in

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

, the invasion 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 June 1941. It was attached to

Army Group Center Army Group Centre () was the name of two distinct strategic German Army Groups that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. The first Army Group Centre was created during the planning of Operation Barbarossa, Germany's invasion of the So ...

and fought in the Soviet Union for two years before being reorganized as the 25th Panzergrenadier Division in June 1943. After another year of heavy fighting, the division was almost destroyed near

during the Soviet

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 the summer of 1944; the survivors were reorganized at the training area at Mielau (in modern-day Poland) as the 107th Panzer Brigade.

Western Front (1944–1945)

In September 1944, the 107th Panzer Brigade participated in Operation Market Garden as part of LXXXVI Corps of the

1st Parachute Army The 1st Parachute Army () was a combined forces between airborne forces (Fallschirmjäger), armoured, and mechanized infantry unit of German Army, formed in September, 1944, comprising 30,000 men. History Its first commander was Colonel Gene ...

. The Brigade had been re-routed from

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

to the Netherlands and went almost immediately into combat at

Nuenen Nuenen () is a town in the municipality of Nuenen, Gerwen en Nederwetten in the Netherlands. From 1883 to 1885, Vincent van Gogh lived and worked in Nuenen. In 1944, a battle was fought there during Operation Market Garden. The local dialect is c ...

against the American 506th PIR of the

101st Airborne Division The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division (military), division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault military operation, operations. The 101st is designed to plan, coordinat ...

and the British

15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars The 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. The regiment was formed by the amalgamation of the 15th The King's Hussars and the 19th Royal Hussars in 1922 and, after service in the Second World War, it was a ...

of the

11th Armoured Division The 11th Armoured Division was an armoured division of the British Army which was created in March 1941 during the Second World War. The division was formed in response to the unanticipated success of the German panzer divisions. The 11th Armour ...

. In November 1944, the brigade was upgraded back to divisional status at the

Baumholder Baumholder () is a town in the Birkenfeld (district), Birkenfeld Districts of Germany, district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, in the Westrich, an historic region that encompasses areas in both Germany and France. The town of Baumholder is the a ...

training area and re-numbered back as the 25th Panzergrenadier Division. The new division moved to France in the area of the German-

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

-French border at

Sierck-les-Bains Sierck-les-Bains (; ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Siirk''/''Siirck'') is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Localities of the commune: Rudling, Kœnigsberg (German: Rudlingen, Königsberg) Language Revitali ...

, where it fought a delaying action against the

US Third Army The United States Army Central, formerly the Third United States Army, commonly referred to as the Third Army and as ARCENT, is a military formation of the United States Army that saw service in World War I and World War II, in the 1991 Gulf Wa ...

, until December. It was then moved to

Bitche Bitche (English pronunciation: , ; German and Lorraine Franconian: ) is a commune in Moselle department, in the region of Grand Est in northeastern France. It is the Pays de Bitche's capital city, and the seat of the Canton of Bitche and the ...

. There it fought on the

Maginot line The Maginot Line (; ), named after the Minister of War (France), French Minister of War André Maginot, is a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles and weapon installations built by French Third Republic, France in the 1930s to deter invas ...

fortifications at Forts Ouvrage Simserhof and Ouvrage Schiesseck, under the command of the

XIII SS Corps The XIII SS Army Corps was formed in August 1944 at Breslau. It was moved to France and the Western Front. By the end of April 1945, some units of the corps operated in Czechoslovakia where they encountered the U.S. 97th Infantry Division. Other ...

and ''

Obergruppenführer (, ) was a paramilitary rank in Nazi Germany that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) and adopted by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) one year later. Until April 1942, it was the highest commissioned SS rank after ...

Max Simon Max Simon (6 January 1899 – 1 February 1961) was a German SS commander and war criminal during World War II. Simon was one of the first members of the SS in the early 1930s. He rose through the ranks of the SS, and became a corps commander dur ...

. After the

US Seventh Army United States Army Europe and Africa (USAREUR-AF) is an Army Service Component Command (ASCC) /Theater Army responsible for directing United States Army operations throughout the U.S. European Command (EUCOM) and U.S. Africa Command (AFRICO ...

's offensive operations were halted in December as a result of the German Ardennes Offensive, the 25th was pulled out of the line and re-organized near

Zweibrücken Zweibrücken (; ; , ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach (Blies), Schwarzbach River. Name The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; older forms of the name include Middl ...

. It then took part in

Operation Nordwind Operation Northwind () was the last major German offensive of World War II on the Western Front. Northwind was launched to support the German Ardennes offensive campaign in the Battle of the Bulge, which by late December 1944 had decisively ...

, along with the

21st Panzer Division The 21st Panzer Division was a German armoured division best known for its role in the battles of the North African Campaign from 1941 to 1943 during World War II when it was one of the two armoured divisions making up the Deutsches Afrikakorps ...

. Together, these divisions were to exploit the penetrations made by either the

in the west, or the LXXXIX and XC Corps in the east, with the intention of cutting the US Seventh Army off from the

1st French Army The First Army () was a field army of France that fought during World War I and World War II. It was also active during the Cold War. World War I On mobilization in August 1914, General Auguste Dubail was put in the charge of the First Army, ...

. It was then sent back to the eastern front to defend against the Soviet attack on the

Oder The Oder ( ; Czech and ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and its largest tributary the Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows through wes ...

north of

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, most of the survivors managed to escape to the west and surrendered to the British or Americans.

Commanders

* ''Generalleutnant'' Christian Hansen (6 October 1936 – 15 October 1939) * ''Generalleutnant''

Erich-Heinrich Clößner __NOTOC__ Erich-Heinrich Clößner (17 September 1888 – 28 March 1976) was a German general during World War II who held commands at the divisional and corps levels. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. A ...

(15 October 1939 – 15 January 1942) * ''Generalmajor'' Sigfrid Henrici (15 January - 4 February 1942) * ''

General der Infanterie General of the infantry is a military rank of a General officer in the infantry and refers to: * General of the Infantry (Austria) * General of the Infantry (Bulgaria) * General of the Infantry (Germany) ('), a rank of a general in the German Impe ...

'', Anton Graßer (4 February 1942 – 5 November 1943) * ''

Generalleutnant () is the German-language 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 ...

'' Dr. Fritz Benicke (5 November 1943 – 4 March 1944) * ''Generalleutnant''

Paul Schürmann Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo P ...

(4 March 1944 – July 1944) * ''Generalleutnant'' Paul Schürmann (October 1944 – 10 February 1945) * ''Generalleutnant''

Arnold Burmeister Arnold Hans Albert Burmeister (28 February 1899 – 2 July 1988) was a German general during World War II who commanded the 25th Panzergrenadier Division. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. Awards and ...

(10 February 1945 – 8 May 1945)

Order of battle

* Division Staff ** 25. Mapping Detachment (mot) * 35. Panzergrenadier Regiment ** Staff Company *** ''

Panzerjäger ''Panzerjäger'' (German: literally "armor hunter", more broadly "anti-tank") is a term used for an anti-tank vehicle (self-propelled anti-tank gun), as well as anti-tank units. The term was first used in the Wehrmacht (German armed forces, 19 ...

'' Platoon *** Motorcycle Platoon *** Signals Platoon *** Pioneer Platoon ** 3 Battalions *** Battalion Staff *** 3 Companies (mot) *** Machine Gun Company (mot) *** Infantry Gun Company * 119. Panzergrenadier Regiment ** Staff Company *** ''Panzerjäger'' Platoon *** Motorcycle Platoon *** Signals Platoon *** Pioneer Platoon ** 3 Battalions *** Battalion Staff *** 3 Companies (mot) *** Machine Gun Company (mot) *** Infantry Gun Company * 125. Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion ** Battalion Staff ** Light Armored Car Company ** 3 Motorcycle Companies ** Heavy Company (mot) ** Pioneer Platoon ** 2 ''Panzerjäger'' Platoons ** Light Infantry Gun Section * 125. Panzerjäger Battalion ** Staff Company ** 3 ''Panzerjäger'' Companies (self-propelled) ** ''Flak'' Company (self-propelled) * 8. Panzer Battalion ** Staff Company ** ''Flak'' Platoon ** 3 ''

Sturmgeschütz (abbreviated StuG) meaning "assault gun" was a series of armored fighting vehicles used by both German ''Wehrmacht'' and ''Waffen-SS'' formations during the Second World War (1939–1945). The main StuGs were the StuG III and StuG IV bas ...

'' Batteries ** ''Panzer'' Maintenance Platoon * 25. Artillery Regiment ** Staff Battery ** 3 Battalions *** Staff Battery (mot) *** 3 Batteries (mot) * 25. Pioneer Battalion ** Battalion Staff ** 3 Companies (mot) ** Light Pioneer Column (mot) * 25. Signals Battalion ** Battalion Staff ** Telephone Company (mot) ** Radio Company (mot) ** Signals Column (mot) * Supply and Support Units

In popular culture

The action at

by the 107th Panzer Brigade during Operation Market Garden is dramatized in episode 4 "Replacements" of the television series ''Band of Brothers''.

References

* * * {{Authority control 25 Military units and formations established in 1943 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945