The 1st Infantry Division () was an infantry division that notably served in World War II as part of the Heer of Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht. It had been one of the original infantry divisions of the Reichswehr.

Operational history

Before World War II

The staff of the 1st Infantry Division was initially assembled under the cover name of Artillery Leader 1 () in October 1934. Its initial headquarters were at Königsberg. On 15 October 1935, the formation was redesignated as the 1st Infantry Division. It was redeployed to Insterburg on 3 February 1936. The division initially contained the Infantry Regiments 1 (Königsberg), 22 (Gumbinnen), and 43 (Insterburg), as well as Artillery Regiment 1 (Königsberg). The division was built from the Reichswehr-era 1st Infantry Regiment, assembled largely from East Prussian personnel and adopted a strongly Prussian internal culture, as underlined by the black-and-white divisional insignia.

The divisional commander from 1 October 1934 until 1 October 1935 was Georg von Küchler, who later went on to be the army-level commanding general that the 1st Infantry Division served under starting in September 1939. Küchler was replaced as divisional commander by Walther Schroth on 1 October 1935, who was in turn replaced by Joachim von Kortzfleisch on 1 January 1938.

On 17 August 1939, the 1st Infantry Division initiated mobilization procedures as part of the German preparations for the Invasion of Poland. The division advanced toward Warsaw as a component of the XXVI Army Corps (until 1 October 1939: "Army Corps Wodrig", commanded by Albert Wodrig), subordinate to the 3rd Army (Georg von Küchler). The division's commanding general was Joachim von Kortzfleisch, while the chief of staff and head of logistics were Major Johannes Steffler and Captain Christian Müller. It engaged Polish forces near the heavily defended town of Mława (Battle of Mława) for several days, then crossed over the Bug and Narew rivers. On 8 September 1939, 1st and 12th Infantry Divisions captured the Ostrów Mazowiecka region. On 28 August, as part of a reorganization of the army corps' occupation duties, 1st Infantry Division was placed on the sea shore, with its partner division, the 11th Infantry Division, on the demarcation line between German-occupied northern France and the Vichy French territory. Divisional headquarters were moved there as well, by 18 April. In the case of the 1st Infantry Division, this resulted in the Grenadier Regiments 1 and 43 as well as the Fusilier Regiment 22.

Sources

References

Literature

  • Christopher Duffy. Red Storm on the Reich: The Soviet March on Germany, 1945. New York: Atheneum, 1991. pp 164,165,207
  • Samuel W. Mitcham: Crumbling Empire: The German Defeat in the East, 1944. Westport: Praeger, 2001. pp 66,141
  • Burkhard Müller-Hillebrand: Das Heer 1933–1945. Entwicklung des organisatorischen Aufbaues. Vol.III: Der Zweifrontenkrieg. Das Heer vom Beginn des Feldzuges gegen die Sowjetunion bis zum Kriegsende. Mittler: Frankfurt am Main 1969, p. 285.
  • Georg Tessin: Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg, 1939 – 1945. Vol. II: Die Landstreitkräfte 1 – 5. Mittler: Frankfurt am Main 1966.

de:1. Division (Militär)#Infanterie-Verbände