216th Infantry Division | |
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216. Infanterie Division Vehicle Insignia
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Active | 26 August 1939 – 17 November 1943 |
Country | Nazi Germany |
Branch | Army |
Type | 3rd Mobilization Wave Infantry Division (Infanterie-Division "Alter Art") |
Size | Nine Battalions, 17,200 men total |
Engagements | Defense of the Westwall 1939 – 1940 Invasion of Holland June 1940 Defense Along French Channel Coast July 1940 – December 1941 Eastern Front December 1941 – November 1943: Briansk, Yuchnov, Rshev, Orel, Spas-Demensk, Battle of Kursk, Gomel, Retreat to the Dnieper River Line |
The 216th Infantry Division (German: 216. Infanterie-Division) was a German Army division that was created during the Second World War; it was active from 1939–1943. It served on the Western Front in 1940, and later took part in the Eastern Front campaign, being involved in the disastrous Battle of Kursk.
The division was created on 26 August 1939 by reorganizing several Border Defense and Army Reserve units from Lower Saxony, primarily in the area surrounding the city of Hannover. It was organized under the pre-war infantry division "alter Art," structure; consisting of three 3-battalion infantry regiments (brigades), an artillery regiment of four battalions, a combat engineer battalion, a signal battalion, and an antitank battalion, as well as divisional services. Its total strength was approximately 17,200 men. The division was based at Hameln and was part of Wehrkreis XI.
The 216th Infantry Division did not participate in the Invasion of Poland, since it was occupying defensive positions in the Ardennes Forest along the 'Westwall'. It did take part in the invasion of the Low Countries and France in May and June 1940. When Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, began on June 22, 1941, the Division was performing occupation duties in France along the English Channel coast.
Following the success of the Soviet winter counteroffensive of December 1941, the Division was rushed to the Eastern Front as reinforcement and was soon split into several smaller battlegroups urgently needed for defending key localities. One of these battlegroups, formed from the 348th Infantry Regiment, was surrounded by the Soviet 10th Army in January 1942, outside of the town of Sukhinitchi. The regiment managed to hold out for months until relief forces arrived.
There followed over a year of positional warfare in Army Group Center, where the division took part in battles at Rshev, Briansk, Orel, Spass Demensk and Gomel. In July 1943, the 216th Infantry Division participated in the Battle of Kursk, where it sustained heavy casualties while fighting on the northern shoulder of the Kursk salient as part of Generalfeldmarschall Model's Ninth Army.