79th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

79th Infantry Division (Germany)
Divisional insignia of 79th Infantry
Active	Raised March 1939, March 1945
Country	Nazi Germany
Branch	Army
Type	Infantry
Size	Division
Engagements	World War II
Commanders
Notable commanders	Karl Strecker

The 79th Infantry Division (79. Infanterie-Division) was an infantry division of Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht during World War II.

The 79th Infantry Division began mobilization on March 1, 1939 as a part of the second German "wave" system of mobilization. The "wave" was the German designation for groups of infantry divisions raised at approximately the same time, with approximately the same type of organization, equipment, personnel and training. Raised from Rheinlanders in the German Military District (Wehrkreis) XII, and headquartered in Wiesbaden, the home station of the 79th was Koblenz. It was designated as a Division on August 26, 1939. Assigned to the French-German border in the Saar region, the 79th trained and worked on the West Wall. The Division saw action against the French on the Saar Front on May 10, 1940 when it was part of the invasion forces. In June, the division participated in attacks on the Maginot Line and the capture of Epinal. The Cross of Lorraine (Lothringer Kreuz) was designated as the symbol. Unteroffizier Werner Psaar stated that since the division's first combat was mainly in the Lorraine region, this is what led to the symbol. From June 1940 until April 1941, the division was on occupation duty and trained for Operation Sea Lion - the projected invasion of Great Britain. The 79th was relocated to Klagenfurt in April 1941 but was too late for the invasion of Yugoslavia. The Division was assigned to Army Group South for Operation Operation Barbarossa on June 26, 1941. From June 1941 until September 1942, the 79th fought in southern Russia.

In October 1942 from positions in front of the Red Army bridgehead across the Don at Serafimovich to Stalingrad. This late weakening of the 6th Army's left flank to replace the serious infantry losses in the Stalingrad city battle contributed to the success of Operation Uranus, as Red Army's northern pincer axis of attack rolled through the 79th's former positions, which were given over to the Romanian 5th Infantry division.