The 102nd Infantry Division was a German military
infantry
Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...
division during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. It served on the
Eastern Front, fighting in the Rzhev salient and the
Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk was a major World War II Eastern Front engagement between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in the southwestern USSR during late summer 1943; it ultimately became the largest tank battle in history ...
. It was destroyed during the latter stages of the Soviet
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
's
East Prussian Offensive in 1945.
Organisation and history
The division was formed on 15 December 1940 in ''Wehrkreis'' II (Mecklenburg/Pomerania), in the 12th mobilisation wave, using elements of the
8th Infantry Division and the
28th Infantry Division. The division fought on the
Eastern Front, for much of its existence it was part of the
Ninth Army assigned to
Army Group Centre.
On 25 November 1942 the Soviets simultaneously launched attacks against the eastern, western and northern flanks of the German Rzhev salient, known as
Operation Mars
Operation Mars (Russian: Операция «Марс»), also known as the Second Rzhev-Sychevka Offensive Operation (Russian: Вторая Ржевско-Сычёвская наступательная операция), was the codename fo ...
. North of the Osuga River, the 102nd successfully repelled repeated assaults by 20,000 infantry and over 100 tanks of three Soviet 31st Army divisions (The 31st Army led its attack with the 88th, 336th, and 239th Rifle Divisions, supported by the 332d and 145th Tank Brigades). Soviet infantry clad in winter white advanced in echelon, their ranks interspersed with supporting tanks. German artillery, machine guns, and small arms fire tore gaping holes in the ranks of the assaulting infantry as antitank weapons picked off the accompanying tanks. For three days and at a cost of more than half of their riflemen and most of their tanks, the Soviets hurled themselves in vain at the 102nd Division's prepared defenses. Faced with this determined resistance, the 31st Army's assault collapsed, and, despite Zhukov's and Konev's exhortations, it could not be revived.
In 1943 it was involved in
Operation Citadel
Operation Citadel (german: Unternehmen Zitadelle) was a German offensive operation in July 1943 against Soviet forces in the Kursk salient, proposed by Generalfeldmarschall Fritz Erich Georg Eduard von Manstein during the Second World War on ...
(the Battle of Kursk) and its aftermath, losing much of its strength in a series of fierce defensive battles around
Orel; by October it was listed as assigned to the
Second Army and reduced to ''
Kampfgruppe'' level.
In January 1944, the division was assigned to the Ninth Army, covering its southern flank in the
Pripet Marshes
__NOTOC__
The Pinsk Marshes ( be, Пінскія балоты, ''Pinskiya baloty''), also known as the Pripet Marshes ( be, Прыпяцкія балоты, ''Prypiackija baloty''), the Polesie Marshes, and the Rokitno Marshes, are a vast natural ...
. It avoided the disastrous encirclement and destruction of much of the Ninth Army around
Bobruisk
Babruysk, Babrujsk or Bobruisk ( be, Бабруйск , Łacinka: , rus, Бобруйск, Bobrujsk, bɐˈbruɪ̯s̪k, yi, באָברויסק ) is a city in the Mogilev Region of eastern Belarus on the Berezina River. , its population was 209 ...
in late June during the Soviet
Operation Bagration
Operation Bagration (; russian: Операция Багратио́н, Operatsiya Bagration) was the codename for the 1944 Soviet Byelorussian strategic offensive operation (russian: Белорусская наступательная оп ...
, and was then assigned back to the Second Army, holding a line of defence along the
River Narew.
The Soviet army's
East Prussian Offensive, from 13 January 1945 onwards, broke the under-strength division, which was pushed north and trapped in the
Heiligenbeil pocket
The Heiligenbeil Pocket or Heiligenbeil Cauldron (german: Kessel von Heiligenbeil) was the site of a major encirclement battle on the Eastern Front during the closing weeks of World War II, in which the Wehrmacht's 4th Army was almost entirely ...
, being reassigned to the
Fourth Army. In February it held the perimeter near
Mehlsack, before being assigned to defend
Braunsberg
Braniewo () (german: Braunsberg in Ostpreußen, la, Brunsberga, Old Prussian: ''Brus'', lt, Prūsa), is a town in northern Poland, in Warmia, in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, with a population of 16,907 as of June 2021. It is the capita ...
until it fell on 20 March. A few troops broke through westwards and eventually surrendered to the Americans in
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...
: the other encircled divisional elements in the ''kessel'' (cauldron) were eventually taken over by the
28th Jäger Division, being involved in the final defence of the Kahlholzer Haken
peninsula at
Balga
Balga (russian: замок Бальга; german: Burg Balga; lt, Balga; pl, Balga) was a medieval castle of the Teutonic Knights in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. The castle ruins are located on the shore of the Vistula Lagoon, north of Mamonovo ...
.
Organization
Structure of the division:
* Hauptquartier ''(Headquarters) - Wehrkreis VIII -
Casel''
* 232. Infanterieregiment ''(232nd Infantry Regiment)''
**1. Battalion ''(1st Battalion)''
**2. Battalion ''(2nd Battalion)''
**3. Battalion ''(3rd Battalion)''
***
* 233. Infanterieregiment ''(233rd Infantry Regiment)''
**1. Battalion ''(1st Battalion)''
**2. Battalion ''(2nd Battalion)''
**3. Battalion ''(3rd Battalion)''
* 235. Infanterieregiment ''(235th Infantry Regiment)''
**1. Battalion ''(1st Battalion)''
**2. Battalion ''(2nd Battalion)''
**3. Battalion ''(3rd Battalion)''
* 104. Artillerieregiment ''(104th Artillery Regiment)''
**1. Battalion ''(1st Battalion)''
**2. Battalion ''(2nd Battalion)''
**3. Battalion ''(3rd Battalion)''
**4. Battalion ''(4th Battalion)''
* 102. Aufklärung Battalion ''(102nd Reconnaissance Battalion)''
* 102. Panzer-Zerstörer-Bataillon ''(102nd Tank Destroyer Battalion)''
* 102. Ingenieur-Bataillon ''(102nd Engineer Battalion)''
* 102. Signal-Bataillon ''(102nd Signal Battalion)''
* 102. Divisions-Versorgungsgruppe ''(102nd Divisional Supply Group)''
Commanders
*Lieutenant-General John Ansat (10 December 1940 – 1 February 1942)
*Lieutenant-General Albrecht Baier (1 February 1942 – 10 March 1942)
*Major-General Werner von Räsfeld (10 March 1942 – 1 May 1942)
*Colonel-General
Johannes Frießner (1 May 1942 – 19 January 1943)
*General
Otto Hitzfeld (19 January 1943 – 5 November 1943)
*Lieutenant-General
Werner von Bercken (5 November 1943 – March 1945)
References
{{Authority control
Infantry divisions of Germany during World War II
Military units and formations established in 1940
Military units and formations disestablished in 1945