The 162nd Turkistan Division was a military division that was formed by the

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

during the

Second World War 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 opposin ...

. It drew its men from

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

who came from the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

and from Turkic lands further east.

History

The 162nd Turkistan Division was formed in May 1943 and comprised five

Azeri Azerbaijanis (; az, Azərbaycanlılar, ), Azeris ( az, Azərilər, ), or Azerbaijani Turks ( az, Azərbaycan Türkləri, ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic people living mainly in Azerbaijan (Iran), northwestern Iran and the Azerbaijan, Republi ...

and six Turkestan artillery and infantry units. The unit retained many enlisted German personnel, and also contained Georgian and Armenians Ost-legion, although they were collectively referred to as “Turks”. The soldiers were trained at Neuhammer. The division was sent, in October 1943, to northern Italy. The 162nd became the largest division of all the

Ostlegionen ''Ostlegionen'' ("eastern legions"), ''Ost-Bataillone'' ("eastern battalions"), ''Osttruppen'' ("eastern troops"), and ''Osteinheiten'' ("eastern units") were units in the Army of Nazi Germany during World War II made up of personnel from the ...

. Infantry battalion No. 450 was also drawn from ethnic Turks and Azeris. In early 1944 the division was assigned to guard the

Liguria Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...

n coast and in June 1944 to combat in Italy but was withdrawn due to poor performance. For the remainder of the war, the division fought the

Italian resistance movement The Italian resistance movement (the ''Resistenza italiana'' and ''la Resistenza'') is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Social ...

near

Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest city ...

and the

Val di Taro The Val di Taro is the valley of the Taro river, a tributary of the Po. The valley lies almost entirely in the Province of Parma, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Geography The Val di Taro is approximately 126 km long, and runs f ...

in Italy. After initial setbacks, the division proved to be quite effective. The main body of the division surrendered near

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

in May 1945 to the Western Allies and was dispatched to Taranto. In accordance with the agreements signed by the British and Americans at the

Yalta Conference The Yalta Conference (codenamed Argonaut), also known as the Crimea Conference, held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the post ...

, the soldiers were repatriated to the Soviet Union. According to Nikolai Tolstoy, they received a twenty-year sentence of corrective labor.

Commanders

* Generalmajor

Oskar von Niedermayer Oskar Ritter von Niedermayer (8 November 1885 – 25 September 1948) was a German General, professor and a German super-spy. Sometimes referred to as the German Lawrence (just like Wilhelm Wassmuss), Niedermayer is remembered for having led the 19 ...

(13 May 1943 – 21 May 1944) * Generalleutnant

Ralph von Heygendorff Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...

(21 May 1944 – 8 May 1945)

Organisation

* 303rd Infantry Regiment ''(Infanterie-Regiment 303)'' * 314th Infantry Regiment ''(Infanterie-Regiment 314)'' * 329th Infantry Regiment ''(Infanterie-Regiment 329)'' (only in August 1944) * 162nd Divisional Battalion ''(Divisions-Bataillon 162)'' * 236rd Artillery Regiment ''(Artillerie-Regiment 236)'' * 936th Pioneer Battalion ''(Pionier-Bataillon 936)'' * 236rd ''

Panzerjäger ''Panzerjäger'' (German language, German "armour-hunters" or "tank-hunters", abbreviated to ''Pz.Jg.'' in German) was a branch of service of the Nazi Germany, German Wehrmacht during the World War II, Second World War. It was an Anti-tank war ...

'' Battalion ''(Panzerjäger-Abteilung 236)'' * 236rd '' Aufklärungs'' Battalion ''(Aufklärungs-Abteilung 236)'' * 236rd Signals Battalion ''(Infanterie-Divisions-Nachrichten-Abteilung 236)'' * 936th Supply Services ''(Nachschubtruppen 936)''

War crimes

The division has been implicated in a number of war crimes in Italy between December 1943 and May 1945, two of those, in January 1945 in the

Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

resulted in the execution of at least 20 civilians each.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:162nd Turkistan Division Foreign volunteer units of the Wehrmacht Infantry divisions of Germany during World War II Military units and formations established in 1943 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945

History

Commanders

Organisation

War crimes

See also

References