The 176th Infantry Division was a military formation that served with 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

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 opposin ...

Brief history

On 31 October 1944, the 176th Infantry Division was formed out of the 176th Division and was a “training and replacement” formation. It had a strength of about 7,000 men, most of whom were in a poor shape. The division was nicknamed the "kranken division" (sick division), because it was mostly made up of men deemed unfit for military service, such as the physically handicapped and men with severe allergies. One battalion consisted of men with serious hearing maladies, two comprised

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

personnel, (but with ample infantry training), while many others were convalescents and semi-invalids.U.S. Army, Order of Battle of the German Army, Washington, 1945, p. 193 In November and December 1944, the Division was part of the XII SS Corps,

5th Panzer Army 5th Panzer Army (german: 5. Panzerarmee) was the name of two different German armoured formations during World War II. The first of these was formed in 1942, during the North African campaign and surrendered to the Allies at Tunis in 1943. The a ...

. Between January and March 1945 the 176th Infantry Division was assigned to the XII SS Corps, 15th Army. The 176th Division was a 'regular' military formation which operated mainly on the Dutch side of the "

Roer The Rur or Roer (german: Rur ; Dutch and li, Roer, , ; french: Rour) is a major river that flows through portions of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. It is a right (eastern) tributary to the Meuse ( nl, links=no, Maas). About 90 perce ...

bridgehead" during Operation ''Blackcock''. During the operation, its HQ was located at Effeld near

Vlodrop Vlodrop ( li, Vlórp, ) is a village in the south-eastern part of The Netherlands in the municipality of Roerdalen. The village is situated near the German border, about 8 km southeast of Roermond. History The village was first mentioned in ...

. The division was actually refitting and re-equipping during the

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive (military), offensive military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted fr ...

and Operation Blackcock. The division was assigned to the LXXIV Korps of 15th Army in April 1945 and saw action in the

Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in Nor ...

area where it eventually surrendered.

Commanders

The 176th Division was under the command of ''General-Major''

Christian-Johannes Landau __NOTOC__ Christian-Johannes Landau (13 October 1897 – 10 December 1952) was a German general in the Wehrmacht during World War II who commanded the 176th Infantry Division. Awards and decorations * German Cross in Gold on 2 May 1944 as ''Obe ...

(1897 - 1952). Landau was a

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

veteran and “artilleryman”, he took command of the division on 1 January 1945. He was awarded the

Knight's Cross Knight's Cross (German language ''Ritterkreuz'') refers to a distinguishing grade or level of various orders that often denotes bravery and leadership on the battlefield. Most frequently the term Knight's Cross is used to refer to the Knight's Cr ...

on 9 May 1945, two days after the official

surrender of Germany The German Instrument of Surrender (german: Bedingungslose Kapitulation der Wehrmacht, lit=Unconditional Capitulation of the "Wehrmacht"; russian: Акт о капитуляции Германии, Akt o kapitulyatsii Germanii, lit=Act of capit ...

. Landau held a master's degree in agriculture. He was taken into captivity on 9 May 1945 and released in 1947. He died in 1952 in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

, Brunswig at the age of 55.

Organisation

The division had been formed in October 1944, it included three Grenadier Regiments (the 1218th, 1219th, and 1220th). It totalled six Grenadier battalions, one Fusilier battalion and one ''

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 ...

'' (Anti-Tank) battalion. The 1178th Artillery Regiment consisted of four battalions. From captured documents, dating from October 1944, it is believed that the 176th Division operated in so-called Battle Groups ("

Kampfgruppe In military history, the German term (pl. ; abbrev. KG, or KGr in usage during World War II, literally "fighting group" or "battle group") can refer to a combat formation of any kind, but most usually to that employed by the of Nazi Germa ...

n"), three of which were centred on the Grenadier Regiments, while the fourth was organized around the Engineer/Pioneer battalion.

Notes

Sources

* U.S. Army, Order of Battle of the German Army, Washington, 1945 * Nutter, Thomas E. ''Mythos revisited – American Historians on German Fighting Power in WWII'' "Chapter 10 – Closing in with the enemy"

External links

http://www.operation-blackcock.com
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Military units and formations established in 1944 Infantry divisions of Germany during World War II Military units and formations disestablished in 1945