The 24th Panzer Division was formed in late 1941 from the 1st Cavalry Division based at

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was name ...

. The division fought on the Eastern Front from June 1942 to January 1943, when it was destroyed in the battle of Stalingrad. Reformed, it once more returned to the Eastern Front in late 1943 and remained there until surrender to Soviet forces in May 1945.

Service

The 1st Cavalry Division was formed shortly after the outbreak of

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 ...

, in November 1939, when the 1st Cavalry Brigade was expanded to division-size. The division was part of the German invasion of northern Netherlands where it encountered only weak defences as it was not a strategically important area. After the Dutch surrender the division took part in the final actions of the battle of France before serving as an occupation force there and, from September 1940, in Poland. It participated in the German invasion of the Soviet Union,

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...

, where it was part of the

Army Group Center Army Group Centre (german: Heeresgruppe Mitte) was the name of two distinct strategic German Army Groups that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. The first Army Group Centre was created on 22 June 1941, as one of three German Army for ...

before being send back to East Prussia for conversion to a tank division.Mitcham, p. 175 After initially being stationed in northern France the division served under the

Fourth Panzer Army The 4th Panzer Army (german: 4. Panzerarmee) (operating as Panzer Group 4 (german: 4. Panzergruppe) from its formation on 15 February 1941 to 1 January 1942, when it was redesignated as a full army) was a German panzer formation during World War ...

in Army Group South of the Eastern Front from June 1942. The division participated in the capture of

Voronezh Voronezh ( rus, links=no, Воро́неж, p=vɐˈronʲɪʂ}) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on ...

and, in late December 1942, was encircled in the Battle of Stalingrad and destroyed. The 24th Panzer Division was reformed in March 1943 and served in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, and then went back to the Eastern Front where it suffered heavy casualties around Kiev and the Dniepr Bend. During spring-1944 it took part in the

battle of Târgu Frumos The Battle of Târgu Frumos, also known as the Târgu Frumos Operation, occurred during 1944 in World War II in and around the town of Târgu Frumos in Iași County, Moldavia, Romania. It was fought between Soviet forces (the Red Army) and Axis ...

, part of the First Jassy-Kishinev Offensive. Near the end of the war it saw action in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

and

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

. Parts of the division were evacuated to

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 ...

and surrendered there to British forces at the end of the war while the remainder surrendered to Soviet forces in East Prussia in May 1945. In keeping with the Division's mounted origins, the 24th Panzer's tank crewmen wore the golden-yellow ''

Waffenfarbe In the German military, ''Waffenfarbe'' (German: "branch-of-service colors" or "corps colors") is a visual method that the armed forces use to distinguish between different corps or troop functions in its armed services. The ''Waffenfarbe'' it ...

'' of the cavalry rather than Panzer pink. Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-218-0525-05, Russland-Süd (Don, Stalingrad), Panzer III

Commanders

The commanders of the division:Mitcham, p. 176–177 * General

Kurt Feldt __NOTOC__ Kurt Feldt (22 November 1897 – 11 March 1970) was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. He was the German commander in the Battle of the Afsluitdi ...

(28 November 1941 – 15 April 1942) *

Generalleutnant is the Germanic variant of lieutenant general, used in some German speaking countries. Austria Generalleutnant is the second highest general officer rank in the Austrian Armed Forces (''Bundesheer''), roughly equivalent to the NATO rank of ...

Bruno Ritter von Hauenschild (15 April 1942 – 12 September 1942) * Generalmajor

Arno von Lenski Arno Ernst Max von Lenski (20 July 1893 – 4 October 1986) was a German military officer and general who served in the Imperial German army, the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany, and after the war in the National People's Army of the German Democra ...

(12 September 1942 – 31 January 1943) * General

Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Edelsheim __NOTOC__ Maximilian von Edelsheim (6 July 1897 – 26 April 1994) was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. He negotiated the ...

(1 March 1943 – 1 August 1944) * Generalmajor

Gustav-Adolf von Nostitz-Wallwitz __NOTOC__ Gustav-Adolf von Nostitz-Wallwitz (11 July 1898 – 31 May 1945) was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Nostitz-Wallwitz was wounded in March 1945 in ...

(1 August 1944 – 25 March 1945) * Major Rudolf von Knebel-Döberitz (5 March 1945 – 8 May 1945)

References

Bibliography

* * *Panzers at war, A J Barker, 1978 *Death of the Leaping Horseman, Jason D Mark, 2002 {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 German panzer divisions Military units and formations established in 1941 German units at the Battle of Stalingrad Military units and formations disestablished in 1945

Service

Commanders

See also

References

Bibliography