The 256th Infantry Division (''256. Infanterie-Division'') was a German infantry division in

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 ...

. They formed on August 1939 as part of the 4. Welle (wave). The division was destroyed at

Vitebsk Vitebsk or Viciebsk (russian: Витебск, ; be, Ві́цебск, ; , ''Vitebsk'', lt, Vitebskas, pl, Witebsk), is a city in Belarus. The capital of the Vitebsk Region, it has 366,299 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth-largest c ...

in June 1944 during

Operation Bagration Operation Bagration (; russian: Операция Багратио́н, Operatsiya Bagration) was the codename for the 1944 Soviet Byelorussian strategic offensive operation (russian: Белорусская наступательная оп ...

. The remnants of the division formed Divisions-Gruppe 256 which was assigned to Korps-Abteilung H.

History

256th Infantry Division

Germany

The division was raised in

Wehrkreis IV The military districts, also known in some English-language publications by their German name as Wehrkreise (singular: ''Wehrkreis''), were administrative territorial units in Nazi Germany before and during World War II. The task of military distr ...

(

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

) on 26 August 1939. The division is shipped to

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 ...

(''Protektorat Böhmen-Mären'') as occupation force. The division was to remain there in that role until November 1939 after which it's transported to Lippstadt, western Germany, in order to commence training for the attack on France and the Low Countries in 1940.

The Netherlands & Belgium

Just before the attack on May 10, the division was moved to the town of

Kleve Kleve (; traditional en, Cleves ; nl, Kleef; french: Clèves; es, Cléveris; la, Clivia; Low Rhenish: ''Kleff'') is a town in the Lower Rhine region of northwestern Germany near the Dutch border and the River Rhine. From the 11th century ...

on the Dutch border where it was attached to the XXVI Corps under ''General der Artillerie''

Albert Wodrig __NOTOC__ Albert Wodrig (16 July 1883 – 31 October 1972) was a German general during World War II who commanded the XXVI. Corps. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. Awards and decorations * Knight's Cr ...

, which was itself part of ''Heeresgruppe B'' (Army Group) under General-Oberst

Fedor von Bock Moritz Albrecht Franz Friedrich Fedor von Bock (3 December 1880 – 4 May 1945) was a German who served in the German Army during the Second World War. Bock served as the commander of Army Group North during the Invasion of Poland ...

. Attached with the 256th Infantry Division in the XXVI Corps were the 254th Division and the so-called SS-VT (SS ''Verfügungstruppe'', later

2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich The 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich (german: 2. SS-Panzerdivision "Das Reich") or SS Division Das Reich was an elite division of the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II, formed from the regiments of the ''SS-Verfügungstruppe'' (SS-V ...

.) On the morning of May 10, the 256th Division got the order to break through the Dutch border defense, take the bridge at

Gennep Gennep () is a municipality and a city in upper southeastern Netherlands. It lies in the very northern part of the province of Limburg, 18 km south of Nijmegen. Furthermore, it lies on the right bank of the Meuse river, and south of the forest ...

and push through to the Peel/Raam defensive line at

Mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Textile mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic unit of the Analytical Engine early ...

. Though making good progress in the beginning, it turned out that the bridge at Gennep was the only 'bigger' road bridge which was taken intact, making a speedy transportation of troops almost impossible. This led to the 256th Division coming to Mill in pieces after which heavy fighting ensued for almost 48 hours. General

visited the broken defensive line around Mill on May 11. The 256th continued to fight along the line

's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...

Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...

, south of Breda,

Braschaat Brasschaat () is a municipality located in Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium, and in the Flemish province of Antwerp. The municipality only comprises the town of Brasschaat proper. In November 2006, Brasschaat won the LivCom-Award 20 ...

, Antwerp and then on to the Nieuwpoort/ Dunkirk area where they sealed the salient around the last harbour used to evacuate retreating French and British forces. At the beginning of the second phase of Fall Gelb, the division was ordered to stay in the Nieuwpoort/Dunkirk area and later to

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

where it stayed as an occupation force until February 1941.

Eastern Front

After that, the division was transferred to East-Poland in order to prepare for battles on the Eastern Front, it was put on the frontline for

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 ...

. The division then fought in 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 ...

. The division was destroyed in

during

in July 1944.

Netherlands 1944

The remnants of the division formed Divisions-Gruppe 256 which was assigned to Korps-Abteilung H. By Nov 1944 Divisions-Gruppe 256 is stationed on the north side of the Maas river in Holland. Eventually, the 256th Group was integrated into Grenadier Regiment 280, which was part of the 95th Infantry Division.

256th Volksgrenadier Division

In September 1944, another division using the ordinal number 256th, the 256th Volksgrenadier Division, was created at

Königsbrück Königsbrück ( Upper Sorbian: ''Kinspork'') is a town in the Bautzen district, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated west of Kamenz, and northeast of the Saxon capital Dresden. Königsbrück is known as the western gate of the historic Upper Lusati ...

military base. It fought in the

Battle of the Scheldt The Battle of the Scheldt in World War II was a series of military operations led by the First Canadian Army, with Polish and British units attached, to open up the shipping route to Antwerp so that its port could be used to supply the Alli ...

and later in the Saar-Moselle Triangle between 1944 and 1945. The 256th Volksgrenadier Division surrendered to American forces in the Württemberg region in May 1945.

Order of battle

* 456. Infantry Regiment * 476. Infantry Regiment * 481. Infantry Regiment * 256. Artillery Regiment * 256. Panzerjäger Battalion * 256. Reconnaissance Battalion * 256. Pioneer Battalion (mot) * 256. Signals Battalion (mot) * Supply Troops

Commanders

* Generalleutnant

Josef Folttmann Josef may refer to *Josef (given name) *Josef (surname) * ''Josef'' (film), a 2011 Croatian war film *Musik Josef Musik Josef is a Japanese manufacturer of musical instruments. It was founded by Yukio Nakamura, and is the only company in Japan spe ...

- (1 September 1939 - 10 January 1940) * Generalleutnant Gerhard Kauffmann - (10 January 1940 - 4 January 1942) * Generalleutnant Friedrich Weber - (4 January 1942 - 14 February 1942) * Generalleutnant Paul Danhauser - (14 February 1942 - 24 November 1943) * Generalleutnant Albrecht Wüstenhagen - (24 November 1943 - 26 June 1944) (KIA) (1)

Operations Officers (Ia)

* Hauptmann Otto Deyhle - (?-1940) * Major Albrecht von Warburg - (June 1940 - November 1942) * Oberstleutnant Adolf Hornig - (November 1942 - 10 December 1943)

Area of operations

* Germany - (September 1939 - May 1940) * Netherlands & Belgium - (May 1940 - February 1941) * Eastern front, central sector - (February 1941 - July 1944) * Netherlands - (Sept 1944 - April 1945)

Footnotes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:256th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) Infantry divisions of Germany during World War II Military units and formations established in 1939 Military units and formations disestablished in 1944