The 335th Infantry Division (german: 335. Infanterie-Division) was an infantry division of the German Army 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 opposi ...

, active from 1940 to 1944. It saw active service in France and on the Eastern Front and was destroyed in fighting in Romania in August 1944.

Operational history

The 335th Infantry Division was formed in

Konstanz Konstanz (, , locally: ; also written as Constance in English) is a university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south of Germany. The city houses the University of Konstanz and was th ...

in November 1940 under the command of ''

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 ...

'' Max Dennerlein. The division nominally fell within the responsibility of

Wehrkreis V 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 ...

. At its core were three infantry battalions transferred from the 298th Infantry Division while two battalions came from the 197th Infantry Division. The 87th Infantry Division, which had fought in the Battle of France, also transferred a battalion to the 335th. It was one of several static divisions raised for service in the occupied countries of Western Europe. It also had a strong Polish representation. In mid-1941, the 335th Infantry Division was posted to a position near the border between

occupied France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...

and

Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its te ...

. By this time it had reached a strength of over 13,200 personnel. Following the Allied invasion of French North Africa in November 1942, German forces moved into Vichy France in an operation known as '' Case Anton''. As part of this, the 335th, recently converted into an attack division, seized the port of Marseilles. After five months in Vichy France, it was transferred to the Eastern Front. It fought in several engagements against the Soviets, including the battles at Kursk and along the Dneiper. '' Generalmajor'' Karl Casper, who had taken over command of the division from Dennerlein just prior to ''Case Anton'', was wounded during the fighting at the Dnieper and was replaced by ''

Oberst ''Oberst'' () is a senior field officer rank in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to colonel. It is currently used by both the ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, and Norway. The Swedish ...

Siegfried Rasp __NOTOC__ Siegfried Rasp (10 January 1898 – 2 February 1968) was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted ...

. By January 1944, the division's losses were such that it numbered only 4,300 or so personnel. Transferred to Romania later that year, it received some personnel from the recently disbanded 5th Field Division (L). In Romania it was involved in the

Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...

, the Soviet Army's offensive of August 1944 in the eastern part of the country. The division, commanded by ''Oberst'' Eugen Franz Brechtel, was destroyed and its survivors surrendered to the Soviets.

Commanders

*''Generalleutnant'' Max Dennerlein (15 November 1940 – 26 October 1942); *''Generalmajor'' Karl Casper (27 October 1942 – 6 September 1943); *''Oberst'' Siegfried Rasp (7 September 1943 – 29 June 1944); *''Oberst'' Eugen Franz Brechtel (30 June – August 1944). (MIA).

Notes

;Footnotes ;Citations

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:335th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) Military units and formations established in 1940 Military units and formations disestablished in 1944 0*335

Operational history

Commanders

See also

Notes

References