The 39th Infantry Division (german: 39. Infanterie-Division) was a German Army 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 ...

. Formed in July 1942, it existed for a little over 15 months. Reduced to battle group size by October 1943 in fighting during the

Battle of the Dnieper The Battle of the Dnieper was a military campaign that took place in 1943 in Ukraine on the Eastern Front of World War II. One of the largest operations of the war, it involved almost 4,000,000 troops at a time stretched on a front. Over four m ...

on the Eastern Front, it was disbanded in November 1943. Its surviving troops were absorbed by other German army formations.

History

The 39th Infantry Division was formed in Germany in July 1942, largely from

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

and other non-German personnel. Its foundation commander was ''

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 ...

'' Hugo Hoefl. The division spent time serving garrison duty in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

before being transferred to the Eastern Front in March 1943. Now under the command of ''Generalleutnant''

Ludwig Löweneck Ludwig may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ludwig (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Ludwig (surname), including a list of people * Ludwig Ahgren, or simply Ludwig, American YouTube live streamer and ...

, the division was engaged in various actions against the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

. Involvement in the

caused heavy losses and the division was little more than battle group size by October 1943. The division was disestablished in November, with the surviving infantry forming a divisional group that was absorbed by the 106th Infantry Division.
The headquarters staff, under '' Generalmajor'' Paul Mahlmann as Löweneck had been killed in May 1943 in a vehicle accident, was integrated into the 41st Fortress Division, which garrisoned the Peloponnese in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

Notes

;Footnotes ;Citations

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:39th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) Military units and formations established in 1942 Military units and formations disestablished in 1943 0*039