The Führer Grenadier Brigade (formerly Führer Grenadier Battalion later Führer Grenadier Division) was an élite

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Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

combat unit which saw action 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 opposing ...

. The Führer Grenadier Brigade is sometimes mistakenly perceived as being a part of the

Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...

, whereas it was actually an Army unit and technically assigned to the Großdeutschland Division. This misconception comes from its original duty of guarding

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

's East Prussian

Wolfsschanze The ''Wolf's Lair'' (german: Wolfsschanze; pl, Wilczy Szaniec) served as Adolf Hitler's first Eastern Front military headquarters in World War II. The headquarters was located in the Masurian woods, near the small village of Görlitz in Ost ...

Headquarters, a task which sounded similar to the original one of Waffen-SS 1. Panzer Division "

Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler The 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler or SS Division Leibstandarte, abbreviated as LSSAH, (german: 1. SS-Panzerdivision "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler") began as Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard unit, responsible for guarding ...

", which in turn stemmed from the Führer's original bodyguard corps. Fighting on both the

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and Western Fronts, the brigade surrendered to U.S. forces in

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in 1945.

Creation and Early History

The Führer Grenadier Battalion was raised in April, 1943 to act as a second guard unit on the outer perimeter of Hitler's ''

'' in Rastenburg, East Prussia. Despite the idea of Hitler's bodyguards being drawn from the SS, a small detachment was drawn from the Wach Regiment to become Hitler's private bodyguard. This unit was called the Führer Begleit (or Führer Escort), and was to eventually be expanded to divisional size (see Führer Begleit Brigade).

''Brigade'' - Eastern Front

In 1944, the battalion was reorganized as an armored brigade at Fallingbostel. Personnel were drawn from the Großdeutschland Division pool of hand-picked personnel. In October 1944, it was assigned to XXVII Korps of the Fourth Army and sent to the vicinity of

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. They fought at Daken and Grosswaltersdorf from October 21–23. The brigade operated in conjunction with 5th Panzer Division and the Hermann Göring Division.

Western Front - ''Wacht am Rhein''

Between December 11–17, 1944, the brigade was sent west to participate in Operation Herbstnebel. The brigade's composition did not match any standard unit configuration. The Großdeutschland Division never fought on the western front in 1944–45 (it did see action in the 1940 campaign). As a part of ''Großdeutschland'', FGB was permitted to wear cuff-title insignia. The ''Großdeutschland'' was ordered to wear the cuff title on the right sleeve (as did veterans of the North African campaign or the taking of Crete with their own honour bands), while the SS wore theirs on the left. In 1945, the brigade was awarded their own

cuff title The cuff title (German: ''Ärmelstreifen'') is a form of commemorative or affiliation insignia placed on the sleeve, near the cuff, of German military and paramilitary uniforms. The tradition can be traced back to the foundation of the "Gibralta ...

, FGB. ''FGB'' was assigned to Seventh Army Reserve for Operation Herbstnebel.

''Division'' - 1945

The brigade was pulled from battle in early January. On paper, it was enlarged to a division and assigned to Heeresgruppe Vistula. In April, it was reassigned to 6th Panzer Army. The Führer Grenadier Division surrendered to U.S. troops in May 1945 near

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria.

Commanders

Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

*Generalmajor Hellmuth Mäder, awarded Swords to his Knight's Cross on April 18, 1945 as Commander of the Führer Grenadier Division.

101 Panzer Regiment

Hauptmann Herbert Hensel, Knight's Cross on March 5, 1945 as Commander of the II. Abteilung (Panzer-Füsilier-Bataillon)/Panzer-Regiment 101 (former I./PzGrenRegt 99).

99 Panzergrenadier Regiment

Major Ernst-Günter Lehnhoff, Knight's Cross on December 12, 1944 as Commander of the Panzer-Füsilier-Bataillon of the Führer-Grenadier-Brigade (I./PzGrenRegt 99).

Order of battle

* 101 Panzer Regiment ** 1 Companie - 12

Panthers Panther may refer to: Large cats *Pantherinae, the cat subfamily that contains the genera ''Panthera'' and ''Neofelis'' **''Panthera'', the cat genus that contains tigers, lions, jaguars and leopards. ***Jaguar (''Panthera onca''), found in Sout ...

** 2 Companie - 12 Panthers ** 3 Companie - 12 Panthers ** 4 Companie - 11

Jagdpanther The ''Jagdpanther'' (German: "hunting Panther"), Sd.Kfz. 173, was a tank destroyer ('' Jagdpanzer'', a self-propelled anti-tank gun) built by Germany during World War II. The ''Jagdpanther'' combined the 8.8 cm Pak 43 anti-tank gun, similar to t ...

s with 88mm Pak 43 ** 5 Companie - 14 Stug III *99 Panzergrenadier Regiment - 92 Armored Personnel Carriers *

Artillerie Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, ...

Regiment 'FGB'(-) - 12 - 150mm guns (10 guns on loan to Skorzeny's Panzer Brigade 150 during Herbstnebel) * 911 Sturmgeschutz Brigade ** 1 Companie - 10 Stug III ** 2 Companie - 14 Stug III ** 3 Companie - 6 Stug III * 124 Flak Abteilung * Kampfschule 'FGB' * 1124 Infantriegeschutz Kompanie * 1124 Panzerjäger Kompanie - 3

Marder III ''Marder'' III was the name for a series of World War II German tank destroyers. They mounted either the modified ex-Soviet 76.2 mm F-22 Model 1936 divisional field gun, or the German 7.5 cm PaK 40, in an open-topped fighting compartment on ...

, 4 Jagdpanthers, 6

Hetzer The ''Jagdpanzer'' 38 ( Sd.Kfz. 138/2), originally the leichter Panzerjäger 38(t), known mostly post-war as ''Hetzer'', was a German light tank destroyer of the Second World War based on a modified Czechoslovakian Panzer 38(t) chassis. Germ ...

* 1124 Panzer Aufklärungs Kompanie * 1124 Flak Kompanie - 26 guns * 1124

Pionier PIONIER is the Polish national research and education network created to provide high-speed Internet access and to conduct network-based research. Most of the government founded higher education organisations and all of metropolitan area networ ...

Kompanie * 1124 Nachrichten Abteilung * Nachschub Truppe 'FGB' * Werkstatt Kompanie 'FGB' * Sanitäts Kompanie 'FGB'

Bibliography

Printed references

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fuhrer Grenadier Brigade Brigades of the German Army in World War II Armoured brigades of the German Army in World War II Military units and formations established in 1943 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 it:Divisione Grossdeutschland fi:Großdeutschland-divisioona