The 5th Mountain Division (german: 5. Gebirgs Division) was a

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 opposin ...

division of the

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

. It was established in the Wehrkreis XVIII in October 1940, out of units taken from the 1st Mountain Division and the 10th Infantry Division. Its first action was in the 1941 Balkans Campaign, when it took part in Operations Marita and

Merkur Merkur (, '' Mercury'') is a defunct automobile brand that was marketed by the Lincoln- Mercury division of Ford Motor Company from 1985 to 1989. Drawing its name from the German word for Mercury, Merkur was targeted at buyers of European execut ...

; in the latter it was used in an air-landing role. In November, it returned to Germany for refitting, and in April 1942 it was deployed to the Eastern Front, where it joined

Army Group North Army Group North (german: Heeresgruppe Nord) was a German strategic formation, commanding a grouping of field armies during World War II. The German Army Group was subordinated to the ''Oberkommando des Heeres'' (OKH), the German army high comma ...

on the

Volkhov Front The Volkhov Front (russian: Волховский фронт) was a major formation of the Red Army during the first period of the Second World War. It was formed as an expediency of an early attempt to halt the advance of the Wehrmacht Army Group ...

. In April 1943 it was redeployed to

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 re ...

. It fought out the remainder of the war in Italy and the

Western Alps The Western Alps are the western part of the Alpine Range including the southeastern part of France (e.g. Savoie), the whole of Monaco, the northwestern part of Italy (i.e. Piedmont and the Aosta Valley) and the southwestern part of Switzerland ( ...

, and surrendered to the U.S. Army near

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

in May 1945.

Commanders

Julius Ringel Julius 'Papa' Ringel (16 November 1889 – 11 February 1967) was an Austrian general in the armed forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. He fought in the Western and Eastern fronts, as well as the Balkan Campaign.Williamson 2012. Ringel com ...

(1 November 1940 – 10 February 1944) *

Max-Günther Schrank August Max-Günther Schrank (19 November 1898 – 22 September 1960) was a German ''Generalleutnant'' who commanded the ''5. Gebirgs-Division'' in World War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for the Battle of C ...

(10 February 1944 – 18 January 1945) *

Hans Steets Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi a ...

(18 January 1945 – 2 May 1945)

War crimes

The division was implicated in the

Grugliasco Grugliasco (; pms, Grujasch ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont, located about west of Turin. Grugliasco borders the municipalities of Turin, Collegno, and Rivoli. In 1945 here a ...

massacre,

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, alongside the 34th Infantry Division, where, on 30 April 1945, 67 civilians were executed. In the same days the division was also implicate in the

Santhia massacre Santhia or Santhià may refer to: Places * Santhià, an Italian municipality in the Piedmont region * Santhia Upazila, an administrative area in Bangladesh (formerly Santhia in India) People * Enrico Santià (b 1918), an Italian football player ...

, on the way to

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, resulting in 48 deaths.

References

* Mountain divisions of Germany in World War II Military units and formations established in 1940 Crete in World War II Airborne divisions of Germany in World War II Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 {{Germany-WWII-stub