24th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

24th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
Bassoonstuff (Bobby C. Hawkins) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Unit name	24th Infantry Division
Native name	24. Infanterie-Division
Country	Nazi Germany
Branch	Heer
Type	Infantry
Size	Division
Garrison	Leipzig
Battles	Invasion of Poland; Battle of France; Operation Barbarossa; Siege of Sevastopol; Battle of Kursk; Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive
Notable commanders	Friedrich Olbricht; Wilhelm Wegener

24th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) was an infantry formation of the Wehrmacht raised during the interwar expansion of the Reichswehr into the Heer prior to World War II. Formed in the mid-1930s, the division served in the Invasion of Poland (1939), the Battle of France (1940), and on the Eastern Front (World War II) through major campaigns including Operation Barbarossa and the battles around Sevastopol and Kursk, before eventual destruction and disbandment in 1944 during the Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive.

Formation and Early History

The division was raised as part of the expansion following the Anglo-German Naval Agreement and the early rearmament policies of the Nazi Party leadership under Adolf Hitler, drawing cadres from units of the Reichswehr and recruits from the province of Saxony and the city of Leipzig. Initial mobilization and training took place at depots associated with the Wehrkreis system, specifically Wehrkreis IV (Dresden), and benefited from doctrine promulgated by the Truppenamt and the General Staff of the Heer. Early commanders included officers who had served in the Imperial German Army during the First World War and later staff appointments with the Oberkommando des Heeres.

Organization and Order of Battle

As constituted in the late 1930s, the division followed the standard triangular infantry division model reorganized under Heeresdienstvorschrift doctrines: it comprised three infantry regiments supported by an artillery regiment, reconnaissance battalion, pioneer battalion, signals detachment, and divisional support units drawn from Nachschubtruppen and medical services. Its infantry regiments were numbered in accordance with Wehrmacht convention and received subunits patterned on the Infanterieregiment establishment. The division's artillery employed pieces of types standardized by the Heereswaffenamt, including 7.5 cm leichtes Feldhaubitze 18 and heavier pieces supplied from depots in Sachsen and Thuringia. Reconnaissance elements operated light armored cars produced by firms such as Daimler-Benz and Auto Union, while pioneers trained on explosives and bridge construction using equipment from Rheinmetall-Borsig.

Combat Service in Poland and France (1939–1940)

During the Invasion of Poland (1939), the division was assigned to an army corps within an army of Heer formations advancing from eastern Germany toward the Polish corridor and engaged elements of the Polish Army in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship and along approaches to Warsaw. It participated in combined-arms operations coordinated with Luftwaffe units of Luftflotte 1 and panzer formations of the Panzergruppe command, encountering resistance from formations equipped with 7TP and other Polish armored vehicles. In the Battle of France (1940), the division was allocated to operations within the Western Campaign striking through the Ardennes and cooperating with armored spearheads of units like the XIV Panzer Corps and infantry divisions from the Heeresgruppe A and Heeresgruppe B. During the blitzkrieg advance it fought in actions near the Meuse River and took part in encirclement operations that led to large prisoner captures and territorial gains.

Eastern Front Operations (1941–1944)

Assigned to the central and southern sectors for Operation Barbarossa (1941), the division advanced with armies of Heeresgruppe Mitte and later elements of Heeresgruppe Süd through Belarus, into Ukraine, and toward the Crimean Peninsula. It fought in major engagements including the long siege operations at Sevastopol (1941–1942), where coastal fortifications and Red Army units of the Black Sea Fleet defended positions supported by units of the Red Army. Later it was committed to defensive battles during the Battle of Kursk (1943), where it exchanged fire with formations of the Soviet Guards and mechanized corps, and subsequently suffered in the strategic withdrawals during the Soviet offensives culminating in the Dnieper crossings and the Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive (1943–1944). Attrition from combined-arms engagements, partisan activity linked to the Soviet partisan movement, logistical strain from disrupted lines controlled by OKH and command directives from the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, and repeated Soviet artillery and air interdiction reduced its combat effectiveness.

Commanders and Leadership

Command of the division passed among several officers, many decorated recipients of awards such as the Iron Cross and holders of staff positions in the Oberkommando des Heeres. Notable leaders who commanded or served on the divisional staff included veterans of the Western Front (World War I) and interwar Reichswehr who later interacted with senior headquarters such as the OKH and corps commanders in Heeresgruppe structures. Leadership changes often resulted from battlefield casualties, promotions to corps or army commands, and transfers ordered by the OKW and higher echelons of the Wehrmacht high command.

Casualties, Losses and Disbandment

Over the course of campaigns in Poland, France, and the Eastern Front, the division incurred heavy casualties among infantry, artillery, and support units due to intense combat against formations of the Polish Army, the French Army, and the Red Army including mechanized formations and Soviet Air Forces interdiction. Equipment losses included artillery pieces, small arms, and motor transport requisitioned by higher commands or destroyed in action; replacements from depots in Saxony and Berlin were insufficient to restore full strength. Suffering catastrophic losses during the Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive and the sequence of encirclement operations and retreats in 1944, the division was officially dissolved and its remnants were either absorbed into other formations, reconstituted temporarily as a kampfgruppe under ad hoc command, or taken prisoner by advancing Soviet forces during the collapse of the southern front.

Category:Infantry divisions of Germany in World War II