24th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)

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24th Panzer Division
24. Panzer-Division
Frankfurt an der Oder
Anniversariesin former East Germany
EngagementsWorld War II
Commanders
Notable
commanders		General of the Cavalry (Germany) Kurt Feldt
Insignia
Insignia 1941–1942
Insignia 1943–1945

The 24th Panzer Division was formed in late 1941 from the 1st Cavalry Division based at Königsberg.

The division fought on the Eastern Front from June 1942 to January 1943, when it was destroyed in the battle of Stalingrad. Reformed, it once more returned to the Eastern Front in late 1943 and remained there until surrender to Soviet forces in May 1945.

Service

The 1st Cavalry Division was formed shortly after the outbreak of World War II, in November 1939, when the 1st Cavalry Brigade was expanded to division-size.[1]

The division was part of the German invasion of the northern Netherlands where it encountered only weak defences as it was not a strategically important area. After the Dutch surrender, the division took part in the final actions of the

Army Group Center before being sent back to East Prussia for conversion to a tank division.[2]

After initially being stationed in northern France the division served under the

Fourth Panzer Army in Army Group South of the Eastern Front from June 1942. The division participated in the capture of Voronezh and, in late December 1942, was encircled in the Battle of Stalingrad and destroyed.[2]

The 24th Panzer Division was reformed in March 1943 and served in

Dniepr Bend.[3][4]

On 20 November 1943, the 24th Panzer Division possessed 57 tanks (of which 34 were operational).[5]

During spring-1944 it took part in the

First Jassy-Kishinev Offensive.[3] On 25 April 1944, it was in the second line between Podu Iloaiei and Iași, behind the 46th, 3rd, 18th, 79th, 23rd Panzer and 5th Divisions.[6] Near the end of the war, it saw action in Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia. Parts of the division were evacuated to Schleswig-Holstein and surrendered there to British forces at the end of the war while the remainder surrendered to Soviet forces in East Prussia in May 1945.[3][4]

In keeping with the Division's mounted origins, the 24th Panzer's tank crewmen wore the golden-yellow Waffenfarbe of the cavalry rather than Panzer pink.[7]

A Panzer III of the 24th Panzer Division in Stalingrad.

Commanders

The commanders of the division:[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ Mitcham, p. 174
  2. ^ a b c Mitcham, p. 175
  3. ^ a b c Mitcham, p. 176
  4. ^ a b Stoves, p. 161
  5. ISBN 3421064997
    .
  6. ISBN 9781472837882
    .
  7. ^ Stoves, p. 162
  8. ^ Mitcham, p. 176–177

Bibliography

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