83rd Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

83rd Infantry Division
83rd Infantry Division
83. Infanterie-Division
	Army
Type	Infantry
Role	Nazi security warfare
Size	Division
Engagements	World War II Invasion of Poland; Battle of France; Eastern Front (World War II); Courland Pocket;
Commanders
Notable; commanders	Kurt von der Chevallerie

The 83rd Infantry Division, (German: 83. Infanterie-Division), was a German reserve and security formation during World War II.

Operational history

The division was formed December 1, 1939, at Bergen, and consisted of reservists from the north of Germany.^{[citation needed]} The division took part in the Nazi German invasion of France in 1940 and spent 1941 on occupation duty. In early 1942 it was sent to the Eastern Front and was attached to the Third Panzer Army of Army Group Centre. Initially, the division was split up and used in various sectors, some elements being employed in Nazi security warfare in the rear.

The division was present at

3rd Shock Army in the Battle of Velikiye Luki

and destroyed in fighting that lasted two months.

During 1943-4 the 83rd Division was attached to Army Group Centre and Army Group North, having been transferred to the

Graudenz after being ordered to hold the town, which was encircled by the 2nd Belorussian Front

on February 18, 1945. The German defenders capitulated on March 5.

The remaining troops were transferred by sea to

Pillau, where elements of the 83rd Division formed the final rearguard defending the harbour mole on 25 April (the divisional commander Maximilian Wengler was killed at Neutief where the last German position was being held by Major-General Karl Henke). Other parts of the division surrendered to Soviet forces on the Hela peninsula

.

War crimes

The division took part in Nazi security warfare, such as Operation Greif at Vitebsk. In 1946 several captured officers of Infantry Regiment 277, including its former commander, Eduard Freiherr von Saß, were executed in Velikiye Luki for crimes committed by the Wehrmacht against the civilian population of the city.

Commanding officers

General der Infanterie Kurt von der Chevallerie
(1 December 1939 – 10 December 1940)

Generalleutnant Alexander von Zülow (10 December 1940 – 3 February 1942)
Generalleutnant Adolf Sinzinger (12 February 1942 – 2 November 1942)
Generalleutnant Theodor Scherer (2 November 1942 – 1 March 1944)
Generalleutnant Wilhelm Heun (1 March 1944 – 29 June 1944)
Generalleutnant Heinrich Götz (29 June 1944 – 22 August 1944)
Generalleutnant Wilhelm Heun (22 August 1944 – 27 March 1945)
Generalmajor der Reserve Maximilian Wengler (27 March 1945 – 26 April 1945)
Oberst Hellmuth Raatz (26 April 1945 – 8 May 1945)

Order of Battle

1939

251st Infantry Regiment
257th Infantry Regiment
277th Infantry Regiment
183rd Artillery Regiment
Divisions Units 183

1945

251st Grenadier Regiment
257th Grenadier Regiment
277th Grenadier Regiment
183rd Artillery Regiment
Divisions Units 183

References

ISBN 0-8117-3416-1

Footnotes

^ Mitcham, p.140

[mitchamp140-1] Mitcham, p.140