85th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

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85th Infantry Division
85. Infanterie-Division
ActiveFebruary 1944 - March 1945
Country 
Army
TypeInfantry
SizeDivision
EngagementsWorld War II
Commanders
Feb – Nov 1944Kurt Chill
Nov 1944 – Mar 1945Helmut Bechler

The 85th Infantry Division (German: 85. Infantrie-division) was a Wehrmacht division used in the Second World War. It participated in the German defence in the

Battle of Normandy, and took part in the German counter-offensive in the Ardennes
.

Operational history

The 85th Infantry Division was raised in February 1944 and placed under the command of Lieutenant General

Canadian 4th Armoured Division broke through the 85th's defences around the Falaise pocket.[citation needed][1][2]: 238, 252–255 [3]
: 210 

The Netherlands

Damaged, the division was ordered back to Germany to replenish its numbers. However, Chill ordered his men to form a number of reception stations at the bridgeheads of the Albert Canal in northern Belgium; his idea was to pick up stragglers as a means of gaining numbers, instead.[4]

The month of its relocation to the Netherlands also coincided with Operation Market Garden, the allied invasion of the Netherlands.

Under attack by the

The Calgary Highlanders, unaware of the true size and skill of the division group, suffered bitterly at Hoogerheide due to this deception, which was worsened by the arrival of the 244th and 667th Army Assault Gun Brigades.[citation needed
]

Chill was replaced as division commander by the highly decorated Major General

1st Parachute Army.[citation needed
]

The division, along with the 15th Army's LXXIV Army Corps, participated in the Battle of Hürtgen Forest in December 1944 as the Wehrmacht attempted to force the Allies out of the Ardennes.[5] The division under Bechler continued to hold out against Allied advances until its final capitulation in March 1945; the rest of the corps would be destroyed at the Ruhr pocket the following April in the Battle of Aachen.[citation needed]

Remnants of the division were merged with others to form

Infantry Division Potsdam in late March 1945. [6] Infantry Division Potsdam was indeed briefly known as "85th Infantry Division" between 29 March and 4 April 1945, before it received its final designation.[7]
: 199f. 

Sources

  1. ^
    ISBN 9780811746540
    .
  2. ^ Schneider, Wolfgang (2011). Tigers in Normandy. Stackpole Books.
  3. ^ Schneider, Wolfgang (2005). Tigers in Combat. Stackpole Books.
  4. ^ Mitcham, Samuel W. (2007). Retreat to the Reich: The German Defeat in France, 1944. Stackpole Books.
  5. ^ Rickard, John (2011). Advance and Destroy: Patton as Commander in the Bulge. University Press of Kentucky.
  6. ISBN 9780811734165
    .
  7. ISBN 3764811110
    .

See also
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