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UNIT
HISTORY
The
130.Panzer-Lehr-Division was formed 1.10.44 in the Nancy-Verdun
area from various units of the German Army training and
demonstration units, otherwise known as Lehr units, hence the
name, Panzer-Lehr. Upon formation, the 130.Panzer-Lehr-Division
was already considered an elite unit because of the fact that so
many of the demonstration units that it was formed from already
had elite status due to their use as demonstration units. the
130.Panzer-Lehr-Division would live up to its crack unit status
during its one year of combat service.
Upon formation, the
130.Panzer-Lehr-Divisoin was located in France until it was
transfered to the Eastern Front to Hungary and then back to France
in May, 1944, for use in the planned counter-offensive against the
Allies when their anticipated invasion of Europe in France finally
came.
When the full fury of the massive Allied landings
against Normandy, France finally hit in June, 1944,
130.Panzer-Lehr was one of the strongest units in the West.
Panzer-Lehr fought the Allies in fierce battles for Caen and St.
Lo, until it was so depleted that it had only a mere fraction of
the armor it had stated with. Shattered, Panzer-Lehr then withdrew
across France along with the rest of the retreating German forces
in the West, until it was pulled out of the lines and reformed in
the Saar and then in Paderborn.
The Division was sent back
to the Saar to fight against the advancing allies, after which it
was used during the massive German offensive against in December,
1944, Wacht am Rhein, where it took part in the siege of
Bastogne.
When the Ardennes offensive failed, Panzer-Lehr
saw action in Battles for the Maas Line in the Netherlands, and
then in Battles to smash the American bridgehead at Remagen, which
it failed to do.
Depleted, shaken and smashed, the
130.Panzer-Lehr-Division entered into the Ruhr Pocket in April,
1945, a mere shadow of the unit that had so fiercly meet the
Allies in front of Caen in June and July, 1944. Panzer Lehr
surrendered to the Americans when the Ruhr pocket finally fell.
Lineage
Commanders
Gen.Lt. Fritz Bayerlein
1.10.44 - 6.07.44
Gen.Maj. Hyanzinth Graf Strachwitz von
Groß-Zauche u. Camminetz 6.08.44 - 8.23.44
Oberst Rudolph
Gerhardt 8.23.44 - 9.08.44
Oberst Paul FrHr. von Hauser
9.44
Gen.Lt. Fritz Bayerlein 9.44 - 1.15.45
Gen.Maj. Horst
Niemack 1.15.45 - 4.03.45
Oberst Paul FrHr. von Hauser 4.03.45
- 4.15.45 |
