29th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

29th German Infantry Division
Active	1 October 1936 – 8 May 1945
Branch	Heer
Type	Infantry
Size	Division
Nickname(s)	Falcon Division
Engagements	World War II Invasion of Poland Operation Barbarossa Moscow Battle of Stalingrad

The 29th Infantry Division was a unit of the German army created in the fall of 1936. It was based on the old Reichswehr 15th Infantry Regiment and drew its initial recruits from Thuringia. It was upgraded to 29th Motorized Infantry Division in the fall of 1937. The division was also known as the Falke-Division (Falcon Division).

Operational history

The division was mobilized in August 1939 and joined the XIV Corps of the German 10th Army for the invasion of Poland. It took part in the encirclement of Polish forces at Radom, Poland and committed the Massacre in Ciepielów.

In December 1939 it was transferred to the west. During the invasion of France it joined the 16th Army. As a strategic reserve it was used during the drive for the English Channel. After the Dunkirk evacuation it joined Guderians Panzergruppe (Heinz Guderian) for a speedy advance through eastern France. It was then employed in occupation duties in eastern France until early 1941.

Taking part in Operation Barbarossa it was attached to the German 4th Army and took part in a number of actions against isolated Soviet formations at Minsk, Smolensk and Bryansk. It was then sent to support Guderians Panzer Army near Tula. The division lost most of its vehicles and many killed and captured during the retreat from Moscow at Mordves, south of Kashira in the Moscow oblast. In 1942 it spent the first 6 months in action near Orel and then in July 1942 was assigned to the German 6th Army as part of Army Group South. By August 1942 it was near Stalingrad and took part in the bitter battles in the Southern part of that city, until it was redeployed to serve as the 4th Panzer Army's mobile reserve at the end of September, where it was relocated to be the mobile reserve behind the IV Corps guarding the immediate southern flank of the 6th Army forces in Stalingrad.

When the Red Army's second pincer attack was launched from the south, the 29th Motorized was pushed into the SW corner of the pocketed Germans. Having been held in reserve for most of the Stalingrad campaign, the division was still in relatively good order, even in late December at 90% combat strength according to its situation reports. While it was in the most favorable position to lead a German breakout of the pocket toward's Manstein's forces approaching from the southwest, the order from Paulus never came, and on 21 January 1943 it was attacked by the Soviet 21st Army, and destroyed as part of the Battle of Stalingrad.

It was then reconstituted in France in the early spring from the recently formed 345th Infantry Division. It was transferred to the Sicilian Campaign as the 29th Panzergrenadier Division for sometime in the defence of the Northern Route to Messina. Thereafter it fought in Italy at Salerno, Anzio, and San Pietro and was destroyed by the British in northern Italy just before the end of the war.

Commanding officers

• Generalmajor Willibald Freiherr von Langermann und Erlencamp, 7 May 1940 – 7 September 1940
• Generalmajor Walter von Boltenstern, September 1940 – September 1941
• General Max Fremerey, September 1941 – September 1942
• General Hans-Georg Leyser, September 1942 – February 1943
• General der Panzertruppen Walter Fries, 1 March 1943 – 5 March 1943
• Oberst Dr. Hans Boelsen 5 March 1943 – 20 March 1943
• General der Panzertruppen Walter Fries 20 March 1943 – 31 August 1944
• Generalleutnant Dr. Fritz Polack, 24 August 1944 – 24 April 1945

See also

• Panzergrenadier
• Division (military), Military unit, List of German divisions in World War II
• Heer, Wehrmacht