73rd Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

73. Infanterie-Division German 73rd Infantry Division
Active	26 August 1939 – 16 April 1945
Country	Nazi Germany
Branch	Army
Type	Infantry
Size	Division
Engagements	World War II

The German 73rd Infantry Division was a German military unit which served during World War II. The division consisted of more than 10,000 soldiers, primarily of the infantry branch, with supporting artillery. The division was only semi-motorized and relied on marching for the infantry units and horse-drawn transport for most of the support equipment, especially the artillery.

The division was designated 73. Infanterie-Division in Germany.

The 73rd Infantry participated in the invasion of Poland of 1939 as a reserve division of Army Group North.

In 1941, it fought briefly in the Greek Campaign. It was on the Eastern Front, in southern areas, from July 1941 through May 1944. As part of the 11th Army, it participated in the Crimean campaign in late 1941, including the initial assaults near Perekop and the "Tartar Ditch" as well as Sevastopol.

In the spring of 1944 it was cut off by the Soviet forces in the Crimea and destroyed in Sevastopol in May 1944. Reformed soon after in Hungary, it participated in battles around Warsaw in the summer, at the end of July was routed by the Red Army's 2nd Guards Tank Army commanded by Alexei Radzievsky, and in September 1944 was destroyed by Soviet forces during their assault on the Praga suburb of Warsaw. Reformed again, the division was destroyed in the fighting around Danzig in 1945. The surviving divisional staff officers went down with the liner Goya on 17 April 1945.

Organization[]

Structure of the division:^[1][2]

• Headquarters
• 173rd Reconnaissance Battalion (later bicycle battalion)
• 170th Infantry Regiment
• 186th Infantry Regiment
• 213th Infantry Regiment
• 173rd Engineer Battalion
• 173rd Artillery Regiment
• 173rd Tank Destroyer Battalion
• 173rd Signal Battalion
• 173rd Divisional Supply Group

Commanding officers[]

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• General der Artillerie Friedrich von Rabenau, 26 August 1939.
• General der Infanterie Bruno Bieler, 29 September 1939.
• General der Infanterie Rudolf von Bünau, 1 November 1941.
• Generalmajor , 1 February 1943.
• Generalleutnant Dr. Friedrich Franek, 26 June 1944.
• Generalmajor Kurt Haehling, 30 July 1944.
• Generalmajor Franz Schlieper, 7 September 1944.

References[]

Sources[]

• Tessin, Georg (1972). Die Landstreitkräfte 71—130. Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939—1945. Vol. 6. Frankfurt/Main: E.S. Mittler. pp. 14–16.

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