116. tanková divize [1944-1945]

Citation :

The 116th Panzer Division was formed on 28 March, 1944 at Rheine. It was formed by the amalgamation of the remnants of the 16th Panzer Grenadier Division, which along with the 179th Reserve Panzer Division had suffered heavy losses during the fighting on the Eastern Front.


After its formation, the division was immediately moved to the front, specifically to Pas-de-Calais, an area where the German command had mistakenly expected an Allied invasion of France. In fact, the actual landing came in the Normandy area on 6.6.1944.


Windhund was attached to the 7th Army XLVII Corps, part of Field Marshal Rommel's Army Group B. It took part in Operation Luttich, the German counter-attack at Mortain. This operation resulted in the largest tank battle ever fought during the Normandy campaign. 6. August, the division tried in vain to halt the advance of the American 3rd Army near the town of Brest. It, too, had not escaped encirclement in the Falaise Gap, and suffered heavy losses before Hitler gave the final order to retreat from France on 16 August.


21. August, after the disaster at Falaise, the division's condition was pitiful: 600 men and 12 tanks. Moreover, the division had no artillery left. In September it was moved to the city of Aachen. 22. September, an offensive was launched by the American 1st Army, in an attempt to cross the Western Wall and advance deeper into German territory. One of the targets was the city of Aachen. Just before the offensive began, Von Schwerin ordered a general retreat of the 116th Panzer Division from the area. For this order he was recalled by Hitler.


In October, the division was rearmed at Dusseldorf and its strength was now 11,500 and 41 tanks. After rearmament it was again moved to Aachen, which it was to defend from attack by the American XIX Corps. After fierce fighting and just before the Americans captured Aachen, the division managed to retreat from the city.


After the retreat from Aachen, the division was moved to the Hürtgen Forest area for rearmament. After the American 28th Infantry Division captured Schmidt, which was on the edge of the forest, Model gave the division orders to retake that town. The division, which also had Panther tanks in its armament, captured the town and drove the American defenders into retreat without losing a single tank. Immediately thereafter, it launched a counterattack on the town of Vossenack. After several days of fierce fighting, the decimated 28th Division had to retreat from all of Hürtgenwald. Windhund had the biggest share in this, at the cost of losing only 15 tanks.


After being attached to the 5th Panzer Army's LVIII Panzer Corps, Windhund began to prepare for the upcoming offensive in the Ardennes. The operation was given the name "Guard on the Rhine" and was later renamed "Autumn Fog". The division took part in the fighting around the town of St. Vith. 23. December, the town was captured, extending the salient in the Allied lines. After the fighting in St. Vith, the division was attached to the northern tip of the German offensive, but after further fighting suffered heavy losses and so was withdrawn from the Ardennes area, specifically to the Dutch town of Kleve, in January 1945.


On 8 February, the 1st Canadian Army and the British XXX Corps launched Operation Veritable (Real). 5. March, after the British and Canadians clashed with the American 9th Army, Windhund found itself in another encirclement, this time in the Wessel Pocket (the so-called "Wessel Pocket"). However, she managed to withdraw from the encirclement. The division moved back across the Rhine and was attached to the XLVII Panzer Corps, which came from General Blaskowitz's Army Group H.


On 24 March the division was ordered to halt the advance of the American 30th Infantry Division south of the Lippe River. 26. March it was moved to the Dutch-German border, where it repulsed an attack by the aforementioned 30th Division. By 28 March the division had successfully defended the town of Dorsten, but after the British 6th Guards Armoured Brigade had bypassed the town, it again found itself surrounded and had to withdraw.


4. April Windhund was ordered to defend a new defensive line north of the Rhine-Herne Canal. 18. April, however, German resistance in the Ruhr ended and the remnants of the 116th Panzer Division, along with its commanding officer, surrendered to the American Army.