257th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

The 257th Infantry Division (German: 257. Infanterie-Division) was an infantry division of the German Heer during World War II.

The division was destroyed in combat in August 1944 and formally dissolved on 9 October 1944. The division was redeployed as the 257th Volksgrenadier Division (German: 257. Volks-Grenadier-Division) on 13 October 1944, using personnel from the 587th Volksgrenadier Division.

History

257th Infantry Division
257th Infantry Division
Active
  • September 1939 – August 1944
Country Nazi Germany
BranchArmy
TypeInfantry
SizeDivision
EngagementsWorld War II

The 257th Infantry Division was formed in Berlin-Karlshorst in Wehrkreis III as a division of the fourth Aufstellungswelle on 26 August 1939, the day of German mobilization. It initially consisted of the Infantry Regiments 457, 466, and 477, as well as the Artillery Regiment 257. The three infantry regiments of the division took their initial battalions from several reserve formations of Wehrkreis III, including Infantry Regiment 8 (Frankfurt an der Oder), Infantry Regiment 9 (Wittenberg), Infantry Regiment 39 (Grünberg in Schlesien), Infantry Regiment 67 (Berlin-Spandau), Infantry Regiment 68 (Rathenow), and Infantry Regiment 150 (Berlin-Tegel).[1] The initial commander of the 257th Infantry Division was Max von Viebahn.[2]

After the Invasion of Poland, in which the division served a reserve role under Army Group South, it was used as an occupation force in the Kraków sector.[2]

On 29 January 1940, the 257th Infantry Division passed an infantry battalion of the 466th Regiment to the 293rd Infantry Division of the eighth Aufstellungswelle.[1]

In June 1940, during the Battle of France, the 257th Infantry Division stood opposite the Maginot Line, under the supervision of Army Group C. After the conclusion of the western campaign, the division was transferred back to Poland.[2]

On 4 October 1940, a third of the division was transferred to the 123rd Infantry Division of the eleventh Aufstellungswelle.[1]

Karl Sachs took command of the division on 1 March 1941.[2]

Between June 1941 and the summer of 1942, the 257th Infantry Division fought continuous battles in the German-Soviet war. It engaged in combat at Uman and participated in the encirclement of Kiev. At the end of the year 1941, the 257th Infantry Division engaged in defensive operations against the Soviet winter campaign of 1941–42.[2]

In May 1942, the division fought in the Second Battle of Kharkov.[2] The 257th Infantry Division was now commanded by Karl Gümbel, who had assumed his post on 1 May 1942. Gümbel would be shortly replaced by Carl Püchler on 1 June.[2]

On 5 November 1943, Anton Reichard von Mauchenheim genannt Bechtolsheim assumed command of the division.[2]

On 2 July 1944, Friedrich Blümke assumed command of the division.[2]

In August 1944, the 257th Infantry Division was destroyed while under the supervision of Army Group South. It was formally dissolved on 9 October 1944.[1] Its final commander, appointed on 1 October 1944, had been Erich Seidel.[2]

257th Volksgrenadier Division
257th Volksgrenadier Division
Active
  • October 1944 – May 1945
Country Nazi Germany
BranchArmy
TypeInfantry
SizeDivision
EngagementsWorld War II

The 257th Volksgrenadier Division was activated on 13 October 1944, using survivors of the 257th Infantry Division as well as the personnel of Shadow Division Groß-Görschen, also known as the 587th Volksgrenadier Division, a division of the thirty-second Aufstellungswelle. The Grenadier Regiments of the 257th Volksgrenadier Division were still numbered 457, 466, and 477, as they had been under the 257th Infantry Division.[1]

The 257th Volksgrenadier Division was captured by United States Army forces at Füssen in May 1945.[1]

The 257th Volksgrenadier Division's only commander was Erich Seidel.[2]

Superior formations
Organizational chart of the 257th Infantry Division[1]
Year Month Army Corps Army Army Group Area
As "257th Infantry Division", September 1939 – October 1944
1939 September Army Group reserves. Army Group South Kraków
December XXIV 1st Army Army Group C Saarpfalz
1940 January Army reserves.
May XXIV
June XXXVII Maginot Line
July – August XXXIV 18th Army None. Poland
September – December 12th Army Army Group B
1941 January – April 17th Army South Poland
May Army Group A
June – July XXXXIX Army Group South Lviv, Vinnytsia
August LII Uman
September XI Dnieper
October LII Kiev
November – December XXXXIV Donetsk
1942 January – May
June – July 1st Panzer Army
August Army Group reserves. Army Group D France
September LXXXIII Felber Champagne
October – December XXV 7th Army Brittany
1943 January – March
April In transit. 1st Panzer Army Army Group South Donetsk
May – September XXXX
October – December XXX Kryvyi Rih
1944 January 6th Army Nikopol
February LVII
March Army Group A Tighina
April – July XXX Army Group South Ukraine Kishinev
August "Status unknown", according to German records. In reality: Destroyed in combat.[1]
As "257th Volksgrenadier Division", October 1944 – May 1945
1944 October – December In deployment.
1945 January LXXXX 1st Army Army Group G Lower Alsace
February – March LXXXIX Saarpfalz
April LXIV 19th Army Oberbefehlshaber West Karlsruhe / Danube

Noteworthy individuals
  • Max von Viebahn, divisional commander between 26 August 1939 and 1 March 1941.
  • Karl Sachs, divisional commander between 1 March 1941 and 1 May 1942.
  • Karl Gümbel, divisional commander between 1 May 1942 and 1 June 1942.
  • Carl Püchler, divisional commander between 1 June 1942 and 5 November 1943.
  • Anton Reichard von Mauchenheim genannt Bechtolsheim, divisional commander between 5 November 1943 and 2 July 1944.
  • Friedrich Blümke, divisional commander between 2 July 1944 and 1 October 1944.
  • Erich Seidel, divisional commander between 1 October 1944 and May 1945.
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gollark: ```Architecture: x86_64CPU op-mode(s): 32-bit, 64-bitByte Order: Little EndianCPU(s): 8On-line CPU(s) list: 0-7Thread(s) per core: 2Core(s) per socket: 4Socket(s): 1NUMA node(s): 1Vendor ID: GenuineIntelCPU family: 6Model: 42Model name: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E31240 @ 3.30GHzStepping: 7CPU MHz: 1610.407CPU max MHz: 3700.0000CPU min MHz: 1600.0000BogoMIPS: 6587.46Virtualization: VT-xL1d cache: 32KL1i cache: 32KL2 cache: 256KL3 cache: 8192KNUMA node0 CPU(s): 0-7Flags: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx lahf_lm pti tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid xsaveopt dtherm ida arat pln pts```
gollark: I think it's a server thing.
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gollark: ```Architecture: x86_64CPU op-mode(s): 32-bit, 64-bitByte Order: Little EndianCPU(s): 4On-line CPU(s) list: 0-3Thread(s) per core: 1Core(s) per socket: 4Socket(s): 1NUMA node(s): 1Vendor ID: AuthenticAMDCPU family: 23Model: 1Model name: AMD Ryzen 3 1200 Quad-Core ProcessorStepping: 1CPU MHz: 3338.023CPU max MHz: 3500.0000CPU min MHz: 1550.0000BogoMIPS: 6989.03Virtualization: AMD-VL1d cache: 32KL1i cache: 64KL2 cache: 512KL3 cache: 4096KNUMA node0 CPU(s): 0-3Flags: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc rep_good nopl nonstop_tsc cpuid extd_apicid aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq monitor ssse3 fma cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 movbe popcnt aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw skinit wdt tce topoext perfctr_core perfctr_nb bpext perfctr_llc mwaitx cpb hw_pstate sme ssbd sev vmmcall fsgsbase bmi1 avx2 smep bmi2 rdseed adx smap clflushopt sha_ni xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves clzero irperf xsaveerptr arat npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save tsc_scale vmcb_clean flushbyasid decodeassists pausefilter pfthreshold avic v_vmsave_vmload vgif overflow_recov succor smca```What clear, useful output.

References
  1. Tessin, Georg (1973). "257". Die Landstreitkräfte 201–280. Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939-1945 (in German). 8. Osnabrück: Biblio Verlag. pp. 245–250. ISBN 3764808721.
  2. Mitcham, Samuel W. (2007). "257th Infantry (later Volksgrenadier) Division". German Order of Battle. Volume One. 1st-290th Infantry Divisions in World War II. Stackpole Books. pp. 306–308. ISBN 9780811734165.
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