The 17. Infanterie-Division of the German Wehrmacht was formed on 1 October 1934 in Nuremberg, initially disguised as Wehrgauleitung Nürnberg and then as Artillerieführer VII to circumvent Treaty of Versailles restrictions, before being officially redesignated the 17. Infanterie-Division in 1935; its core units, consisting of Infanterie-Regiment 21, Infanterie-Regiment 55 and Infanterie-Regiment 95 together with an artillery regiment and supporting elements, were created through the expansion of the 21st Bavarian Infantry Regiment drawn from the Reichswehr’s 7. Infanterie-Division. The division participated in the Anschluss of Austria in March 1938 and, during the Invasion of Poland in September 1939 as part of the 8. Armee under Generaloberst Johannes Blaskowitz and led by Generalleutnant Herbert Loch, saw heavy fighting in Silesia and around Łódź, particularly at Pabianice against elements of the Polish 28. Infanterie-Division and the Wołyńska Cavalry Brigade while reinforced by the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler; after the campaign it was accused of involvement in war crimes, most notably the massacre near Złoczew in early September 1939 in which around 200 Polish and Jewish civilians were killed, many burned alive. In the 1940 Battle of France the division fought as part of the XIII. Armeekorps and subsequently trained in France for the cancelled Operation Seelöwe. Deployed to the Eastern Front in June 1941 with Heeresgruppe Mitte during Operation Barbarossa, it advanced deep into Soviet territory and took part in the Battle of Moscow in late 1941, incurring such severe losses that it was withdrawn to France for reconstitution in June 1942. Returning to the Eastern Front in April 1943, the division engaged in prolonged combat along the Mius river, at Nikopol, Uman, Kishinev and Jassy before being shifted to Poland in August 1944 to help contain Soviet bridgeheads on the Vistula near Warka and Radom. By 1 January 1945, reduced to approximately 10,828 men and serving with the 9. Armee in Heeresgruppe A, it was heavily damaged during the Soviet Vistula-Oder Offensive in January; its surviving elements were later reconstituted and continued fighting in the Görlitz area and the Riesengebirge mountains until the division surrendered to Allied forces on 8 May 1945.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
General der Infanterie Karl-Wilhelm Specht (1894-1953) commanded Infanterie-Regiment 55 as an Oberst during the early campaigns on the Eastern Front and later rose to higher command responsibilities. Born in Herdecke, Germany, Specht had already served with distinction in the Imperial German Army during World War I before continuing his career through the Reichswehr and into the Wehrmacht, participating in the Invasion of Poland and the Battle of France prior to Operation Barbarossa. His most notable exploits occurred while leading Infanterie-Regiment 55 in the advance toward Gomel in August 1941, when Oberst Specht and his regiment seized a particularly strong Soviet strongpoint at Weliky-Log and held it against fierce counterattacks; shortly afterward he directed a swift flank attack that broke through the fortified positions at Rekta in only two hours, then thrust twenty kilometers deep into Soviet territory, thereby contributing decisively to the German breakthrough battle north of Gomel and the subsequent encirclement and destruction of large Soviet forces around and east of Rogachev, for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 8 September 1941. His determined leadership continued through the battles of Gomel, Kiev, and Bryansk-Vyazma; despite shrapnel wounds to his hand and knee sustained during the crossing of the Ugra river, he remained in command, and even after his regimental command post was hit by fire three times—leaving him unconscious from carbon dioxide poisoning—he recovered quickly with oxygen treatment and returned immediately to the front line; on 15 November 1941, while personally scouting to identify whether approaching soldiers were friendly or enemy, he was shot in the head at five meters’ range by a Soviet soldier already inside the village, yet his regiment repelled the attack, inflicting losses of approximately 500 Soviet dead (including their regimental commander), 200 prisoners, three guns, and sixty machine guns, actions that earned him the Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 16 January 1942 as the sixtieth recipient. Later promoted to General der Infanterie, Specht served as a member of the Court of Military Honour that expelled officers implicated in the 20 July Plot before they were handed over to the People’s Court; at the end of the war he surrendered to Soviet forces and died in captivity at the Voikovo prison camp near Ivanovo on 3 December 1953.
Major der Reserve Walter Elflein (1914-2000) was born on 10 December 1914 in Neustadt bei Coburg and entered service in 1935 as a volunteer with Infanterie-Regiment 42, later leaving as Feldwebel der Reserve before being recalled in August 1939 as Zugführer in the 2. Kompanie of Infanterie-Regiment 95; after the Polenfeldzug he was promoted on 1 November 1939 to Leutnant der Reserve and Führer of the 1. Kompanie, which he led through the Westfeldzug and from June 1941 on the Eastern Front, distinguishing himself in the defensive fighting around Juchnow in the winter of 1941/42 to receive the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold on 26 December 1941 as Leutnant in the 1./Infanterie-Regiment 95, along with the Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse on 5 December 1939, Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse on 1 July 1941, Infanterie-Sturmabzeichen on 13 September 1941, and the Ostmedaille. On 1 February 1942 he assumed leadership of the I. Bataillon, which he commanded in the heavy defensive battles around Gshatsk, and on 1 August 1943 he was promoted to Hauptmann der Reserve and Kommandeur of the I. Bataillon of Grenadier-Regiment 95 while simultaneously leading a Kampfgruppe in the severe defensive fighting along the Mius; at the end of August 1943, as Oberleutnant der Reserve and Führer of the 2./Grenadier-Regiment 95 in the 17. Infanterie-Division, he launched a spontaneous counterattack with his Kampfgruppe that pushed back and smashed a Soviet force that had broken into the lines, so impressing the enemy that they declined to exploit their advantage and thereby enabling the Division to disengage from the Mius without interference near Taganrog, for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 8 October 1943. In November 1943 during the fighting for the Nikopol bridgehead the Soviets seized a village of critical importance to the bridgehead’s security, prompting Hauptmann der Reserve Elflein, as Kommandeur of the I./Grenadier-Regiment 95 and Führer of a roughly 100-man Kampfgruppe in the 17. Infanterie-Division, to counterattack on his own initiative at the head of his men and eject the Soviets from the village, after which he and his troops repeatedly repelled determined enemy assaults by infantry in up to regimental strength supported by tanks over the following days, actions that earned him the 347th Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz on 5 December 1943 while he was recovering from severe wounds sustained in the Nikopol fighting and also the Verwundetenabzeichen in Gold; promoted to Major der Reserve on 1 June 1944 he served thereafter as Taktiklehrer at the Kriegsschule Potsdam, Inspektionschef at the Kriegsschule VI in Schwerin, and finally Lehrgruppenkommandeur, surviving the war to become a teacher and school principal in his hometown before his death on 30 December 2000.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17th_Infantry_Division_(Wehrmacht)
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/Infanteriedivisionen/17ID-R.htm
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