The 12. Infanterie-Division was established in October 1934 in Schwerin as Infanterie-Division Schwerin and formally redesignated the 12. Infanterie-Division on 15 October 1935 as part of the Wehrmacht expansion, initially organized with three Infanterie-Regimenter, an Artillerie-Regiment, and supporting Aufklärungs-, Panzerjäger-, Pionier-, and Nachrichten-Abteilungen in the standard pre-war Infanterie-Division structure; it participated in the Invasion of Poland in September 1939 and the Battle of France in 1940 before being committed to Operation Barbarossa in June 1941 as part of Army Group Center, where it fought in the battles of Smolensk, the advance on Moscow, the Rzhev salient, and subsequent defensive operations on the Eastern Front, enduring heavy casualties that necessitated multiple reorganizations and reductions in manpower and equipment over the following years; following further severe losses in 1944, the division was withdrawn to Germany and reformed in September–October 1944 as the 12. Volksgrenadier-Division, a late-war infantry formation typically featuring a simplified two-Grenadier-Regiment structure with enhanced automatic weaponry, younger conscripts, and Volkssturm reinforcements, and it was then deployed to the Western Front where it fought in the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest and the Ardennes Offensive under the 5. Panzer-Armee before retreating into central Germany and ultimately being destroyed or captured during the final collapse of the Reich in the spring of 1945.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
Generalleutnant
Kurt-Jürgen Freiherr von Lützow (1892-1961) was awarded the Ritterkreuz
des Eisernen Kreuzes on 15 August 1940 as Oberst and Kommandeur of
Infanterie-Regiment 89 within the 12. Infanterie-Division for his
outstanding leadership during the campaign in France, where, despite
having been wounded by a shell splinter in the earlier Polish campaign,
he personally led his Bataillone from the foremost line with exceptional
boldness and disregard for enemy fire, most notably during the
successful attack across the Scarpe river at Monchy east of Arras on 23
May 1940 that enabled his regiment to achieve its objectives rapidly and
with minimal losses. He received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes
mit Eichenlaub on 21 October 1941, the 37th such award, still serving as
Oberst and Kommandeur of Infanterie-Regiment 89 now subordinated to the
16. Armee of Heeresgruppe Nord, for his decisive actions during the
opening phase of Operation Barbarossa, including breaking through the
Soviet border fortifications east of Schoßbach and leading his regiment
on a rapid 65-kilometre advance to reach the objective at Szeszupa,
forming a bridgehead over the Njemen during the assault on Kowno while
capturing two forts against determined resistance from Soviet
Kyrgyzstani and Tatar regiments, distinguishing his unit in hard
fighting near Putoschka on 15–16 July 1941, and subsequently securing
the line Nikitina–Kokotschina from which he repelled repeated Soviet
tank-supported breakthrough attempts, thereby contributing significantly
to the encirclement of several enemy divisions near Newel. Lützow later
commanded the 12. Infanterie-Division and was taken prisoner by Soviet
forces during Operation Bagration near Bobruysk in 1944.
General der Artillerie Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach (1888-1976) was born in Eppendorf, Hamburg, into a noble Prussian military family as a direct descendant of the famous Prussian general Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Seydlitz; after serving as an artillery officer in World War I on both fronts and rising through the ranks in the Reichswehr, he was appointed commander of the 12. Infanterie-Division as Generalmajor in March 1940 and earned the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 15 August 1940 for his outstanding leadership in breaking through the extended Maginot Line east of Trelon on 17 May 1940 following a fierce battle, during which he personally reconnoitred the enemy situation and terrain, directed his troops exemplarily, seized important crossings over the de la Haute-Deule Canal on 26 and 27 May while repulsing enemy counterattacks, and forced the crossing of the Somme river on 5 June, all while dedicating himself to combat without hesitation; he was subsequently awarded the Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 31 December 1941, the same day he was promoted to Generalleutnant, in recognition of his outstanding leadership of the 12. Infanterie-Division in the northern sector of the Eastern Front during the first four months of Operation Barbarossa; in early 1942, when the division became encircled in the Demyansk Pocket, he was tasked with commanding a special corps in Operation Brückenschlag and successfully directed the relief operations from March to April that enabled the breakout of German forces from the encirclement, for which he was promoted to General der Artillerie on 1 June 1942 and given command of the LI. Armeekorps; during the Battle of Stalingrad, where his corps formed part of the 6. Armee, von Seydlitz-Kurzbach repeatedly urged a breakout against Adolf Hitler’s explicit orders to hold the city at all costs and on 25 January 1943 informed his subordinate officers that they had freedom of action to decide on surrender, leading to his immediate relief from command by Generalfeldmarschall Friedrich Paulus, after which he surrendered to Soviet forces along with the remnants of the 6. Armee on 31 January 1943; as a prisoner of war, he collaborated extensively with the Soviets, becoming the leader of the Bund Deutscher Offiziere and vice president of the Nationalkomitee Freies Deutschland, actions that resulted in a death sentence in absentia from the Nazi regime and Sippenhaft for his family, while after the war he was convicted of war crimes by a Soviet tribunal and sentenced to twenty-five years of forced labor before being released to West Germany in October 1955, where despite the revocation of his Nazi-era death sentence he was denied restoration of his rank and pension by the Bundeswehr and lived out his remaining years in bitterness until his death in Bremen on 28 April 1976, after which he received a posthumous pardon from Russia in 1996.
Major Otto Benzin (1910-1944) was born on 23 November 1910 in Pritzwalk, Brandenburg, and entered the Reichswehr in 1928, beginning a military career that spanned the interwar period and the Second World War until his death in 1944. At the outbreak of war he served as Oberfeldwebel in Infanterie-Regiment 89 of the 12. Infanterie-Division. On 1 February 1940 he was commissioned as an active officer and promoted to Leutnant and then Oberleutnant; by the start of the campaign in the Soviet Union he commanded the 9. Kompanie. He received the Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse on 27 May 1940 and the Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse on 4 July 1941. On 18 October 1941, near Demyansk, Oberleutnant der Reserve Benzin led his reinforced 9. Kompanie in a surprise attack on the village of Karnowschtschina, seizing its southern edge under machine-gun cover, then capturing the heavily fortified western edge from the rear in fierce fighting, storming 17 bunkers, and defeating a Soviet reinforcement detachment in close combat after it was delayed by relocated machine guns; the company then repeated the success at Nossowitzy by striking the enemy from the rear and destroying them, actions for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 31 December 1941 as the 785th Heer recipient. Promoted to Hauptmann on 1 February 1942 and to Major on 1 February 1943, he later assumed leadership of Grenadier-Regiment 89. During the second winter battle of Vitebsk in early 1944, as Führer of the regiment, he and his men repeatedly prevented Soviet penetrations of the front line, achieving particular success on 9 and 10 February 1944 that contributed decisively to the German favorable conclusion of the fighting, for which he received the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz (406th award) on 22 February 1944. Additional decorations included the Verwundetenabzeichen in Gold, Nahkampfspange in Bronze, Medaille Winterschlacht im Osten 1941/42, Infanterie-Sturmabzeichen, and Demjanskschild. After a further wounding he took command of Grenadier-Regiment 531 near Bobruisk; while attempting to break out of the encircled city during Operation Bagration he fell at the Woltschanka on 29 June 1944 (some sources note 3 July), aged 33.
General der Artillerie Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach (1888-1976) was born in Eppendorf, Hamburg, into a noble Prussian military family as a direct descendant of the famous Prussian general Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Seydlitz; after serving as an artillery officer in World War I on both fronts and rising through the ranks in the Reichswehr, he was appointed commander of the 12. Infanterie-Division as Generalmajor in March 1940 and earned the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 15 August 1940 for his outstanding leadership in breaking through the extended Maginot Line east of Trelon on 17 May 1940 following a fierce battle, during which he personally reconnoitred the enemy situation and terrain, directed his troops exemplarily, seized important crossings over the de la Haute-Deule Canal on 26 and 27 May while repulsing enemy counterattacks, and forced the crossing of the Somme river on 5 June, all while dedicating himself to combat without hesitation; he was subsequently awarded the Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 31 December 1941, the same day he was promoted to Generalleutnant, in recognition of his outstanding leadership of the 12. Infanterie-Division in the northern sector of the Eastern Front during the first four months of Operation Barbarossa; in early 1942, when the division became encircled in the Demyansk Pocket, he was tasked with commanding a special corps in Operation Brückenschlag and successfully directed the relief operations from March to April that enabled the breakout of German forces from the encirclement, for which he was promoted to General der Artillerie on 1 June 1942 and given command of the LI. Armeekorps; during the Battle of Stalingrad, where his corps formed part of the 6. Armee, von Seydlitz-Kurzbach repeatedly urged a breakout against Adolf Hitler’s explicit orders to hold the city at all costs and on 25 January 1943 informed his subordinate officers that they had freedom of action to decide on surrender, leading to his immediate relief from command by Generalfeldmarschall Friedrich Paulus, after which he surrendered to Soviet forces along with the remnants of the 6. Armee on 31 January 1943; as a prisoner of war, he collaborated extensively with the Soviets, becoming the leader of the Bund Deutscher Offiziere and vice president of the Nationalkomitee Freies Deutschland, actions that resulted in a death sentence in absentia from the Nazi regime and Sippenhaft for his family, while after the war he was convicted of war crimes by a Soviet tribunal and sentenced to twenty-five years of forced labor before being released to West Germany in October 1955, where despite the revocation of his Nazi-era death sentence he was denied restoration of his rank and pension by the Bundeswehr and lived out his remaining years in bitterness until his death in Bremen on 28 April 1976, after which he received a posthumous pardon from Russia in 1996.
Major Otto Benzin (1910-1944) was born on 23 November 1910 in Pritzwalk, Brandenburg, and entered the Reichswehr in 1928, beginning a military career that spanned the interwar period and the Second World War until his death in 1944. At the outbreak of war he served as Oberfeldwebel in Infanterie-Regiment 89 of the 12. Infanterie-Division. On 1 February 1940 he was commissioned as an active officer and promoted to Leutnant and then Oberleutnant; by the start of the campaign in the Soviet Union he commanded the 9. Kompanie. He received the Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse on 27 May 1940 and the Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse on 4 July 1941. On 18 October 1941, near Demyansk, Oberleutnant der Reserve Benzin led his reinforced 9. Kompanie in a surprise attack on the village of Karnowschtschina, seizing its southern edge under machine-gun cover, then capturing the heavily fortified western edge from the rear in fierce fighting, storming 17 bunkers, and defeating a Soviet reinforcement detachment in close combat after it was delayed by relocated machine guns; the company then repeated the success at Nossowitzy by striking the enemy from the rear and destroying them, actions for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 31 December 1941 as the 785th Heer recipient. Promoted to Hauptmann on 1 February 1942 and to Major on 1 February 1943, he later assumed leadership of Grenadier-Regiment 89. During the second winter battle of Vitebsk in early 1944, as Führer of the regiment, he and his men repeatedly prevented Soviet penetrations of the front line, achieving particular success on 9 and 10 February 1944 that contributed decisively to the German favorable conclusion of the fighting, for which he received the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz (406th award) on 22 February 1944. Additional decorations included the Verwundetenabzeichen in Gold, Nahkampfspange in Bronze, Medaille Winterschlacht im Osten 1941/42, Infanterie-Sturmabzeichen, and Demjanskschild. After a further wounding he took command of Grenadier-Regiment 531 near Bobruisk; while attempting to break out of the encircled city during Operation Bagration he fell at the Woltschanka on 29 June 1944 (some sources note 3 July), aged 33.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12th_Infantry_Division_(Wehrmacht)
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