The 216. Infanterie-Division was a German Army formation of the Wehrmacht raised on 26 August 1939 in Wehrkreis XI at Hameln, Lower Saxony, primarily from Landwehr personnel in the Hannover region as part of the third mobilization wave (3. Welle), organized in the traditional alter Art structure with three infantry regiments (Infanterie-Regiment 348, 396, and 398), each of three battalions, plus the 216. Artillerie-Regiment, Panzerabwehr-Abteilung 216, Pionier-Bataillon 216, and supporting divisional units for a total strength of around 17,200 men. It spent the early months of the war in defensive positions along the Westwall in the Ardennes sector and did not participate in the 1939 Invasion of Poland, but in May-June 1940 it advanced under the 6. Armee through Belgium and into France as part of the Western Campaign, contributing to the rapid encirclement and defeat of Allied forces. Following occupation duties along the English Channel coast in 1940-1941, the division was urgently transferred to the Eastern Front in December 1941 amid the Soviet winter counteroffensive, where its units were frequently split into Kampfgruppen for emergency defense; notably, elements of Infanterie-Regiment 348 held the Festen Platz Suchinitschi against encirclement by the Soviet 10th Army for weeks until relieved in January 1942, an action that earned its commander Generalmajor Werner Freiherr von und zu Gilsa the Eichenlaub to his Ritterkreuz. Over the following year and a half the division endured positional warfare and heavy fighting in Army Group Center around Rzhev, Briansk, Orel, Spas-Demensk, and Gomel before participating in Operation Citadel during the Battle of Kursk in July 1943 as part of Generalfeldmarschall Model's 9. Armee on the northern shoulder of the salient, where it suffered severe casualties while attempting to breach Soviet defenses. After the failed offensive and subsequent Soviet counterattacks, the battered division conducted a fighting retreat toward the Dnieper River line and was officially disbanded on 17 November 1943; its staff and remaining elements, including most of Grenadier-Regiment 348 and the artillery, were transferred to Belgium to help form the new 272. Infanterie-Division, while surviving combat troops were reorganized into Divisions-Gruppe 216 and absorbed into the 102. Infanterie-Division. Under successive commanders including Generalleutnant Hermann Böttcher, Kurt Himer, Werner Freiherr von und zu Gilsa, Friedrich August Schack, Egon von Neindorff, and Gustav Gihr, the 216. Infanterie-Division exemplified the attritional struggles of mid-war Wehrmacht infantry units, transitioning from swift victory in the West to prolonged defensive agony on the Eastern Front until its dissolution.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
General der Infanterie Werner Freiherr von und zu Gilsa (1889-1945) was a German officer in the Wehrmacht during World War II, born in Berlin into a noble family of barons, who entered the Royal Prussian Army in 1908 as a Fähnrich in the Garde-Füsilier-Regiment, served with distinction in World War I in staff and field roles earning both classes of the Iron Cross along with other decorations, and continued his career in the Reichswehr before rising through Wehrmacht ranks. As Oberst and Kommandeur of Infanterie-Regiment 9 he led his unit with outstanding bravery through the Polish campaign and, during the 1940 western offensive, personally directed a bold thrust by his III. Bataillon that seized intact Maas bridges near Charleville after breaking through a key enemy bridgehead position, an action that enabled the swift advance of Gruppe Haase and earned him the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 5 June 1940. From 1 April 1941 he commanded the 216. Infanterie-Division, which was transferred to the Eastern Front in winter 1941/42; there, as Generalmajor, he orchestrated the outstanding defense of the Festen Platz Suchinitschi during the German retreat from Moscow, holding the fortified position against heavy Soviet pressure in the central sector and securing the 68th award of the Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz on 24 January 1942. Promoted to General der Infanterie on 1 July 1943, he later commanded the LXXXIX. Armeekorps during the Battle of the Scheldt, served briefly in the Führerreserve, and ended the war as the last Kampfkommandant of Dresden from mid-March 1945, where he opened Wehrmacht facilities to civilians before suicide on 8 May 1945 in Leitmeritz as the Red Army advanced.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/216th_Infantry_Division_(Wehrmacht)
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