Ritterkreuzträger of 281. Sicherungs-Division

The 281. Sicherungs-Division was formed on 15 March 1941 at the Truppenübungsplatz Groß-Born in Wehrkreis II from elements of the 207. Infanterie-Division as a rear-area security formation of the Wehrmacht specifically organized for occupation duties, initially comprising the verstärktes Infanterie-Regiment 368 with three battalions, Wach-Bataillon 707, II./Artillerie-Regiment 207, Landesschützen-Regiment 107 (later the basis for Sicherungs-Regiment 107), and various Divisionstruppen 368, and after completing its reorganization in April–May 1941 it advanced through Lithuania and Latvia into the rear area of Heeresgruppe Nord following the launch of Unternehmen Barbarossa, where it performed security tasks against partisans, Red Army stragglers, and civilians under the Befehlshaber des rückwärtigen Heeresgebietes, often reinforced by units such as Reserve-Polizei-Bataillon 2 and later Ost-Reiter-Abteilung 281 and Divisions-Nachrichten-Abteilung 822; its early operations included a December 1941 anti-partisan sweep in which it reported shooting 317 partisans, burning 23 villages, and destroying camps and hospitals, while its personnel were reminded in August 1941 not to discuss mass shootings, and the division as a whole participated extensively in the war of annihilation through shootings of Roma (128 in May 1942), forced labor, and collective punishments. Under Generalmajor Theodor Scherer from October 1941, elements of the division and ad-hoc forces forming Kampfgruppe Scherer became trapped in the Kholm (Cholm) Pocket from late January 1942, holding the town with roughly 3,500–5,500 men against superior Soviet assaults for over three months with only limited aerial resupply until relief on 5 May 1942; thereafter the division continued rear-area security and anti-partisan operations in northern Russia, lending Infanterie-Regiment 368 to front-line duties around the Demjansk Pocket and Staraja Russa, participating in Operation Frühjahrsbestellung in April 1943, and later fighting near Polozk, Newel, and the Peipussee under various corps of the 16. and 18. Armee. In late 1944 it withdrew into the Kurland Pocket, where on 11 November 1944 it was redesignated and reorganized as the 281. Infanterie-Division with a more standard infantry structure including Grenadier-Regimenter 322, 368 and 418, Artillerie-Regiment 281, and supporting units; the reconstituted division was evacuated by sea in early 1945 to Heeresgruppe Weichsel, fought in Pomerania and on the Oder front under the 3. Panzerarmee and XXXII. Armeekorps during the Stettin-Rostock operation, and its remnants surrendered in May 1945 near Waren after linking with other units such as Infanterie-Division Schlageter.

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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER


Generalleutnant Theodor Scherer (1889-1951) was born on 17 September 1889 in Höchstädt an der Donau, Bavaria, and began his military career on 14 July 1908 as a Fahnenjunker in the 12. Infanterie-Regiment „Prinz Arnulf“ of the Bayerische Armee, receiving his commission as Leutnant in 1910; during the First World War he served on the Western Front, was captured by the British in July 1916 during the Battle of the Somme, later interned in the Netherlands, and released after the armistice, thereafter leaving the army on 30 August 1920 under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and joining the Bavarian Landespolizei, rising to Oberstleutnant der Polizei by 1935 before re-entering the Wehrmacht that November in the same rank and serving as Bataillonskommandeur and later Kommandeur of Infanterie-Regiment 56, then as Oberst and Kommandeur of Infanterie-Regiment 507 during the Western campaign of 1940, where he led an assault across the Marne and earned the Spange to both classes of the Eisernes Kreuz. Promoted to Generalmajor in November 1940, he briefly commanded Adolf Hitler’s headquarters at the OKH in Zossen from March to September 1941 before assuming command of the 281. Sicherungs-Division on 1 October 1941 for rear-area security duties against partisans in the occupied Soviet Union; in January 1942, when Soviet forces and partisans attacked and encircled German units at Kholm (Cholm), Scherer took charge of the ad-hoc Kampfgruppe Scherer, initially some 3,500 men drawn from elements of his division, police companies, and other stragglers that later grew to around 5,000–6,000, organizing improvised defenses without heavy artillery or adequate supplies amid severe winter conditions, repeatedly repelling superior Soviet assaults, coordinating limited aerial resupply and wounded evacuations, and holding the pocket for 105 days until relief forces linked up on 5 May 1942. For his leadership during the first month of the siege he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 20 February 1942 as Generalmajor and Kommandeur of the 281. Sicherungs-Division, and following the successful relief he received the Eichenlaub (92nd award) on 5 May 1942, along with a mention in the Wehrmachtbericht and the newly created Cholmschild for the survivors; subsequently promoted to Generalleutnant on 1 November 1942, he commanded the 34. Infanterie-Division and then the 83. Infanterie-Division (which suffered heavy losses at Velikiye Luki), later served as Inspekteur des Küstenschutzes for the Eastern Front, and at the war’s end directed field-gendarmerie units in the Elbe sector before entering captivity, dying in a car accident near Ludwigsburg on 17 May 1951.

Source :
https://www.balsi.de/Weltkrieg/Einheiten/Heer/Divisionen/Sicherungs-Divisionen/281-SD-Startseite.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/281st_Security_Division_(Wehrmacht)
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/SichDiv/281SichDiv-R.htm