The 24th Panzer Division (24. Panzer-Division) of the German Wehrmacht was formed on 28 November 1941 at the Stablack training grounds in East Prussia through the conversion of the elite 1st Cavalry Division, retaining strong cavalry traditions and adopting the leaping horseman emblem that later inspired detailed historical accounts of its service. After reorganization and training with Panzer II, III, and IV tanks at facilities in France such as Mailly-le-Camp and Coetquidan in early 1942, the division was transferred by rail to the Eastern Front in May–June 1942, joining the 4th Panzer Army under Army Group South for the summer offensive known as Case Blue or Operation Blau. It advanced rapidly toward Voronezh, helping capture parts of the city in early July alongside the Grossdeutschland Division, then pushed across the Don River into the great bend near Kalach before being committed to the drive on Stalingrad. From mid-August 1942 the division fought intense battles on the approaches and in the city itself under the XXXXVIII Panzer Corps, engaging in brutal urban combat around factories, the Mamaev Kurgan heights, and industrial districts that steadily eroded its combat strength from a formidable armored force down to a handful of operational tanks and depleted panzergrenadier battalions. Encircled with the 6th Army during the Soviet Operation Uranus in late November 1942, the remnants of the 24th Panzer Division continued fighting inside the Stalingrad pocket until the final surrender on 2 February 1943, with only about 1,500 survivors taken prisoner. Reformed from scratch in March–April 1943 in the Lisieux area of northern France using new personnel and equipment including later Panther tanks, the division was briefly deployed to northern Italy in the summer of 1943 for coastal defense and the disarmament of Italian forces after the armistice before returning to the southern sector of the Eastern Front in October 1943. There it endured costly defensive battles along the Dnieper River near Novo Staro Dub, in the Nikopol bridgehead, around Dnepropetrovsk and Krivoi Rog, and later in the battles for the Dniepr Bend and near Kiev, suffering heavy casualties that left it with only limited operational armor by late 1943. In 1944 the division fought in Romania during the First Jassy-Kishinev Offensive and the battles around Târgu Frumos, then shifted northward into Galicia, Poland, and Hungary, conducting counterattacks and delaying actions amid the collapsing German front. By early 1945 its remaining combat elements, reduced to a few tank companies, panzergrenadier units, and antitank detachments, operated in Slovakia, Poland, and East Prussia, with some detachments eventually evacuating to Schleswig-Holstein where they surrendered to British forces while the bulk of the division capitulated to Soviet troops in May 1945, ending the combat history of this once-proud formation that had transitioned from cavalry to armored warfare only to be largely consumed by the grinding attrition of the Eastern Front.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
Generalleutnant Bruno Ritter von Hauenschild (1896-1953) was born Bruno Hauenschild on 9 June 1896 in Würzburg and volunteered for service in the Bavarian Army at the outbreak of the First World War, joining the 11. bayerisches Feldartillerie-Regiment as a Fahnenjunker and later serving as Batterieführer. For outstanding leadership in 1918 he received the Ritterkreuz des Militär-Max-Joseph-Ordens on 2 September 1918, an award that conferred personal nobility and allowed him to style himself Ritter von Hauenschild. In the Second World War he rose to Oberst and took command of the 4. Panzer-Brigade within the 10. Panzer-Division of XXXXVI. Panzer-Korps under Armeegruppe Guderian. During the rapid advance from the Berezina to the Dnieper in the summer of 1941 his brigade formed the spearhead, seized vital bridges and corridors, and destroyed large numbers of Soviet tanks, anti-tank guns, artillery pieces and vehicles, actions for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 25 August 1941. Promoted to Generalmajor, he assumed command of the 24. Panzer-Division on 15 April 1942 and led it with distinction during Operation Blau, contributing decisively to the victories near Voronezh, the fighting in the Don bend and the subsequent drive toward Stalingrad. Severely wounded in early September 1942 near Stalingrad, he received the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 27 September 1942 as the 129th recipient while still listed as Kommandeur of the 24. Panzer-Division. Later promoted to Generalleutnant, he held staff and training commands including the Panzertruppenschulen and briefly directed the Berlin defence area in early 1945 before being relieved on grounds of illness. He died in Munich on 10 March 1953.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24th_Panzer_Division
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