The 58. Infanterie-Division was formed on 26 August 1939 in Wehrkreis X around Lüneburg as part of the second mobilisation wave, drawing on reservists including many First World War veterans and a small active cadre, and was initially deployed on defensive duties along the French border while continuing training. Its principal infantry regiments were Infanterie-Regiment 154, Infanterie-Regiment 209 and Infanterie-Regiment 220, supported by Artillerie-Regiment 158, Pionier-Bataillon 158 and other divisional units; later in the war the organisation was reduced and redesignated with Grenadier-Regiment 154 and Grenadier-Regiment 209 plus a Divisions-Füsilier-Bataillon. From 10 May to 25 June 1940 the division took part in the Battle of France, after which it performed occupation duties in Belgium until April 1941. Transferred to East Prussia, it joined Army Group North for Operation Barbarossa in June 1941 and advanced to the outskirts of Leningrad, where the front stabilised into prolonged positional warfare. For the next two and a half years it remained on the northern sector of the Eastern Front, fighting on the Volkhov, around the Demyansk Pocket, at Krasny Bor, Mga, Nevel and Strugi Krasnye. In early October 1943 the division was withdrawn from the Leningrad siege lines and rushed south to the 16th Army sector, where it helped contain the Soviet offensive that captured Nevel and continued defensive fighting into January 1944. When the Red Army finally broke the Leningrad blockade the division was hurried north again, with two of its regiments having to be extracted from encirclement near Luga before it was committed to the Battle of Narva in 1944. By the end of that year its remnants were trapped in the Memel bridgehead and forced to withdraw along the Curonian Spit toward Königsberg, where the last soldiers under Oberst Eggemann went into Soviet captivity in April–May 1945. Commanders included Generalleutnant Iwan Heunert (1939–1941), Generalleutnant Dr. Friedrich Altrichter, Generalleutnant Karl von Graffen, General der Artillerie Wilhelm Berlin, Generalleutnant Curt Siewert (1943–1945) and finally Oberst Fritz Klasing.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
Oberstleutnant der Reserve Gerhard Hein (1916-2008), originally named Gerhard Franz Philippczyk, was born on 9 July 1916 in Klein Paniow in Upper Silesia and died on 6 June 2008 in Harrislee; he joined the Hitlerjugend in November 1931, served in the Reichsarbeitsdienst from 1933 to 1934, entered the Wehrmacht in 1936 as a Gefreiter, changed his surname to Hein in December 1938, and began active wartime service in September 1939 with Infanterie-Regiment 209 of the 58. Infanterie-Division. As Unteroffizier der Reserve and Zugführer of the 10. Kompanie, III. Bataillon, Infanterie-Regiment 209 during the Battle of France, he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 3 September 1940 for decisive actions on 19–20 June 1940 in urban combat at St. Evre, a suburb of Toul, where the right wing of his Bataillon came under heavy fire from previously unidentified enemy-held houses that threatened to stall the assault and cause heavy casualties; on his own initiative he led a small squad that cleared the houses, restoring momentum and sparing the unit unnecessary losses. Promoted to Feldwebel and later to Leutnant der Reserve, he took part in Operation Barbarossa and, as Führer of the 5. Kompanie, II. Bataillon, Infanterie-Regiment 209, was awarded the Eichenlaub on 6 September 1942 for a series of outstanding achievements including breaking through the Stalin Line near Priluga, capturing a battery of guns, holding a strongpoint for three days of intense fighting in forested terrain near Monastorek, defending against a night attack by about twelve tanks near Alexejewka, combat near Urisk before Leningrad, and an attack into Lubcy north of Novgorod on 15 March 1942. After multiple wounds rendered him unfit for further front-line duty he was given a farm in the Wartheland, yet the Reichsjugendführung claimed him as Reichsinspekteur der Wehrertüchtigungslager der Hitlerjugend with the rank of HJ-Oberbannführer; in this role he emphasised rigorous military preparation of youths and played a key part in organising the formation of the 12. SS-Panzer-Division „Hitlerjugend“. From May 1944 he served in the Waffen-SS, rising to SS-Sturmbannführer der Reserve and commanding SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 26 of the 12. SS-Panzer-Division „Hitlerjugend“ in Hungary before promotion to Oberstleutnant der Reserve and assignment to the staff of Generalfeldmarschall Ernst Busch in the final weeks of the war.
Generalmajor Hermann-Heinrich Behrend (1898-1987) was born on 25 August 1898 in Perleberg and entered military service on 1 June 1915 as a Kriegsfreiwilliger in the Füsilier-Regiment „Kaiser Wilhelm“ Nr. 90, later transferring to the Infanterie-Regiment „Herzog Karl von Mecklenburg-Strelitz“ (6. Ostpreußisches) Nr. 43 where he fought on the Eastern Front of the First World War, earning promotion to Unteroffizier on 29 March 1916, Fähnrich in 1917 for bravery, and Leutnant the same year along with the Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse on 9 June 1917 and I. Klasse on 4 November 1918. After leaving service in 1920 he rejoined the Reichswehr in 1924, advancing through the ranks as Oberleutnant in 1926, Hauptmann in 1933 and Major in 1939 before taking command of the I. Bataillon of Infanterie-Regiment 489 at the start of the Second World War. During the campaign in the West he received the Spange zum Eisernen Kreuz, and on the Eastern Front on 22 June 1941, as Major and Kommandeur of I./Infanterie-Regiment 489 in the 269. Infanterie-Division, he decided to attack ahead of schedule under cover of morning fog and artillery dust, thrusting deep into the fortified Soviet lines southeast and east of Tauroggen, thereby enabling Kampfgruppe Badinski of the 1. Panzer-Division to break through and seize the eastern part of the town, an action that earned him the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 15 July 1941. Promoted to Oberstleutnant on 1 September 1941 and later to Oberst on 1 March 1943, he commanded Grenadier-Regiment 154 of the 58. Infanterie-Division; in early February 1944 west of Luga the regiment was isolated by a full Soviet division and partisans, yet Behrend held out for three days, led a counter-thrust that took most of the village of Potschap, then guided his force under cover of darkness across the Pljussa River to rejoin German lines on 13 February, for which he received the Eichenlaub (421st award) on 6 March 1944. In April 1945, after promotion to Generalmajor on 17 April, he assumed command of the 490. Infanterie-Division in northwestern Germany; during the defence of the Fladder Canal he personally destroyed an Allied tank with a Panzerfaust, and when the division was encircled he led a successful breakout in which fourteen Sherman tanks were destroyed, mostly by Panzerfaust, actions that brought him the Schwerter on 26 April 1945 (148th award). His last rank was Generalmajor; he was captured by British forces on 8 May 1945, released in 1947, and died in Soltau on 19 June 1987.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/58th_Infantry_Division_(Wehrmacht)
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