Ritterkreuzträger of 8. SS-Kavallerie-Division "Florian Geyer"

The 8. SS-Kavallerie-Division „Florian Geyer“ was a cavalry formation of the Waffen-SS raised in 1942 from the cadre of the earlier SS-Kavallerie-Brigade, itself created in 1941 from the SS-Totenkopf-Reiter-Standarten that had operated under the Kommandostab Reichsführer-SS. Formed between June and September 1942 on the Truppenübungsplatz Dębica near Kraków by adding a third regiment composed largely of Rumäniendeutsche and other Volksdeutsche, the division was initially designated SS-Kavallerie-Division and assigned to Heeresgruppe Mitte. It saw combat in the Rschew salient and the Orel sector until spring 1943, then conducted extensive Bandenbekämpfung operations that resulted in the killing of thousands of civilians, before being committed to the retreat toward the Dnepr in autumn 1943. On 22 October 1943 it received the numerical designation 8. SS-Kavallerie-Division; its principal units included the SS-Kavallerie-Regimenter 15, 16 and 17 (later joined by 18), together with supporting artillery, Panzerjäger, Flak, Nachrichten and Pionier elements. In December 1943 the division was withdrawn to Croatia for rest and reinforcement, where it continued anti-partisan duties, while its training battalion had earlier participated in the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. On 17 March 1944 it was granted the honorary title „Florian Geyer“ after the Franconian knight who led the Black Company in the German Peasants’ War, and it took part in the occupation of Hungary. After fighting in Transylvania following the collapse of the Romanian front, the division was driven back into Hungary and, in December 1944, became trapped inside Budapest as part of the IX. SS-Gebirgs-Korps. Commanded at various times by officers including SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein, SS-Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Bittrich, SS-Gruppenführer Bruno Streckenbach and finally SS-Brigadeführer Joachim Rumohr, the formation was virtually annihilated during the Siege of Budapest; of the roughly 30,000 men of the corps only about 800 reached German lines, and the last divisional commander took his own life after being wounded in a final breakout attempt on 11–12 February 1945. Surviving elements outside the pocket later contributed to the formation of the 37. SS-Freiwilligen-Kavallerie-Division „Lützow“.

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SCHWERTERTRÄGER


SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein (1906-1945) was born on 30 October 1906 in Ansbach and began his career in 1925 with the Reiter-Regiment 17 before joining the Bavarian State Police and transferring to the SS in 1933, rising rapidly through equestrian units to command the Haupt-Reitschule München and later the SS-Totenkopf-Reiterstandarte, which evolved into the SS-Kavallerie-Brigade deployed on the Eastern Front. As SS-Standartenführer and Führer of the SS-Kavallerie-Brigade under the XXIII. Armee-Korps of the 9. Armee in Heeresgruppe Mitte, he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 2 March 1942 for his leadership in the fighting around Rzhev, where from late January 1942 the brigade held a sector against breakthroughs, then on 5 February attacked and captured the road junction and station at Tschertolino against superior forces, followed by a night assault on 9 February that destroyed an enemy group of over 1,800 men, and the seizure of Jersowo on 14 February that enabled the final annihilation of the encircled Soviet forces southwest of Rzhev. In December 1942, as SS-Oberführer commanding Kampfgruppe Fegelein in the great bend of the Don with Heeresgruppe B, he earned the Eichenlaub on 22 December after launching a personal counterthrust with staff elements and Sturmgeschütze against a Soviet penetration into a gap in his lines, defeating the attackers in close combat, sealing the breach, and on a reconnaissance thrust capturing a Russian corps headquarters including its commanding general, chief of staff, and operations documents, though he was twice wounded by snipers on 21 and 22 December. Appointed commander of the 8. SS-Kavallerie-Division “Florian Geyer” in May 1943 and promoted to SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS, then later SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS, Fegelein received the Schwerter on 30 July 1944 for the division’s successes near Orel, extensive anti-partisan operations in the Pripet Marshes during summer 1943 including Operations Weichsel, Zeithen and Seydlitz, and defensive fighting south of Kharkov in late summer 1943, where between 26 August and 15 September the division repulsed five assaults of divisional strength and about eighty-five of battalion strength, notably around Bespalowka and Bol’shaya Gomol’sha. After severe wounds in September 1943 he became Waffen-SS liaison officer at the Führerhauptquartier, married Gretl Braun on 3 June 1944, was lightly wounded in the 20 July bomb plot, and on 28 April 1945 was arrested in civilian clothes in Berlin, court-martialed for desertion, and executed by firing squad in the garden of the Reichskanzlei.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8th_SS_Cavalry_Division_Florian_Geyer
http://www.old.axishistory.com/list-all-categories/119-germany-waffen-ss/germany-waffen-ss-divisions/1276-knights-cross-holders-of-8-ss-kavallerie-division-florian-geyer?_gl=1*3s7oqs*_ga*MTUxMzQ2NjY4MC4xNzQ4NDQ3MDg5*_ga_NBNC43HFJZ*czE3ODc0NDg4MDQkbzkkZzEkdDE3ODc0NDg4OTYkajUyJGwwJGgw