The 79. Infanterie-Division was formed on 26 August 1939 as a second-wave division of the Wehrmacht in the area of Idar-Oberstein and Hammelburg within Wehrkreis XII, drawing personnel and cadres from the 33., 34. and 36. Infanterie-Division to create its core regiments of Infanterie-Regiment 208, Infanterie-Regiment 212 and Infanterie-Regiment 226 together with Artillerie-Regiment 179 and the usual divisional support units. Initially deployed along the Westwall for training and fortification work, the division saw limited action on the Saar front before joining the 1940 campaign in France, where it participated in the breakthrough of the Maginot Line south of Saarbrücken and advanced toward the Moselle and Epinal before performing occupation duties. In June 1941 the division was transferred east for Unternehmen Barbarossa under Heeresgruppe Süd, fighting through the Ukraine, breaking the Stalin Line, taking part in the battle for Kiev and later operating in the Kharkov and Donets sectors through the winter of 1941–42. During the 1942 summer offensive it advanced toward the Don and was committed to the assault on Stalingrad on 17 October, receiving the mission to capture the Red October metallurgical works in intense hall-to-hall fighting. Encircled with the 6. Armee in the Kessel after the Soviet counter-offensive of November, the bulk of the division was destroyed; its commander Generalleutnant Alexander von Daniels surrendered with the remaining troops in late January and early February 1943 while elements of the staff, including the Ia Oberst Hans Schwanbeck, were flown out. Reformed in March 1943 near Stalino from survivors, convalescents and new drafts, the division next fought in the Kuban bridgehead, then in defensive battles around Melitopol, the Dnieper bend and Nikopol before moving to the Jassy sector in Romania. In August 1944, during the Soviet Jassy-Kishinev operation and following the Romanian defection, the 79. Infanterie-Division was again encircled near Chitcani on the Berlad River and virtually annihilated, with fewer than one thousand men escaping; its commander Generalleutnant Friedrich-August Weinknecht went into captivity. The remnants were later used to form the 79. Volksgrenadier-Division, which continued the unit’s traditions on the Western Front until the final collapse in 1945, the original formation having borne the motto „Tapfer und Treu“ throughout its hard campaigns on both major fronts of the war.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
Oberstleutnant im Generalstab Günter Goebel (1917-1993) was born on 14 November 1917 in Hagen in Westphalia and entered the officer career of the Wehrmacht in 1936, joining the Infanterie-Regiment 18 and later serving as Adjutant of the III. Bataillon of the Infanterie-Regiment 208 of the 79. Infanterie-Division. Promoted to Leutnant in early 1938 and to Oberleutnant on 1 June 1940, he took part in the campaigns in the West and then on the Eastern Front. On 14 September 1941, as Regimentsadjutant of Infanterie-Regiment 208, he independently assumed command of a temporarily leaderless Radfahr-Bataillon and led it in decisive actions in the area of Kiev that contributed to the German advance, for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 18 October 1941 as Oberleutnant. He was also entered in the Ehrenblatt des Heeres on 6 November 1941. Promoted to Hauptmann on 1 February 1942, he later commanded a Kampfgruppe during the fighting around Stalingrad. From 17 December 1942 near Nishnij-Tschirskaja along the Chir river, in the sector of the 384. Infanterie-Division, he held a critical bridgehead over the Don with approximately 3,000 men assembled from scattered and poorly equipped units, sending the radio message that became known throughout the 6. Armee: “Kampfgruppe Hauptmann Goebel hält mit 3000 Mann Donbrücke (Werchne) Tschir(skaja). Haltet den Kopf hoch wie wir!” He maintained this position for weeks against superior Soviet forces until early January 1943, thereby helping to delay the enemy advance westward and southwestward. For this determined defence he received the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 18 January 1943 as Hauptmann and Führer of the Kampfgruppe. Severely wounded while breaking out westward, he was promoted to Major and later served in staff positions, rising to Oberstleutnant im Generalstab by March 1945. Captured by Soviet forces on 11 May 1945 in Courland, he remained in captivity until October 1955 and died in Hagen on 4 September 1993.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/79th_Infantry_Division_(Wehrmacht)
