The 11. Infanterie-Division was formed on 1 October 1934 in Allenstein within Wehrkreis I under the cover designation Infanterieführer I and officially renamed 11. Infanterie-Division on 15 October 1935; it bore the nickname Roter Elchkopf and was mobilised in August 1939 with Infanterie-Regiment 2, Infanterie-Regiment 23, Infanterie-Regiment 44 and Artillerie-Regiment 11. In the Polish campaign it fought as part of I. Armeekorps under 3. Armee, breaking through the Mlawa position and advancing via the Narew and Bug toward Warsaw. After transfer to the west it participated in the 1940 campaign in France, initially as reserve of 6. Armee, then advancing across the Somme and Seine to the Loire before performing occupation duty on the Atlantic coast. Returned to East Prussia in March 1941, the division joined Heeresgruppe Nord for Operation Barbarossa on 22 June, advancing through Lithuania, crossing the Düna at Friedrichstadt and reaching Novgorod on Lake Ilmen before fighting along the Wolchow and near Kirishi. For the next eighteen months it remained engaged in the defensive battles on the Wolchow and Lake Ladoga fronts, taking part in all the Ladoga battles and the siege of Leningrad. In late 1943 it shifted to the Leningrad sector; in early 1944 it withdrew with 18. Armee behind the Luga, then fought heavy defensive actions around Lake Peipus and the Narva bridgehead, including the battles of Auvere and the Tannenberg Line. From autumn 1944 the division was trapped in the Courland Pocket, where it served as a fire-brigade formation in all six Courland battles under successive commanders including Generalleutnant Herbert von Böckmann, Generalleutnant Siegfried Thomaschki, Generalleutnant Karl Burdach, Generalleutnant Hellmuth Reymann and finally Generalleutnant Gerhard Feyerabend. At the end of the war roughly two-thirds of the division were evacuated by sea from Libau to Schleswig-Holstein while the remainder, principally elements of Grenadier-Regiment 23 and Artillerie-Regiment 11, went into Soviet captivity on 8 May 1945.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
Oberstleutnant Erich Klawe (1906-1983) was born on 24 March 1906 in Allenstein, East Prussia, and entered military service in 1927 as a Fahnenjunker with Infanterie-Regiment 2. In 1934 he transferred to Infanterie-Regiment 23, receiving promotion to Oberleutnant in 1939. As Kompanieführer of the 1. Kompanie he participated in the Polish campaign, then early in 1940 became Chef of the 13. Kompanie which he led during the French campaign and at the start of the Russian campaign. Promoted to Hauptmann on 1 December 1941, he assumed command of the I. Bataillon of Infanterie-Regiment 23 in early 1942. For his actions in the Kirischi bridgehead on the Volkhov during May 1942, where as Führer of I./Infanterie-Regiment 23 of the 11. Infanterie-Division he independently restored a critical situation despite being wounded for the fourth time, Klawe was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 12 July 1942. Promoted to Major on 1 February 1943, he commanded I./Grenadier-Regiment 23 and earned the Eichenlaub on 14 April 1943 as the 227th recipient for defensive successes south of Lake Ladoga near Siniavino early that year. During the Soviet offensive across the frozen Neva, after an enemy penetration on 31 January 1943 threatened to roll up the German line, Klawe withdrew a company from his own heavily engaged sector, led it in a counterthrust into the enemy flank, and in fierce close combat threw back the penetration before repelling three further strong attacks over the next twenty-four hours until relieved. His unit later withdrew across the Luga to Pleskau and fought in the Courland Pocket. In December 1944 he became Kommandeur of Grenadier-Regiment 457 on the Western Front. Ending the war as Oberstleutnant after being wounded eighteen times, Klawe died on 30 May 1983 in Regensburg.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11th_Infantry_Division_(Wehrmacht)
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