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.
General der Artillerie Siegfried Thomaschki (1894-1967) was born on 20 March 1894 in Miswalde, East Prussia, as the third child of Protestant pastor Paul Thomaschki and Elisabeth née Schucht. After graduating from the Collegium Fridericianum he entered the Imperial German Army on 4 March 1913 as Fahnenjunker in the 2. Ostpreußisches Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 52, was commissioned Leutnant in 1914 and served throughout the First World War as battery officer and adjutant, earning the Iron Cross Second and First Class while being wounded three times. Remaining in the Reichswehr he advanced through artillery staff and command posts, becoming Oberst and commander of Artillerie-Regiment 3 by 1939. He led the regiment in the Polish and French campaigns, then as Artillerie-Kommandeur 123 on the northern sector of the Eastern Front, receiving the German Cross in Gold. On 26 January 1942 he assumed command of the 11. Infanterie-Division, being promoted Generalmajor on 1 March 1942. Under his leadership the division stubbornly defended the Kirishi bridgehead on the east bank of the Volkhov River, a narrow foothold only four kilometres wide and two kilometres deep, against 154 Soviet assaults between 5 June and 5 September 1942; this epic defence, later nicknamed the “Verdun of the North,” earned him the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 1 November 1942. Further masterful defensive fighting around Sinyavino in July–August 1942, during which the division was again mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht, led to the award of the Eichenlaub on 11 September 1943 while he was Generalleutnant and still commander of the 11. Infanterie-Division. He subsequently served as Höherer Artillerie-Kommandeur 303, briefly commanded Kampfgruppe Thomaschki, and from December 1944 led the X. Armeekorps in the Courland Pocket, rising to General der Artillerie on 1 March 1945. He surrendered to Soviet forces on 8 May 1945, was convicted as a war criminal and held until 1955. Thomaschki died on 31 May 1967 in Bad Neuenahr.
Generalmajor Botho Kollberg (1898-1944) was born on 11 July 1898 in Neuhäuser, East Prussia, and entered the Imperial German Army in 1915 as Fahnenjunker in Infanterie-Regiment 150, receiving promotion to Leutnant in 1916 and serving as Zug- and Kompanieführer during the First World War, for which he was awarded the Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse and Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse. Discharged as Oberleutnant on 31 December 1920, he worked as a bank director until reactivated on 15 July 1934 as Hauptmann and Kompaniechef in Infanterie-Regiment 2. Promoted to Major in 1939, he commanded Infanterie-Ersatz-Bataillon 2 and from 18 January 1940 the I. Bataillon of Infanterie-Regiment 2 during the Western campaign, earning the Spange zum Eisernen Kreuz II. Klasse on 6 June 1940 and the Spange zum Eisernen Kreuz I. Klasse on 24 June 1941. On the Eastern Front from June 1941 he received the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold on 11 January 1942 as Major and Kommandeur of I./Infanterie-Regiment 2 of the 11. Infanterie-Division. Advanced to Oberstleutnant on 1 February 1942, he assumed command of Infanterie-Regiment 23 on 10 May 1942. In the summer of 1942 his regiment held the Wolchow-Brückenkopf at Kirischi for more than four weeks against relentless and numerically superior Soviet attacks, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy and thereby securing a vital position on the northern sector of Heeresgruppe Nord; for this outstanding defensive achievement he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 6 September 1942 as the 1152nd recipient while serving as Kommandeur of Infanterie-Regiment 23 in the 11. Infanterie-Division under the 18. Armee. Promoted to Oberst on 1 November 1942, he continued to lead the regiment, which was redesignated Grenadier-Regiment 23. During the Soviet Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive in January 1944 his unit, positioned in the area of Puschkin–Krasnoje Sselo near Pellelja, Komolowo and Kowrowo, formed an unshakable cornerstone of the German front south of Leningrad; through aggressive defense the regiment repeatedly denied Soviet breakthroughs and on one day alone destroyed 59 enemy tanks. Kollberg was killed in action on 24 January 1944 near Bol-Russlawa (Groß-Russolowo) while fighting at the front line. Posthumously he was awarded the Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz (384th award) on 8 February 1944 and promoted to Generalmajor. Additional decorations included the Infanterie-Sturmabzeichen in Silber, the Ostmedaille and the Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11th_Infantry_Division_(Wehrmacht)
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