Ritterkreuzträger of 125. Infanterie-Division

The 125. Infanterie-Division of the German Heer was raised in October 1940 as part of the 11. Aufstellungswelle at the Truppenübungsplatz Münsingen in Wehrkreis V, drawing cadre elements from the 5. Infanterie-Division, the 260. Infanterie-Division and portions of the 25. Infanterie-Division (mot.), and it soon acquired the unofficial nickname Wiesel-Division. After initial training the division participated in the Balkan campaign of spring 1941 under the 2. Armee before transferring to the Eastern Front for Operation Barbarossa, where it served with Heeresgruppe Süd and the 17. Armee, taking part in the Kesselschlachten of Uman and Kiev in the summer and autumn of 1941 and suffering roughly three hundred killed and eighteen hundred wounded in the opening months of fighting in Ukraine. Placed under the 1. Panzerarmee, the division then held positions along the Mius Front through the winter and spring of 1942. During Fall Blau it returned to the 17. Armee, fought fierce house-to-house battles for Rostow am Don and the Don bridges at Bataisk in July 1942 under Generalleutnant Wilhelm Schneckenburger, then advanced into the Caucasus with the V. Armeekorps, helping capture Noworossijsk and operating in the Kuban bridgehead. In late 1942 command passed to Generalleutnant Helmut Friebe; the division remained in the Kuban and Crimea through 1943, was reorganized as a Division neuer Art 44, and in early 1944 was committed with the 6. Armee at the Nikopol bridgehead. Heavy losses during the Soviet Nikopol-Kriwoi Rog operation led to its formal dissolution on 13 March 1944 after the breakout from the pocket, the surviving elements forming Divisionsgruppe 125 which was absorbed into the 302. Infanterie-Division.

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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER


Generalmajor Karl Göbel (1900-1945) was born on 20 January 1900 in Adelschlag, Bavaria, and entered military service on 22 June 1918 as a Kriegsfreiwilliger in the Ersatzbataillon of Infanterie-Regiment 13 during the final months of the First World War. After demobilization he rejoined the Reichswehr, rising slowly through the ranks from Unteroffizier in 1922 to Oberfeldwebel by 1927 before leaving service in 1930. Reinstated as an E-Offizier with the rank of Oberleutnant on 1 March 1935, he advanced to Hauptmann and later commanded companies in Infanterie-Regiment 119 and Infanterie-Regiment 460, participating in the Westfeldzug. Promoted to Major, he took command of the III. Bataillon of Infanterie-Regiment 420 within the 125. Infanterie-Division, seeing action in the Balkanfeldzug and on the Eastern Front. On 22 July 1942, as Major and Kommandeur of that Bataillon, Göbel led a decisive assault on the Soviet defensive ring north of Rostov, overcoming a heavily defended anti-tank ditch northwest of Hill 113.1; when the attack faltered he personally inspired his men to press forward, clearing bunkers in close combat, securing the route to the hill, and on his own initiative advancing to Krasnyj Krim, thereby breaking the outer defensive ring around Rostov and earning the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 10 September 1942. Subsequently entrusted with the Führung of Infanterie-Regiment 420 (later Grenadier-Regiment 420), he became its full Kommandeur and was promoted to Oberstleutnant. In May 1943, during defensive fighting near Krymskaja in the Kuban bridgehead, Oberstleutnant Göbel demonstrated outstanding leadership by encircling and destroying strong enemy forces that had penetrated his lines, for which he received the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz (252nd award) on 8 June 1943 and promotion to Oberst. After further commands including Grenadier-Regiment 305 and attendance at a Divisionsführer-Lehrgang, he assumed Führung of the 299. Infanterie-Division from late 1944. Severely wounded on 16 February 1945 during operations in East Prussia, he died of his wounds on 2 March 1945 in a Lazarett in Esslingen am Neckar and was posthumously promoted to Generalmajor.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/125th_Infantry_Division_(Wehrmacht)