298. Infanterie-Division was formed on 6 February 1940 as a division of the 8. Aufstellungswelle at the Truppenübungsplatz Neuhammer in Wehrkreis VIII, drawing cadre battalions from the 7., 8., 28., 62., 252. and 253. Infanterie-Divisionen together with Silesian recruits and initially organised around Infanterie-Regiment 525, Infanterie-Regiment 526, Infanterie-Regiment 527, Artillerie-Regiment 298 and supporting Divisionseinheiten 298 under the command of General der Infanterie Walther Graeßner. In June 1940 the division moved from the Eifel to the Western Front, fighting in the Aisne sector and later in Burgundy around Arnay and Dijon before performing security duties near Chambéry until the French armistice. Transferred to occupied Poland in July 1940 under the 18. Armee and later the 12. Armee, it spent the following months on occupation and training duties, surrendering roughly one-third of its strength including the first battalions of its infantry regiments and the III. Abteilung of Artillerie-Regiment 298 to the newly raised 335. Infanterie-Division in November 1940. On 22 June 1941 the division crossed the Bug near Ustyluh as part of Heeresgruppe Süd and the 6. Armee, breaking through the Stalin Line near Luzk–Riwne–Zwiahel and advancing toward Nowograd-Wolynski before participating in the encirclement battles around Kiev, crossing the Dnjepr and Desna rivers and clearing residual Soviet forces. Throughout late 1941 and 1942 it fought in the Donets basin and around Isjum and Losowaja under successive corps of the 17. Armee and Gruppe Kleist, suffering mounting casualties that forced the dissolution of three battalions. In the summer of 1942 the division was subordinated to the Italian 8. Armee on the Don front, holding sectors west of the river near Bogutschar and Tschertkowo during Operation Blau and the subsequent defensive battles. When the Soviet Operation Little Saturn shattered the Italian front in December 1942–January 1943 the 298. Infanterie-Division endured catastrophic losses in the Don bend while attempting to cover the retreat, its remnants later placed under the temporary command of Generalmajor Herbert Michälis after Generalleutnant Arnold Szelinski. By directive of 30 March 1943 the surviving elements, including staff and selected battalions of Infanterie-Regiment 525 and portions of Artillerie-Regiment 298, were absorbed into the newly reconstituted 387. Infanterie-Division, thereby ending the independent existence of the 298. Infanterie-Division.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
Oberst der Reserve Heinrich Schüler (1903-1945) was born on 17 December 1903 in Posen and joined the Reichswehr as a volunteer in 1924, serving until his discharge in 1936 when he became a Reichspost official; recalled as Feldwebel at the outbreak of war, he was assigned in 1940 to the 298. Infanterie-Division and promoted to Leutnant der Reserve on 1 February 1940, later participating from June 1941 in the campaign in the East where he received the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold on 28 February 1942 as Oberleutnant in the 6./Infanterie-Regiment 525 and was advanced to Hauptmann der Reserve on 1 March 1942. In the summer of 1942, while leading the II. Bataillon of Grenadier-Regiment 525, he forced a crossing of the Don south of Rostov, stormed a strongly held height, and thereby contributed decisively to the collapse of Soviet resistance around Bataisk, actions for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 18 September 1942 as Führer of the II./Infanterie-Regiment 525. During the defensive fighting and retreat from the Don to the Donez in the winter of 1942–43, the 298. Infanterie-Division was encircled three times by Soviet forces yet each time broke out under his outstanding personal leadership and continued the movement until reaching Malinovka southwest of Izyum, earning him the Eichenlaub (218th award) on 2 April 1943 as Kommandeur of the II. Bataillon, Grenadier-Regiment 525. Subsequently promoted to Major and later to Oberst der Reserve, he was appointed Führer of Grenadier-Regiment 130 on 30 July 1944 and led it within the 45. Infanterie-Division in further defensive actions on the Eastern Front until he fell in combat on 12 January 1945 in the Weichselbogen during the Vistula-Oder Offensive.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/298th_Infantry_Division_(Wehrmacht)
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/Infanteriedivisionen/298ID-R.htm
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