The 50. Infanterie-Division of the German Heer was formed on 26 August 1939 from the Grenzkommandantur Küstrin in Wehrkreis III as part of the second mobilization wave, though it was soon reorganized to first-wave standards on 15 November 1939 and nicknamed the Arrow and Bow Division. Its initial structure included Infanterie-Regiment 121, Infanterie-Regiment 122 and Infanterie-Regiment 123 along with supporting artillery and pioneer elements. The division took part in the invasion of Poland in September 1939 under the 4. Armee, followed by the Battle of France in 1940 and the campaign in Greece in 1941 where it helped breach the Metaxas Line. From June 1941 it fought on the southern sector of the Eastern Front with the 11. Armee during Operation Barbarossa, advancing through Bessarabia and contributing to the lengthy siege and capture of Sevastopol in 1942. Later transferred across the Kerch Strait, it reinforced the 17. Armee in the Caucasus and Kuban bridgehead before returning to Crimea, where it was largely destroyed during the Soviet Crimean Offensive in May 1944. Reformed in East Prussia from survivors and replacements, the division fought under commanders such as Generaloberst Karl-Adolf Hollidt, Generalleutnant Friedrich Sixt and Generalmajor Georg Haus until it was finally annihilated in the Heiligenbeil Pocket; remaining elements under Oberst Ribbert surrendered near Pillau in May 1945 after suffering heavy overall losses of more than 6,100 killed, 23,000 wounded and 4,700 missing.
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SCHWERTERTRÄGER
Generalmajor Erich Bärenfänger (1915-1945) was born on 12 January 1915 in Menden in the German Empire and entered the Wehrmacht on 16 October 1936 as a conscript assigned to Infanterie-Regiment 67 before transferring to Infanterie-Regiment 123 of the 50. Infanterie-Division. Promoted to Leutnant der Reserve in April 1939, he took part in the Polish campaign and the Westfeldzug, earning both classes of the Eisernes Kreuz in June 1940 as Zugführer while sustaining his first wound. After the start of the war against the Soviet Union he became Oberleutnant and later Kompaniechef, receiving the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold in December 1941 and the Verwundetenabzeichen in Gold after being wounded three times in a single action. As Oberleutnant and Führer of the III. Bataillon of Infanterie-Regiment 123 he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 7 August 1942 for a decisive night attack on 29/30 June 1942 against a Soviet bunker position south of height 1658 near Sevastopol; the success enabled the encirclement and destruction of enemy forces in the Champagne ravine and allowed the division to advance to the southeastern edge of the city. Shortly thereafter he was promoted to Hauptmann and assumed permanent command of the III. Bataillon. During the heavy fighting along the Terek river in the Caucasus and the subsequent withdrawal into the Kuban bridgehead he distinguished himself by tactical skill and personal bravery, for which he received the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 17 May 1943 as the 243rd recipient and was promoted to Major. In the defensive battles on the Kerch peninsula from November 1943 to January 1944 Bärenfänger, now Kommandeur of the III. Bataillon of Grenadier-Regiment 123, repeatedly repulsed massed Soviet assaults despite suffering his sixth and seventh wounds; on 10 January 1944 he personally led a counter-attack that recaptured the vital height 125.6 while simultaneously holding the bitterly contested height 133.3 northeast of Bulganak, actions that secured the award of the Schwerter on 23 January 1944 as the 45th recipient and brought simultaneous promotion to Oberstleutnant. After the evacuation of the Crimea he served in staff and training appointments, including as Generalinspekteur for the Führernachwuchs, before returning to combat in the Battle of Berlin. On 24 April 1945, on Hitler’s direct order, he took command of defence sectors A and later B; he mounted unsuccessful armoured attacks northward along the Schönhauser Allee and was promoted to Generalmajor on 25 April, skipping the rank of Oberst, becoming one of the youngest generals of the Heer. When a final breakout attempt toward Oranienburg failed, the devoted National Socialist Bärenfänger took his own life together with his young wife and her brother on 2 May 1945 in a cellar in Prenzlauer Berg.
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RITTERKREUZTRÄGER
Generaloberst Karl-Adolf Hollidt (1891-1985) was born on 25 April 1891 in Speyer and died on 22 May 1985 in Siegen. He enlisted in the German Army in 1909 as Fahnenjunker in the 3. Großherzoglich-Hessisches Infanterie-Leibregiment "Großherzogin" Nr. 117 and was promoted to Leutnant in 1910. During World War I he served on the Western Front, receiving the Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse in 1914 and 1. Klasse in 1916, rising to Oberleutnant in 1915 and Hauptmann in 1918 while ending the war as Bataillonsführer. Remaining in the Reichswehr, he pursued General Staff training and various staff and command roles, becoming Oberst in 1935 and Generalmajor in 1938. At the start of World War II he briefly commanded the 52. Infanterie-Division before serving as Chef des Generalstabes under the Oberbefehlshaber Ost and later of the 9. Armee. From October 1940 he led the 50. Infanterie-Division through the Balkan campaign and the invasion of the Soviet Union. As Generalleutnant and Kommandeur of the 50. Infanterie-Division he earned the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 8 September 1941 for directing the difficult crossing of the Dnieper north of Dubossari on 25 July 1941, where his division overcame strongly fortified bunker positions in days of bitter fighting through his personal interventions that repeatedly restored momentum to stalled assaults. Promoted to General der Infanterie, he took command of the XVII. Armeekorps in January 1942 and later formed the Armee-Abteilung Hollidt outside the Stalingrad pocket. In March 1943 he became Oberbefehlshaber of the reconstituted 6. Armee. For his outstanding leadership of the Armee-Abteilung Hollidt during the winter of 1942/43, maintaining remarkable resistance despite Soviet numerical superiority and ad-hoc forces while conducting a staged withdrawal from the Chir to the Mius without allowing a breakthrough, he received the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 17 May 1943 as the 239th recipient. Promoted to Generaloberst on 1 September 1943, he was later placed in the Führerreserve in 1944 after heavy losses. Captured by US forces in 1945, he was convicted at the Nuremberg High Command Trial of unlawful use of prisoners of war and deportation of civilians, sentenced to five years, and released in December 1949.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50th_Infantry_Division_(Wehrmacht)
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