Ritterkreuzträger of 57. Infanterie-Division

The 57. Infanterie-Division was formed on 26 August 1939 in Landshut within Wehrkreis VII as a 2. Welle unit, initially consisting of Infanterie-Regiment 179, Infanterie-Regiment 199 (later known as “List”), Infanterie-Regiment 217, Artillerie-Regiment 157 and various supporting Abteilung with the number 157. During the Polish campaign it advanced over the Lupkow and Dukla passes, crossed the San and fought near Lemberg, Sambor and Grodek before being withdrawn as OKH-Reserve to the Hanau area. In the Westfeldzug of 1940 the division advanced through Luxembourg and Belgium, captured Abbeville and held the Somme bridgehead, where it claimed the destruction of 136 enemy tanks, then continued to Le Havre and later performed coastal defence duties in Normandy. Transferred eastward, it crossed the Bug near Sokal on 22 June 1941 as part of Heeresgruppe Süd, fought through the Stalin Line and the Uman pocket, took part in the capture of Kharkov and conducted defensive battles along the Donets. In summer 1942 it advanced to the Don and held the Voronezh bridgehead through the winter of 1942–43 under commanders such as Generalleutnant Oskar Blümm and General der Infanterie Friedrich Siebert. After heavy fighting near Belgorod and during the retreat to the Dnieper the division was encircled in the Cherkassy pocket in early 1944, suffering severe losses during the breakout across the Gniloi Tikitsch under Generalmajor Adolf Trowitz. Partially rebuilt at Debica with elements of Korps-Abteilung B and redesignated units including Grenadier-Regiment 164, Grenadier-Regiment 199 “List” and Grenadier-Regiment 217, it was rushed to the Mogilev sector of Heeresgruppe Mitte. There it was destroyed during Operation Bagration in June–July 1944 while trying to escape the Bobruisk pocket; the remnants were formed into Divisions-Gruppe 57 of Korps-Abteilung G and the division itself was officially dissolved by the OKH on 3 August 1944.

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SCHWERTERTRÄGER


Oberst der Reserve Alfons König (1898-1944) was born on 29 December 1898 in Munich and served as a Kriegsfreiwilliger in a Bavarian Gebirgs-Infanterie-Bataillon during the First World War before leaving the army in 1928 as a Feldwebel. Reactivated in 1937 as Leutnant der Reserve, he became Chef of the 6. Kompanie in Infanterie-Regiment 199 in 1939 and led it through the Polish and Western campaigns. On 21 December 1940 he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes as Oberleutnant der Reserve for his determined defence against strong enemy armoured attacks directed at the Abbeville bridgehead position in early June 1940. At the start of the campaign in the East he was Hauptmann and Kommandeur of the III. Bataillon of Infanterie-Regiment 217 (later Grenadier-Regiment 217). During the evacuation of Voronezh in the winter of 1942 his battalion broke through Soviet encirclement attempts three times over nine days of fierce fighting, enabling the Kampfgruppe to rejoin friendly lines after three weeks of combat, for which he was awarded the Eichenlaub on 21 February 1943 as the 194th recipient. Promoted to Oberstleutnant der Reserve by the end of 1943 and appointed Kommandeur of Grenadier-Regiment 199 “List” in November of that year, he distinguished himself in the defensive and withdrawal battles of 1943–44 along the middle Dnieper and in the Cherkassy pocket. In one critical action during a river crossing, when the German security line had already been breached, he formed a new front with his weak forces and held it against every Soviet attack until the entire division had crossed, only then withdrawing with the last remaining men; for this and his overall performance he received the Schwerter on 9 June 1944 as the 70th recipient. König was killed in action on 8 July 1944 near Rogatschew during the fighting in the Bobruisk pocket amid Operation Bagration and was posthumously promoted to Oberst der Reserve.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/57th_Infantry_Division_(Wehrmacht)