PIONIER-BATAILLON 51
The Pionier-Bataillon 51 was raised on 12 October 1937 as a Korps-Pionier-Bataillon with its peacetime garrison at Rosslau, drawing personnel from the Pionier-Bataillon 13 of the 4. Infanterie-Division, the Pionier-Bataillon 19 of the 19. Infanterie-Division, and the Pionier-Bataillon 16 of the 16. Infanterie-Division. Under the command of Oberstleutnant Hans Mikosch the unit took part in the Anschluss of Austria and later carried out fortification work on the Westwall. During the Polish campaign of 1939 the battalion served as an army troop performing bridging, obstacle clearance and assault pioneer tasks. In the Western campaign of May 1940 it played a decisive role in the reduction of the Belgian fortress of Eben-Emael; Oberstleutnant Mikosch led the battalion through heavily defended positions to relieve the airborne troops who had landed on the fort, an action for which he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 21 May 1940. Motorized and equipped for rapid river crossings, the battalion opened Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941 by seizing the Bug bridge at Sokal and clearing Soviet bunker lines on the heights east of the river while attached to the 57. Infanterie-Division, employing assault boats, flamethrowers and explosive charges with support from Sturmgeschütze. On 21 May 1942 the formation was redesignated Panzer-Pionier-Bataillon 51, absorbing a newly raised Panzer-Pionier-Kompanie of the 23. Panzer-Division and becoming the organic pioneer unit of that division. Thereafter it followed the 23. Panzer-Division through France, the second battle of Kharkov, the Caucasus offensive, the defensive fighting on the Mius and Dnieper, the southern Ukraine, Poland and finally Hungary in 1944–45, continuously performing the full range of panzer pioneer duties: bridge construction under fire, mine clearance, obstacle demolition and close assault in support of armoured spearheads until the final collapse of the front.
Generalleutnant Hans Mikosch (1898-1993) was born on 7 January 1898 in Kattowitz and volunteered for the Imperial German Army in 1914, serving as a pioneer officer and receiving a commission as Leutnant after two years of combat in the First World War before leaving the military in 1920 to join the police. He returned to the Heer on 15 October 1935 as Hauptmann, was promoted to Major in 1936 and to Oberstleutnant in 1939, and from October 1937 commanded Pionier-Bataillon 51, leading it in the invasion of Poland and later in the Westfeldzug. On 10 May 1940 his battalion advanced through fortified and heavily defended Belgian positions to relieve the Fallschirmjäger who had landed on Fort Eben-Emael, enabling the definitive German capture of the fort; for this action he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 21 May 1940 as Oberstleutnant und Kommandeur of Pionier-Bataillon 51. Promoted to Oberst in 1942, he commanded Pionier-Regiment 677 and later Pionier-Regiment-Stab z.b.V. 677 while also leading Kampfgruppe Mikosch on the Eastern Front. After the Soviet Operation Uranus, his Kampfgruppe retreated from the Kalatsch bridgehead to the Chir railway station on 24 November 1942 and was subordinated to the 384. Infanterie-Division, holding positions near Werch-Tschirskij in the Chir-Don triangle for four weeks against repeated Soviet tank and infantry assaults. On 14 December 1942 the Soviet 7th Tank Corps broke through with thirty tanks into the village itself, yet Kampfgruppe Mikosch destroyed twenty enemy tanks despite losing nearly all its anti-tank weapons and thereby prevented the Soviets from rolling up the entire Chir defensive front westward, actions for which he was awarded the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 6 March 1943 as Oberst und Kommandeur of Pionier-Regiment-Stab z.b.V. 677 und Führer einer Kampfgruppe im Raum Stalingrad. He later temporarily commanded the 10. Panzergrenadier-Division from October to December 1943, then the 13. Panzer-Division until May 1944, receiving promotion to Generalmajor in January 1944, served as commandant of Boulogne and Higher Pionier Commander, and ended the war as Generalleutnant responsible for fortifications in East Prussia and leader of another Kampfgruppe Mikosch near Königsberg. Captured by Soviet forces on 8 April 1945, he remained a prisoner until 1955 and died on 18 January 1993 in Reichshof.
Source :
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/Pioniere.htm
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