The 10. SS-Panzer-Division "Frundsberg" was a German Waffen-SS armoured division formed in early 1943, initially as SS-Panzergrenadier-Division 10 and briefly titled "Karl der Große" before receiving its permanent honor name in October 1943 after the 16th-century Landsknecht commander Georg von Frundsberg. Raised mainly from young conscripts drawn from the Reichsarbeitsdienst, the division trained in occupied France under successive commanders including SS-Standartenführer Michael Lippert, SS-Gruppenführer Lothar Debes and SS-Gruppenführer Karl Fischer von Treuenfeld. Its first combat came in April 1944 near Tarnopol in Ukraine, where it helped relieve German forces trapped in the Kamenets-Podolsky pocket. Transferred westward, the division joined the II. SS-Panzerkorps alongside the 9. SS-Panzer-Division "Hohenstaufen" and fought in Normandy from late June 1944, opposing British Operation Epsom around Caen, defending Hill 112 during Operation Jupiter, and later participating in the chaotic battles of Operation Bluecoat and the Falaise pocket, suffering heavy losses before withdrawing through Belgium. Reconstituted near Arnhem, it played a key defensive role during Operation Market Garden in September 1944, particularly around Nijmegen, again under SS-Brigadeführer Heinz Harmel, who commanded from April 1944 until late April 1945. After further fighting in Alsace during Operation Nordwind in January 1945, the division returned to the Eastern Front, engaging Soviet forces in Pomerania and Saxony. Encircled in the Halbe Pocket, remnants under SS-Obersturmbannführer Franz Roestel broke out, retreated through Moritzburg and reached the Teplice area in Czechoslovakia, where the division surrendered to American forces in May 1945. Its order of battle centred on SS-Panzer-Regiment 10, SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 21 and SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 22, supported by reconnaissance, artillery, pioneer and anti-tank units typical of a late-war SS Panzer formation.
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SCHWERTERTRÄGER
SS-Brigadeführer Heinz Harmel (1906-2000) was born in Metz in the German Empire as the son of a military physician and pursued a career in the armed forces from an early age, volunteering for the SS-Verfügungstruppe in 1935 as an SS-Oberscharführer in the SS-Standarte „Germania“ before becoming a company commander in the SS-Standarte „Der Führer“, with which he fought in the Battle of France in 1940, earning both classes of the Iron Cross; in 1941 he took part in the Balkans Campaign and Operation Barbarossa, assuming command of the SS-Infanterie-Regiment „Deutschland“ of the SS-Division „Das Reich“ in December of that year and receiving the German Cross in Gold on 29 November 1941 for distinguished service. As SS-Obersturmbannführer and commander of the SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment „Deutschland“, Harmel was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 31 March 1943 for his outstanding leadership during the fighting south of Kharkov in February 1943, when on his own initiative he personally led a reinforced battalion with a Panzer-Kompanie in a daring night assault through Pereschtschepino, annihilating a surprised Soviet regiment that left some 1500 dead, then expanding the bridgehead by capturing Dimitrijewka-Golubowka after hard combat while directing operations from an armoured radio car under anti-tank fire, actions that halted the enemy advance and enabled the subsequent attack of the SS-Panzergrenadier-Division „Das Reich“ on Pawlograd. Promoted to SS-Standartenführer, he received the Eichenlaub on 7 September 1943 for his conduct on 30 July 1943 during the assault against the Soviet Mius bridgehead, where, fighting from the foremost line despite heavy minefields and flanking fire that disabled several Sturmgeschütze, he repeatedly inspired his men to capture Hill 203.9 near Stepanowka and then immediately ordered the I. Bataillon into the heavily defended village itself, continuing the advance on foot after his vehicles struck mines and ensuring a vital penetration that prevented far greater casualties. In April 1944 Harmel took command of the newly formed 10. SS-Panzer-Division „Frundsberg“, becoming one of the youngest divisional commanders in the Waffen-SS; after fighting in Normandy and the Falaise Pocket he led the division in the successful defence against the Allied airborne Operation Market Garden around Nijmegen and Arnhem in September 1944, for which, as SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS, he was awarded the Schwerter on 15 December 1944. Subsequently engaged in Alsace, Pomerania and the Oder front, he was later dismissed from command but formed an ad hoc battle group before surrendering to British forces in Austria in May 1945; after release he lived quietly in Krefeld until his death at the age of 94.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10th_SS_Panzer_Division_Frundsberg
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