The 14. Infanterie-Division was established in October 1934 in Leipzig under the covert cover name Wehrgauleitung Leipzig, drawing its personnel primarily from Saxony as part of the initial expansion of the Reichswehr into the Wehrmacht. Commanded initially by Generalleutnant Peter Weyer, the division participated in the invasion of Poland in September 1939 as part of Generaloberst Gerd von Rundstedt's Heeresgruppe Süd, advancing through Upper Silesia toward Warsaw with Infanterie-Regiment 11, Infanterie-Regiment 53, and Infanterie-Regiment 116. In late 1940, the division was motorized and redesignated as 14. Infanterie-Division (mot.), transferring Infanterie-Regiment 116 while retaining its remaining motorized elements for the Western campaign and subsequent preparations for Operation Barbarossa. In June 1941, attached to Panzergruppe 3 under Generaloberst Hermann Hoth within Heeresgruppe Mitte, the formation pushed through Minsk, Vitebsk, and Smolensk before participating in the advance toward Moscow during Operation Taifun, where it engaged in bitter winter defensive battles around Rzhev, Vyazma, and the upper Volga sector. Facing severe infantry attrition and shortages of motorized equipment during continuous defensive attrition around the Rzhev salient, the division was reorganized back into a standard infantry formation in mid-1943, redesignating its subordinate components as Grenadier-Regiment 11, Grenadier-Regiment 53, and Grenadier-Regiment 101, alongside Artillerie-Regiment 14 and Divisions-Füsilier-Bataillon 14 under the leadership of commanders such as Generalleutnant Flörke. The division remained committed to fierce defensive struggles in the central sector near Smolensk and Vitebsk until the massive Soviet summer offensive, Operation Bagration, struck Heeresgruppe Mitte in June 1944, inflicting devastating encirclements along the Berezina and around Grodno. Rebuilt as a Kampfgruppe and later reconstituted in East Prussia, the surviving remnants of the 14. Infanterie-Division fought in the Heiligenbeil pocket and along the Vistula Spit until final surrender in May 1945.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
Oberst Kurt Walter (1908-1944) was born on 27 February 1908 and entered military service in 1927 as an Unteroffiziersanwärter with Infanterie-Regiment 11, receiving promotion to Leutnant on 1 October 1938 and assuming active duty. At the outbreak of war he held the rank of Oberleutnant and served as Chef of the 13. Kompanie of Infanterie-Regiment 32, participating in the campaigns in Poland, the West, and later the Soviet Union. He advanced to Hauptmann and then Major, earning the Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse on 26 September 1939, the Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse on 8 July 1941, two Anerkennungsurkunden des Oberbefehlshabers des Heeres on 8 March and 15 July 1942, mention in the Wehrmachtbericht on 22 June 1942, and the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold on 17 August 1942 while serving with II./Infanterie-Regiment 32. The action that brought him the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes occurred in September 1942 south of Lake Ladoga, when his division launched an attack northward toward Gaitolovo aimed at linking with the 121. Infanterie-Division to sever a Soviet penetration; as Kommandeur of II./Grenadier-Regiment 32, Walter’s Bataillon formed the spearhead of the advance, forced a corridor through determined enemy resistance, and achieved the link-up on 24 September, for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz on 25 September 1942. Promoted thereafter to Oberstleutnant, he assumed command of Grenadier-Regiment 11 in April 1943. During the defensive battles near Smolensk in mid- to late 1943 his regiment played a decisive part in containing successive Soviet assaults and preventing a breakthrough toward Vitebsk, earning him the Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz (345th award) on 5 December 1943. On 1 January 1944 he was promoted to Oberst. In the summer of 1944, amid the collapsing front, he formed Kampfgruppe Walter from scattered units southeast of Minsk and attempted to break westward through the forests, abandoning vehicles and non-marchable wounded; he was reported missing in action near Grodno on 3 August 1944.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/14th_Infantry_Division_(Wehrmacht)
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