The 206. Infanterie-Division, widely recognized by its distinctive ace-of-spades emblem and known as the Pique As division, was established on 17 August 1939 in Insterburg within Wehrkreis I as part of the third mobilization wave (3. Welle) of the German Heer. Raised as a non-motorized infantry formation relying on foot marches and horse-drawn transport, the division originally comprised Infanterie-Regiment 301, Infanterie-Regiment 312, and Infanterie-Regiment 413, supported by Artillerie-Regiment 206, Pionier-Bataillon 206, Panzerabwehr-Abteilung 206, Aufklärungs-Abteilung 206, and Infanterie-Divisions-Nachrichten-Abteilung 206. Under its first commander, Generalleutnant Hugo Höfl, the formation served primarily in reserve behind Heeresgruppe Nord during the invasion of Poland in 1939, followed by coastal and border defense duties before transferring to the West during the final stages of the French campaign in 1940. In June 1941, the division participated in Unternehmen Barbarossa under the XXIII. Armeekorps within the 9. Armee, advancing across Lithuania and northwestern Russia toward the Valdai Hills and Rzhev. It was deeply engaged in the desperate defensive battles around the Rzhev salient throughout 1942, weathering ferocious Soviet winter offensives and Operation Mars. Command transferred to Generalleutnant Alfons Hitter in 1942, with a brief period under Generalmajor Carl André in mid-1943. Severe combat attrition on the Eastern Front led to restructuring: Grenadier-Regiment 312 was dissolved in 1943, with its surviving personnel distributed between Grenadier-Regiment 301 and Grenadier-Regiment 413, while Füsilier-Bataillon 206 and Panzerjäger-Abteilung 206 were incorporated. By June 1944, the division held the fortified perimeter south of Vitebsk under LIII. Armeekorps. Trapped during the catastrophic Soviet Operation Bagration, the formation was encircled, virtually destroyed, and officially dissolved in July 1944, with Generalleutnant Alfons Hitter taken into captivity.
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RITTERKREUZTRÄGER
Oberst der Reserve Adolf Weitkunat (1895-1988) was born on 7 February 1895 in Grünfließ, East Prussia, and volunteered for service at the outbreak of the First World War, receiving promotion to Leutnant in Infanterie-Regiment 45 in May 1915 and earning the Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse, Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse, and the Ritterkreuz des Königlichen Hausordens von Hohenzollern mit Schwertern before his discharge at war’s end; he then worked as a teacher while remaining a Reichswehr reservist until recalled on 1 August 1938 as Rittmeister der Reserve and assigned as Chef of the 1. Schwadron of Aufklärungs-Abteilung 206, with which he took part in the Polenfeldzug and Westfeldzug, receiving the Spange zum Eisernen Kreuz 2. Klasse on 28 September 1939 and the Spange zum Eisernen Kreuz 1. Klasse on 11 July 1941. From June 1941 he fought on the Eastern Front, where on 10 October 1941, as Rittmeister der Reserve commanding Aufklärungs-Schwadron 206, he led the rapid seizure of the bridge over the Beresa at Mostowaja; this action prevented retreating Soviet forces from occupying prepared bunker positions along the Volga, spared the XXIII. Armeekorps costly assaults on fortified lines, and enabled the subsequent swift capture of the strongly defended town of Rzhev against numerically superior opposition, for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 4 November 1941. Promoted to Major der Reserve on 1 December 1941 and recovering from a severe wound, he later commanded Aufklärungs-Abteilung 11, led a Kampfgruppe of the 338. Infanterie-Division in the winter of 1942/43, and in the summer of 1943 took command of Kampf-Bataillon 488 of the 269. Infanterie-Division; during the defensive fighting of Heeresgruppe Mitte’s slow retreat that summer his battalion rapidly recaptured a bitterly contested village southwest of Vyazma from Soviet forces and thereafter repeatedly repelled determined attacks by tanks and infantry, achievements that earned him the 346th Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz on 5 December 1943 as Major der Reserve. In 1944 he commanded Kavallerie-Regiment Süd and then Grenadier-Regiment 514, receiving promotion to Oberst der Reserve on 1 August 1944; after the destruction of his regiment in the East he served as Kommandant of the Masurenstellung in East Prussia before entering British captivity at the war’s end, having also been awarded the Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz and Silber, Nahkampfspange in Bronze, Ostmedaille, and Infanterie-Sturmabzeichen, and he died on 28 June 1988 in Buchholz in der Nordheide.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/206th_Infantry_Division_(Wehrmacht)
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