The 268. Infanterie-Division was established on 26 August 1939 in Wehrkreis VII as part of the fourth mobilization wave (4. Welle), composed primarily of personnel from Bavaria with additional contingents from Wehrkreis XVIII. Commanded at inception by Generalleutnant Erich Straube, its original combat organization comprised Infanterie-Regiment 468, Infanterie-Regiment 488, Infanterie-Regiment 499, and Artillerie-Regiment 268, along with Pionier-Bataillon 268, Panzerabwehr-Abteilung 268, and Aufklärungs-Abteilung 268. During the 1939 invasion of Poland, it maintained border security in the Westwall near Zweibrücken and Pirmasens. In the Western Campaign of 1940, the division pierced the Maginot Line in mid-June and established a bridgehead across the Rhine-Marne Canal near Lagarde, remaining as an occupation force around Épinal until redeploying to occupied Poland. In June 1941, under Heeresgruppe Mitte, the division entered Operation Barbarossa, fighting at Białystok, the crossing of the Dnieper near Mogilev, and in the Yelnya and Vyazma encirclement operations during the drive toward Moscow. Generalleutnant Heinrich Greiner assumed command in January 1942 amidst fierce Soviet winter counteroffensives, leading the formation through costly defensive engagements along the Ugra, the Shoshta, and near Yukhnov. Attrition forced the disbandment of Grenadier-Regiment 468 in early 1943. Assigned to XII. Armeekorps during the fighting around Spas-Demensk in August 1943, the division sustained severe casualties stemming from the massive Soviet summer offensive. On 2 November 1943, following crushing losses during retreats toward the Dnieper, the division was formally disbanded; its surviving combatants formed Divisionsgruppe 268 under the 36. Infanterie-Division, while its experienced staff was transferred to form the 362. Infanterie-Division.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
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/268th_Infantry_Division
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