The 56. Infanterie-Division) nicknamed "Gekreuzte Säbel" (Crossed Sabres) after its divisional symbol, was a second-wave Wehrmacht unit formed on 26 August 1939 in Dresden from Saxon reservists in Wehrkreis IV, incorporating Infantry Regiments 171, 192, and 234 along with Artillery Regiment 156. It first saw action during the invasion of Poland in 1939 with the 14th Army, primarily handling mopping-up operations and collecting stragglers before shifting westward. In the 1940 Battle of France, it advanced through the southern Netherlands and Belgium, engaging in fierce fighting around Turnhout, the Albert Canal, Mechelen, Ghent, and Furnes near Dunkirk, then served in occupation duties in Belgium and near Paris. Transferred back to Poland in late 1940 (where it contributed cadres to other divisions), it joined Operation Barbarossa in June 1941 with Army Group South and XVII Corps, advancing through Volhynia and Ukraine to participate in the massive encirclement Battle of Kiev; it later transferred to Army Group Center for rear-area security near Bryansk, defensive actions during the Soviet winter counteroffensive, and attritional fighting around Orel. The division endured heavy combat in the Battle of Moscow and especially at Kursk in 1943, suffering severe losses that led to its dissolution in late 1943, with remnants forming Corps Detachment D (which was largely destroyed west of Vitebsk during the Soviet Operation Bagration in June 1944). Reformed in East Prussia on 10 September 1944 under Generalleutnant Edmund Blaurock from Korps-Abteilung D, the division fought desperate defensive battles in the East Prussian Offensive starting January 1945, including actions around the Willuhner See, Insterburg, and Wehlau, before being encircled and largely annihilated in the Heiligenbeil Pocket in March 1945; only about 250 men escaped westward, with the staff helping form the Ulrich von Hutten Division for the final battles like Halbe. Its commanders included figures such as Karl Kriebel, Paul von Hase (later executed for involvement in the 20 July plot), Karl von Oven, and others, reflecting the division's trajectory from mobile campaigns in the West to the grinding attrition and ultimate destruction on the Eastern Front.
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RITTERKREUZTRÄGER
General der Infanterie Ludwig Wolff (1893-1968), born on 3 April 1893 in Chemnitz in the Kingdom of Saxony and died on 9 November 1968 in Mannheim, was a German army officer whose career extended from the Imperial German Army through the Reichswehr into the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany, where he ultimately rose to command the XXXIII. Armeekorps. Entering military service in 1912 as a one-year volunteer in the Infanterie-Regiment Kronprinz (5. Königlich Sächsisches) Nr. 104, he was commissioned Leutnant in 1913 and served with distinction in the First World War, earning both classes of the Eisernes Kreuz as well as the Ritterkreuz of the Militär-St.-Heinrichs-Orden. Retained in the postwar Reichswehr, he advanced through instructional and command roles, including as commander of Infanterie-Regiment 192 of the 56. Infanterie-Division at the start of the Second World War. During the 1940 invasion of the Low Countries, as Oberst he personally led his regiment in forcing the first crossings of the Schelde and Lys rivers near Nevele with inflatable rafts, an action that proved decisive to the German advance, secured thousands of prisoners, and earned him the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 26 May 1940, the same day he suffered severe facial wounds that cost him an eye and required extensive surgery before his return to duty. Promoted to Generalmajor, he took command of the 22. Infanterie-Division (Luftlande) in late 1941, guiding it through the breakthrough at the Perekop Isthmus onto the Crimea and, in June 1942, achieving the first German penetration to the Severnaya Bay at Sevastopol while storming Fort Stalin on 13 June, feats that brought him the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold in February 1942 and the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz (as the 100th recipient) on 22 June 1942. Later serving as Befehlshaber Mittelnorwegen and commander of the XXXIII. Armeekorps with promotion to General der Infanterie in 1944, followed by staff and inspector positions including oversight of Hungarian formations, Wolff was captured by American forces in May 1945 and released from captivity in June 1947, thereafter living in retirement until his death.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/56th_Infantry_Division_(Wehrmacht)
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