The 17. Infanterie-Division of the German Wehrmacht was formed on 1 October 1934 in Nuremberg, initially disguised as Wehrgauleitung Nürnberg and then as Artillerieführer VII to circumvent Treaty of Versailles restrictions, before being officially redesignated the 17. Infanterie-Division in 1935; its core units, consisting of Infanterie-Regiment 21, Infanterie-Regiment 55 and Infanterie-Regiment 95 together with an artillery regiment and supporting elements, were created through the expansion of the 21st Bavarian Infantry Regiment drawn from the Reichswehr’s 7. Infanterie-Division. The division participated in the Anschluss of Austria in March 1938 and, during the Invasion of Poland in September 1939 as part of the 8. Armee under Generaloberst Johannes Blaskowitz and led by Generalleutnant Herbert Loch, saw heavy fighting in Silesia and around Łódź, particularly at Pabianice against elements of the Polish 28. Infanterie-Division and the Wołyńska Cavalry Brigade while reinforced by the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler; after the campaign it was accused of involvement in war crimes, most notably the massacre near Złoczew in early September 1939 in which around 200 Polish and Jewish civilians were killed, many burned alive. In the 1940 Battle of France the division fought as part of the XIII. Armeekorps and subsequently trained in France for the cancelled Operation Seelöwe. Deployed to the Eastern Front in June 1941 with Heeresgruppe Mitte during Operation Barbarossa, it advanced deep into Soviet territory and took part in the Battle of Moscow in late 1941, incurring such severe losses that it was withdrawn to France for reconstitution in June 1942. Returning to the Eastern Front in April 1943, the division engaged in prolonged combat along the Mius river, at Nikopol, Uman, Kishinev and Jassy before being shifted to Poland in August 1944 to help contain Soviet bridgeheads on the Vistula near Warka and Radom. By 1 January 1945, reduced to approximately 10,828 men and serving with the 9. Armee in Heeresgruppe A, it was heavily damaged during the Soviet Vistula-Oder Offensive in January; its surviving elements were later reconstituted and continued fighting in the Görlitz area and the Riesengebirge mountains until the division surrendered to Allied forces on 8 May 1945.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
General der Infanterie Karl-Wilhelm Specht (1894-1953) commanded Infanterie-Regiment 55 as an Oberst during the early campaigns on the Eastern Front and later rose to higher command responsibilities. Born in Herdecke, Germany, Specht had already served with distinction in the Imperial German Army during World War I before continuing his career through the Reichswehr and into the Wehrmacht, participating in the Invasion of Poland and the Battle of France prior to Operation Barbarossa. His most notable exploits occurred while leading Infanterie-Regiment 55 in the advance toward Gomel in August 1941, when Oberst Specht and his regiment seized a particularly strong Soviet strongpoint at Weliky-Log and held it against fierce counterattacks; shortly afterward he directed a swift flank attack that broke through the fortified positions at Rekta in only two hours, then thrust twenty kilometers deep into Soviet territory, thereby contributing decisively to the German breakthrough battle north of Gomel and the subsequent encirclement and destruction of large Soviet forces around and east of Rogachev, for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 8 September 1941. His determined leadership continued through the battles of Gomel, Kiev, and Bryansk-Vyazma; despite shrapnel wounds to his hand and knee sustained during the crossing of the Ugra river, he remained in command, and even after his regimental command post was hit by fire three times—leaving him unconscious from carbon dioxide poisoning—he recovered quickly with oxygen treatment and returned immediately to the front line; on 15 November 1941, while personally scouting to identify whether approaching soldiers were friendly or enemy, he was shot in the head at five meters’ range by a Soviet soldier already inside the village, yet his regiment repelled the attack, inflicting losses of approximately 500 Soviet dead (including their regimental commander), 200 prisoners, three guns, and sixty machine guns, actions that earned him the Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 16 January 1942 as the sixtieth recipient. Later promoted to General der Infanterie, Specht served as a member of the Court of Military Honour that expelled officers implicated in the 20 July Plot before they were handed over to the People’s Court; at the end of the war he surrendered to Soviet forces and died in captivity at the Voikovo prison camp near Ivanovo on 3 December 1953.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17th_Infantry_Division_(Wehrmacht)
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/Infanteriedivisionen/17ID-R.htm
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