The 19. Infanterie-Division was formed on 1 October 1934 in Hannover under the cover name Artillerieführer VI within Wehrkreis VI and officially redesignated on 15 October 1935, mobilizing fully on 25 August 1939 with Infanterie-Regiment 59, Infanterie-Regiment 73, Infanterie-Regiment 74 and Artillerie-Regiment 19 before advancing as part of XI. Armeekorps of the 10. Armee during the Polish campaign, fighting on the Bzura and participating in the final assault on Warsaw, then transferring west to take part in the 1940 campaign in Belgium and France where it crossed the Somme, entered the outskirts of Paris and reached the Loire before performing occupation duties along the demarcation line until returning home in late September 1940. On 1 November 1940 the formation was converted into the 19. Panzer-Division by incorporating Panzer-Regiment 27 while transferring Infanterie-Regiment 59 and other elements to the newly raised 20. Panzer-Division, after which it trained in Germany under Generalleutnant Otto von Knobelsdorff until joining Panzergruppe 3 of Heeresgruppe Mitte for Unternehmen Barbarossa in June 1941, advancing through the battles of Białystok-Minsk and Smolensk and later fighting near Velikiye Luki and in the Battle of Moscow where heavy losses forced the disbandment of one tank battalion. Remaining on the central sector until late 1942, the division was then shifted south to support the Italian 8. Armee and the 1. Panzerarmee, taking part in defensive actions after the Stalingrad disaster, the Battle of Kursk under III. Panzerkorps near Belgorod where Generalleutnant Gustav Schmidt committed suicide to avoid capture in August 1943, and the subsequent retreats across Ukraine including the escape from the Kamenets-Podolsky pocket in April 1944. Nearly destroyed by these continuous engagements, the 19. Panzer-Division was withdrawn to the Netherlands in May 1944 for refitting under Generalleutnant Hans Källner before returning by rail to the Eastern Front after Operation Bagration, defending Warsaw, helping suppress the Polish uprising, and contesting the Baranow bridgehead until the Soviet Vistula-Oder offensive forced it westward through Silesia into the Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren, where its remnants finally surrendered to Soviet forces in May 1945.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
Generalleutnant Gustav Schmidt (1894-1943) was born on 24 April 1894 in Carsdorf, Kreis Querfurt, in the Province of Saxony, and entered the Königlich Preußische Heer on 1 March 1913 as a Fahnenjunker in the 3. Brandenburgisches Infanterie-Regiment „Graf Tauentzien von Wittenberg“ Nr. 20. Promoted to Leutnant in June 1914, he served throughout the First World War with this regiment as Kompanieoffizier, Kompanieführer and later Ordonnanzoffizier and Adjutant, receiving both classes of the Eisernes Kreuz, the Ritterkreuz des Königlichen Hausordens von Hohenzollern mit Schwertern and the Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz. Retained in the Reichswehr after 1919, he advanced steadily through the ranks of the 5. (Preußisches) Infanterie-Regiment and related staff appointments, reaching Oberst by June 1939. At the outbreak of the Second World War he briefly commanded Infanterie-Ersatz-Regiment 216 before taking over Infanterie-Regiment 74 of the 19. Infanterie-Division on 10 October 1939. For the outstanding performance of his regiment during the Westfeldzug—especially the rapid seizure of eleven bunkers on the Maas near Roermond on 10 May 1940 after personal reconnaissance, an action that made the regiment the most successful and least costly of its division—he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 4 September 1940 as Oberst. Following the conversion of the 19. Infanterie-Division into the 19. Panzer-Division he assumed command of the newly formed 19. Schützen-Brigade and led it into the Ostfeldzug in 1941. On 6 January 1942 he was entrusted with the Führung of the 19. Panzer-Division, was promoted Generalmajor on 1 April 1942 and confirmed as its Kommandeur, receiving the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold the same month. Advanced to Generalleutnant on 1 January 1943, he earned the Eichenlaub (203rd award) on 6 March 1943 for the decisive employment of his division during the defensive battles of the winter of 1942/43; in early December, when Soviet forces sought to rupture the front southeast of Toropez, Schmidt prepared and personally directed a counter-thrust from the foremost line that surprised the enemy, drove far beyond the assigned objectives, closed the gap in the German front and cut off two Soviet corps that had already broken through. After the failure of the Kursk offensive the staff of the 19. Panzer-Division became isolated near Beresowka in the Belgorod area during the subsequent Soviet Belgorod-Kharkov Offensive; with ammunition nearly exhausted, Generalleutnant Schmidt and his Adjutant Oberleutnant Köhne took their own lives on 7 August 1943 to avoid capture.
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RITTERKREUZTRÄGER
General der Panzertruppe Otto von Knobelsdorff (1886-1966) was born on 31 March 1886 in Berlin into a Prussian noble military family and entered the Imperial German Army on 25 April 1905 as a Fahnenjunker in the Infanterie-Regiment „Großherzog von Sachsen“ (5. Thüringisches) Nr. 94 after attending the Kadettenanstalt Bensberg and the Hauptkadettenanstalt Groß-Lichterfelde; he was promoted Leutnant in 1906, served as regimental adjutant in the First World War where he earned the Eisernes Kreuz II. and I. Klasse and was wounded, remaining in the Reichswehr and rising through the ranks as Major in 1929, Oberstleutnant in 1933, Oberst in 1935, Generalmajor on 1 January 1939 and Generalleutnant on 1 December 1940. At the outbreak of the Second World War he was Chief of Staff of Höheres Kommando z.b.V. XXXIII and on 1 February 1940 took command of the 19. Infanterie-Division, which he led through the Westfeldzug and which was converted into the 19. Panzer-Division; during Operation Barbarossa he directed this formation with notable success, and at the end of July 1941 his troops captured the vital rail hub of Velikiye Luki despite strong Soviet defences and closed the Velikiye Luki pocket, for which achievement he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 17 September 1941 as Generalleutnant and Kommandeur of the 19. Panzer-Division. After illness forced him to relinquish the division in January 1942 he briefly led the X. Armeekorps and then the II. Armeekorps, was promoted General der Panzertruppe on 1 August 1942, commanded the XXIV. Panzerkorps and from December 1942 the XXXXVIII. Panzerkorps, participating in the fighting on the Chir and in Operation Zitadelle at Kursk; for the achievements of his Korps during the southern assault on the Kursk salient and the subsequent heavy battles in the Belgorod area in autumn 1943 he received the Eichenlaub (322nd award) on 12 November 1943 as Kommandierender General of the XXXXVIII. Panzerkorps. After further illness he assumed command of the XXXX. Panzerkorps in the Nikopol bridgehead on 1 February 1944; on 15 February his Korps broke out of encirclement and in the ensuing retreat battles as far as the Romanian border by the end of May he displayed great skill in preserving his divisions from destruction, for which he was awarded the Schwerter (100th award) on 21 September 1944 while still listed as Kommandierender General of the XXXX. Panzerkorps, the same month he took over the 1. Armee in the West and directed the defence around Metz. Additional decorations included the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold on 16 February 1943, Spangen to the Eisernes Kreuz, Panzerkampfabzeichen in Silber and two mentions in the Wehrmachtbericht; he was placed in the Führerreserve in November 1944, captured by American forces on 6 April 1945 and released in December 1947, dying in Hannover on 21 October 1966.
Oberstleutnant Alfred Müller (1915-1997) was born on 23 November 1915 in Kaltensondheim and entered the Wehrmacht in 1935 as Offiziersanwärter in Artillerie-Regiment 7, receiving promotion to Leutnant on 1 April 1937 while serving with Infanterie-Regiment 74, then to Oberleutnant on 1 September 1939 and Hauptmann on 1 April 1942; after early service as Regimentsadjutant and participation in the Polish and French campaigns he transferred voluntarily to the Sturmartillerie, commanding Sturmgeschütz-Batterie 666 on the Eastern Front from June 1941 before becoming an instructor and later taking charge of the newly formed Sturmgeschütz-Lehr-Batterie 901 in December 1942. As Kommandeur of this battery attached to the 19. Panzer-Division in the Don bend during the critical winter battles of 1942–43 near Starobjelsk and Werchneje, Müller repeatedly led aggressive counterattacks that halted superior Soviet advances, destroyed numerous tanks and enabled the orderly withdrawal of German infantry, often fighting from the rearguard under intense pressure, achievements for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 20 February 1943 while still a Hauptmann. On 1 April 1943 he assumed command of Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 191 under the 17. Armee, leading it with distinction through the Kuban bridgehead fighting where his unit destroyed 95 tanks including heavy assault guns during defensive and counter-thrust operations, and later on the Kerch peninsula where it played a decisive role in crushing the Soviet Eltingen bridgehead in early December 1943; these successes earned him the 354th Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz on 15 December 1943 (still listed as Hauptmann, with promotion to Major following shortly thereafter). Müller continued to command the Abteilung through the final battles in the Crimea and later in the Warthegau before becoming Kommandeur of the Sturmgeschütz-Schule Burg in August 1944, forming Kampfgruppe Burg and eventually leading the expanded Division Ferdinand von Schill as Oberstleutnant until the end of the war; he reached the rank of Oberstleutnant in the Wehrmacht (with a late promotion to Oberst recorded on 15 May 1945) and after the war rose to Brigadegeneral in the Bundeswehr, retiring in 1975. His awards also included both classes of the Eisernes Kreuz, the Allgemeines Sturmabzeichen, Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz, Kubanschild and the Order of Michael the Brave 3rd Class.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19th_Panzer_Division
