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The 26. Infanterie-Division was formed on 1 April 1936 in Köln within Wehrkreis VI mainly from men of Westphalia and the Rhineland and belonged to the 1. Welle of mobilisation; known as the Dom-Division because of its insignia based on Cologne Cathedral, it was mobilised in August 1939 and initially performed border security duties in the West near Echternach and Trier. During the Westfeldzug of May–June 1940 it advanced under the 16. Armee and later the 12. Armee across Luxembourg, crossed the Meuse, fought on the Aisne and in Champagne, and reached the area west of Épinal before remaining as an occupation force in northern France and Belgium until May 1941, when it was transferred to eastern Poland. On 22 June 1941 it crossed the Soviet border near Suwałki as part of Heeresgruppe Mitte, advanced via Kaunas and Polotsk toward Smolensk, took part in the battles around Vyazma and the drive on Moscow, and by late November reached the region north of Staritsa and west of Kalinin. The Soviet winter offensive forced a hard fighting withdrawal into the Rzhev salient, where the division endured prolonged defensive battles throughout 1942 under the 9. Armee. In 1943 it fought at Orel and Smolensk, participated in Unternehmen Zitadelle at Kursk, suffered heavy losses, and was reorganised with three two-battalion regiments; later that year and into 1944 it conducted further defensive actions in the central sector. Refreshed in July 1944 by absorption of the 174. Reserve-Division, it was nevertheless nearly destroyed near Kowel during the Soviet summer offensive, withdrew toward the Vistula, and was formally disbanded on 10 September 1944 near Radom, its remnants going to the 253. Infanterie-Division. On 17 September 1944 a new 26. Volksgrenadier-Division was raised at the Warthelager near Posen from the cadre of the old division and the 582. Volksgrenadier-Division; transferred to the Western Front under Heeresgruppe B, it fought in the Ardennes offensive including the siege of Bastogne, continued operations in the Eifel and around Prüm, and finally entered American captivity in the Harz mountains in May 1945.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
Oberstleutnant der Reserve Wilhelm Niggemeyer (1918-2008) was born on 9 May 1918 in Haan near Düsseldorf in the Rhineland and died on 14 February 2008 in Erftstadt at the age of 89. He entered military service on 1 October 1938 with the Pionier-Bataillon 26 of the 26. Infanterie-Division, took part in the Westfeldzug of 1940, and was promoted to Leutnant der Reserve. By June 1941 he was serving as Führer of the 2. Kompanie of his battalion on the Eastern Front. During the heavy fighting around Rzhev and later near Voronezh he repeatedly distinguished himself in close-quarters combat against Soviet armour. On 22 August 1942, southwest of Kaluga, a Soviet attack spearheaded by some thirty tanks threatened a German bridgehead. As Leutnant der Reserve and Führer of 2./Pionier-Bataillon 26, Niggemeyer personally destroyed two enemy tanks in close combat, forcing the remainder to withdraw and thereby preventing a breakthrough; for this action he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 18 September 1942. Shortly afterwards he was promoted to Oberleutnant der Reserve and appointed Bataillonsadjutant of Pionier-Bataillon 26. In January 1943 the 26. Infanterie-Division, then positioned along the Don south of Voronezh, was compelled to retreat under intense Soviet pressure. On the evening of 20 January two Soviet heavy tanks carrying tank riders blocked the division’s sole withdrawal route and inflicted chaos on the congested columns with machine-gun and cannon fire. Acting on his own initiative, Niggemeyer assembled two assault teams, advanced against the tanks, eliminated the accompanying infantry by concentrated fire, immobilised the vehicles with Teller anti-tank mines, and then destroyed the crews that had bailed out, using machine-pistols and bayonets in hand-to-hand fighting. The road was thereby cleared and the division was able to continue its ordered retreat. For this decisive deed he received the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 17 May 1943 as the 241st recipient, while still serving as Bataillonsadjutant. He later rose to Hauptmann and Major der Reserve, trained troops in anti-tank warfare, and appeared in the 1943 instructional film Männer gegen Panzer. Seriously wounded in the final fighting, he was taken into Allied captivity and released in September 1945. After the war he managed a department store before joining the Bundeswehr in 1955, rising to Oberstleutnant and commanding the schwere Pionierbataillon 719 until his retirement in 1974.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/26th_Infantry_Division_(Wehrmacht)
