The 73. Infanterie-Division was formed on 26 August 1939 as part of the second wave of mobilization by the Wehrmacht, drawing personnel primarily from the 17. Infanterie-Division in the Württemberg-Baden region, and it quickly became a semi-motorized infantry formation consisting of the 170th, 186th, and 213th Infantry Regiments along with supporting artillery, engineer, reconnaissance, and antitank units, earning the nickname Kleist Division. Shortly after activation it served as a reserve unit with Army Group North during the invasion of Poland in September 1939, seeing limited initial combat before being redeployed. In 1941 the division participated in the Balkans Campaign, fighting in the Greek Campaign and operations against Yugoslavia, before being transferred to the Eastern Front where it joined the 11th Army under General der Infanterie Erich von Manstein and played a significant role in the Crimean Campaign, including the intense assaults on the Perekop isthmus and the Tartar Ditch in late 1941, followed by heavy fighting during the siege and capture of Sevastopol in 1942. It remained engaged in the southern sector of the Eastern Front through defensive battles in the Kuban bridgehead and the retreat across southern Russia, suffering heavy losses but maintaining cohesion until the spring of 1944 when it was trapped in the Crimea and largely destroyed during the Soviet reconquest of Sevastopol in May 1944. Reformed in Hungary on 16 June 1944 from replacement units, the division was rushed to the central sector to counter the Soviet summer offensive, fighting around Warsaw in July and August 1944 where it was mauled by the Red Army's 2nd Guards Tank Army and further decimated in September during the Soviet assault on the Praga suburb of Warsaw; it was reformed once more and continued operations with the 9th Army, holding positions with a strength of about 10,782 men as of 1 January 1945 before being committed to the defense of Danzig in early 1945, where it was finally destroyed in the fierce fighting for the city, with surviving staff officers perishing aboard the evacuation ship Goya when it was sunk on 17 April 1945. Throughout its existence the 73. Infanterie-Division exemplified the typical experience of second-wave Wehrmacht infantry units, transitioning from offensive operations in 1939-1942 to grueling defensive actions marked by repeated near-destructions and rebuilds amid the shifting tides of the war on multiple fronts.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
General der Infanterie Otto Hitzfeld (1898-1990) was a highly decorated German officer who served in both World War I and World War II, rising through the ranks to command major formations on the Eastern and Western Fronts before ending the war as commander of the 11th Army. Born in Schluchsee in the German Empire, Hitzfeld saw extensive combat experience starting in 1914 and continued his career in the Reichswehr and Wehrmacht. He earned his Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 30 October 1941 as Oberstleutnant and commander of Infanterie-Regiment 213 for his outstanding leadership during the German breakthrough at the Perekop isthmus in the Crimea; his regiment played a pivotal role in the assault, breaching deep Soviet defensive positions up to the Tartar ditch amid heavy fighting on 24-25 September 1941, which triggered the collapse of other Soviet lines in the sector. Just months later, on 17 January 1942, he received the 65th Eichenlaub as Oberstleutnant still commanding Infanterie-Regiment 213, in recognition of the regiment's exceptional defensive performance against massive Soviet assaults during the brutal winter fighting in the Crimea in 1941/42. Hitzfeld went on to command the 102nd Infantry Division, serve as an instructor at the infantry school in Döberitz, and later lead the LXVII. Armeekorps in the Ardennes Offensive (Battle of the Bulge); promoted to General der Infanterie on 1 March 1945, he was reportedly awarded the 158th Schwerter on 9 May 1945 as commanding general of the LXVII. Armeekorps for his continued leadership in the final defensive operations on the Western Front. In April 1945 he briefly commanded the 11th Army, declaring Göttingen an open city to protect refugees before his capture by American forces on 19 April 1945; released in 1947, he learned of his Swords award only after the war. Hitzfeld, uncle of the renowned football manager Ottmar Hitzfeld, died in Dossenheim in 1990 at the age of 92.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/73rd_Infantry_Division_(Wehrmacht)
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