The 12. Panzer-Division was a Wehrmacht armoured division that fought exclusively on the Eastern Front throughout World War II. It originated from the 2. Infanterie-Division (mot.), which had been motorised in the mid-1930s and participated in the invasions of Poland in 1939 and France in 1940; the unit was reorganised as a Panzer division in October 1940 and formally activated on 10 January 1941 under the command of Generalmajor Josef Harpe, with its home station in Stettin. In June 1941 the division joined Operation Barbarossa as part of Army Group North, fighting in the battles of Minsk and Smolensk before advancing toward Leningrad; it endured heavy casualties during the Soviet winter counter-offensive of 1941–42 and was withdrawn to Estonia for refitting. For most of the war it remained with Army Group North, although it briefly transferred south in July 1943 to take part in the Battle of Kursk and subsequent defensive operations before returning north in January 1944, arriving too late to influence attempts to relieve the Siege of Leningrad. During the Soviet Operation Bagration in June 1944 the division, by then critically understrength and lacking its full reconnaissance and Flak elements, was detached as Army Group North’s largest remaining armoured formation to counterattack and relieve the encircled German forces in the Minsk pocket; despite its weakness, with only a single panzer company and limited infantry support, it launched a daring night attack on 1 July 1944 from Maryina Horka toward Babruysk that successfully bluffed Soviet troops into believing they faced a full Panzer division, opening an escape corridor through which approximately 25,000 German soldiers broke out southwest of Minsk. Thereafter trapped in the Courland Pocket, the 12. Panzer-Division continued defensive fighting until it surrendered to the Red Army on 8 May 1945.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
Generaloberst Josef Harpe (1887-1968) was a senior German panzer commander who served on the Eastern Front throughout much of World War II and rose to lead major formations including the 9th Army and Army Group A. As Generalmajor and commander of the 12. Panzer-Division he earned the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 13 August 1941 for his outstanding leadership during the defensive battle at Wop on 24–25 July 1941, when his division held a 40-kilometre sector against a fresh Siberian corps, repelled the assault through superior combat direction and close Luftwaffe support, and then launched a decisive counterattack that completely destroyed the 91st Siberian Division. He received the Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 31 December 1941, still as Generalmajor commanding the same division, in recognition of his part in the capture of Tikhvin together with his personal decision to remain with his troops after sustaining a head wound and his skilful conduct of an orderly rearguard withdrawal from 10 to 17 December 1941 that enabled three divisions to retreat with minimal losses despite the threat of encirclement. Later, as General der Panzertruppen and commanding general of the XXXXI. Panzerkorps, Harpe was awarded the Schwerter zum Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub on 15 September 1943 for his masterful handling of operations south of Orel in July 1943, during which he smashed Soviet offensive assembly areas, repelled repeated enemy attacks while inflicting heavy losses, rallied retreating units north of Orel with only a small escort and restored a coherent defensive line, and personally hastened to forward division command posts northwest of Orel to issue immediate counter-measures that reformed the front and drove back Soviet divisions and tank brigades. These successive awards reflected Harpe’s consistent ability to stabilise critical sectors through bold personal leadership and rapid tactical decisions in the fluid conditions of the Eastern Front.
Generalleutnant Dietrich von Müller (1891-1961) was born on 16 September 1891 in Malchow and died on 3 January 1961 in Hamburg. He entered military service in 1910 as Einjährig-Freiwilliger with the Brandenburgische Jäger-Bataillon Nr. 3. After one year he turned to agriculture, but at the outbreak of the First World War he was recalled as Fähnrich der Reserve to the same unit; later he served as Leutnant on the staff of the Landwehr-Inspizient Berlin and earned both classes of the Eisernes Kreuz. Discharged in 1920, he studied agricultural sciences until rejoining the army in 1934 as Hauptmann in Infanterie-Regiment 5. At the start of the Second World War he was Major and Chef of the II. Bataillon, leading it through the Polish and French campaigns; the regiment was then redesignated Schützen-Regiment 5. Promoted Oberstleutnant on 1 April 1941, he assumed command of Schützen-Regiment 5 on 5 September 1941 within Heeresgruppe Nord. On 21 February 1942 he received the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold. For personal bravery and defensive success near Pogostje on 16 February 1942, where he restored a critical situation against a far superior Soviet force supported by 43 tanks and thereby averted a dangerous breakthrough for the division and corps, he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 3 May 1942 as Oberstleutnant and Kommandeur of Schützen-Regiment 5; promotion to Oberst followed shortly thereafter. On 10 July 1942 the unit became Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 5 of the 12. Panzer-Division. During the fighting east of Bolchow in mid-July 1943, as part of the intervention against a Soviet penetration in the sector of the 208. Infanterie-Division, Müller’s skilled leadership stabilized the front: on 16 July he broke an encirclement of the I. Bataillon with two Panzer IVs and an armoured car, and on 18 July nine Soviet attacks were repulsed. For these actions he received the Eichenlaub (272nd award) on 16 August 1943 as Oberst and Kommandeur of Panzergrenadier-Regiment 5. He then served as Leiter der taktischen Lehrgänge at the Panzertruppenschule II in Krampnitz, at the Abteilungsführerschule in Paris and on the Stab of the Inspekteur der Panzerwaffe. In August 1944 he took command of the 16. Panzer-Division and was promoted Generalmajor on 9 November 1944. During the Soviet winter offensive of early 1945 his division was twice encircled—first south of Kielce, then east of Sulejow—yet broke out both times, joined the wandering pocket of Gruppe Nehring, spearheaded its advance through Lissa and reached the Oder at Glogau on 27 January 1945, saving the formation despite heavy losses and fuel shortages that forced the destruction of many vehicles. For this leadership he was awarded the Schwerter (134th award) on 20 February 1945 as Generalmajor and Kommandeur of the 16. Panzer-Division. Captured by Czechoslovak partisans on 19 April 1945 and handed over to the Red Army, he was promoted Generalleutnant the following day and remained in Soviet captivity until his release in the winter of 1955.
Generalmajor Hans-Joachim Kahler (1908-2000) was born on 21 March 1908 in Mörchingen and entered the Reichswehr on 1 April 1927 as Fahnenjunker in the 14. Reiter-Regiment, receiving promotion to Leutnant on 1 April 1932, Oberleutnant in 1934 and Rittmeister in 1938 while serving in cavalry and later panzer reconnaissance roles; he took part in the Polish and French campaigns before transferring to the Eastern Front with the 12. Panzer-Division, earning the Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse on 3 July 1940 and 1. Klasse on 3 September 1941 and promotion to Major on 1 January 1942. As Kommandeur of Kradschützen-Bataillon 34 of the 4. Panzer-Division he distinguished himself during the fighting of early March 1943 by launching an attack on his own initiative that captured the village of Shurawka, securing two vital bridges and a key railway embankment that reopened the Sseredina–Buda line and enabled the subsequent German advance toward Ssewsk, actions for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 14 April 1943. Promoted to Oberstleutnant on 1 September 1943 he assumed command of Panzergrenadier-Regiment 5 of the 12. Panzer-Division and on 20 September 1943, when Soviet forces broke into the German front near Towstoles and seized the village, he assembled a Kampfgruppe consisting of Kampfbataillon 5, the I. (gepanzert)/Panzergrenadier-Regiment 304 and all available Panzers, launching a decisive counterattack that recaptured Towstoles, rolled up the Soviet flank and defeated the attempt to interdict the Tschernigow–Repki–Gomel road, thereby preventing the German divisions still east of the Dnieper from being forced into impassable swampy terrain and the loss of major formations, achievements that earned him the 355th Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz on 17 December 1943. Advanced to Oberst on 1 March 1944 and briefly acting commander of the 12. Panzer-Division, he took command of the newly formed Führer-Grenadier-Brigade on 1 July 1944, leading it in East Prussia and later in the Ardennes until he was severely wounded on 20 December 1944; promoted to Generalmajor on 30 January 1945 while still in hospital, he surrendered to British forces in May 1945 and was released in February 1946, dying in Hamburg on 14 January 2000.
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RITTERKREUZTRÄGER
Generalleutnant Helmuth Schlömer (1893-1995) was born on 20 May 1893 in Hausberge near Minden and joined the Königlich Preußische Armee on 9 March 1913 as a Fahnenjunker in the 8. Lothringisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 159, serving as an officer throughout the First World War in roles including company commander, battalion adjutant and regimental adjutant before being retained in the Reichswehr after 1918. In the interwar years he held various troop and staff appointments and in 1935 served as an instructor at the Kriegsschule München; with the expansion of the Wehrmacht he took part in the invasion of Poland and the campaign in the West. As Oberst and Kommandeur of Schützen-Regiment 5 he distinguished himself during Operation Barbarossa, particularly in the final advance of Heeresgruppe Nord that aimed to sever the land connection to Leningrad, leading his regiment through heavily fortified and swampy terrain along the Ljuban–Ishora–Leningrad axis, for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 2 October 1941. Shortly thereafter he assumed command of Schützen-Brigade 7 and on 30 April 1942 was appointed Kommandeur of the 3. Infanterie-Division (mot.). As Generalmajor he directed the division in the southern sector of the Eastern Front during the 1942 summer offensive, achieving the successful crossing of the Tim on 28 June 1942, the stubborn defence of the Voronezh bridgehead from 7 to 13 July 1942, the hard-fought actions in the Don bend between 24 July and 10 August 1942, and the prolonged defence of the northern edge of the German salient at Stalingrad between the Don and the Volga. These achievements earned him the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 23 December 1942 as the 161st recipient. Promoted to Generalleutnant, he took over the Generalkommando XIV. Panzerkorps inside the Stalingrad pocket on 15 January 1943 after General der Panzertruppe Hans-Valentin Hube was flown out, and on 29 January 1943 became the first corps commander to open surrender negotiations with the Red Army. Taken prisoner with the remnants of the 6. Armee, he later joined the Nationalkomitee Freies Deutschland and the Bund Deutscher Offiziere, was released in 1949, and died on 18 August 1995 in Minden-Lübbecke at the age of 102!
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12th_Panzer_Division_(Wehrmacht)
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