17th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)

German army division during World War II

The 17th Panzer Division (17. Panzer Division) was a formation of the Wehrmacht in World War II. It was formed in November 1940 from the 27th Infantry Division. It took part in Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, and in the winter of 1941–42 participated in the Battle of Moscow. In November 1942, the division was sent to the southern sector of the Eastern Front where it participated in Operation Winter Storm, the failed attempt to relieve the surrounded troops at Stalingrad. The division was held in reserve during the Battle of Kursk in 1943, and thereafter retreated through Ukraine and Poland, before ending the war in Czechoslovakia.

The 27th Infantry Division was formed in October 1936 in Augsburg, Bavaria, as a peacetime division of the new German Wehrmacht. The division was mobilised on 26 August 1939 and took part in the Invasion of Poland and the Battle of France. In 1943, a Nazi propaganda book was published about the division's actions in France 1940, titled Über Somme, Seine, Loire (English: Across the Somme, the Seine, the Loire). The 17th Panzer Division was formed in late 1940, when the 27th Infantry Division was converted to an armored division. In part, the 2nd Panzer Division provided personnel for the new division. The majority of its troops came from the Bavarian region of Swabia, then the Nazi Gau Swabia

In May 1941, the division was transferred to the central sector of the planned attack on the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa, and became part of the XXXXVII Panzer Corps, which in turn was part of the 2nd Panzer Group, commanded by Heinz Guderian. The division's commander, Hans Jürgen von Arnim, was wounded within the first few days of the campaign, on 24 June, but later returned to his unit. His temporary replacement, Karl Ritter von Weber, was mortally wounded south of Smolensk on 17 July, putting Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma in charge until von Arnim returned. The division crossed the Bug River and advanced south of Minsk, where it made contact with the 3rd Panzer Group. It took part in the Battle of Białystok–Minsk, where it recorded up to 100 Soviet tanks destroyed in a single day, 9 July, at Orsha. It then crossed the river Dnjepr south of Orsha and took part in defensive operations south of Smolensk in August and September. The division took defensive positions northeast of Orel, where it remained until the Summer of 1942.

The division continued its retreat towards the Don bridgehead at Rostov on Don, which it reached at the end of January. The 39th Panzer Regiment was re equipped with 50 new Panzer IV tanks shortly after and the division took part in counterattacks between the Mius and the Donets rivers. By 27 February, the division had been reduced to less than 2,000 men, six tanks and ten anti tank guns but avoided further destruction when the Soviet forces withdrew behind the Donets river. After this, it was engaged in tank battles near Belgorod until the end of April. The division did not take part in the Battle of Kursk. Instead, it stayed in reserve, behind the front line, as part of the XXIV Panzer Corps. It took part in some successful counterattacks after the battle, in the Donets Izium area. In September, the division retreated from the Donets to positions behind the Dnjepr river, taking up a defensive line on the western side of the river. Initially it was posted at Krivoi Rog, in November it moved to Kherson, as part of the re formed 6th Army. The division found itself in constant retreat as part of the XXIV Panzer Corps commanded by Walther Nehring, first towards Łódź, then crossing the Oder, where it took positions near Głogów in February. It took part in defensive operations near the Ścinawa (German: Steinau) bridgehead in mid February. It continued its defensive actions in the region during the Silesian Offensives. The division was eventually forced to retreat into Czechoslovakia, heading towards Brno. In February 1945, the division, by now reduced to a Kampfgruppe, was attached to Army Group Center on the Oder River. By March 1945, it retreated as far as Jägerndorf by the Red Army. Early in April, it had retreated southwest into Moravia, where in quick succession it came under the order of 17th Army and 1st Army. The division surrendered to the Soviet army near Görlitz at the end of April 1945.

Commander Start Finish Notes Generalleutnant Friedrich Bergmann 1 January 1937 4 October 1940 became commander of 137th Infantry Division, killed in action 21 December 1941 Generaloberst Hans Jürgen von Arnim 5 October 1940 24 June 1941 wounded in action 24 June 1941 Generalmajor Karl Ritter von Weber 24 June 1941 17 July 1941 acting — wounded in action, died of his injuries 20 July 1941 Generalleutnant Karl Friedrich von der Meden 21 July 1943 20 September 1944 became commander of 178th Reserve Panzer Division 1 October 1944. Generalmajor Rudolf Demme 20 September 1944 2 December 1944 became commander of 132nd Infantry Division Oberst Albert Brux 2 December 1944 19 January 1945 captured by the Red Army January 1945 Generalmajor Theodor Kretschmer 1 February 1945 8 May 1945 Surrendered the division in May 1945