266th Infantry Division
266. Infanterie-Division
ActiveMay 1943 - September 1944
Country Nazi Germany
BranchHeer (Wehrmacht)
TypeInfantry
SizeDivision

The 266th Infantry Division (German: 266. Infanterie-Division) was an infantry division of the German Heer during World War II.

History

The 266th Infantry Division was formed on 20 May 1943 at Münsingen military base in Wehrkreis V. It was assembled using recruits from all over southern Germany as a static (i.e. non-motorized) division. The battalions and detachments initially reported to the division headquarters on 15 June and deployment was completed by 1 August. The 266th Infantry Division initially consisted of the Grenadier Regiments 897, 898, and 899, as well as the Artillery Regiment 266.[1] The infantry regiments were equipped with two battalions each, and the artillery regiment's detachments were equipped with Beutewaffe howitzers of Soviet origin. The only commander throughout the division's history was Karl Sprang, who has appointed upon the unit's formation.[2]

Upon deployment to occupied France, Grenadier Regiment 898 as well as the second detachment of Artillery Regiment 266 to the 343rd Infantry Division.[1]

The division was largely destroyed by Allied forces, including the 4th U.S. Armored Division, during the battles at Saint-Malo in July 1944.[2] Small parts of the 266th Division escaped into the besieged Atlantic pockets in Brittany.[1] With the fall of Brest on 19 September, the last remnants of the division were neutralized.[2] The 266th Infantry Division was formally dissolved on 29 September 1944.[1]

War crimes

In northern Finistère at the beginning of August 1944, the 266th artillery regiment began a punitive operation in Saint-Pol-de Léon. On August 4, fifteen inhabitants were taken out of the city on a truck. Five days later, their exhumed bodies were found with their hands tied and their skulls caved in; one had been scalped. The sole woman, partially undressed, had large marks on her thighs and legs. Continuing to the West, the unit left behind dead bodies and burned farms: eighteen were killed in Plounévez-Lochrist, five in Tréflez and thirty-three in Plouvien on August 8 and 9.[3]

Superior formations

Organizational chart of the 266th Infantry Division[1]
Year Month Army Corps Army Army Group Area
1943 July In assembly. Münsingen
August – December LXXIV 7th Army Army Group D Brittany
1944 January – April
May – June Army Group B
July LXXIV (partially)

II Parachute (partially)

Brittany (partially)

Saint-Malo (partially)

August – September XXV None. Army Group D Brittany

Noteworthy individuals

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Tessin, Georg (1973). "266". Die Landstreitkräfte 201–280. Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939-1945 (in German). Vol. 8. Osnabrück: Biblio Verlag. pp. 281–283. ISBN 3764808721.
  2. ^ a b c Mitcham, Samuel W. (2007). "266th Infantry Division". German Order of Battle. Volume One. 1st-290th Infantry Divisions in World War II. Stackpole Books. pp. 314–315. ISBN 9780811734165.
  3. ^ Virgili, Fabrice (11 April 2016). "Rapes Committed by the German Army in France (1940-1944)". Vingtieme Siecle. Revue Dhistoire. 130 (2): 103–120. doi:10.3917/ving.130.0103.
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