4th Mountain Division
German: 4. Gebirgs-Division
Unit insignia
ActiveOctober 1940 – May 1945
Country Nazi Germany
Branch German Army
TypeGebirgsjäger
RoleMountain warfare
SizeDivision
EngagementsBalkans campaign
Eastern Front
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Karl Eglseer

The 4th Mountain Division (German: 4. Gebirgs Division) was a mountain infantry division of the Heer, the army of the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. The division was active between October 1940 and May 1940 and participated in the Balkans campaign as well as on the Eastern Front.

History

The 4th Mountain Division was established in October 1940. It took part in the 1941 Balkans Campaign and then joined Army Group South in Operation Barbarossa after it was already underway. In 1942 it participated in the failed attempt to seize the Caucasus in Operation Edelweiss under Army Group A. Following the operation's failure, the division was pushed back into the Kuban bridgehead, then the Crimean Peninsula, western Ukraine, Hungary, and Slovakia. The division surrendered to the Soviet forces near Czech city of Olomouc when the war ended in May 1945.[1]

On 1 January 1945, the 4th Mountain Division (then under Army Group Heinrici of Army Group A) had a strength of 12,979 men.[2]: 504 

During the war, 33 members of the division received the Iron Cross Knight's Cross and two received the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves.[3]

Commanders

Order of battle

References

  1. ^ Tessin 1965, pp. 237–238.
  2. ^ Lakowski, Richard (2008). "Der Zusammenbruch der deutschen Verteidigung zwischen Ostsee und Karpaten". In Müller, Rolf-Dieter (ed.). Die Militärische Niederwerfung der Wehrmacht. Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg (in German). Vol. 10/1. München: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt. pp. 491–681. ISBN 9783421062376.
  3. ^ Braun 1955, pp. 256–257.
  4. ^ Braun 1955, p. 44.
  • Braun, Julius (1955). Enzian und Edelweiss. Die 4. Gebirgs-Division 1940-1945 [Gentian and Edelweiss. The 4th Mountain Division 1940–1945] (in German). Bad Nauheim: Podzun.
  • Tessin, Georg (1965). Die Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939–1945, (Band 2: Die Landstreitkräfte 1–5) [Units and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in the Second World War 1939–1945, (Vol 2: Land forces)] (in German). Frankfurt/Main: E.S. Mittler.
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