NationMaster - Encyclopedia: German 3rd Infantry Division

The German 3rd Infantry Division was established under the cover name Wehrgauleitung Frankfurt in 1934 by expanding the 3rd Division of the Reichswehr. It was redesignated Kommandant von Frankfurt shortly afterward, and took on its bona fide name when the formation of the Wehrmacht was announced in October of 1935. It took part in the invasion of Poland in 1939 and the invasion of France in 1940. In October of 1940 it returned to Germany and was upgraded to a fully motorized division. (Most German divisions during the World War II era had no transport for the infantry and used horses to tow their artillery; German industry could not turn out sufficient motor transport while also trying to meet other military requirements.) The Reichswehr (literally National Defence or National Militia) formed the military organization of Germany from 1918 until 1935, when the government rebranded it as the Wehrmacht (Defence Force). ... Wehrmacht listen? was the name of the armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. ... Polish September Campaign Conflict World War II Date 1 September - 6 October 1939 Place Poland Result Decisive German and Soviet victory The Polish September Campaign — also known as Polish-German War of 1939, in Poland often as Wojna obronna 1939 roku (Defensive War of 1939), in Germany as Polish Campaign... In World War II, Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, executed 10 May 1940 which ended the Phony War. ...

As the 3rd Motorized Infantry Division it took part in Operation Barbarossa in 1941, advancing on Leningrad under Army Group North. In October it was transferred to Army Group Center for Operation Typhoon and the Battle of Moscow and the defensive battles of the winter. In mid-1942 it was transferred to Army Group South to take part the summer offensive Fall Blau ("Operation Blue"), and was ultimately caught up in the Battle of Stalingrad, where it was destroyed in the encirclement with the Sixth Army in early 1943. Original German plan Operation Barbarossa (Unternehmen Barbarossa) was the German codename for Nazi Germanys invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that commenced on June 22, 1941. ... Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and Petrograd (Петрогра́д, 1914–1924), is a city located in Northwestern Russia on the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea. ... Army Group North (Heeresgruppe Nord in German) was a high level command grouping of military units operating for Germany during World War II. The army group coordinated the operations of attached army corps, reserve formations, and direct-reporting units. ... Army Group Centre (Heeresgruppe Mitte in German) was one of three German army formations assigned to the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, code-named Operation Barbarossa. ... The eastern front at the time of Operation Typhoon. ... The Battle of Moscow refers to the defense of the Soviet capital of Moscow and the subsequent counter-offensive against the German army, between October 1941 and January 1942, during the Great Patriotic War. ... Army Group South (Heeresgruppe Süd in German) was a German Army Group during World War II. Germany used two army groups to invade Poland in 1939: Army Group North and Army Group South. ... The Battle of Stalingrad was a major turning point in World War II, and is considered the bloodiest and largest battle in human history and arguably one of the greatest come-backs in military history. ... The German Sixth Army (German: ) was a World War II field army and the protagonist of the tragic Battle of Stalingrad in 1942. ...

It was reconstituted as the 3rd Panzergrenadier Division in March of 1943, absorbing the 386th Motorized Division in the process. It then fought in Italy until the summer of 1944, when it was transferred to the Western Front to help re-establish the front line after the Allied breakout from Normandy. Later in the year it participated in the Battle of the Bulge and then participated in the defensive actions at Remagen, ultimately surrendering with the Ruhr Pocket in April of 1945. The Northern France Campaign of World War II began on July 25, 1944, with General Bernard Montgomery launching Operation COBRA to break out from the Normandy beachhead, and concluded on September 14 with Belgium and most of France liberated from German rule. ... The German Ardennes Offensive1, popularly known as the Battle of the Bulge, started in late December 1944 and was the last major German offensive on the Western Front during World War II. The German army had intended to split the Allied line in half, capturing Antwerp and then proceeding to... Remagen is a city in Germany in the Bundesland of Rhineland-Palatinate in the south of Bonn at the Rhine river. ... The Ruhr Pocket was an area of Germany formed in April of 1945 during World War II. The pocket was the result of the U.S. Army trapping numerous Wehrmacht forces in the Ruhr industrial region. ...

References

Note: The Web references may require you to follow links to cover the unit's entire history.

References GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

See also

References