2Kp 1Btn 60 Pz Gr Rgt 116 Pz Div

Share info on real historical units

Moderator: SchnellMeyer

Post Reply
Hoffman Grink

2Kp 1Btn 60 Pz Gr Rgt 116 Pz Div

Post by Hoffman Grink »

In English (Well German Really) That's
2 Kompanie, 1 Battailon, 60 Panzer Grenadier Regiment, 116 Panzer Division "Der Windhund"


The 16th Motorised (later Panzer Grenadier) Division was created in the late summer of 1940, when the 16th Infantry Division was divided. It received the 60th Infantry Regiment from the 16th Infantry and its other units from the VI Military District. It fought in the Balkans and the Ukraine in 1941, helping to break the Stalin line in June of that year.

The division remained on the southern sector in 1942, fighting in the Caucasus before being shifted north to cover the large gap between the 1st and 4th Panzer Armees in the vast wilderness south of Stalingrad.

The Recon (Aufklarungs) battalion penetrated to within 20 miles of Astrakhan, the furthest Eastward advance of any German unit during the entire War. The 16th Panzer Grenadier fought against the Russians in the winter of 42-43, before being transferred to the newly reconstituted 6th Armee in the spring of 1943. It did not take part in the Battle of Kursk but did fight in the retreat to the Mius, suffering heavy casualties in the fighting around Zaporozhe.

The following spring it bore very heavy losses in the withdrawal from the lower Dnieper and the remnants of the 16th Panzer grenadier Division were then transported to France. It was there that they merged with the much larger 179th reserve Panzer Division to form the 116th Panzer Division.

The new Division was on the north bank of the Seine on D-Day but was not committed to action until late July. It fought in the counter-attack at Mortain in august but was unable to halt the American breakout later that month.

The 116th was encircled at Falaise and broke out with heavy losses. The Greyhound Division (Windhund) - as the 116th Pz. Div. was known - was down to six hundred men, twelve tanks and no artillery by August 1944.

In mid-September, it was in action again at Aachen when its divisional commander, Leutnant-General Count Gerhard von Schwerin-Krosigk was relieved of his command by Hitler for ordering an unauthorised retreat from the city. Hitler’s desicion led to bloody street fighting in Aachen but seems to have been tactically correct as it significantly delayed the American advance into Western Germany.

Meanwhile the 116th Pz. Div. was withdrawn to the Dusseldorf area to reform in September and October of 1944. It was reinforced to a strength of 11,500 men but still had a total of only 41 tanks. The division was setnt to Cologne in November 1944.

It spearheaded the southern prong of Hitler’s Ardennes Offensive in December 1944 and suffered heavy casualties as a result.

Withdrawn to Kleve in January 1945, the 116th was in action in the Netherlands in February, trying unsuccesfully to halt the British and Canadian advance into the Fatherland. Shifted south in the Spring of ‘45, it was encircled and destroyed in the Battle of the Ruhr Pocket.

COMPOSITION (1943)
116 Panzer Battalion,
60th Pz. Gren. Rgt.
156th Pz. Gren. Rgt.
146 Motorised Art. Rgt.
59th Motorcycle Battalion
116th (formerly 341) Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion,
146th Anti-Tank Battalion.,
146th Motorised Engineer Battalion
228th Motorised signal Battalion
226th Panzer-Jager Rgt.

HOME STATION
Rheine, Wkr.VI
User avatar
Alex
Herr Wissenschaftler
Posts: 1144
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 9:32 pm
Location: Freedonia
Contact:

Post by Alex »

out of interest, where did the greyhound thing all come from?
User avatar
Jungmann
Posts: 120
Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2005 10:13 pm
Location: Newcastle
Contact:

Post by Jungmann »

PD will be able to tell you more. But as far as I'm aware it was regarding the units speedy advance during the invasion Russia in 1941.
Paul Jungmann
Oberleutnant
2Kp Pzr Gren Rgt Groβdeutschland
Image
http://www.panzergd.co.uk
Hoffman Grink

Post by Hoffman Grink »

During the Russian Campaign the Field Police were followed into camp by two starving running dogs, Borzoi type animals..... They were going to "shoo" them away but the Commanding Officer General Gerhard Graf von Schwerin saw them and had them brought in and fed. He "adopted" them and named one of them at least "Sascha". It's not recorded what happened to the other dog but von Schwerin kept Sascha until at least the end of the war. She became the unofficial mascot and as Paul says above, due to them being a swift outfit (Their Aufklarer penterated the furthest East of any German unit durig the entire war) they were nicknamed "The Greyhounds" which in German translates to Windhund - the term for any breed of running dog. The cap badge was adopted unofficially and then in 1943 I believe a citation was made making it official. I have a copy of it somewhere and will scan and post it if I find it.
Hoffman Grink

Post by Hoffman Grink »

Our new, revamped website is up and running! Glitzy and with a certain amount of savoir faire as they say...

Mondo thanks to Karl our resident wierd boy who talks to computers!!!!!
Mondo thanks to his other half who put up with him mumbling "If While PutChar" in his sleep for two months!

Things will now be getting added to it periodically and the Galleries are submitted by group members so we should get lots of interest there.... Group members can also add their oown interesting related links. If you want a link - Contact any of us..... We can put them up for you.

as Peter Kaye would say - "How Good's That?"

http://www.afra.org.uk
User avatar
TIGER RIDER
Administrator
Posts: 737
Joined: Tue Oct 11, 2005 11:05 am
Location: surrey
Contact:

Post by TIGER RIDER »

paul...excellent web-site...love the member profiles...geat idea and done really done well....your event in farenham is only down the road from me(about half hour...)...give us a call mate... :wink:
Image
wir sind an besten,weil wir das furchtlose sind...........member of S.B.G.
sharff.(cant spell it)roffman
MEMBER OF A.F.R.A.
102nd cavarly.(N44)
combat engineers.
Hoffman Grink

Post by Hoffman Grink »

Anyone not got a link but wants one? Mail me - I'll oblige......

Also anyone reading who fancies ordinary Army... but with a nice little badge on the sidecap - Mail me..... we have places... we want to finish off our second squad.
Hoffman Grink

Post by Hoffman Grink »

AFRA - Always looking for "men of quality" as Stranksy calls them....
We cut the mustard at the recent National Battle.... We have a front row seat at most of the "biggies"..... we have fun, temper it with serious attention to detail and we want more of the right people......

There seems to be a fair bit of movement on the scene this year - If you fancy a change, want security, safety and exciting opportunities..... drop us a line.......

AFRA - German Army Re-enactment. No frills.... No gimmicks..... just get stuck in!
User avatar
bee
Posts: 605
Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2006 6:10 pm
Location: The Fatherland
Contact:

Post by bee »

PD, thought of putting some info on the totenkopf badges on your site? as to inform people why your unit, too, was wearing it (in contrast to the ss)?

here's a good article i found:

http://www.pzaufkl.de/include.php?path= ... 5b4da851e6

in german, mind you, lemme know if you need any help translating, thought it was a good one. and i know some people get confused by the whole totenkopf badge business.

there's one albeit very much shorter article on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totenkopf
bee.
--
the greatest pet i had was a flat rat.
Hoffman Grink

Post by Hoffman Grink »

Good idea bee.... Maybe we will add a few information pages over the next few months..... Good page - Am steadily reading it.....
geoffpara

Post by geoffpara »

PD, you wouldn't have an electronic copy of the Windhund device that you could send to me? Thanks.

Geoff
User avatar
pzrwest
Posts: 1690
Joined: Wed Mar 08, 2006 11:59 pm
Location: Cardiff, Ontario, Canada
Contact:

off topic

Post by pzrwest »

I know this is off topic but is similar. The Royal Canadian Dragoons use the springboks as their hat badge, no crown just a scroll under the springbuck. How that came about from what I've heard was during the Boer War the dragoons were saved from being ambushed by the springboks fleeing from the underbrush startled by the Boers. Here is the link to thier website
http://dragoons.ca/history/boer.html
User avatar
Christian_Jaeger
Posts: 75
Joined: Wed Dec 19, 2007 12:09 am
Location: Wehrkreis VI

Re: 2Kp 1Btn 60 Pz Gr Rgt 116 Pz Div

Post by Christian_Jaeger »

Some additional information about the history of the 116.Panzerdivision

1st - 5th Oct. 1944 Battle at Arnheim
The division take part in a counter attack in the Arnheim brigde head. The 116. and 9.Panzerdivision were thrown in to the battle of Arnheim to relief the II.SS-Panzerkorps. The full force of both divisions were not ready, many batallions were on the way to Arnheim. The divisions were put in action to hasty. The II.SS-PzKorps was reliefed, but the the 116. and 9.PzDiv were crippled and had to be reinforce.
Image

2nd-15th Nov. 1944 Battle at Vossenack, Schmidt and Kommerscheidt (Allerseelenschlacht= All souls battle)
On 2nd November the 28th US-Infantry Division started an attack on Vossenack and Schmidt. The 116.Panzerdivision at this time was in Reserve to be reinforced with man and material. On the 4th November the counter attack started. On batallion of the 28th US-Infantry was caputured in the battle at Schmidt. The small villiage of Vossenack changed five to seven times the occupant.
The battle ended successful but bloody. The causulties were high. The companies had only a strengh of 25 men each, more or less. The division needed reinforcements of 1800 men.
Because of this the memorial place of the 116. Panzerdivision is in Vossenack.
Image

Ruhr pocket
The main parts of the 116.Panzerdivision surrender in the Ruhr pocket. The Panzerjägerabteilung 228 were outside of the pocket near Warendorf. They should get new tank hunters, which never arrived. The PzJgAbt 228 retreated, fighting, over Minden to Blankenburg near the Harz. On the 20th April 1945 they surrendered to the 8th US-Armoured Division.
Image


The Ia(Chief of Staff) was Oberstleutnant Heinz Günther Guderian, the son of the famous General Guderian!
He was awarded the knights cross on 5th Oct. 1944.
He wroted after the war the book. "Das letzte Kriegsjahr im Westen, Die Geschichte der 116. Panzerdivision -Windhunddivision- 1944-1945"(The last year of war in the west, the history of 116th Armoured division - Greyhound division )
Image
Adjutant, I./Ski-Jäger Regiment 1, 1.Ski-Jäger Brigade
Post Reply

Return to “Units - history and information”