20th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)

German 20th Panzer Division

Unit insignia
Active 15 October 1940 – 8 May 1945
Country  Germany
Allegiance Wehrmacht
Branch Heer
Type Panzer
Role Armoured warfare
Size Division
Garrison/HQ Erfurt
Engagements World War II
Commanders
Notable
commanders		 Hermann von Oppeln-Bronikowski

The 20th Panzer Division was formed on 15 October 1940 in Erfurt, Germany. As part of OKW's plans to double the number of Panzer Divisions, the 19th Infantry Division and a number of other units were used for men and material, and then restructured into the 20th Panzer Division. It fought against the Soviet Union between June 1941 and May 1945.

Attached to Army Group Center, the division participated in the opening stages of Operation Barbarossa and remained in the front echelon of attack during the series of advances on Minsk, Smolensk and took part in Operation Typhoon, (the failed attack on Moscow). It remained on the central front until July 1943. As part of the northern spearhead commanded by Walter Model during the battle of Kursk, the division was part of the first wave of attack on July 5. The rest of 1943 was spent in a long retreat between Orel, Gomel, Orsha, and Vitebsk.

The 20th Panzer Division spent the winter of 1944 fighting in the Polotsk, Vitebsk, and Bobruisk areas. In May, it was transferred to the southern sector of the front for operations in the area around Cholm. Having suffered heavy losses during the Red Army's Operation Bagration, the division was sent to Romania for refitting in August 1944. In October, the division was sent to East Prussia, then Hungary in December. It then retreated through Breslau, Schweinitz and Neisse in Silesia (now part of Poland). The division was transferred to Görlitz (east of Dresden on the German frontier with Poland). On 19 April 1945, the division was involved in a counteroffensive west of Görlitz in the direction of Niesky, but disengaged three days later and retreated west. It counterattacked again in the Bautzen area, succeeding in relieving the local garrison at heavy cost to Soviet forces. By 26 April 1945, the division was situated northwest of Dresden; by 6 May it retreated south across the Czechoslovakian border. Some divisional elements surrendered to the Red Army near Teplice-Sanov (northwest of Prague), whilst the rest, including elements of Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 20. surrendered to the U.S. Army at Rokycany, (between Prague and Plzeň); they were handed over to the Soviet forces. 27 soldiers of the 20th Panzer Division were awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

Major Combat Units

Panzer Regiment 21; Panzer Grenadier Regiments 59, 112; Panzer Flak Battalion 20; Panzer Artillery Regiment 92

1941

1942

Commanding officers

See also

References

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