23rd Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)

German 23rd Panzer Division
Unit insignia
Active	1942–45
Country	Germany
Allegiance	Wehrmacht
Branch	Heer
Type	Panzer
Role	Armoured warfare
Size	Division
Engagements	World War II Eastern Front

The 23rd Panzer Division was established on the 14th of March 1942 in France. It was built around the 101st Panzer Brigade and two infantry regiments. The units worked with "booty tanks".

In April 1942, the division went to the Eastern Front near Kharkov as a subdivision of the German Sixth Army within the Army Group South for the major part of the period until surrender.^[1] However, between April and July 1944 it was a part of the 8th Army within the Army Group South Ukraine defending the area in the north of Jassy.^[2] It stayed on the Eastern Front for the rest of the war and surrendered on the 8th of May, 1945. The division was interned at Tamsweg Mauterndorf.

Commanders

• 25 September 1941 Generalleutnant Hans Reichsfreiherr von Boineburg-Lengsfeld
• 16 November 1941 Generalmajor Heinz-Joachim Werner-Ehrenfeucht
• 22 November 1941 Generalleutnant Hans Reichsfreiherr von Boineburg-Lengsfeld
• 20 July 1942 Generalmajor Erwin Mack](died in battle on the 26th of August 1942.)
• 26 August 1942 Generalleutnant Hans Reichsfreiherr von Boineburg-Lengsfeld
• 26 December 1942 General der Panzertruppen Nikolaus von Vormann
• 25 October 1943 Generalmajor Ewald Kräber
• 1 November 1943 Generalmajor Heinz-Joachim Werner-Ehrenfeucht
• 18 November 1943 Generalmajor Ewald Kräber
• 9 June 1944 Generalleutnant Joseph von Radowitz

Literature

• To the Caucasus and the Austrian Alps: The History of the 23.Panzer-Division in World War II, by Ernst Rebentisch – Publ.: J.J. Fedorowicz, Canada, 2009

External links

• Organizational History of the German Armored Formation 1939-1945, page 24, 23rd Panzer Division, cgsc.edu
• The Combat History of the 23rd Panzer Division in World War II, by Ernst Rebentisch. Translated by Bob Edwards. Stackpole Books.

Notes

1. 23. Panzer-Division, balsi.de (in German)
2. The Combat History of the 23rd Panzer Division in World War II, by Ernst Rebentisch, p. 492