Freiwilligen-Stamm-Division
Active1 February 1944 - 8 May 1945
Country Nazi Germany
BranchArmy
TypeInfantry
SizeDivision
EngagementsWorld War II

The Freiwilligen-Stamm-Division ("Regular Volunteer Division") was a German infantry division of the Wehrmacht during World War II. It was created on 1 February 1944 in Southern France. The Division was a so-called Ostlegion, which means its personnel was made up from volunteers from the Soviet Union. Specifically Freiwilligen-Stamm-Division consisted of Turkic, Azerbaijani, Georgian, Tartar, Cossack, Armenian and other Soviet volunteers, spread over five regiments. The primary purpose of the division were anti-partisan operations against the French Resistance.[1][2]

In 1944, the French Maquis started numerous uprisings in France. To defeat the French forces, units of the Freiwilligen-Stamm-Division were used in various operations. This included German operations against the maquis du Mont Mouchet, maquis de l'Ain et du Haut-Jura and the maquis du Vercors.[3][2]

Part of these anti-Maquis operations also included Operation Treffenfeld, in which units of the Freiwilligen-Stamm-Division participated. During the operation, the 5th Cossack Regiment of the division conducted the Dortan Massacre at the French town of Dortan on 13/14 July 1944. Twenty-four civilians were killed in what the German command described as "reprisal measures".[4] Days later on 21 July more civilians were executed, bringing the death toll to about 35 people. The village was then burned down and left to ruins.[5]

Commanding officers

  • Generalleutnant Ralph von Heygendorff, 1 February 1944 – 11 March 1944
  • Generalmajor Wilhelm von Henning, 11 March 1944 – 12 September 1944
  • Generalmajor Bodo von Wartenberg, 12 September 1944 – May 1945

References

  1. ↑ Thomas (2000), p. 11.
  2. 1 2 Lieb (2007), pp. 61–62, 119, 310, 338.
  3. ↑ Lieb (2012), pp. 17–19, 29.
  4. ↑ Lieb (2007), pp. 579.
  5. ↑ Kedward (1993), p. 280.

Bibliography

  • Kedward, Harry Roderick (1993). In Search of the Maquis : Rural Resistance in Southern France 1942-1944. Clarendon Press. ISBN 9780191591785.
  • Lieb, Peter (2007). Konventioneller Krieg oder NS-Weltanschauungskrieg. Kriegführung und Partisanenbekämpfung in Frankreich 1943/44 [Conventional or NS-ideological war. Warfare and anti-partisan fighting in France 1943/44] (in German). R. Oldenbourg Verlag. ISBN 978-3486579925.
  • Lieb, Peter (2012). Vercors 1944: Resistance in the French Alps. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1849086981.
  • Thomas, Nigel (2000). The German Army 1939-45 (5): Western Front 1943-45: Western Front, 1944-45 v. 5 (Men-at-Arms). Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1855327979.
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