17th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
1934-1945 German Army division
The 17th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the German Army, active before and during World War II. Formed in 1934, it took part in most of the campaigns of the Wehrmacht and was decimated in January 1945. Reconstituted in Germany, it surrendered to the Allies in May of that year. The division was responsible for a number of war crimes.
History
The unit was formed in October 1934 in Nuremberg under the designation Wehrgauleitung Nürnberg. Shortly after its creation it was renamed Artillerieführer VII. Although created as an en cadre division from the very beginning, both names were intended to suggest much smaller units, as German military strength was still restricted by the Treaty of Versailles. After Adolf Hitler renounced the treaty, and officially announced the creation of the Wehrmacht in October 1935, the unit was renamed to the 17th Infantry Division.
The organic regimental units of this division were formed by the expansion of the 21st Bavarian Infantry Regiment of the 7th Infantry Division of the Reichswehr. The division participated in the annexation of Austria in March 1938. During the Invasion of Poland it was reinforced by the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler and attached to the German Eighth Army of Gen. Johannes Blaskowitz.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 6, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q197374. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1934, 1945, 1935 and 1938.
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This entry incorporates text from “17th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.