251st Infantry Division
division
The 251st Infantry Division (German: 251. Infanterie-Division) was an infantry division of the German Heer during World War II.
The division was active in two iterations: the initial 251st Infantry Division was deployed in 1939 and dissolved in November 1943, but another formation by the same name was deployed in September 1944, essentially destroyed in January and formally dissolved in March 1945.
History
First deployment of the 251st Infantry Division, 1939 – 1943
The 251st Infantry Division was formed on the day of German general mobilization, 26 August 1939, as part of the fourth Aufstellungswelle in the Hersfeld area in Wehrkreis IX. It initially consisted of the Infantry Regiments 451, 459, and 471, as well as the Artillery Regiment 251. The initial commander was Hans Kratzert.
Infantry Regiment 451 was formed in the Gotha area using the Supplement Battalion 12(S) Hildburghausen as Battalion I, the Supplement Battalion 15 Kassel as Battalion III, and the Supplement Battalion 71 Gotha as Battalion II.
Infantry Regiment 459 was formed in the Alsfeld area using the Supplement Battalions 81 Homburg, 88 Hanau, and 106 Aschaffenburg. These supplement battalions were numbered I through III within the regiment.
Infantry Regiment 471 was formed in the Butzbach area using the Supplement Battalions 36 Butzbach, 57 Weilburg, and 116 Giessen. These supplement battalions were numbered I through III within the regiment.
The four detachments of Artillery Regiment 251, numbered I through IV, were raised in Siegen, Frankfurt am Main, Aschaffenburg, and Fulda.
On 12 December 1939, the 251st Infantry Division passed the 4th Detachment of Artillery Regiment 251, which was motorized, to the army reserves, and in return received the 4th Detachment of Artillery Regiment 239, which was horse-drawn.
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This entry incorporates text from “251st Infantry Division” 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.