352.Infanterie Division History

11 September 2009

The Division was formed on 5 November 1943 at St. Lô under the command of Generalleutnant Dietrich Kraiß, as part of the Wehrkreis XI (Military District XI), headquartered in Hannover. The 352nd was placed in Armeegruppe B under the command of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.  Rommel was in charge of protecting the Atlantic coast from and Allied Invasion.  Despite the fact that much of the German leadership believed that the main Allied invasion would take place at the Pas-de-Calais, Rommel was convinced that Normandy would be the location of the invasion.  Rommel placed the strong 352nd at Normandy to push the invading force back into the sea.  

DIVISION MAKEUP

The makeup of the 352nd was as follows:

914. Grenadier Regiment -  2 x 15 cm sIG 33 -  6 x 7.5 cm leIG -  3 x 7.5 cm PaK 40

915. Grenadier Regiment -  2 x 15 cm sIG 33 -  6 x 7.5 cm leIG -  3 x 7.5 cm PaK 40

916. Grenadier Regiment -  2 x 15 cm sIG 33 -  2 x 7.5 cm leIG -  3 x 7.5 cm PaK 40

All the infantry battalions had 60 light machine guns, 3 heavy machine guns and 12 8 cm mortars.  The Füsilier (light infantry) Battalion was equipped in the same way.  The 1. Company of the Füs.Btl was bicycle mounted.  Each infantry regiment had one infantry gun (IG).  The 914th and 915th Regiment’s IG company had two 15 cm and six 7,5 cm infantry howitzers.  The 916th Regiment’s IG company had two 15 cm and two 7,5 cm infantry howitzers.  Each Regiment had a PaK (Anti-Tank) company with three 7,5 cm PaK 40 AT guns.

ARTILLERY

Batteries 1-9 of the artillery regiment had four 10,5 cm howitzers each.  Batteries 10-12 had four 15 cm howitzers each.  None of these batteries were motorized.  The artillery all had one basic load of ammunition.  The 10,5 cm guns had 225 rounds per gun, and the 15 cm guns had 150 rounds each.

ANTI-TANK/TANK HUNTER

The Panzerjäger Abteilung had 14 Marder 38, 10 StuG III and 9 motorized 3,7 cm FlaK guns.

PIONIERE

The Pioniere Battalion had three companies, with 37 machine guns, 20 flame throwers and six mortars. 

FUSLILIER

The Fusilier Battalion was light infantry or recon.  The 1.Kompanie was bicycle mounted.  This battalion was located in the rear, away from the beaches. 

FIELD REPLACEMENT 

DIVISION COMPOSITION

The Division cadre were formed from the remnants of the following units:

268.Infanterie Division
Wehrkreis VII (Munich)
468^th, 488^th and 499^th Grenadier Regiments
History:
¨      1939:  Reserve Unit, activated
¨      1939-1940:  Saar Front
¨      1941-1943:  Ost Front
    -       Battle of Yelna Bend, Moscow, Rzhev and Kursk
    -       Elements fought at Cholm and Demyansk

321.Infanterie Division
Wehrkreis XI (Hannover)
588^th, 589^th and 590^th Grenadier Regiments
History: 
¨      1940:  Activated at Abberville
¨      December 1942:  Ost Front – Army Group Center
    -       Suffered heavy losses at Kursk

 546.Grenadier Regiment
  Part of 389.Infanterie Division
  Wehrkreis XII (Hesse)
  History:
     ¨      1941-1942:  Ost Front
      -       Winter Drive across Don River, Volga River, Stalingrad

The survivors from the 546.Grenadier Regiment formed the cadre for the 1st and 2nd battalions of the 916.Grenadier Regiment of the 352.Infanterie. 

Because most of the members of the 352nd were Ost Front veterans, they were hardened soldiers - from the officers down to the Obergrenadiers.  A large number of Volksdeutsch recruits were also a part of the Division.  These Volksdeutsch recruits included Polish and Czech Germans, Alsatians (French Germans), and Russians (White-Russians, or POA). 

THE ATLANTIK WALL

The 352nd began its coastal duty improving the defenses of the Atlantic Wall.  They placed beach obstacles, to include mined stakes and anti-landing craft timbers.  They cut the timber from the woods, transported it to the beach, and drove it deeply into the sand. 

Rommel wanted over 10 million mines to completely cover the Atlantic Wall, but only 10,000 were available.  Of the 10,000 mines placed, many were not waterproofed, so by the time the D-Day invasion occurred, many of those mines had rusted and corroded because of the salt water, and not longer worked.

The first row of obstacles were Belgian Gates and were about 250 yards from the high tide water line.  Belgian Gates (or C-Elements) are heavy steel fences about three meters wide and two meters high used as anti-tank obstacles. 

The second row of obstacles was a band of mined stakes and log ramps, meant to tip or tear out the bottom of landing craft. 

Finally, the third row of defenses were Czech Hedgehogs– static anti-tank obstacle defenses constructed of angled iron.   

Further up the beachhead, the 352nd occupied slit trenches, eight large concrete bunkers, 35 pillboxes, six mortar pits, 35 Nebelwerfer launch sites and 85 machine gun nests.  The main defenses were clustered into strong points. 

Parts of the 916th Regiment was located near Omaha Beach.  One battalion from the 716th Infantry Division was subordinated to the 916th.  The 915th Regiment was in reserve southeast of Bayeux, and the 914th was deployed around Isigny. 

Because a most of the Wehrmacht’s supplies were being sent to the fight on the Ost Front, by March 1944, the unit only got to execute three live fire events and each Grenadier was only able to throw two grenades.  Many of the vehicles the Division used were foreign, so when they broke down, there were little, if any, spare parts.  There was little driver training because of a shortage of fuel. 

THE 352nd IN BATTLE

The following excerpts are from U.S. soldiers fighting the 352nd on the beaches on D-Day:

"...We had a bad break tactically because the German 352nd Infantry Division was on a counter-attack training exercise at Omaha [Beach].  So instead of a fortress battalion -- you know, with kind of second-rate troops -- we had a whole damned infantry division in front of us.  We hit the sand...behind the bodies of the amphibious engineers...and tried to advance a bit, but there was a large German bunker in front of us, and its machine gun fire hit us every time we tried to move.  We didn’t have any comm with the American destroyer behind us because...the naval officer had been killed, his driver too, and the radio set destroyed...so we planned an assault.  But before we could get organized, there were huge demolitions around the bunker.  Thank God we hadn’t moved out yet: an American destroyer had moved in and was firing direct with 4-inch guns into the bunker."  -Capt Edward McGregor, US 1st Infantry Div

"Assault units disintegrating. Very heavy losses.  Enemy fire prevents crossing of the beach line.  Landing units bunching up in a very confined area.  Engineers unable to clear paths through minefields and cannot destroy beach obstacles.  Elements of the...352nd Infantry Division identified."  -Battle Report, US 5th Corps, 08:30a.m. June 6, 1944

The Division took heavy losses, both in causalities and being captured, from the oncoming ground attack as well as from enemy Jabos (Fighter-Bombers).  The Jabos would attack any daytime ground movement, even individual men unfortunate enough to be out in the open. 

The 916.Grenadier Regiment saw action on D-Day opposing the 1st and 29th U.S. Divisions at Omaha Beach.  The 352nd fought for several hours, inflicting many casualties, before being overwhelmed and overrun.  The 916th retreated on the morning of 7 June after Regiment Commander Oberst Ernst Goth couldn’t hold the positions regained on the previous night.  The rest of the Division saw heavy fighting in the bocage (hedgerow) country while defending St. Lo. 

According to wartime documents, the losses suffered by the Division on 6 June were as follows: 200 killed, 500 wounded, 500 missing.  The Division retreated to and remained in the area southeast of Isigny. 

Because of constant fighting after the invasion, most of the Division wasn’t able to eat or sleep until 10 June.  A total absence of motorized transport meant that all movement was by foot or bicycle.  By the time the Allies had put armor on the beaches and started their advance, there wasn’t much the 352nd could do to stop it.  By this time, most of the fighting ability of the Division was either killed or captured.  A few isolated units continued to fight, or were absorbed into other neighboring units.  Some members of the Division ended up being captured in the Falaise Pocket in July.

On 16 June, the Division suffered 3000 casualties.  From 6 – 24 June, casualties were 5407 officers and men.  Despite these heavy losses, the Division kept fighting, and continued to lose men.  By 11 July, the 352nd incurred 2479 more casualties, and from 1 – 25 July, the Division had 123 officers and men killed, 464 wounded, and 110 missing. 

By 30 July, the Division was in very poor shape.  The Wehrmacht declared all battalions of the 352nd abgekämpft (no longer combat worthy) on that date, which means that each battalion had less than 100 combat-ready men.   By the time the Division had been disbanded, it had subordinated the following units, all of which ended up worse off than the Division’s original units:

¨      Three battalions from 266.Inf.Div. 

¨      Two battalions from 353.Inf.Div. 

¨      One battalion from 30.Brigade 

¨      One battalion from 275.Inf.Div. 

¨      One battalion from 343.Inf.Div. 

¨ One artillery battery from 343.Inf.Div. 

¨      One artillery battery from "Autun" artillery battalion 

After the first of August, the Division was withdrawn to refit in the area southeast of Alençon.  The Division was only there for a little over a week before American forces closed in.  Elements of the Division engaged in rear guard action along the axis of Le Mans and Dreux. 

Despite their condition, the 352nd fought well, and were later sent to Denmark for refitting. 

The 352nd participated in Operation Market Garden.  They prevented the Allied XXX Corps from linking up with the British 1st Airborne Division, who landed at Arnhem, Holland. Elements of the 352nd engaged the U.S. 101st Airborne at Nijmegen. 

The remnants of the 352nd were merged with the 581st Volkgrenadier Division to form the 352.Volksgrenadier Division.  They were refitted again and in December 1944 were sent to fight in the southern flank of the unsuccessful Ardennes Offensive (the Battle of the Bulge).

The unit was then placed to defend the area around Trier and the Moselle where it was effectively destroyed again by mid-March 1945.  Only a small remnant of the Division escaped across the Rhine at Worms.  The 352nd was partially reconstructed one last time as a battle group in mid-April.

By 1945, the Division was assigned to Darmstadt, south of Remagen, to participate in the Rhineland Campaign.  They ended the War by defending Trier.  They surrendered to American forces near Nuremburg. 

The following link provides an account of the 352nd from its Chief of Staff, Lt. Col. Fritz Ziegalmann.  Lt. Col. Ziegalmann, wrote a history of the 352nd in Normandy for the United States War Department’s Foreign Military Studies after the conflict as a Prisoner of War.  Special thanks to Stewart Bryant for his work translating Lt. Col. Ziegalmann's writing's and providing them on the internet.