12.Infanterie-Division

The 12. Infanterie-Division was formed in Schwerin on 15 October 1935 from the cover name Infanterieführer II. 

The infantry regiments were formed from the 5.(Preußisches) Infanterie-Regiment and 6.Infanterie-Regiment of the 2.Division of the Reichswehr.


For the Campaign in Poland, the 12.Infanterie-Division was part of Armeekorps Wodrig of Generalleutnant von Kuchler's 3.Armee, Heeresgruppe Nord during the initial thrust out of Prussia towards Warsaw. Interestingly, the division's integral Artillerie-Regiment had an honorary commander, the former pre-war Commander in Chief of the German Army, Generaloberst Werner von Fritsch. He died of wounds recieved at during this fighting.*

After a distinguished acquittal of it's objectives in Poland, the division participated in the 1940 French campaign as part of II.Armee-korps, IV.Armee, where it notably helped stop a desperate French Army attempt to cut the main "sikelschnitt-panzer corridor" of German troops heading speedily for the Channel coast, hoping to relieve the trapped British and French forces in Belgium. 

Still part of II.Armeekorps, the division fought with XVI.Armee, Heeresgruppe Nord, in the initial invasion of Russia in June 1941, and was instrumental in the capture of Dvinsk. Still in the North in 1942, the division was the main relieving force of the trapped II.Armeekorps troops in the Demjansk Pocket. The overwhelming 1944 Soviet summer Offensive "Bagration", found the unfortunate 12.Infanterie-Division entrapped in the great Minsk-Vitebsk encirclements by the Red Army of the collapsed Heeresgruppe Mitte. The Divison's CO, Generalleutnant Rudolf Bambler surrendered his division to the Soviets in July 1944. None of the main combat elements of the division escaped capture. The Division was then reformed in August as the 12.Grenadier-Division

Source:Feldgrau.com