Need help on history of the german 79th Infantry Division

[ibrahim ahmad]

Hello my friends,

I recently bought a commemorative plate for the german 79th Infantry Division and would really welcome any information on the history of this unit. I did tried to google it but , came out the US 79th ID instead. I'll d really appreciate any help given. Thank You.

Cheers,
Ibrahim

[bob32268]

German 79th I.D.
Home station Koblenz, Wehrkreis XII
Formed in the summer of 1939
May 1940 Participated in campaign in the West
June 1941 - Eastern front, southern sector
Jan 1943 - Virtually destroyed at Stalingrad
Spring 1943 - Reformed on the southern sector of the Eastern Front
Summer of 1943 - Engaged in the Kuban area.
Autumn 1943 - Transferred to lower Dnepr area
August 1944 - Suffered heavy losses on Eastern front
Oct-Nov 1944 - Reformed as a Volksgrenadier Div
Dec. 1944 - Transferred to the Western Front,
Took part in the Ardennes counteroffensive

Hope this helps. Looks like it was a hard fighting division that saw a lot of combat.
Bob

[ObKrieger]

Wow, these guys invaded France, went through operation Barbarossa, Stalingrad, Kuban, and the Battle of the Bulge. I would've given up after Stalingrad.

[ww2fotos]

That's a real nice piece! A LARGE proportion of the Soldaten that gave up to the Soviets never were seen alive again. Giving up to them was not a good idea! I guess in the Soldaten's mind a bullet in battle was better than a Gulag.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Super item!

More info here;

Lexikon der Wehrmacht

Cheers, Ade.

[ibrahim ahmad]

Thank you for the information my friends.
Really appreciate it ;-)

Cheers,
Ibrahim

[crazy horse]

that is a nice plate, sounds like a hard core bunch. I guess thats why I admire a lot of soldat divisions

[crazy horse]

Super item!

More info here;

Lexikon der Wehrmacht

Cheers, Ade.

ADE, since I only know a couple of cuss words in German , is there an english translation page for all that info & that symbol is familiar, but right now it doesn't come to mind. thanks
regards Marty

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Marty, you need to use Google translate: Here is the page already done into English via the site:

Google Translate

Their tactical sign was the Cross of Lorraine.

Cheers, Ade.