Article about: Good afternoon everyone, I thought I'd share with you my most recent addition to the collection, an award document for an Unteroffizier Josef Kellnberger. The document itself is fairly commo
I thought I'd share with you my most recent addition to the collection, an award document for an Unteroffizier Josef Kellnberger. The document itself is fairly common, being for a KvK2, however the unit history is very dark. Kellnberger was part of the 657th Artillery Regiment, formerly the 657 Artillery Btl, of the 707th Infantry Division.
The 707 were raised in 1941 as a part of the 15th wave by the German Army, and were severely under-trained, under-equipped, under-manned (only 5000 men), and over-aged (most soldiers in the division were over 30, the officers even older, who were mostly reservists, as well as ardent Nazis).
It was deployed to the Ostfront in August 1941 as a security division to perform operations in the rear areas of Army Group Centre, ones that would come to give the unit an infamous reputation. In the one month period between Oct-Nov 1941, the Divisoon took part in the killing of 10,000 people in Belorussia, which had been initiated by its CO, rather than anyone further up the chain of command, who called for the extermination of Jews. These killings were willingly undertook by the men of the Division. These security duties continued throughout the next few years, with the Division leading Operation Bamberg as an anti-partisan operation, which resulted in the deaths of a further 4000 people. The Division had been transferred to Bamberg's area of operations specifically for this task.
In 1944 the Division was transferred to front line duties and was subsequently annihilated by Operation Bagration in the Summer of '44, a fitting end to such an evil division, shown no quarter by the Soviet onslaught. It was disbanded later on in 1944, with whatever remaining soldiers there were sent to other units, I imagine.
There is an entry on Volksbund for a Josef Kellnberger, who would have been 36 at the time of his death in 1945, which would fit with the older make-up of the division, however it is impossible to say if it is him as his death date being in 1945 was well after the Division was disbanded, so i am unable to track his divisional movements after Summer 1944.
Although this was a very dark thread to post, it is still history, so I hope anyone who reads it finds it interesting.
Kindest regards
Harvey
KvK 2. Klasse Mit Schwerten Document 707ID
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