352.Infanterie/Volksgrenadier Division 1943-45
 
 
 
The origins of the 352. Infanterie Division began with Hitler’s directive No.51 (Hitler's Directive No.51 ) on  3rd November 1943 in which the German leader formally addressed concerns over the ominous build up of strong Allied forces in the south east corner of England.

On 14th November the 352. Infanterie Division was officially formed with it’s nucleus coming from survivors of severely mauled divisions pulled off the Eastern Front such as soldiers from the 321st, 268th Infanterie Divisions from the Kursk salient and also the 546th Grenadier Regiment who escaped the Stalingrad pocket prior to it becoming a complete lockdown. Later more troops were fed into the new division from other various theatres of the war that included soldiers of Polish, Russian, French, Czech as well as German origin.

With a combined strength of 12,021 of which 6.800 were considered combat worthy troops the division entailed 3 Infanterie Regiments, namely the 114, 115 & 116th with a total of 9 Infanterie Battalions, 1 Artillery Regiment, 1 Tank Destroyer Battalion, 1 Pioniere Battalion, 1 Light Infantry/Recon Battalion & 1 Field Replacement Battalion.

                                                                              Composition of the 352. Infanterie Division.
 
 
 
On 5th December  1943 the beginnings of the division arrived in St. Lo France for divisinoal training  which by now had been placed under the command of Armee Grouppe B  commanded by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel who was chiefly responsible for the defences of the Atlantic Wall.
 
 
                                                                          Gun emplacement Normandy June 1944.
 
Sometime in January 1944 the division was moved further north into the area of Normandy and began the task of strategically fortifying the coastline by improving the inadequate beach defences which were already in place. This entailed cutting down trees further inland and hauling the timber onto the beaches were they were driven deep into the sand at the shoreline. The first of such obstacles were around 250 yards from the water line at the high tide mark and consisted of metal/wooden gates reinforced with heavy steel frames sometimes built on large rollers that were know as Belgian Gates. Behind these a maze of wooden stakes with mines affixed to the tops & telegraph pole type ramps designed to rip the bottoms off or capsize any invading landing craft. Further up the beaches were dotted with large steel hedgehogs.
 

Rommel had estimated that 10 million mines were needed if effective fortifications were to be put in place but only a mere 10.000 became available to him of which very few were waterproof. Rommel further believed that any invasion had to be repelled on the beaches before gaining a foothold and failure to do so would leave only one last major obstacle, the river Rhine for an invasion force into the heart of Germany.

 

                                              Field Marshal Erwin Rommel inspects the Normandy beach defences 1944.

 

Before dawn on the morning of 6th June 1944 a detachment from the 352. Infanterie Division, the 915th regiment which was placed in reserve at that time and stationed in the area of Bayeux were ordered further inland and away from the coastline searching for mass paratroops drops which were reported in that area, in fact the drops turned out to be dummies dropped in a successful ‘red herring’ diversionary tactic in Operation Titanic a prelude to Operation Overlord.

                                                                     Atlantic Wall defence positions.

 

Luckily for the Wehrmacht’s High Command at the time of the planned Allied invasion the 352. Infanterie Division were engaging in counter invasion training exercises along the Normandy coastline and were close to full strength. Along the shore and high up on the bluffs elements of the 916th, regiment with the static 709 & the 716th regiments at either side manned numerous slit trenches, including 35 pillboxes, 85 machine-gun nests, 8 concrete bunkers, 6 mortar pits, 35 multi-barrelled rocket launcher sites all being strategically placed to give maximum firepower effectiveness down onto the beaches.

 
Looking out from these positions on the morning of the invasion the defenders were met with a sight of the largest armada of ambitious vessels ever assembled.

 

                                                                     Positions of 352.Infanterie Division Normandy June 1944.

 
 
 
                                                           352. Infanterie Division's aversive action following the invasion.
 
 
 
As the invasion unfolded the 916th regiment engaged the American 1st & 29th divisions at Omaha beach who had landed in their sector and the defenders held their own inflicting heavy causalities on the invaders. In the early hours of June 7th the 916th regiment were ordered to retreat by commanding officer Colonel Ernst Goth who believed they could no longer hold out. According to official wartime reports the 352. Infanterie Division losses on D-day amounted to 200 killed, 500 wounded and 500 missing.
 

Surrendering Wehrmacht Normanday 6th June 1944

For the next few weeks the 352. Infanterie Division fought in hedgerow battles in the French open countryside sustaining heavy loses while dodging Allied fighter bombers by day who strafed anything or anyone unluckily enough to be caught in the open. This obviously had a demoralising effect on the division which led to re-supplies for food, water & ammunition inevitably drying up.

                                                                              Colonel Ernst Goth

From 6th to 24th June the 352. division’s causalities totalled 5.407 officers & men, by July 11th the division had lost a further 2.479. On July 30th the division was in such poor shape that the Wehrmacht’s High Command declared all of the 352. Infanterie Division’s battalions abgekämpft, which meant that each of its 9 battalions consisted of less than 100 combat ready men.

 

                                                                        Omaha Beach D-Day + 6

At around this time some elements of the division were caught up in the Falaise Pocket south east of Caen along with elements of the 2ed SS panzer division Das Reich and both inflicted heavy casualties the Polish 1st Armoured Division but were eventually beaten back and the pocket was sealed off resulting in the loss of 15.000 German troops killed and another 50.000 taken prisoner.

In early August the 352. Infanterie Division was withdrawn to be re-fitted in the area south east of Alençon. While in that area within a week the American forces had closed in and attacked forcing some of the 352ed Division elements in a rear guard defensive action close to Dreux & Le Mans.
On August 4th Generalleutnant Dietrich Kraiß, the 352. Infanterie Division commander was injured in an attack which he succumbed to two days later.

 

                                                                                          Generalleutnant Dietrich Kraiß

 

Following these attacks the division was finally removed from the frontlines of France and posted to southern Denmark for re-fitting. While there and without being adequately refitted the Allies launched their second major European offensive in Operation Market Garden on the 17th September and once again the division was thrown back into service very much ill equipped. During this new Allied offensive elements of the 352. Infanterie Division engaged the American 101st Airborne at Nijmegen in Holland who’s bridge over the river Waal was one of the key objectives in Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’s plan.

                                                                           
 
                                                                                               Nijmegen Holland 1944
 
Finally after the Allies captured the Nijmegen bridge intact the division was withdraw from theatres of operations and returned to Germany to be properly re-fitted and re-formed. While in Germany it’s remnants and those of the 581st Volksgrenadier Division were combined to form the new 352. Volksgrenadier Division on 4th September 1944 which maintained it’s old composition of 114, 115 & 116th regiments but now being reduced to 6 Infanterie Battalions.

The newly formed 352. Volksgrenadier Division plus the 5. Fallschirmjäger-Division were attached to LXXXV korps under the 7th Armme. The combined strength of 7th Armme included LXXX korps / 276th Volksgrenadier Division & the 212th Volksgrenadier Division, plus LIII. Korps consisting of Festungs Infantry Battalion 999 & Festungs MG Battalion 44.

In Hitler’s last roll of the dice he launched a major European offensive into the Ardennes on the 16th December , a tactic that he had used previously in the France campaign of June 1940, this time his objective was to drive a wedge between the Allied Armies and cut off the bulk of American forces in that area. In this attack the 352. Volksgrenadier-Division’s main engagements with the enemy occurred in the areas of Diekirch & Ettelbruck. With elements of the division advancing towards Luxembourg where their objective was to protect the south western flanks of the offensive from Allied counterattacks.

 
 
 
 
                                                                                   Hitler's last gamble the Ardennes Offensive.
 
The 352ed, 276th & the 212th 352. Volksgrenadier Division of the 7th Armee advanced only a short distance to the west before clashing with the American VIII Corps. Meanwhile the 7th Armee airborne element the 5. Fallschirmjäger-Division pushed on 12 miles before also being ground to a hault by stiff American opposition in the area. As it turned out Hitler’s last major offensive in the war failed and further depleted the Wehrmacht of valuable resources and manpower at a critical period in the war.
 
                                                            
                                                       Volksgrenadiers advance into the Ardennes Belgium December 1944.
 
Once more the 352. Volksgrenadier Division was to be recalled back to Germany for another re-fitting. This time remanants of the 66th Volksgrenadier Regiment, the 99th Security Regiment and the 9th Infantry Division were used to bolster it’s ranks. The 352ed’s next assignment was to defend the area of Trier in western Germany and further south in the area of Moselle north-eastern France but with no letup in the continuous Allied onslaught the division was effectively obliterated by March 1945.
 
 
 
                     Members of the 914.Infanterie Regiment . 352Volksgrenadier Division surrender in Merzig  
                                                                    Luxembourg following the Ardennes Offensive.

 

Being partially reconstructed as a Kampfgruppe in mid April for the very last time the remainder of the division was pushed back into service to defend the area of Darmstadt south of Remagen, finally capitulating to the Americans near Nuremberg in May 1945.