334th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

The 334th Infantry Division (German: 334. Infanteriedivision) was a German Army infantry division in World War II. Originally formed in November 1942, it surrendered to the Allies at the conclusion of the Tunisian Campaign in May 1943. The division was reconstituted from the 80th Infantry Division, which had only just been formed a few days prior. It spent the remainder of the war serving on the Italian Front.

334th Infantry Division
Divisional insignia
ActiveNovember 1942 – May 1945
Country Nazi Germany
BranchArmy
TypeInfantry
SizeDivision
Garrison/HQBamberg
EngagementsWorld War II
  • Tunisian Campaign
  • Italian Campaign

Operational history

The 334th Infantry Division was created in November 1942 and sent to Tunisia, where it was subordinated to the 5th Panzer Army in the attempt to prop up Axis positions in North Africa. The division was isolated and surrendered with a Vichy France unit, the Legion Imperiale, to the British forces several days before the general Axis surrender in Tunisia.

The division was reconstituted in France in 1943, from the elements of the 80th Infantry Division, then in the process of being formed.[1] The component 756th Regiment was reconstituted as infantry rather than mountain troops. The division was transferred to Italy in late 1943 and fought there until the war's end, taking heavy casualties throughout the period and eventually surrendering to the Americans.

War crimes

The division has been implicated in a number of war crimes in Italy between February and September 1944, with up to thirty civilians executed in each incident.[2]

Organization

Structure of the division:[3]

  • Headquarters
    • 754th Grenadier Regiment
    • 755th Grenadier Regiment
    • 756th Mountain Grenadier Regiment
    • 334th Artillery Regiment
    • 334th Fusilier Battalion
    • 334th Engineer Battalion
    • 334th Signal Battalion
    • 334th Tank Destroyer Battalion
    • 334th Field Replacement Battalion
    • 334th Divisional Supply Group

Commanding officers
  • Generalmajor Friedrich Weber (15 November 1942 – 15 April 1943)
  • Generalmajor Fritz Krause (15 April – 12 May 1943)
  • General der Artillerie Heinz Ziegler (24 May – 20 October 1943)
  • Generalleutnant Walter Scheller (20 October – 27 November 1943)
  • Generalleutnant Hellmuth Böhlke (1 February 1944 – April 1945)

Notes
  1. Mitcham, pp. 85 – 86
  2. "334. Infanterie-Division" (in Italian). Atlas of Nazi and Fascist Massacres in Italy. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  3. German Order of Battle, 291st-999th Infantry Division, named infantry divisions, and special divisions in World War II. p. 29.

References
  • Samuel W. Mitcham (2007). German Order of Battle. Volume One: 1st – 290th Infantry Divisions in WWII. PA; United States of America: Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0-8117-3416-5.

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