104th Jäger Division (Wehrmacht)

104th Jäger Division

Divisional insignia of the 104th Jäger Division
Active 1941 – 1945
Country Nazi Germany Nazi Germany
Allegiance Adolf Hitler
Size Division
Engagements World War II

104th Jäger Division was a German infantry division of World War II. It was formed in April 1943, by the redesignation of the 704th Infantry Division, which was itself formed in April 1941. The division served in Yugoslavia in May 1941 where it took part in anti-partisan and security operations in the Independent State of Croatia. In April 1943, it was reorganized and redesignated the 104th Jäger Division and took part in the Battle of the Sutjeska in June 1943.
Following the Italian surrender, elements from the division took part in the murder of thousands of Italians from the 33 Infantry Division Acqui in September 1943,[1][2] on the Greek island of Cefalonia in one of the largest-scale German atrocities to be committed by German Army troops instead of the Waffen SS.[3]

The division surrendered to the Yugoslav Army at Celje in Slovenia in May 1945.[4] Many of the division's survivors, including the commander General Friedrich Stephan, were executed by the Yugoslavs after they had surrendered.[5]

Background

The main purpose of the German jäger divisions was to fight in adverse terrain where smaller, coordinated formations were more facilely combat capable than the brute force offered by the standard infantry divisions. The jäger divisions were more heavily equipped than mountain division, but not as well armed as a larger infantry formation. In the early stages of the war, they were the interface divisions fighting in rough terrain and foothills as well as urban areas, between the mountains and the plains. The jägers (it means hunters in German), relied on a high degree of training and slightly superior communications, as well as their not inconsiderable artillery support. In the middle stages of the war, as the standard infantry divisions were downsized, the Jäger structure of divisions with two infantry regiments, became the standard table of organization.[6]

Commanders

Area of operations

Order of battle

References

Notes

  1. ↑ "Massacres and atrocities of WWII". Archived from the original on 28 February 2009. Retrieved 3 April 2009. Almost unknown outside of Italy, this event ranks with Katyn as one of the darkest episodes of the war" also "The German 11th Battalion of Jäger-Regiment 98 of the 1st Gebirgs (Mountain) Division, commanded by Major Harald von Hirschfeld, arrived on the island and soon Stukas were bombing the Italian positions
  2. ↑ "Rizospastis" (in Greek). 2000-09-03. Retrieved 3 April 2009. Πρέπει να σημειωθεί πως τα βιβλία για τη σφαγή των Ιταλών στρατιωτών της Κεφαλονιάς (η μεγαλύτερη σφαγή αιχμαλώτων του Β' Παγκοσμίου Πολέμου), εκτός αυτού του Μπερνιέρ, είναι το ένα καλύτερο από το άλλο. Translation: It must be noted that the books about the massacre of the Italian soldiers in Kefalonia (the biggest massacre of prisoners of war in WWII), except the one by Bernier, are one better than the other.
  3. ↑ "Mörder unterm Edelweiß – noch immer unter uns ("Murderers under the Edelweiss — still among us")" (in German). Retrieved 3 April 2009.
  4. 1 2 3 Wendal, Marcus. "104 Jager Division". Axis History. Retrieved 2009-03-04.
  5. 1 2 Mitchum, p 251
  6. ↑ Mcoy, Breaker (2009). German Army 101st Light Division, 101st Jager Division 1941 – 42.

Bibliography

Further reading

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/27/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.