246th Volksgrenadier Division (Germany)

The 246th Infantry (later "Volksgrenadier") Division was a Third Wave division of the Wehrmacht formed in Trier (Wkr. XII) and initially stationed on the Saar Line, later in South-western France from August 1941 until January 1942. [ [http://artofwar.ru/m/maa/text_0270.shtml Mageramov, Alexander Anatolyevich, Combat history of several units and formations, forum notes] ]

From December 1941 to May 1943 its commander was "Generalleutnant" Maximilian Zehler.

On formation it consisted of:
*313th, 352nd and 404th infantry regiments
*246th artillery regiment
*246th pioneer regiment
*246th anti-tank battalion
*246th signals battalion
*other subunits

The division lacked 50mm anti-tank guns, and used trophy French vehicles.

From February 1942 to January 1943 the division served in the area of Vitebsk and was a part of the 9th Army). Most of the operations in which the division participated were in the area of Bely and south-west of it, the sector extending to Smolensk. The division's most active period was during the Winter-Spring of 1942, but from May it was transferred to the "Kampfgruppe Esebeck" (Generalleutenant Hans-Karl Frhr. von Esebeck) [K14, Ian V. Hogg ed., "German Order of Battle, Arms and Armour Press", London, 1975] , and from March in "Kampfgruppe Zeidlitz". During July 1942, in cooperation with the 2nd Panzer Division it was engaged in combat with the 17th Guards and 135th Rifle Divisions and the 21st Tank Brigade.

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