A. Harding Ganz - Ghost Division: The 11th Gespenster Panzer Division and the German Armored Force in World War II

Copyright 2016 by A. Harding Ganz

Published by
STACKPOLE BOOKS
5067 Ritter Road
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
www.stackpolebooks.com

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Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

First edition

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ganz, Albert Harding, 1938- author.

Ghost division : the 11th Gespenster Panzer Division and the German Armored Force / A. Harding Ganz. First edition.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8117-1659-8

1. Germany. Heer. Panzerdivision, 11History. 2. World War, 19391945Regimental historiesGermany. 3. World War, 19391945Tank warfare. 4. World War, 19391945CampaignsEastern Front. 5. World War, 19391945CampaignsWestern Front. I. Title. II. Title: 11th Gespenster Panzer Division and the German Armored Force.

D757.5611th G36 2015

940.54'1343dc23

2015031335

Soldbuch (identification book) of Oblt. von Eggeling, with awards

11.Panzer-Division Order of Battle, 5 April 1941

Fighting and Ration Strengths, 18 June 1941

Radio message, SS LAH in support, 24 July 1941

KTB (war diary), 14 October 1941 Kampfgruppen list

KTB, 21 May 1942Oberst Balck as commander

Telephone message from XXXXVIII. Pz.K., 7 December 1942

KTB, 8 December 1942Fighting at Sovkhoz 79

Planned Order of Battle, 10 April 1943

Z ITADELLE Attack Order, 29 June 1943Occupy Butovo on X-1 Day

KTB, 9 August 1943Kessel of Graivoron

Karl von Sivers

Wend von Wietersheim

KTB, 30 October 1943Ferdinands and Tigers attached

Two Ritterkreuz bearers: Wend von Wietersheim and Karl Thieme

Iron Cross 1. Class awarded to Oblt. von Fersen

Panther like Oblt. Rahns

Oblt. von Fersens Panzer IV

von Eggeling on leave

Lorraine mud

von Wietersheim leaving headquarters

General von Wietersheim negotiating the Gespenster-Division surrender

11.Pz.Div. at Ktzting

US Col. Hank Reed

Lipizzaners

Discharge of Klaus Bardt by 2nd Cavalry Group

Walter Rahn and Jimmie Leach

Karl Heinz Loschke

Leopard, Gerhard Winkler

Pz.Rgt.15 reunion at Wolfhagen

The West, 1940

The Balkans, 1941

Russia, 1941

Russia, 1942

Chir, 1942, and Manych, 1943

Russia, 1943

Kharkov, 1943

Kursk4.Panzerarmee Attack

Kessel of Graivoron, August 1943

Retreat from Graivoron, 1943

Russia, 1944

CherkassyKorsun Pocket, 1944

11. Panzer-Division in the West, 1944

Montelimar, 2131 August 1944

Lorraine, SeptemberOctober 1944

Arracourt4th Armored vs. 11. Panzer, September 1944 (showing American and German unit symbology)

Lorraine, NovemberDecember 1944

Fight in Singling

Germany, 1945

11. Panzer-Division surrender routes, May 1945

T he 11. Panzer-Division was activated by an Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH, Army High Command) order of 17 July 1940. Organized around the 11. Schtzenbrigade (mot) (motorized 11. Rifle Brigade), the unit was combined with Panzer-Regiment 15 by an OKH order of 6 September 1940. It adopted the symbol of a sword-wielding specter on a half-track, and identification as the Gespenster (Ghost) Division. Nine more panzer divisions were formed in the months that followed, doubling the number of panzer divisions in the German Wehrmacht to twenty.

This buildup reflected the decisive role the German Panzerwaffe (armored force) had played in the Polish campaign in 1939 and the campaigns in the West in 1940the offensives that introduced the phrase Blitzkrieg , or lightning war. The Gespenster-Division would fight in Yugoslavia in 1941, in Russia in 194144, and in the West in 194445. Its operations would exemplify the role the Panzerwaffe played in World War II and influence future developments in armored warfare. At the same time, the unit would uphold the traditional principles of honor and chivalry in warfare, and earn the respect of its opponents.

As a young boy growing up in New York City during World War II, and then as a student of history, I developed an interest in armored warfare. I was captivated by Desmond Youngs Rommel (1950) and von Mellenthins Panzer Battles (1956). After college, I gained experience in armor operations while serving as a tank platoon leader (M60s) with the US 4th Armored Division (196466). I was stationed at Crailsheim, Germany, a posting that gave me the opportunity to visit many of the World War II battlefields of the European Theater alongside fellow Armor officers Lts. Jim Jackson and Art Walz, and I gained additional knowledge through correspondence with my Officer Candidate School and Armor School classmate Robert Wells.

My postdoctoral studies of the 4th Armored in World War II revealed that the division was constantly engaged with the German 11. Panzer-Division from September to December 1944. I made contact with Karl Heinz Loschke of Braunschweig, secretary of the 11. Panzer Veterans Association, an introduction that resulted in communications with many Gespensters and invitations to the units annual May reunions at Ktzting, Bavaria, the site of the divisions negotiated surrender to Pattons Third Army in May 1945.

Among the many Elften noted in this book, instrumental for providing details were Klaus Bardt, Walter Rahn, Ansgar Pawelke, Gerhard Winkler, Karl Thieme (who had my Armor article on the 11. Panzer translated into German and who nicknamed me Professor Panzerganz!), Friedrich Karl von Eggeling, Ernst August von Fersen, Walter Schaefer-Kehnert, and Kurt Nentwig. American veterans were also of assistance, especially Jimmie Leach and Sam Schenker of the US 4th Armored Division and William Molla of the 26th Yankee Division. One caveat is that many personal accounts and experiences cannot be corroborated, but reflect what was known at the time or was remembered.

Academics who have given great support are Allan R. Millett of the Ohio State University, Michael J. Lyons of North Dakota State University, the Scholarly Activity Committee of the Ohio State University Newark Campus, OSUN Associate Deans Howard Federspiel and Paul Panek, and Tauni Graham and John Crissinger of the OSUN Library. Others who have given assistance are Jeff Danby and Guy Franz Arend, as well as my wife, Diane, and Erik and Victoria, who have helped in so many ways. I must also acknowledge the congenial working with Stackpole editors Dave Reisch and Brittany Stoner. There is much more to the history of the 11. Gespenster-Division, and I would greatly appreciate corrections and additions.

A. Harding Ganz

Associate Professor Emeritus, History

Ohio State University

Newark, Ohio 43055

I have endeavored to incorporate German terms and abbreviations as actually used in World War II. For example, Landser is the generic term for the German soldier, while Wagen or Panzer was the Panzerkampfwagen (tank). One characteristic of German pronunciation is that the v is pronounced as f, and the w as v; thus the VW is the Fau Vay, the Lkw (Lastwagen, truck) is the Ell kah vay, and Vagen is a panzer. The artillery forward observer (FO) is the Fau Bay (VB, Vorgeschobener Beobachter), and the half-track SPW (Schtzenpanzerwagen) was the Es Pay Vay. Other common terms included the Acht-komma-acht, the 8,8cm gun (eighty-eight), and Das Zweibein, the bi-pod, for the MG 42. German gun measurements were in centimeters with commas, not millimeters and decimal points as in American practice. (German sources also use commas with times, as in 05,15 hours.)