22nd Air Landing Division (Wehrmacht)

2 Commanders

The 22nd Infantry Division was a German infantry division in World War II.

Generalleutnant Adolf Strau (15 Oct 1935 - 10 Nov

1938)
Generalleutnant Hans Graf von Sponeck (10 Nov
1938 - 10 Oct 1941)

History

General der Infanterie Ludwig Wol (10 Oct 1941

- 1 Aug 1942)
General der Infanterie Friedrich-Wilhelm Mller (1
Aug 1942 - 15 Feb 1944)

Created as 22. Infanterie-Division in 1935, one regiment participated in the 1939 Invasion of Poland; the rest
of the division stayed in garrison on the Siegfried Line in
case of a French attack in defense of Poland. The division retrained as 22. Luftlande-Division (Air Landing
Division) for rapid tactical deployment to captured enemy
airbases and performed in that role during the invasion of
the Netherlands suering heavy losses, and afterward advanced into France operating as ordinary ground infantry.
Though planned for use in its air-landing role for the
Battle of Crete, it was replaced by another division at the
last minute. It joined Army Group South in Operation
Barbarossa (1941), attacking from Romania and, operating exclusively as ordinary ground infantry, helped storm
Sevastopol in the Crimea (1942).

Generalmajor Heinrich Kreipe (15 Feb 1944 - 26

Apr 1944)
Generalleutnant Helmut Friebe (1 May 1944 - 15
April 1945)
Generalmajor Gerhard Khne (16 April 1944 - 15
May 1945)

3 Orders of Battle

The unit was thereafter transferred to Crete for garrison duty and mop-up operations in the Aegean, playing 3.1 May 1940 - Fall Gelb
a major role in the Battle of Leros. During September
1943, forces of the unit committed numerous atrocities
Divisionstab
in Viannos. On 26 April 1944 the divisional commander, Generalmajor Heinrich Kreipe, was abducted by a
Infanterie-Regiment 16
British Special Operations Executive team led by Major Patrick Leigh Fermor and Capt Bill Stanley Moss.
Infanterie-Regiment 47
Kreipes car was ambushed at night on the way from the
divisional headquarters at Ano Archanes to the Villa Ari Infanterie-Regiment 65
adne at Knossos and he was taken cross-country over the
mountains to the south coast where he and his captors
Artillerie-Regiment 22
were picked up by a British vessel near Rodakino on 14
May. This operation was later portrayed in the book Ill
Met by Moonlight (1950) written by Moss based on his
Panzerabwehr-Abteilung 22
wartime diaries, later adapted as a lm of the same name.
Aufklrungs-Abteilung 22
Withdrawn to the mainland in autumn 1944, the 22.
Infanterie-Division spent the rest of the war in antipartisan operations in Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia and
Herzegovina in southeastern Europe, was renamed 22.
Volksgrenadier-Division in March 1945, as it withdrew
to Slavonia and nally surrendered to Yugoslav forces at
the end of the war in May in Slovenia.

Feldersatz-Bataillon 22
Nachrichten-Bataillon 22
Pionier-Bataillon 22
1

3.2

July 1944 - Crete

Divisionstab
Grenadier-Regiment 16
Grenadier-Regiment 47
Grenadier-Regiment 65
Artillerie-Regiment 22
Panzerjger-Abteilung 22
Aufklrungs-Abteilung 22
Flak-Bataillon 22
Nachrichten-Bataillon 22
Pionier-Bataillon 22
Feldersatz-Bataillon 22

See also
Airborne forces
Division (military), Military unit, List of German
divisions in World War II
Heer, Wehrmacht

References

Note: The Web references may require you to follow

links to cover the units entire history.
Mauermann, Helmut Fliegerhorst Strmede. Eine
Chronik in Wort und Bild. (2005) German language book about one of the westfalian bases of 22.
I.D. (LL) in spring 1940
Pipes, Jason. "22.Infanterie-Division". Retrieved
April 2, 2005.
Wendel, Marcus (2004). "22. Luftlande InfanterieDivision". Retrieved April 2, 2005.
"22. Infanterie-Division / 22. (LL) InfanterieGerman language article at www.
Division".
lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de, with photos. Retrieved
April 2, 2005.
"22. Infanterie-Division - Die 'Bremer Division'".
German language article at www.historic.de, with
photos. Retrieved April 18, 2005.

REFERENCES

Burkhard Mller-Hillebrand (1969). Das Heer

1933-1945. Entwicklung des organisatorischen Aufbaues (in German). Vol. III: Der Zweifrontenkrieg.
Das Heer vom Beginn des Feldzuges gegen die Sowjetunion bis zum Kriegsende. Frankfurt am Main:
Mittler. p. 286.
Georg Tessin (1970). Verbnde und Truppen der
deutschen Wehrmacht und Waen-SS im Zweiten
Weltkrieg, 1939 - 1945 (in German). Vol. IV: Die
Landstreitkrfte 15 30. Frankfurt am Main: Mittler.

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