91. Infanterie Division

 

The division was formed in January 1944 at Baumholder, Germany. It was soon moved to Reims, where it was to train for air landing operations.¹

It seems that the organization of the division was²:

In May the 91. Inf.Div. was sent to Normandy. It was reported on 15 May that all rail movements were completed.³ The division required only 32 trains⁴, which suggest that it had a strength of no more than perhaps 7 000 - 8 000 men.

The 91 Füs.Btl. was formed in April 1944 according to Tessin, but it was not included on the 7th Army situation map dated 5 June 1944. Possibly it was still not combat ready. The 6. Fallschirm Regiment was subordinated to 91. Inf.Div. on D-Day.

It seems that the division had no field replacement battalion.⁵

A particular problem for the division was that two of its artillery battalions were equipped with 10,5 cm Geb.Haub. 40. This weapon, a mountain howitzer, used ammunition that was not interchangeable with the standard German 10,5 cm field howitzer. When the division arrived in Normandy it had only one basic load of ammunition for this weapon. During the fighting it received very little supply of this ammo and these howitzers had to be sent away and be replaced with other weapons. This made the equipment of the artillery regiment very mixed.⁶

Elements of the division was engaged on D-Day, counterattacking US paratroopers on the Cotentin. The commander of the division, Wilhelm Falley, was killed when he tried to return to his command post.

Until 12 June the 91. Inf.Div. lost 2 212 men killed, wounded and missing.⁷ Losses continued to mount and it was reported that the division lost 85 % of its infantry soldiers 6 - 24 June. During the same period it lost 21 % of the artillery manpower, 76 % of the engineers and 48 % of the AT units personnel.⁸

On 27 June the division could no longer be regarded to be regularly organized. It had the following⁹:

Gruppe Eitner	2 mittelstarke and 1 schwaches Btl.
Gruppe Lewendowski	2 schwaches Btl.
Gruppe Jäger	1 schwaches Ost.Btl.
Gruppe Klosterkämper	2 mittelstarke Btl. (from 243. Inf.Div.)
	1 starkes Turk.-Btl.

It still had considerable heavy equipment: 31 7,62 cm FK39, 1 7,5 cm FK 17 (t), 2 10,5 cm Geb.Haub. 40, 8 8,8 cm Pak 43, 12 12,2 cm Haub. (r), 7 12,5 cm Kan. (r), 9 15,5 cm Kan.Haub. (r), 2 8,8 cm Flak, 21 StuG, 10 Pak 40 (sf) och 39 Pak 40 (mot. towed).¹⁰ The StuG were most likely from 902. StuG.Abt.

The division remained close to the coast and on 21 July it had the following artillery¹¹:

II./Art.Rgt. 177	4. Bttr. (four 10,5 cm How), 5. Bttr. (three x 10,5 cm How)
III./Art.Rgt. 177	7. Bttr. (three 8,8 cm Pak), 8. Bttr. (three 8,8 cm Pak), 9. (seven 2 cm Flak and two 3,7 cm Flak)
I./Art.Rgt. 353	1. Bttr. (four 10,5 cm How), 2. Bttr. (three x 10,5 cm How), 3. Bttr. (four 10,5 cm How)
I./Art.Rgt. 265	2. Bttr. (four 7,62 cm Gun), 3. Bttr. (three x 7,62 cm Gun), 9. Bttr. (three 12,2 cm Gun-How12)

On 23 July the division only had two infantry battalions left, and these were merely skeletons plus one lent to 243. Inf.Div.¹³ Also the division had some other units subordinated¹⁴:

From 77. Inf.Div.:	2 durchsnittliche, 1 schwach and 2 abgelämpfte Btle.
From 265. Inf.Div.:	1 abgekämpftes Btl.

The divisions organic artillery was lent to 243. Inf.Div. (six batteries) and Das Reich (one battery).¹⁵

Since the division was seriously depleted its remaining elements were withdrawn to beef up other units. This was formally acknowledged on 10 August.¹⁶

Probably the casualties of the division, excluding subordinated units, amounted to about 5 000 men.

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Notes:

1	G. Tessin, Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS (Mittler & Sohn, Frankfurt am Main and Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1966-1975).
2	Ibid.
3	OB West Ia, Anlagen zum KTB, Meldung Gen.d.Tr.West, 15.5.44, T311, R24, F7028540.
4	OB West Ia, Anlagen zum KTB, Meldung Gen.d.Tr.West, 12.5.44, T311, R24, F7028484.
5	Tessin, op. cit.
6	See E. König, Kämpfe in der Normandie, 91. LL Div., MS # B-010, p. 2f and W. Triepel, Artl. Führer 91. Inf.Div. (18.6. &endash; 31.7.1944), MS # B-469, p. 1.
7	AOK 7 Ia Nr. 3116/44 g.Kdos, 15.6.44., T312, R1565, F001048.
8	AOK 7 Ia Nr. 3454/44 g.Kdos 27.6.44, T312, R1565, F001381. These figures does not include those elements that were surrounded in Cherbourg. But since it was reported that only 30 men of the division were among the forces cut off at Cherbourg (HGr B Ia Nr. 3848/44 g.Kdos, 22.6.44, T311, R3, F7002297), this can hardly have affected the percentages by much.
9	AOK 7 Ia Nr. 3454/44 g.Kdos 27.6.44, T312, R1565, F001377.
10	AOK 7 Ia Nr. 3454/44 g.Kdos 27.6.44, T312, R1565, F001377.
11	Gen.Kdo. LXXXIV A.K. Ia Nr. 035/44g.Kdos 22.7.44, Taktische Gliederung der Artillerie, Stand 21.7.44, T314, R1604, F001388.
12	The symbol in the original document is a gun-howitzer. However no 12,2 cm gun-howitzer was used by the Germans. There were a 15,2 cm gun-howitzer (captured Russian) and it is possible that this is a case of printing error. Also it could be the symbol that is wrong. If that is the case it is most likely that the weapons were 12,2 cm howitzers. On 1 May the battery was equipped with 12,2 cm howitzers (Gliederung 265. Inf.Div. 1.5.1944, Gliederungen AOK 7, BA-MA RH 20-7/136).
13	Gen.Kdo. LXXXIV. A.K. Ia 048/44 g.Kdos. T314, R1604, F001374.
14	Ibid.
15	Ibid.
16	OKH Org.Abt. Nr. I/18681/44 g.Kdos, 10.8.44, T78, R421, F6390498.