352. Infanterie Division

 

The division was formed 5 November 1943 in St. Lô. The dissolved 321. Division was used as cadre for the new formation.¹

On 1 February 1944 the division had a strength of 9 934.² One month later it had increased to 12 734 men.³ Probably it retained this strength without any considerable changes, since on 1 April it was reported to have 494 men more than the authorized strength.⁴ Also it had all its authorized weapons.⁵ This indicate that the division did not recieve any major additions of men or equipment until D-Day.

Most of the recruits were born in the years 1925 and 1926. Considerable problems were however experienced when training them. Lack of ammunition meant that before March, the soldiers were only given three opportunities to fire their weapons live. Also they had only thrown two hand grenades. Training of drivers lagged behind due to shortages of fuel.⁶

From March onwards training did proceed better, but it was hampered by the time spent on construction of the creation of the "Atlantic Wall". On average a soldier spent nine hours on such work each day, while training only accounted for three hours.⁷

The structure of the division looked like this on 1 May⁸:

All infantry battalions had 60 light machine guns, three heavy machine guns and twelve 8 cm mortars. The Füs.Btl. had identical equipment. The 1. Company of the Füs.Btl. was bicycle mounted. The infantry regiments had one infantry gun company. In the 914. and 915. Regiments the IG company had two 15 cm and six 7,5 cm infantry howitzers, while the company was only equipped with two 15 cm and two 7,5 cm infantry howitzers in 916. Regiment. Each regiment had an AT company with three 7,5 cm Pak 40 AT guns.⁹

Batteries 1 - 9 of the artillery regiment had four 10,5 cm howitzers each, while batteries 10 - 12 had four 15 cm howitzer each. None of the batteries were motorized.¹⁰

The artillery had available one basic load of ammunition.¹¹ For the 10,5 cm howitzers this meant 225 rounds per gun, while the 15 cm howitzers had 150 rounds each.¹² Altogether this meant 301 tons of ammunition.¹³ This does not include artillery subordinated from other units than 352. Inf.Div.

The Panzerjäger Abteilung had 14 Marder 38 and 10 StuG III.¹⁴ These had been received in March.¹⁵ Also the battalion had a company with nine motorized 3,7 cm Flak guns.¹⁶

The Pioniere Btl. had three companies. Its equipment included 37 machine guns, 20 flame throwers, plus six mortars.¹⁷

The field replacement battalion had five companies with a total of 62 machine guns, six 8 cm mortars, one 5 cm AT gun, one 7,5 cm AT gun, one 10,5 cm howitzer, one infantry howitzer and two flame throwers.¹⁸

Parts of the 916. Regiment was located close to the Omaha beaches on D-Day. Also one battalion from 716. Division was subordinated to 916. Infantry Regiment. The 915. Regiment was in reserve south east of Bayeux, while 914. Regiment was deployed around Isigny.¹⁹

The chief of staff of 352. Inf.Div., Ziegelmann, stated in his postwar manuscript that the losses suffered by the division during 6 June amounted to about 200 killed, 500 wounded and 500 missing.²⁰ This is supported by wartime documents, which show that the division suffered losses exceeding 1 000 men.²¹ The division remained in the area south east of Isigny.

On 16 June it was reported that the division had about 3 000 casualties.²² This probably included subordinated units. Casualties 6 - 24 June amounted to 5 407 officers and men.²³ Despite these severe losses the division remained in action. Its losses mounted and by 11 July the division had incurred a further 2 479 casualties.²⁴ During the period 1 July - 25 July, the division had 123 officers and men killed in action while 464 were wounded and 110 missing.²⁵

The division was in very poor shape on 30 July, when all its battalions were classified as "abgekämpft"²⁶, which meant that the unit was no longer combat worthy and that the battalion had less than 100 combat ready men left. It had four heavy AT guns and two StuG combat ready and four artillery batteries.²⁷ Also it had the following units subordinated²⁸:

Three battalions from 266. Inf.Div.
Two battalions from 353. Inf.Div.
One battalion from 30. Brigade
One battalion from 275. Inf.Div.
One battalion from 343. Inf.Div.
One artillery battery from 343. Inf.Div.
One artillery battery from "Autun" artillery battalion

Few of these were in better condition than the divisions organic units.²⁹

At the beginning of August the division was withdrawn for refitting in the area south-east of Alençon. The division only spent about a week here before US forces closed in. Elements of the division subsequently became engaged in rear guard actions along the axis Le Mans - Dreux.³⁰

The remnants of the division were merged with 581. Volks-Gren.Div. on 21 September 1944 to form the 352. Volks-Gren.Div.³¹

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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	Kriegsgliederungen AOK 7, T312, R1566, F000159. Strength refer to "Kopfstärke".
3	Kriegsgliederungen AOK 7, T312, R1566, F000197. Strength refer to "Gesamtstärke".
4	WFST/Op. (H)/West Nr.004662/44 g.Kdos, den 3. Mai 1944, Fehlstellen der Divisionen im Bereich OB West, Stand 1.4.44, T77, R1421, F000237f.
5	Auffrischung und Umgliederung, 14.3.44, T311, R1, F7000461.
6	F. Ziegelmann, Die Geschichte der 352. Infanterie-Division, MS # B-432, p. 5.
7	Ibid, p. 8.
8	Gliederung der 352. I.D., Stand 1.5.44, T312, R1566, F000216.
9	Ibid.
10	Ibid.
11	F. Ziegelmann, Die Geschichte der 352. Infanterie-Division, MS # B-432, p. 12.
12	G. Donat, Der Munitionsverbrauch im Zweiten Weltkrieg im operativen und taktischen Rahmen (Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1992) Anlage 5.
13	Ibid.
14	Gliederung der 352. I.D., Stand 1.5.44, T312, R1566, F000216.
15	Lieferungen der Pz.Fahrzeuge Bd. ab Mai 1943, BA-MA RH 10/349.
16	Gliederung der 352. I.D., Stand 1.5.44, T312, R1566, F000216.
17	Ibid.
18	Ibid.
19	Lagekarte AOK 7, 5.6.1944, BA-MA RH 20-7/138K.
20	F. Ziegelmann, Die Geschichte der 352. Infanterie-Division, MS # B-432, p. 41.
21	Reisebericht Hauptmann Pickardt, 10.6.44, T311, R25, F7029436.
22	Anlagen zum KTB OB West Ia, Einzelnotizen, 16.6.44, T311, R25, F7030072.
23	AOK 7 Ia Nr. 3454/44 g.Kdos 27.6.44, T312, R1565, F001381.
24	KTB OB West Ia, entry 12.7.44, T311, R16, F7016788.
25	Anlage 1 zu Korpsarzt II. Fallsch.Korps B.Nr. 65050/45 g.Kdos vom 27.1.45, Berichtzeit 1.7 - 4.9.44, p. 15, BA-MA RL 33/5.
26	AOK 7 Ia Nr. 4174/44 g.Kdos., T312, R1569, F000359.
27	Ibid.
28	Ibid.
29	Ibid.
30	Ziegelmann, MS # B-741.
31	Tessin, op. cit.