16th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

The 16th Infantry Division of the German Army was created in 1934 as  Kommandant von Münster. In October 1935 the division was renamed ''16. Infanterie-Division''. On 26 August 1939 the division was mobilized for the invasion of Poland (1939). It participated in the Battle of France in 1940. The division was then split, also in 1940, resulting in two independent lineages: The 16th Panzer Division and the 16th Motorized Infantry Division. The latter, from 1944 onward, combined with other non 16th elements, was known as the 116th Panzer Division.

Commanding officers

 * Generaloberst Gotthard Heinrici
 * Generalleutnant Heinrich Krampf, 1 February 1940
 * Generaloberst Hans-Valentin Hube, 1 June 1940
 * General der Infanterie Friedrich-Wilhelm von Chappuis, 1 November 1940
 * General der Panzertruppen Sigfrid Henrici
 * Generalleutnant Johannes Streich
 * General der Panzertruppen Sigfrid Henrici, November 1941
 * General der Panzertruppen Gerhard von Schwerin, 13 November 1942
 * Generalmajor Wilhelm Crisolli, 20 May 1943

Panzer Division
The 16th Panzer Division served as a reserve in Romania during the Balkans campaign in 1941. It then participated in Operation Barbarossa with Army Group South, also in 1941. The 16th Panzer Division was encircled and ultimately destroyed at Stalingrad during the winter of 1942–43.

It was rebuilt for a campaign in the west, fought in Sicily and southern Italy during the Italian Campaign in 1943 and returned to the Russian Front later in the year. Severely mauled near Kiev, it was withdrawn to Poland for rehabilitation in 1944. The 16th Panzer Division returned to the east in 1945, where it surrendered to the Soviets and Americans in Czechoslovakia.

Commanding officers

 * Generaloberst Hans-Valentin Hube, 1 November 1940
 * Generalleutnant Günther Angern, 15 September 1942
 * Generalmajor Burkhart Müller-Hillebrand, March 1943
 * Generalmajor Rudolf Sieckenius, 5 May 1943
 * Generalmajor Hans-Ulrich Back, 1 November 1943
 * Generalleutnant Dietrich von Müller, 14 August 1944
 * Oberst Theodor Kretschmer, 1 December 1944
 * Generalleutnant Dietrich von Müller, 2 February 1945 (captured by 1st Czechoslovak Partisan Brigade of Jan Žižka)
 * Oberst Dr. Albrecht Aschoff, 1 Apr 1945
 * Oberst Kurt Treuhaupt, 19 Apr 1945

Motorized Division
The 16th Motorized Infantry Division, nicknamed Windhund ("Greyhound"), participated in the Balkans campaign in 1941 along with the 16th Panzer Division (see above). It took part in Operation Barbarossa with Army Group South later in the year. It advanced on the Caucasus with elements coming to within 20 miles of Astrakhan in 1942 &mdash; the most easterly point reached by any German unit during the war. It also participated in the Battle of Stalingrad. The 16th Motorized Infantry Division participated in defensive operations after the Soviets broke up the front of the southern sector. In 1943, it was upgraded to the 16th Panzergrenadier Division. This upgraded formation suffered heavily in the continuous retreats and was transferred to France for rest and refitting.

It was reorganized as the 116th Panzer Division (with the number changed since the 16th Panzer Division was already taken by its sibling), absorbing the 179th Reserve Panzer Division in the process in 1944. This new formation fought in the Battle of Normandy and was almost destroyed in the Falaise Gap.

It subsequently defended the Siegfried Line at Aachen in an understrength condition. The 116th Panzer Division was withdrawn for refitting and then recommitted, but failed to save the city of Aachen. It later participated in the Battle of Hurtgen Forest then in the Battle of the Bulge, again sustaining heavy casualties. It was caught in the Wesel Pocket, but managed to escape across the Rhine, ultimately surrendering within the Ruhr Pocket in April, 1945.