24th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)

The 24th Panzer Division was formed in 1942 from the 1st Cavalry Division based at Königsberg.

Service
It served under the Fourth Panzer Army in Army Group South of the Eastern Front. In late December 1942 it was encircled in the Battle of Stalingrad and destroyed. It was reformed in March 1943 and served in Normandy, Italy and then went back to the Eastern Front where it suffered heavy casualties around Kiev and the Dnepr Bend. During spring-1944 it took part in the Battles of Târgu Frumos, part of the First Jassy-Kishinev Offensive. Near the end of the war it saw action in Poland, Hungary and Slovakia before it surrendered to the British in May 1945.

In keeping with the Division's mounted origins, the 24th Panzer's tank crewmen wore the golden-yellow Waffenfarbe of the cavalry rather than Panzer pink.

Legacy
The insignia of the 24th Panzer division was adopted in 1956 by the PzAufklBtl.3 of the newly created Bundeswehr.

Commanders

 * General of the Cavalry (General der Kavallerie) Kurt Feldt - From 28 November 1941 to 15 April 1942
 * General of the Tank Troops (General der Panzertruppen) Bruno Ritter von Hauenschild - From 15 April 1942 to 12 September 1942
 * General-Leutnant (Generalleutnant) Arno von Lenski - From 12 September 1942 to 31 January 1943
 * General of the Tank Troops (General der Panzertruppen) Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Edelsheim - From 1 March 1943 to 1 August 1944
 * Major-General (Generalmajor) Gustav-Adolf von Nostitz-Wallwitz - From 1 August 1944 to 25 March 1945
 * Major Rudolf von Knebel-Döberitz - From 25 March 1945 to 8 May 1945