44th Reichsgrenadier Division Hoch und Deutschemeiser

[Kelvin]

Anyone have info on German 44th Reichsgrenadier division Hoch und Deutschemeiser. Why Hitler gave this honor title to this division after it was rebuilt after Stalingrad. What different between this division and other German infantry division in term of manpower and equipment ?

[Richard Hargreaves]

Try Jan-Hendrik. I think he's got the H&D's histories (there are at least two I know of) so should be able to help out.

[derGespenst]

Kelvin,

The title was not given by Hitler. It is an old and proud title from the former Austrian Empire. The 44th ID was the holder of the tradition and entitled to the honorific.

[Reb]

"Hoch und Deutchmeister" was a hold over honorific from pre Napoleonic times - 4th Austrian Infantry Regt. Was converted to 134th Grenadier Regt in 44 German Inf div which being made up primarily (originally) of Austrians claimed the honorific for the Div. This was a tradition thing.

"Reichsgrenadier" came after 44 Div was rebuilt subsequent to Stalingrad. The Div first fought in Italy and then earned the title on the Ost Front. This was a recognition of accomplishments in battle. As far as I know - its the only div to be so titled.

cheers
Reb

[Kelvin]

Many German infantry divison changed it name to Grenadier Divison or Volks-Grenadier Division. Did " Grenadier" was honor title ?

[Richard Hargreaves]

Not in the Wehrmacht normally. I'm not an expert on the subject but as far as I can tell, "grenadier" increasingly replaced "infanterie" as an adjective to reflect the changing nature of infantry fighting during the war; it's not honorific for the most part.

Reb's right about the unusual nature of the honour; outside the SS and apart from the divisions in the very final stages, most panzer/infantry/grenadier divisions were simply numbered.

[Kelvin]

In my opinion, the term " infantry " is normal thing. The term like Sturm, Jager, Fusilier and Grenadier were good thing. Panzergrendier was absolutely good thing. you can see both GD regiment : Grossdeutschland panzergrenadier regiment and Grossdeutschland panzerfusilier regiment. Both Brandenburg regiments was Panzer Jager regiment 1 & 2. HG had fallschirm-sturm abteilung and later renamed as panzerfusilier abteilung.