
With the 25. ID (Mot) in Operation Barbarossa.
Origins.
The 25. Infantry Division (25. ID) was established due to the occupation of the Rhineland from 1 April 1936 in Ludwigsburg, in the Military District V, with (to September 1939): Infantry Regiment 13 (IR 13), Infantry Regiment 35 (IR 35), Infantry Regiment 119 (IR 119), Artillery Regiment 25 (AR 25), Reconnaissance Detachment 25 (AA 25), Anti-tank Detachment 25 (Pz Jäg Abt 25) , Battalion of Engineers 25 (Pi Btl 25) and other division formations. After the campaign in France, on November 15, 1940, the division was motorized and then designated as 25. Infantry Division (motorized) (25. ID Mot). The 13th Infantry Regiment was designated as Mountain Hunters Regiment 13 (GJR 13) and detached to the new 4th Mountain Division (4. GD). In addition, the division received the Battalion of Rifle Motorcyclists 25 (Kradschützen Btl 25). This transformation was completed on March 15, 1941. At this time his Commander was Generalleutnant Heinrich Clößner (October 16, 1939 - December 1941) and his First Staff Officer (Ia) was Oberstleutnant i.G. Heinrich (Heinz) Gaedcke (June 4, 1940 - January 31, 1943)
Deployment in occupied Poland (General Governorate)
In the first days of June 1941, the troops of the division learned that they would soon be transported by rail to a new destination, which at the time was unknown. Where we go? It was the current question back then and that of course had no true answer. At that time the concentration of German troops on the western border of Poland occupied by the Soviet Union since the conclusion of the Polish campaign, from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, was already remarkable. Thus some 90 infantry divisions and 31 rapid divisions converged to their staging zones within the "North", "Center" and "South" Army Groups. The 25. ID (Mot) reached its waiting areas north, west and south of Lublin, transported in 68 trains, with the mass being transported between June 08 and 10, 1941; by June 15, 1941, the division was fully assembled in Poland.
Thus the Ia recalled that in Lublin received from the III. Army Corps (Mot), to which was attached the division, the first directives regarding the new campaign. In Naleszow (Nałęczów), a small and beautiful Polish spa established its headquarters and recognized the town in view of the future installation of the Command Post. Little by little, the division was coming. Meetings followed, including a simulation game. An infinite amount of paper was spent by the staff and the troops: information, aerial photos, enemy reports, supply arrangements................................
Sources: Wege eines Soldaten. Gerhard Brugmann, Heinz Gaedcke.
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gli ... 25ID-R.htm
Erwin Boehm: Geschichte der 25. Division, Hrsg.: Kameradenhilfswerk 25 e.V., Stuttgart 1983
http://www.kavallerie-regiment18.de/aa25.html
Cheers. Raúl M
