mystery divisions

[genstab]

I have two divisions which apparently didn't exist according to Tessin- at least at the time period the below generals were said to have commanded them:

189th Infantry Division- Paul Bauer 10/39 to 4/41 (Bradley and Mehner in "Die Deutsche Wehrmacht")- Tessin says it wasn't formed till 9/42

191st Reserve Division- Erich Baessler 12/44 to 5/45 (Bradley, Keilig and Mehner in "Die Deutsche Wehrmacht")- Tessin says it became 49th ID (static) in February 1944 and gives no indication of another being formed

Can anyone help me with these? If the divisions didn't exist we probably have typos and they were commanding other divisions.

[Alex Coles]

189th Inf.Div was around at 10/44 with (I think) LXXXV Armeekorps. Read about it on feldgrau's infantry section.

[genstab]

Right- thanks, but I'm interested in its existence before 4/41

[John W. Howard]

Hello Genstab:
The 189ID was a reserve division, so perhaps prior to it being officially listed as a division it had a division staff only, with few if any soldiers assigned to it. Just a guess. Best wishes.

[genstab]

Well, John, Mehner categorizes it as a Replacement Division (Div. Nr.) in the time period in question; he shows Paul Bauer in command from 25 Oct 1939 to 15-4-41 and then no commander to 20-9-42 when Egon Neindorff commanded for six days; then it became 189th Reserve Division with Neindorff still in command. However, Tessin doesn't show the division as having existed before 9/42, so as Mehner didn't know the commander before Neindorff I thought perhaps Paul Bauer actually commanded a different division in 1939-41 and 189 was a typo.

Then there's the other one- 191st Reserve Division, which wasn't supposed to have existed after it became 49th ID (static) in Feb 1944. But Bradleyand Keilig show Erich Baessler commanding it in 1945. Again, Tessin doesn't show it as existing then. I apparently misspoke when I said Mehner also showed it existing in 1945 with Baessler commanding- he didn't.

[John W. Howard]

Hello Genstab:
I see what you mean. It is a mystery indeed. Good luck.

[Abel Ravasz]

Hi Bill,

Genl Erich Baessler was Stadtkommandant Oslo between 28/10/44 - 8/5/45. So I suppose that the 191. Res Div was non-existent at the time. It may be possible, though, that the Stab 191. Res Div became the Komm. Oslo, hence the confusion.

Abel

[genstab]

It's a good supposition, Abel- though I'd think that Commandant Oslo would have been established in 1940. Maybe he was appointed Cdr of a divisionstab that was never raised? But thanks.

[Manage1]

From my records the 189th came into existance on the 6/12/1942

Its first cmdr being M/Gen Egon Neindorff between 6/12/42 & 1/5/43

The unit was disbanded in 1/5/43

Hope this helps

Manage1

[sid guttridge]

Hi Guys,

These two divisions are part of a pattern affecting numerous other divisions in the 140-194 series.

Each of the 15 territorial wehrkreise of the Ersatzheer began the war with one, or more usually two, training and replacement divisions numbered in this series. They were titled Div. Nr...

In 1942-43 most of them were transferred from their home wehrkreise in the Reich to France, Russia, Poland, Croatia and Northern Italy. They retained their numbers and training role, but were retitled Reserve Divisions and took on some simultaneous occupation duties. They were still part of the Ersatzheer at this stage and did not have regular TOEs.

As the Feldheer began to lose entire divisions in 1943-44, in desperation all the reserve divisions were taken into the Feldheer as full front line Infantry Divisions during 1944 (and one, I think, in 1945). Some were renumbered using vacant serials in the Feldheer's sequence, while others retained their numbers.

189th and 191st Divisions were typical of this more generalised process that affected twenty or more ex-Ersatzheer divisions.

Cheers,

Sid.