37th SS Volunteer Cavalry Division Lützow
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please discuss this issue on the talk page or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since December 2005. |
37th SS Volunteer Cavalry Division Lützow was formed February 1945 from remnants of the Florian Geyer and Maria Theresa cavalry divisions, augmented with Hungarian volksdeutsche, near Marchfeld on the Hungarian-Slovakian border.
In March 1945 a kampfgruppe from Lützow, consisting of the battle-ready elements of the 37th division under the command of SS-Oberstrumbannführer Karl-Heinz Keitel (son of Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel) and entitled SS-Kampfgruppe Keitel, was sent to the 6th SS Panzer Army. It arrived 4 April and was attached to the I SS Panzerkorps Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, under which the kampfgruppe saw heavy action during the retreat through Austria, and where it surrendered at the end of the war.
Some men from the division took part in a mass breakout from the Altheim POW Camp on 13 May when they had not been released as soldiers from the regular Wehrmacht units had been.
[edit] Commanders
- SS-Oberführer Waldemar Fegelein (26 February 1945 - ? March 1945)
- SS-Standartenführer Karl Gesele (? March 1945 - ? May 1945)
Quartermaster
- SS-Hauptsturmführer Walter Jens (20 February 1945 - ? May 1945)
[edit] Area of operations
Hungary (Feb 1945 - May 1945)
[edit] Order of battle
- SS-Kavallerie Regiment 92
- SS-Kavallerie Regiment 93
- SS-Kavallerie Regiment 94
- SS-Artillerie-Abteilung 37 (two batteries with le.FH18 105 mm)
- SS-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 37
- SS-Panzerjäger-Abteilung 37 (one company equipped with Hetzer)
- SS-Pionier-Bataillion 37
- SS-Nachrichten-Kompanie 37
- SS-Sanitäts-Abteilung 37
- SS-Nachschub-Truppen 37
- Feldersatz-Bataillon 37
