Undefeated to the End (Blitzkrieg - Second World War in Fight, First Edition, No. 52)

Under the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles the Reichswehr (German Army) was limited to 100,000 men. Nonetheless the army of the German Reich was soon expanded. In 1934 the staff of a new division was set up under the code name “Infanterieführer I”. With the restructuring of the Reichswehr into the Wehrmacht and the open break with the Treaty of Versailles in 1935, this proven and reliable unit was renamed “11th Infantry Division”. Its emblem on vehicles and weapons was a red elk’s head, which indicated the Division’s origins in East Prussia.At the beginning of World War II on September 1, 1939 it was deployed to the front from the very start. The Division’s soldiers proved themselves in the Polish Campaign by taking the fiercely defended Mlawa position. In the attack on France the Division was held in reserve until it was deployed in pursuit of the defeated French in “Fall Rot” (Case Red).On June 22, 1941 the Division joined the attack on the Soviet Union as part of Army Group North, where they fought their hardest battles to date. In the end the soldiers defended the positions near Leningrad before being forced to withdraw behind the Narva River. Subsequently the Wehrmacht was pushed farther and farther back to the west.In June 1944 Army Group North was already outside Riga. Then the Red Army began its great Summer Offensive: in Operation “Bagration” the Soviets penetrated the gap between the right wing of Army Group North and the left wing of Army Group Centre and drove Generaloberst Ferdinand Schörner’s soldiers north towards Courland, where the soldiers were able to stop the onslaught. But they had been trapped. Meanwhile the Soviet offensive in the south continued, and so the soldiers of Army Group North could not count on being relieved. Instead, they had to prepare for further Soviet attacks, knowing full well that there was nothing behind them but the Baltic Sea. Breaking out seemed impossible and permission to attempt it had been denied by the military command. And so the soldiers of the 11th Infantry Division had no choice but to fight where they stood…Blitzkrieg - Second World War in Fight, First Edition, No. 52