137th Infantry Division

The history of the 137th infantry division of the Wehrmacht is typical for many infantry compounds that made up the basis of German land forces on the Eastern Front. From the first day of the war with the Soviet Union, the division, was staffed initially in the main Austrians, took an active part in many of the most important operations of the Eastern Campaign: in Belostok-Minsk and Smolensk battles, battles near Vyazma and Roslavl, Eagle and Sevsky. After the defeat of the German troops in the Kursk arc, the 137th division led heavy defensive battles on the gum, Dnieper and Pripyat. From October 1943, the deep division existed in the form of a combat group, and in December 1943 and was disbanded due to non-use. It is symbolic that the division finished his combat path there, from where she went beyond the mild (as many German generals believed) victory to Russia - in the area of ​​the Polish city of Sedlice. After disbanding, its separate divisions fought as part of other compounds to their bitter end in May 1945
For writing the history of the 137th Infantry Division in the late 1950s. V.Mayer-Detring, the former head of the Operational Department of the Division Staff, who passed the fighting path from Bug to Kaluga. He used not only combat reports and orders of that time, the combat operations of individual division divisions, but also the extensive corps of personal diaries of officers, non-commissioned officers and ordinary, who participated in the eastern campaign in the ranks of the 137th division. These entries helped to supplement the analysis of events from the point of view of the division command with personal impressions of a simple soldier and officer. For clarity, the author used a large number of schemes of individual battles and battles, as well as tens of photographs of military pore.
Surely this book will cause interest not only in historians and specialists, but also from ordinary readers who are interested in military history