The Path OF THE 79th Infantry Division


✅ War Graves along the path of the 79th Infantry Division
of the German Wehrmacht


Weiskirchen - War Cemetery


Along the path of the 79th Infantry Division of the German Wehrmacht lie the first war cemetery, which was inaugurated after arrival in September 1939 by the 79th Infantry Division in Weiskirchen an der Saar, a tiny village in the southwestern portion of Germany. Weiskirchen is located in the northern part of the federal state of Saarland who is bounded in the north and east by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and in the south and south-west by France and in the west by Luxembourg. The capital is Saarbrücken.

Looking at the image of General der Infanterie of the XI Army Corps Karl Strecker al well the commander in chief of the 79th Infantry Division of the German Wehrmacht.

Karl Strecker,
General der Infanterie, XI Army Corps

✽ 20 September 1884
in: Radmannsdorf, Kingdom of Prussia, (now Trzebiełuch, Poland)
✙ 10 April 1973
Aged: 88

Buried place - Begraben in:
Riezlern, Kleinwalsertal in Vorarlberg, Austria,
Place of tomb - Grabanlage:
..

Prisoner Of War - Kriegsgefangener:
he surendered in Stalingrad to the russian Arme and was POW from 23 January 1943 released, in October 1955
POW Location: Camp 27, near Krasnoyarsk, in July, they were sent to Camp 48 in Voikovo, where Strecker remained for the next 12 years

👉 79th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht, Lexicon der Wehrmacht.de

👉 Weiskirchen Ehrenfriedhof

insignia of the 79th Infantry Division der Deutschen Wehrmacht.

Assignment
79th - Infanterie Division

Looking at the image of General der Infanterie of the XI Army Corps Karl Strecker al well the commander in chief of the 79th Infantry Division of the German Wehrmacht. General der Infanterie Karl Strecker
March 1939 to 12. January 1942

ID. activ put up:
Germany, 26 August 1939, in Idar Oberstein

Assigned to the West-Front, French-German border in the Saar/Saarpfalz region for securing the boarder, Westwall,


Deployment: Germany, September 1939 to July 1940, Saarpfalz and Saar/Mosel Front, Westwal.


Stationary: on 12 May 1940 in the region between Mettlach -Merzig - Saarfels - Beckingen and Dillingen an der Saar


The division is relocated: on 01 June 1940 to the region between Wallerfangen, Saarlautern, Liesdorf, Ensdorf, Fraulautern and Roden an der Saar


Participation in the France campaign:
Im June 1940 she participate in the Battle of France and brock throug the Maginotline defences soudwest of Saarbrücken and marched in the area of Nacy, where they moved into Epinal in France

War graves on the way of the 97th. Infanterie Division in:
Germany - Weiskirchen/Saar,
Luxemburg - Mosel
France - Lothringen, Pas de Calais
Austria - Kärnten
Ukraine - Dnjeper, Kuban
Rusland - Stalingrad
Rumänien - Jassy

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The first war cemetery inaugurated by the
79th Infantry Division in Weiskirchen


✅ Commemorative Plaque


Brave and loyal
("TAPFER UND TREU")


A memorial plaque was placed on a sandstone wall in the forecourt of the Weiskirchen war cemetery to thank KARL STRECKER, the general of the 79th Infantry Division of the German Wehrmacht for his command and leadership during World War II.


Commemorative plaque to Karl Strecker


 Copyright ©  All Rights Reserved by the author (Skr)  Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material text and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links shall be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

As the Memorial Plaque reads:

In thankfulness from his comrades in arms and in remembrance to KARL STRECKER the General during the 2nd. world war of the 79. Infanterie Division der Deutschen Wehrmacht a commemorative plaque, which says
Brave and loyal
("TAPFER UND TREU").


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Commemorate Plaque


✅ Burial Ground


The final and eternal resting place of 786, 2nd. WW victims of various Nationalities


On August 30th 1939 the field hospital 179 arrived in Weiskirchen and was ready for reception on August 31st in the evening. The hospital was able to occupy 200 beds, 50 of which were for the seriously injured. The internal department was set up in the school building, the surgical department in the youth hostel and a tavern room for segregation cases. A cemetery of honor was laid out on a plot of 5300 square meters within the Pinewood forest for those who died in the hospital and for those who died in the division.


Graveyard - Memorial park


Copyright ©  All Rights Reserved by the author (Skr)  Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material text and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links shall be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

The majority of the members of the 79th Infantry Division fell during the attack on the Maginot Line on May 13, 1940 by Flattern in a small Lorraine town across the border on French soil.

690 Germans
42 unknown persons in the individual graves
54 unknown persons in a comrade's grave


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Burial Ground


✅ First Burial


Generations of peoples of all nations have served their country and the world during times of war, military conflict, and peace.


On 09.09.1939 the first fallen soldiers of this unit Giessen Jakob, Pionier of the Pionier-Bataillon 179, were to be mourned during the apron battles on the Siegfried Line and was buried here at
Block-1, Row-3 (C), Grave-22


✞ Final resting place: Block 1 Reihe 3 Grab 22


Copyright ©  All Rights Reserved by the author (Skr)  Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material text and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links shall be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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Gravestone of 54 unknown Soldiers


✅ 1st casualties of the 79ID


The field hospital (mot) 179 was set up in Bad Ems from August 26th to August 29th 1939.
On August 30th 1939 the field hospital arrived in Weiskirchen in the country march and was ready for reception on August 31st in the evening. The hospital was able to occupy 200 beds, 50 of which were for the seriously injured. The internal department was set up in the school building, the surgical department in the youth hostel and a tavern room for segregation cases.
After arrival a cemetery of honor was laid out for those who died in the hospital and for those who died in the division.


On October 11, 1939, the first member of the regiment, the rifleman (Schütze) Dötsch Servatius, 1.Kp., fell on the Kewlsberg by a direct shell hit.


✞ Final resting place: Block 1 Reihe 2 Grab 38


Copyright ©  All Rights Reserved by the author (Skr)  Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material text and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links shall be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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Gravestone


✅ Casualties of the 79ID until December 31, 1939


Extract from the diary of the 79th ID -
In a four month positional war from August 29 to around 31.12.1939 the losses of the 79th ID are as follows:
15 soldiers killed by mines,
10 soldiers killed in action by enemy action,
1 man shot death sentence for pillage,
1 man shot dead for desertion from the German Wehrmacht,


On October 23, 1939, the first member of the regiment, the Privte (Gefreiter) Kilb Ernst, 2.Kp., fell before Ritzingen.


✞ Final resting place: Block 1 Reihe 3 Grab 20


 Copyright ©  All Rights Reserved by the author (Skr)  Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material text and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links shall be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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Snow-covered War Cemetery


✅ 786 Casualties buried at Weiskirchen War Cemetery


Extract from the diary of the War graves list - (Kriegsgräberliste)
are as follows:
1939: 28 soldiers
1940: 127 soldiers
1941: 1 soldiers
1942: 2 soldiers
1943: 1 soldiers
1944: 131 soldiers
1945: 392 soldiers
1946 - 1956: 104 soldiers and civil persons reburial from other cemeteries.


Generations of peoples of all nations have served their country and the world during times of war, military conflict, and peace.
For those who lived through these wars, remembering means thinking of comrades. It evokes memories of men and women who never returned home. Those born after the wars might picture the youthful soldiers who eagerly joined up from high schools, businesses, and farms across the country, only to meet death while fighting against the enemy.

Weiskirchen war cemetery, on March 15, 1945, the last member of the regiment, the Untersturmführer Gehre Werner, was buried here in the war cemetery in Weiskirchen before the German Wehrmacht retrieve to the river Rhine.


✞ Final resting place: Block 1 Reihe 3 Grab 2


 Copyright ©  All Rights Reserved by the author (Skr)  Siegfried Kräker, @ 2015, Reimsbach, Germany. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material text and images without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links shall be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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Snow-covered War Graves