Active May 1943 - May 1945 Allegiance Nazi Germany Engagements World War II | Country Soviet Union Branch Wehrmacht | |
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The 162nd Turkistan Division was a military division that was formed by the German Army during the Second World War. It drew its men from prisoners of war or refugees who came from the Caucasus and from Turkic lands further east. The soldiers were trained at Neuhammer. After initial setbacks, the division proved to be quite effective.
The 162nd Turkistan Division was formed in May 1943 and comprised five Azeri and six Turkistani artillery and infantry units. It was sent, in October 1943, to northern Italy. Of all the independent divisions, the 162nd became the largest division of all legions. Infantry battalion No. 450 was also drawn from ethnic Turks and Azeris.
In early 1944 the division was assigned with guarding the Ligurian coast. In June 1944 the division was assigned to combat in Italy but was withdraw due to poor performance. For the remainder of the war, the division fought the Italian resistance movement near Spezia and the Val di Taro in Italy.
The main body of the division surrendered near Padua in May 1945 to the Western Allies and was dispatched to Taranto. In accordance with the agreements signed by the British and Americans at the Yalta Conference, the soldiers were repatriated to the Soviet Union. According to Nikolai Tolstoy, they received a twenty-year sentence of slave labor.