Active 1942–1944 Branch Army Size Division | Country Nazi Germany Type Volksgrenadier | |
Engagements Second World War
Battle of Metz | ||
The 462nd Volksgrenadier Division (German: 462. Volksgrenadier-Division) was a Volksgrenadier division of the German Army during the Second World War, active from 1942 to 1944.
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Operational history
The 462nd Volksgrenadier Division was originally formed in October 1942 as a replacement division in the French town of Nancy, in the Lorraine Province, under the command of Generalmajor (major general) Otto Schilling. It took responsibility for many of the units of the former 182nd Reserve Division and was expanded with various fortress and training troops stationed at Luxembourg, Saarburg and Metz. After D-Day it was designated as a Volksgrenadier division and reorganised for combat and was dispatched to the frontlines in August 1944.
At the start of November 1944, the division, less the 1216th Grenadier Regiment which had been transferred to the 19th Volksgrenadier Division, was defending the town of Metz from the United States Third Army. At this stage of the war, the division numbered 7,000 personnel. It surrendered the town on 28 November, having lost two commanders during the siege; Lübbe had suffered a stroke and his replacement, Kittel, was wounded in action on 22 November. Over 1,000 men evaded capture by virtue of being evacuated as wounded prior to the fall of Metz. The division was disbanded shortly afterwards.