87th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

The 87th Infantry Division (German: 87. Infanterie-Division) was an infantry division of the German Army during the Second World War, active from 1939 to 1945.

87th Infantry Division
87. Infanterie-Division
Active	26 August 1939 – 10 May 1945
Country	Nazi Germany
Branch	Army
Type	Infantry
Size	Division
Garrison/HQ	Altenburg
Commanders
Notable commanders	Walter Lucht Walter Hartmann Gerhard Feyerabend

Operational history

The 87th Infantry Division was created on 26 August 1939 in Altenburg.

The division is notable as the first German division to enter the French capital city of Paris on 14 June 1940, during the Battle of France. The French 7th Army had abandoned the city the previous day, leaving it as an open city to avoid the city's destruction.^[2]: 34

The division went into captivity in the Courland pocket.

Commanders

• Generalleutnant^{[Note 1]} Bogislav von Studnitz (26 August 1939 – 16 February 1942; 1 March – 21 August 1942);
• General der Artillerie Walther Lucht (17 – 28 February 1942);
• Generalleutnant Werner Richter (22 August 1942 – 31 January 1943);
• General der Artillerie Walter Hartmann (1 February – 21 November 1943);
• Generalleutnant Mauritz Freiherr von Strachwitz (22 November 1943 – August 1944);
• Generalleutnant Gerhard Feyerabend (August – September 1944);
• Generalmajor Helmuth Walter (September 1944 – 15 January 1945);
• Generalleutnant Mauritz Freiherr von Strachwitz (16 January 1945 – 10 May 1945).

Notes

Footnotes

1. The rank of generalleutnant is equivalent to that of major general in the United States Army.^[3]

Citations

1. Mitcham 2007a, p. 144.
2. Andreas Hillgruber; Gerhard Hümmelchen (1989) [1978]. "Juni 1940". Chronik des Zweiten Weltkrieges: Kalendarium militärischer und politischer Ereignisse 1939–1945. Bindlach: Gondrom. pp. 31–37. ISBN 3811206427.
3. Mitcham 2007b, p. 197.

References

• Mitcham, Samuel W. (2007a). German Order of Battle, Volume One: 1st–290th Infantry Divisions in WWII. Mechanicsburg, PA, United States: Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0-8117-3416-5.
• Mitcham, Samuel W. (2007b). German Order of Battle, Volume Three: Panzer, Panzer Grenadier, and Waffen SS Divisions in WWII. Mechanicsburg, PA, United States: Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0-8117-3438-7.