Forgive me if this has been already answered. But,did the Gross Duechsland division fight in France in 44 or 45. I ask only because of the heavy losses in Russia,did they have enough manpower to stay together.
No, the Panzergrenadier-Division “Großdeutschland” (expanded to a tank corps by the end of September 1944) fought exclusively on the Eastern Front in 1944/45.
Thanks man, I’m still learning as I go along.
Part of it may have been in the west in the last months. Some members of it were taken prisoner by the British army in March or April 1945. I dont know if they were some sor of adhoc unit created from stragglers in the last days, or if some o the GD regiments were sent west.
The original GD regiment fought in the West in 1940. it was attached to Guderians panzer corps and fought for a week at Sedan.
The division/corps chronicles don’t mention something like this. The unit surrendered as a whole in East Prussia and Samland. It’s possible though that some minor scattered groups -same as all german forces- tried to avoid soviet captivity and make it to the British/Americans.
Just found this nice one on the net (lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de). Uniform jacket of a “GD” tank crew member:
and the battle of Stonne.
They even had a service in Notre-Dame de Paris to remember their dead and celebrate Germany’s victory.
Very cool pic flamethrowerguy,I like the insignia on the left wrist.
Nice, isn’t it?
This is actually the final, simplified version. Introduced in late 1940.
With the original version the Großdeutschland writing was in the early 20th century german script called"Sütterlin".
It really is nice,the original scrpt on the sleeve is very old school.
Right, there are not too many people left who are able to read this…
BTW, Joyeux Anniversaire, Kamehouse!
lol well thank you very much.Off topic completely but touching nevertheless.
Once again flamethrowerguy,good job on this pic.
Just found this excellent early-war photo of a “GD” dispatch rider. On the vehicle to the right behind the soldier you can see the division’s tactical sign - the german helmet.
Colorised picture?Signal maybe?
Signal magazine photos were original color photos of course. I don’t know if this is a colorized one, maybe the eyes are little too blue and the color of the canteen looks a bit too intensive…
P.S. Could anyone of the mods change the threads title to “Grossdeutschland”, the way it is now hurts my eyes everytime I read it. 
When young I had to learn its basics to read the family names off some old letters and personal documents. Along the way I also picked up the rudiments of German Gothic, Runic letters, Ogham, and Medival Mininscule.
No, my ancestors documents dont go as far back as Ogham.