The 91st Air Landing Division (German91. Luftlande-Infanterie-Division) was a German Army infantry division in World War II.
History
The division was originally formed as an air landing division (Luftlandedivision) trained and equipped to be transported by aircraft (i.e. having only light artillery and few heavy support weapons) to take part in Operation Tanne Ost, an aborted airborne operation in Scandinavia. Despite its name, the 91st in practice was a regular Heer unit and spent its entire existence as a conventional infantry division.
Formed in the Baumholder area from replacement center personnel in January 1944 under the command of Generalleutnant Bruno Ortner, its command was transferred to GeneralleutnantWilhelm Falley and moved to the Cotentin peninsula with von der Heydte's 6th Parachute Regiment and 100th Panzer Replacement and Training Battalion, armed with captured French light tanks, attached as part of the German 7th Army.
Located within the landing zones of both the U.S. 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, it saw heavy fighting around Sainte-Mere-Eglise and Neuville-au-Plain. Falley, the divisional commander, was killed when he drove into an ambush.
On June 7, 1944, D-Day + 1, the German 1058th Grenadier regiment of the 91st Luftlande Division, which was tasked with seizing the area of Sainte-Mere-Eglise, launched a fierce counterattack from the north towards Sainte-Mere-Eglise, which were defended by the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division. The Germans attacked with intense mortar fire and StuGIII assault guns, and came very close to entering the town, before they were pushed back, and at least two assault guns were knocked out on the northern road just outside of the town.
Now at battle group strength, it was attached to the 77th Infantry Division then to the 243rd Infantry Division in Corps von Schlieban defending Cherbourg where most of its remaining forces were captured by the Americans. Remnants of the division under the command of Colonel Eugen Konig escaped to the south. Despite recommendation the unit be dissolved the Army High Command (Oberkommando des Heer, OKH) chose to rebuild it adding replacement battalions and sending it back to the front in early August.
Defending Rennes from Lieutenant GeneralGeorge S. Patton's U.S. Third Army, it again suffered heavy casualties and was reduced to battle group strength. It followed the German retreat to the Siegfried Line and was later consolidated with the remains of the 275th and 344th Infantry Divisions to form the 344th Volksgrenadier Division.
Commanders
GeneralleutnantBruno Ortner (10 February 1944 – 25 April 1944)
GeneralleutnantWilhelm Falley (25 April 1944 – 6 June 1944) KIA
