Description
SOLDBUCH – PANZER REGIMENT 21 + 6 – KURSK & TCHERKASSY
Heer Soldbuch issued to Obergefreiter Otto HILTL. He served in Panzer Regiment 21 and then Panzer Regiment 6 of the 3. Panzer Division with whom he saw the majority of his service on the Eastern Front. Awards entered include the Ostmedaille, Black Wound Badge, KVK2 and Bronze Driver’s Badge. Soldbuch was issued October 17, 1940.
The 3rd Panzer Division was part of Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, which began on 22 June 1941. Initially it was engaged in the central sector of the advance but was then redirected south to participate in the Battle of Kiev. From there it participated in the Battle of Moscow, advancing towards Tula. With the Soviet counterattacks in the winter of 1941–42 the division acted as a stand-by emergency force and, in March 1942, participated in the defense of Kharkov. The division participated in the Case Blue, the German attack in the southern sector of the Eastern Front in June 1942, in which the 3rd Panzer Division advanced towards the Caucasus. Initially successful the operation was ultimately a failure, with the division suffering heavy casualties in the process, especially in the fighting around Mozdok. It narrowly escaped encirclement on its retreat by crossing the frozen Sea of Azov near Rostov.[5]
The 3rd Panzer Division took part in the Battle of Kursk, attacking west of Belgorod. Following the German failure the division was engaged in the defense and retreat that followed. It remained on the Eastern Front for the remainder of the Second World War, fighting in Ukraine, Romania, Poland and Hungary. At the end of the war saw the division engaged in Styria where it evaded Soviet forces and managed to surrender to the US Army instead.[5] The majority of the divisions soldiers were released from captivity by July 1945
