History
The 90th Light Infantry Division was created in August 1941 as Division z.b.V. Afrika, from units already in Africa under the control of Divisions-Kommando z.b.V. Afrika. The abbreviation z.b.V. stands for "zur besonderen Verwendung", which translates as "for a special use" in English. Through its five-year existence it was redesignated several times, although always known colloquially as the Africa Division. This is because it was the only German combat division to have actually been raised in Africa itself. It fought for the remainder of the North African campaign, finally surrendering to the Allies in Tunisia in May 1943. It was regarded apparently by the 2nd New Zealand Division as their special foe, as the two formations faced each other on several occasions.
As with the other units of the Afrika Korps, replacement units were quickly raised from available troops stationed in Western Europe. As such, the Africa Division was reconstituted as the 90th Panzergrenadier Division in Sardinia during July 1943. Evacuated from Corsica with the Sturmbrigade Reichsführer SS to the Italian mainland in October 1943, the division appeared opposite both the Americans and British as they pushed north. It was then very nearly wiped out in the bitter fighting with the 1st Canadian Infantry Division along the Moro River in late November 1943. A short time later it was withdrawn into reserve at Frosinone and redesignated 90th Grenadier Division (Motorized). While still rebuilding, it was deployed piecemeal along the front in response to the Allies spring offensive in 1944 to serve as a rearguard while the balance of the German units in southern Italy fell back to the Winter Line. Shifted southeast from the Franco-Italian border in September 1944, 90th Grenadier was finally listed as destroyed in the fighting south of Bologna. The remainder of its personnel surrendered to the Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB) in Italy in April 1945.
Read more about this topic: 90th Light Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Throughout the history of commercial life nobody has ever quite liked the commission man. His function is too vague, his presence always seems one too many, his profit looks too easy, and even when you admit that he has a necessary function, you feel that this function is, as it were, a personification of something that in an ethical society would not need to exist. If people could deal with one another honestly, they would not need agents.”
—Raymond Chandler (18881959)
“There is no example in history of a revolutionary movement involving such gigantic masses being so bloodless.”
—Leon Trotsky (18791940)
“The history of mens opposition to womens emancipation is more interesting perhaps than the story of that emancipation itself.”
—Virginia Woolf (18821941)