The 389th Infantry division was formed on 27 January 1942 as a division of the 18th mobilization wave on the training area in Milowitz near Prague. The Motto of the division was "
Der Sonne Rad mit Schild und Speer, dem Rhein, dem Reich zu Wehr und Ehr". It was designed as a "Sturm- und Stoß" division (English: storm and impulse division), whose soldiers had to run through a hard training and a long conscription to fight on the foremost part of the front. The soldiers were mostly veterans of the previous campaigns on the Western Front and the
Invasion of Poland. From May 1942 onwards, it was employed in battles on the
Eastern Front as a part of the
6th Army under the command of
General der Panzertruppe Friedrich Paulus. After he had taken over the command in January 1942, the Red Army launched an
offensive near the city of
Kharkov. The German troops could repel the attack and conducted a successful counter-offensive, during which they encircled the Soviet formations. In this engagement, the
Red Army sustained great casualties. The 389th Infantry Division also participated in the German summer offensive
Operation Blau, which had the aim to capture the
Caucasus and
Stalingrad. Stalingrad should then be used to prevent the Soviet forces from using the
Volga as a supply route. The 6th Army should advance to Stalingrad. After the start of the offensive on 28 June 1942, Axis forces of
Army Group B could advance quickly. By 23 August, German units reached the Volga north of the city. It was then planned that the 6th Army should encircle the Soviet
62nd and
64th Army together with
4th Panzer Army. The 4th Panzer Army started the attack regularly on 29 August. However, the 6th Army was still confronted with a Soviet counter-attack. Therefore, it could only attack 3 days later. This gave the Soviet forces to withdraw from the future pocket. During the
Battle of Stalingrad, the 389th Infantry Division was the main force of the failed attack on the tractor factory. During the Soviet counter-offensive beginning under the codename
Operation Uranus on 19 November 1942, the division's remnants were captured after the Axis capitulation on 2 February 1943. The division was reformed from 17 February 1943 onwards in
France. Its forces consisted of survivors and persons, who had been in furlough. In the end of September 1943, the 389th Infantry Division was redeployed on the Eastern Front, where it took part in fierce engagements in Dnjepr section causing high casualties among the division's forces. Afterwards, on 25 January, the 2nd Ukrainian Front conducted a massive attack, due to which forces of the
57th Infantry Division were sent to help the 389th Infantry Division. However, the support arrived too late and the division could just take up remnants of the 389. ID. As the
2nd Ukrainian Front then marched North, this division was pushed into the
Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket. Again, the 389. ID was reformed in
Hungary in March 1944 and employed as part of
Army Group North in the
Kurland Pocket, where it fought until February 1945. Then, it was redeployed to Western Prussia. In the end of the war, it was captured by Soviet forces on the
Hel Peninsula. ==Commanders==