Moehring, Kurt.

Moehring, Kurt, born 03-01-1900 in Gross Lipschin, joined the Army, age 16, as a Fahnenjunker and  war volunteer in July 1916. Kurt was in the fields of the first war and remained afterwards in the new Reichswehr. With the beginning of World War II he was the commander of the III Battalion of the 82^nd Infantry Regiment to January 1942 and as an Oberst commander of the 458^th Infantry Regiment until 16-02-1942. Appointed as commander of the 82^nd Infantry Regiment to 06-12-1942. Commander of the Infantry Regiment Gross Deutschland until 24-12-1943 and commander of the 196^th Infantry Division to February 1944. The casualties of the Infantry Regiment Gross Deutschland killed 1.121 men, 44 officers, wounded 3.886, 139 officers and missed in action 171, with 1 officer. The 196^th was established in December 1939 and disbanded in September 1944. Moehring succeeded as, a Generalmajor der Infanterie now, Hugo Dempwolff

  as commander of the 276^th Volks Grenadier Division during the Battle of the Bulge, Ardennes Offensive and was killed in battle near Beaufort, in Luxembourg, as a Generalleutnant. The youngest Generalleutnant in WWII, with 36, was Theodor Tolsdorff

The 276^thVolksgrenadier Division  was a Volksgrenadier division of the Wehrmacht, active from 1944 to 1945. The division was formed in Poland in September 1944, by redesignating the 580th Volksgrenadier Division, under the command of Kurt Moehring. It contained the 986th, 987th and 988th Grenadier Regiments, and the 276th Artillery Regiment.

The division fought in the Battle of the Bulge, where it took over two thousand casualties, including General Moehring, who was succeeded by Hugo Dempwolff. It then saw action in Luxembourg, and was destroyed fighting American forces in March 1945.

Death and burial ground of Moehring, Kurt.

     Christian Pettinger from Luxembourg sent me the photo’s of Moehring’s original uniform and cap, displayed in the war museum of Diekirch in Luxembourg. Kurt Moehring was involved in all the big battles, Invasion of Poland, Battle of Belgium, Battle of France, Operation Barbarossa, Battle of Białystok–Minsk, Battle of Smolensk (1941), Battle of Moscow, Battle of Kursk, Belgorod-Khar’kov Offensive Operation and the Battle of the Bulge.

General Kurt Moehring, was shot along the main road between Grundhoff and Beaufort on 18 Dec 1944, age 44. This well-respected and popular (though not with Hitler) General was riding in an American jeep toward his Command Post, at this spot , when he was fatally shot by unknown parties. It wasn’t unusual for German high-ranking officers to commandeer captured American vehicles, but riding in an enemy vehicle during an offensive may not have been a wise idea. Though Americans took credit for his death, local historians doubt the veracity of their claim.

The Luxembourgers are convinced that General Moehring was a victim of friendly fire from a German squad near the intersection. They think the Germans heard the sound of the jeep and assumed the occupants were American, as almost no Germans had vehicles. Kurt Moehring is buried on the war cemetery of Holsthum, Kriegsgräberstätte. Grab 102. .