Description
Meller earned the following awards:
- Wounds Badge in Black – 12.1941
- Infantry Assault Badge in Silver – 15.3.1942
He served with Infanterie Regiment 107 – 34 Infanterie Division
After minor battles in the apron, the division was relocated to the Eifel at the turn of the year 1939/1940. At the beginning of the western campaign on May 10, 1940, the division crossed the Our at Wormeldange and occupied the city of Luxembourg. Then the division turned away via Longwy-Dudelingen and remained here as flank protection in front of the Maginot Line. During the second phase of the campaign, the “Battle of France”, the division fought its way to the Aisne, forced the river crossing at Guignicourt and stormed eastwards from Reims to the Marne and then to the Loire to the Allier. After the armistice, the division secured the demarcation line and, in July 1940, moved to the area south-east of Boulogne as an occupying force. In September 1940, the division then moved to the coastal defense on the Channel coast. In December 1940, the third battalions were given up for re-establishments and replaced. At the end of May 1941, the division was transported to Poland by rail and prepared for the Russian campaign before Brest-Litovsk. On June 22, 1941, the division broke through the border fortifications south of Brest-Litovsk and then advanced across the Berezina to the Dnieper south of Mogilev. Subsequently, the division crossed the Ssosh, and then in early September, north of Bryansk, the Dessna. From October 1941, the division took part in the advance on Moscow and the occupation of Bryansk. This was followed by the advance to the Ugra in the Torvakowo area and further via the Protva and the Nara to the Tarutino area in the Maloyaroslavets area. Here the division met the Russian counter-offensive, so that it had to retreat to the Schanja position west of Medyn after heavy defensive fighting.
In November of 1941, Meller was hit with shrapnel in the left lung.
by 1941 with Infanterie Regiment 256 / Grenadier Regiment 258 – 112 Infanterie Division
The division was formed in December 1940 from elements of 34th Infantry division and 33rd infantry division, as part of the 12th wave of German mobilization.
The 112th Infantry Division remained in OKH reserve during the opening phase of operation Barbarossa, and was committed to the southern wing in the second half of July during the battle of Smolensk. Here elements of the Soviet 21st Army had pushed back forward German elements and advanced up to 80 kilometers in to the German rear.
At the beginning of August, the 112th division was manning defensive positions on the Army group’s southern flank, as part of 2nd Armies XII Corps. As Guderian’s 2nd Panzer group started its wheel from Smolensk to the south on 8 August, 2nd Army, on its right flank, was slow to join in because of poor weather, ammunition shortages, and the hesitancy of General Weichs, its Army commander.
On 12 August the 2nd Army finally launched its attack south-east of Bobrusk. It broke through the defenses of the Soviet 21st Army, and in three days fighting, encircled the bulk of the soviet 63rd Rifle corps, in a pocket at Zhlobin.
Lacking in mobile units, the 112th division, still part of XII Army Corps, formed the eastern pincer of the attack; breaking through successive defensive lines and eventually linking up with 267th Infantry division coming from the other way, near the village of Ljuschowskaja and the Saltanovka railway station, on the Zhlobin – Gomel rail line. Stretching a thin barrier across the Soviet Corps escape route, the 112th Division spent the next 3 days fending off repeated, and increasingly desperate escape attempts. By 20 August General Feldt’s 1st Cavalry Division had captured Gormel, and 2nd army tallied its accomplishments, totalling 78,000 prisoners, 700 guns, and 144 tanks; many of these from the Shobin pocket.
The Soviet machine gunner covers attacking infantry near Tula, in November 1941
By the tail end of October the encirclement battles around Briansk were over, the 112th crossed the Oka river south of Belev, inching its way forward slowly through the mud. However the advance was breaking down due to deteriorating road conditions and supply difficulties. The long eastern flank of 2 panzer group was a problem, and Generaloberst Guderian shifted the 112th division as part of the LIII corps to his right to shore up the protection there.
The division, redeploying to the region south of Tula, met forces from the Soviet 13th Army near Teploye, who were attempting to drive on Tula from the east and disrupt the German armoured thrust towards Moscow. The Soviets using the superior mobility of their cavalry units, delayed the LIII corps mission so much that Guderian had to reinforce it with tanks, artillery and flak, a move which slowed the whole advance of the Panzer Gruppe.
With the aid of the reinforcements, the 112th infantry division drove the 13th Army forces off to the east and advanced towards Stalinogorsk. Here it was attacked by newly arrived Siberian 239th Rifle Division, supported by tanks, suffered a severe reverse, and showed ‘signs of panic’. [6] Unprepared for the winter conditions, each infantry regiment had already lost 500 men to frostbite, and in the severe cold, machine guns often failed to fire. The division was now very weak and unable to advance further. On 2 November 1942 the division was disbanded.
Meller was attached to: Marsch Batl XII/3 – This unit saw combat in the Rhine area defences in April of 1945 in Germany. Under the XII Armee Korps. He was taken prisoner his allied western front issued POW Number 31G954902
