1944: Eclipse by the SS

By 1944, the Abwehr and its head, Admiral Canaris, had come under a cloud. The Nazis suspected that Canaris, at best, was engaged in dubious activities and, at worst, was guilty of treason against Germany. Himmier's SS began to absorb the intelligence functions of the Abwehr, and in the spring of 1944 various Abwehr personnel were transferred to the SS.

The Brandenburgers remained under control of the Abwehr and OKW. The Brandenburgers, seeking to resume their special operations capability in a defensive war on all fronts, began to plan Streifkorps. Streifkorps would operate in areas wrested from Germany by the Allies--the Baltic states, the Balkans, Italy, and France--and would hinder the Allied war effort through sabotage and guerrilla warfare. As the SS gained ascendancy in 1944, the Streifkorps concept was not put into practice, and its allotted personnel went into the SS.

By the start of autumn, the SS achieved total domination over the Abwehr. The SS absorbed all intelligence functions, including the special operations mission of Abwehr II. While some Brandenburgers became SS special operations troops, the bulk of Division Brandenburg was transferred from the OKW to the Army.

The Army, sorely pressed for troops, began reorganizing the Brandenburgers as a field division, Panzergrenadier Division Brandenburg.

Although called "panzergrenadier," lack of equipment meant the division was actually organized as motorized infantry, with no tanks and few other armored vehicles. The various Brandenburg regiments in the field were reorganized or broken up. (Some minor units, such as the Brandenburg Legionnaire Battalion, remained in existence.) The division received further personnel and some equipment when it absorbed elements of Assault Division Rhodes, and was under formation in the Balkans in autumn of 1944:

1945: Defeat in the East

In December 1944, the division transferred to East Prussia, where it joined Panzergrenadier Division Grossdeutschland (a heavily reinforced panzer division, despite its "panzergrenadier" title) to form Panzer Corps Grossdeutschland. The two divisions underwent considerable reorganization to form a functioning corps, and Brandenburg assumed its final organization:

The division operated on the eastern front for the remainder of the war. In January, the division moved to Silesia from East Prussia, where it underwent heavy combat against the Soviet breakthrough on the Vistula. In March, it held a part of the Oder front and refitted, absorbing Replacement Brigade Grossdeutschland.

In April, it was driven south into Czechoslovakia by the Soviet offensive, and it surrendered to the Soviets in May at Deutsch-Brod (modern Havlickuv Brod, Czech Republic).

Brandenburgers

1939: Origins and Early Operations
1940: Triumphs and Expansion
1941: To Africa and Victory in the East
1942-1943: Operations and Re-organization
1944-1945: Eclipse and Defeat
Europa Order of Battle