363rd artillery regiment

[Gunbuster]

Hello
I'm trying to find out more info on the 363. Artillery Regiment in August 1944.
My father served with them and was captured on the 19th at Dreux.
He was Polish and was from Bydgosch in West Poland. He entered ??? service in October 1943.
He did signals training at Osnabruck and then went to Denmark.
I understand that the Division was destroyed at the Falaise Pocket.
I wonder if the artillery were positioned outside the encirclement ?
Gunbuster

[Sheldrake]

There is a Foreign Military Studies monograph on the 363d Infantry Division (Jan-24 Aug 1944). By Generalieutnant Augustin Dettling; 24 pp, 6 illus; 1946. Normandy. You can find this on Fold3 https://www.fold3.com/image/153649314

This is in German and English. Dettling says that the Regimental commander was OberstLeutnant Meyer

This is what Nikolas Zetterling has to say about the 363rd Division - drawing on Dettling's interview. Formation raised in Poland in 1944. Apparently near full complement for 1944 infantry division. Deployed to Denmark. In june moved to Belgiumthen in Mid July moved Amiens Aumale Piex. by 26 July unit had moved using 52 trains to the Seine crossing on the 28th and marching to the crumbling front in Normandy. Onew 31 July one Infantry Regiment was in combat near Villedieu. In the following week the rest of the division committed near Vire, under command of LXXXIV Corps. It fought withdrawal actions along the line Vire- Flers - Putanges- Commeaux - Chambois. It was one of the most western most units in the Falaise Pocket. It was part of the rearguard and withdrew south of the area of Trun. Not clear how many soldiers attempted to break out of the pocket, but 2,000 assembled on 21st August and a further 500 joined in the following days.

Dettling says that from the night of 21 August the division marched 30-40 km per night crossing the Seine at Elbruf and evacuated by rail from Cambrai to Wildflecken in Hesse.

It was reformed as a Volksgrenadier Division under Dettling
see FMS B-069 363d Volks Grenadier Division (1 Dec 1944-8 Feb 1945). By Generalleutnant Augustin Dettling; 16 pp, 4 il!us; 1946. Defense of the Aachen area.

[Gunbuster]

Thankyou

[Sheldrake]

Thankyou

As a matter of curiosity, where was your father captured? Was he captured in Normandy or later? How did he end up in the UK? Was he recruited into the Free Polish Army?