Operation Rheingold

Rhine gold

'Rheingold' was a German programme for the creation of six new divisions (15 December 1941/January 1942).

Undertaken in association with 'Walküre' (i) to create 500,000 replacement troops for service on the Eastern Front, and thus partially to offset the German army’s losses in the 'Barbarossa' campaign and its sequels, together with the Soviet winter offensive of 1941/42, 'Rheingold' was based on the extraction from German industry of men whose service had previously been deferred.