216th Infantry Division (German)

The 216th Infantry Division was raised in 1939 in Hameln Lower Saxony (Wehrkreis XI), from primarily Landwehr in the area surrounding the city of Hannover.

It did not participate in the Invasion of Poland, since it was occupying defensive positions in the Ardennes Forest along the Der Westwall. It did take part in the invasion of the Low Countries and France in May and June 1940. When Operation Barbarossa, the Invasion of the Soviet Union, began on June 22, 1941, the Division was performing occupation duties in France along the Channel Coast.

Following the success of the Soviet winter counteroffensive of December 1941, the division was rushed to the Eastern Front as reinforcements, and on arrival in January 1942 was soon split into several smaller regimental battlegroups for defending key positions. One of these battlegroups, formed from the 348th Infantry Regiment, was surrounded by the Soviet 10th Army outside of the town of Sukhinichi during the Red Army's Kaluga Offensive Operation (17 December 1941 - 5 January 1942). Against all odds, the regiment managed to hold out for months until relief forces arrived. In July 1943, the 216th Infantry Division participated in the Battle of Kursk, where it sustained heavy casualties while fighting on the northern shoulder of the Kursk salient as part of Generalfeldmarschall Model's 9th Army.

In 1944 the division included the following units:
 * 348th Grenadier regiment
 * 396th Grenadier regiment
 * 398th Grenadier regiment
 * 216th Artillery regiment
 * 216th Pioneer battalion
 * 216th Panzerjaeger battalion
 * 216th Reconnaissance battalion
 * 216th Signals battalion

The division's commander in 1944 was General lieutenant Gimmler.