was the commander of the 355th Infantry Division throughout its entire six-month period of service. The 355th Infantry Division was formed on 1 May 1943 as one of the "Gisela Divisions" in the south of
German-occupied France. The Gisela Divisions (355th and
356th Infantry Divisions) had followed the "Brunhilde Division", the
282nd Infantry Division, and were so-named because of the respective codewords ("Brunhilde" and "Gisela") that had led to their assembly. The
Allgemeines Heeresamt ordered the assembly of the Brunhilde Division, the 282nd, on 12 January 1943 after a directive to this effect had been issued eight days prior, on January 4. The order to assemble the 282nd Infantry Division was later extended to include the two Gisela Divisions, the 355th and 356th. For the entire duration of service, the division was led by
Dietrich Kraiss, who later commanded
352nd Infantry Division, in charge of
Omaha Beach on 6 June 1944. The personnel used for the assembly of the 355th Infantry Division came from the
LXIV Corps, with one company each drawn from every battalion of the
157th Reserve Division (HQ:
Grenoble),
165th Reserve Division (HQ:
Besançon) and
182nd Reserve Division (HQ:
Nancy). Initially, the 355th Infantry Division consisted of the Grenadier Regiments 866, 867 and 868, with the former having three battalions, whereas the other two had two battalions each, for a total of seven in the division. Additionally, the division was equipped with Artillery Regiment 355, which consisted of three detachments. On 26 May 1943, the third battalion of Grenadier Regiment 866 was dissolved, with its personnel re-attached to Reserve Jäger Regiment 1. Nonetheless, the division was to be prepared, as per an order by OKH on 12 May 1943, for full combat readiness through the addition of new elements. It participated in the
Crimean campaign and in the
Third Battle of Kharkov before being attached to
LII Corps of
1st Panzer Army in the
Zaporizhzhia sector in October. The Division Group 355 existed until 27 July 1944, when it was renamed Grenadier Regiment 866. Its superior formation at the time of this final redesignation was the
161st Infantry Division. == References ==