521st Infantry Division The 521st Infantry Division was formed on 1 November 1939 in
East Prussia using personnel from the former
Grenzschutz-Abschnitts-Kommando 15, formerly headquartered at
Allenstein. It consisted of two regiments, the Frontier Guard Regiments 51 and 61, with three battalions each. In March 1940, the 521st Infantry Division was restructured into the 395th Infantry Division. The division was then formally dissolved on 18 March 1940. The division's initial commander was Major General
Wolf Schede, who swapped commands with Major General
Hans Stengel of the
209th Infantry Division on 10 January 1940. Stengel remained the divisional commander of the 521st (and subsequently 395th) Division until its dissolution.
395th Infantry Division The 395th Infantry Division was formed, as one of the
Landesschützen Divisions of the ninth
wave of deployment, on 16 March 1940. It was headquartered at
Tilsit in East Prussia and initially consisted of three regiments, the Infantry Regiment 665, 674 and 675. Infantry Regiment 665 was assembled from two battalions of the former Frontier Guard Regiment 51 (I./51 and II./51) as well as from the
Landesschützen Battalion X./I from Gumbinnen; Infantry Regiment 674 was assembled in Tilsit from the third battalions of both regiments of the 521st Division (III./51 and III./61); Infantry Regiment 675 was assembled in Memel from the staff of the
Feld-Kommandantur 512 (formerly at Leipzig) as well as two battalions from the former Frontier Guard Regiment 61 (I./61 and II./61). Additionally, the 395th Infantry Division was equipped with a bicycle squadron and a signals company. The division was on frontier guard duty in East Prussia, where it was supervised by
Higher Command XXXII. The divisional commander was Major General Hans Stengel, who had already commanded the 521st Division. From the former 395th Division's personnel, seven Home Guard Battalions () were formed to guard Germany's
prisoners of war. The battalions III./665 and III./674 became the
Landesschützen Battalions 237 and 238 on 1 January 1941. The battalions II./665 and I./674 were sent to
Wehrkreis II and made available for the formation of the
332nd Infantry Division, where they became III./678 and III./677. Similarly, the battalions I./675 and II./675 were sent to
Wehrkreis III to become part of the newly assembled
333rd Infantry Division. The battalion III./675 was dissolved without replacement. The divisional staff was carried over into the
Oberfeldkommandantur 395, which was later used in
Thessaloniki in
German-occupied Greece. == References ==