256th Infantry Division Germany The division was raised in
Wehrkreis IV (
Dresden) on 26 August 1939. The division was shipped to
Poland (
Protektorat Böhmen-Mären) as an occupation force. The division remained there in that role until November 1939 after which it was transported to
Lippstadt in order to commence training for the
attack on France and the Low Countries in 1940.
The Netherlands & Belgium Just before the attack on May 10, the division was moved to the town of
Kleve on the Dutch border where it was attached to the XXVI Corps under
General der Artillerie Albert Wodrig, which was itself part of
Heeresgruppe B (Army Group) under General-Oberst
Fedor von Bock. Attached with the 256th Infantry Division in the XXVI Corps were the 254th Division and the so-called SS-VT (SS
Verfügungstruppe, later
2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich.) On the morning of May 10, the 256th Division got the order to break through the Dutch border defense, take the bridge at
Gennep and push through to the Peel/Raam defensive line at
Mill. Though making good progress in the beginning, it turned out that the bridge at Gennep was the only 'bigger' road bridge which was taken intact, making a speedy transportation of troops almost impossible. This led to the 256th Division coming to Mill in pieces after which
heavy fighting ensued for almost 48 hours. General
Fedor von Bock visited the broken defensive line around Mill on May 11. The 256th continued to fight along the line
's-Hertogenbosch,
Tilburg, south of
Breda,
Braschaat,
Antwerp and then on to the
Nieuwpoort/
Dunkirk area where they sealed the salient around the last harbour used to evacuate retreating French and British forces. At the beginning of the second phase of Fall Gelb, the division was ordered to stay in the Nieuwpoort/Dunkirk area and later to
Brittany where it stayed as an occupation force until February 1941.
Eastern Front After that, the division was transferred to East-Poland in order to prepare for battles on the Eastern Front, it was put on the frontline for
Operation Barbarossa. The division then fought in the
Army Group Center. The division was destroyed in
Vitebsk during
Operation Bagration in July 1944.
Netherlands 1944 The remnants of the division formed Divisions-Gruppe 256 which was assigned to Korps-Abteilung H. By Nov 1944 Divisions-Gruppe 256 was stationed on the north side of the
Maas River in Holland. Eventually, the 256th Group was integrated into Grenadier Regiment 280, which was part of the
95th Infantry Division.
256th Volksgrenadier Division In September 1944, another division using the ordinal number 256th, the 256th Volksgrenadier Division, was created at
Königsbrück military base. It fought in the
Battle of the Scheldt and later in the Saar-Moselle Triangle between 1944 and 1945. The 256th Volksgrenadier Division surrendered to American forces in the Württemberg region in May 1945. ==Order of battle==