The 78th Infantry Division was raised in August 1939 in
Stuttgart, incorporating reservists from
Baden-Württemberg (its divisional symbol was a representation of
Ulm Minster). It was stationed in France for occupation duties from the summer of 1940 through the spring of 1941, and then transferred east to participate in
Operation Barbarossa with
Army Group Centre. The division advanced from the Polish border to the gates of Moscow, being halted on 3 December 1941 by the Soviet defences. By January 7, 1942, the division had been pushed back from Ruza to
Gzhatsk where the Soviet winter offensive was halted. The division then formed the South East flank of the Rzhev-Vyazma Salient. Late in 1942 it suffered heavy losses in the
Rzhev battles. At the beginning of 1943 it was reorganised as the 78th
Sturm Division (a new divisional symbol, an armoured fist, being adopted, derived from the artificial hand of
Götz von Berlichingen) with additional adjustments to its strength and organisation over the next several months. Each of its three infantry regiments was redesignated as a
Sturm-Regiment. The designation
Sturm (assault) reflected the division's increased strength, which eventually included subordinate
Sturmgeschutz (assault gun)
Heavy Mortar and
Nebelwerfer (rocket launcher) battalions and a
tank destroyer unit equipped with
Marder IIs, as well as extra regimental artillery support. With its new organisation, the division took part in
Operation Citadel as part of the
XXIII Corps of the
Ninth Army, being involved in the fighting at
Ponyri. During the following Soviet
Counteroffensive the division was first transferred from the Ninth Army to the
Second Panzer Army in July, then again to the
Fourth Army in September where the division was forced back to the
Panther-Wotan line East of
Orsha. During the June - July 1944 Soviet offensive against Army Group Centre,
Operation Bagration, the division was assigned to defend the main
Moscow -
Minsk road and the town of
Orsha. During the fighting the division was destroyed, having failed to break out of an encirclement east of Minsk on the night of 5/6 July. Surviving elements were taken over by the
565th Volksgrenadier Division.
78th Volksgrenadier Division Later that month, the division was reconstituted as the 78th
Grenadier Division, by renaming the 543rd Volksgrenadier Division then in the process of forming. In October 1944 it was renamed as 78th
Volksgrenadier Division, and in early 1945 renamed again to 78th
Volks-Sturm Division, being assigned to
Army Group Centre. It was among the forces of the
First Panzer Army pushed from
Upper Silesia into
Czechoslovakia, where its troops surrendered to the Soviets near
Olomouc at the end of the war in May. On 1 January 1945, the 78th Volksgrenadier Division (then under
17th Army of
Army Group A) had a strength of 9,715 men. == Commanding officers ==