The 272nd Division, 980th Regiment

Home Station: Wehrkreis III, recruiting from the Berlin area.

The 272nd began to organise in Germany in December 1943 and completed its training in Belgium in early 1944, It was sent to the Lyon area of France later that year and was engaged in training at Perpignan near the Spanish frontier in June.

Still badly understrength, it was nevertheless sent to the Normandy front, where it replaced the exhausted 1SS and 12th panzer divisions on the front line on July 13. The 272nd suffered heavy casualties in the Normandy/Falaise battles of July and August 1944 and was sent back to the III military district to rebuild completely later that summer.

The division went on to fight with distinction in the Battle of Huertgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge and it’s final major engagement was defending the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen.

The 272nd Infantry Division during the Battle of Caen, July - August 1944

(From Wikipedia:)

Due to the deteriorating situation on the Normandy Front, the division was shipped via rail beginning 2 July 1944, experiencing numerous Allied air attacks and Maquis ambushes along the way that slowed its movement to a crawl and caused it to arrive at the front piecemeal. Forced to unload its trains at the Loire River, the division had to make the remaining 180-kilometer trip to Normandy on foot, marching mostly by night to avoid Allied fighter-bombers. By midnight on 13 July, enough of the division had arrived to begin movement into the front lines, where its first three battalions found themselves placed under the control of the I SS Panzer Corps and tasked to begin the relief in place of the battered 1st SS Panzer Division “Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler” (LSSAH). The 272nd Infantry Division headquarters was established in Fresnay.

These three battalions and the supporting artillery battalion, as well as Füsilier Battalion 272, found themselves immediately involved in battle. By the end of 16 July, the division had already suffered 933 casualties. By the 17th of July, most of the 272nd Infantry Division had arrived at the front and was immediately placed into line. Grenadier Regiments 980 and 982 were holding the front line, which stretch from the right flank at the Caen railway station to the left flank at Maltot. The following day, 18 July 1944, the British began their long-awaited offensive, Operation Goodwood, designed to allow their 2nd British Army to break out of the beachhead and seize Caen once and for all. Using seven armored and two infantry divisions, the British intended to smash the German defenses and punch a way through to Falaise and open the road to Paris.

On the first day, the British were able to advance seven kilometers with the support of over 2,100 heavy and medium bombers blasting the way clear for the tanks and ground troops. German losses were heavy, but the 1st, 12th SS Panzer Division, 21st Panzer Division, and the 272nd Infantry Division fought back desperately. At one point, the 272nd lost contact with its left and right neighbors, and found itself two kilometers ahead of the German front line, forcing it to conduct a fighting withdrawal back to the new German main line of resistance. The artillery regiment frequently found its batteries placed in the direct fire role in order to keep the onrushing British tanks at bay, its guns frequently firing up to 600 rounds a day. By 20 July, Caen had fallen, but the British advance was held up by the German defenses along the Verrières Ridge, held in part by the stalwart Grenadiers of the 272nd Infantry Division. Most of the division’s infantry battalions by that point had suffered losses between 40 and 50 percent.

The Division’s outstanding performance in the fighting near Caen was recognized in the Wehrmachtsbericht of 24 July 1944, which announced to the German people “In the Caen area, the 272nd Infantry Division, under the inspirational leadership of Generalleutnant Schack, has especially distinguished itself through its tough defense and magnificent counterattacks.”

On July 25, 1944, after a preliminary barrage lasting upwards of five hours, forces of the II Canadian Corps initiated a massive offensive across a seven-kilometer front, stretching from the Orne River to Bourguebus Ridge, along the entire northern slope of Verrières Ridge. Although initial successes were made by Canadian forces, strong adherence to defensive doctrine by German forces across the ridge prevented major gains. The 272nd Division was able to inflict particularly heavy casualties on the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada. 315 out of 325 men were either killed, wounded, or captured.

Counterattacks were carried out throughout the 25th and 26th of July by Heer and Waffen SS troops and tanks, so that by the evening of 26th July, the tip of the Anglo-Canadian spearhead had been broken off and the front line pushed back between two and three kilometers. The next evening, the exhausted survivors of the 272nd were pulled out of line and sent to a quiet area on the front line near the town of Troarn to rest, reconstitute and take in replacements. It continued to reorganize until 3 August, absorbing the bulk of the disbanded 16th Luftwaffe Field Division. This brought the 272nd back up to 50 - 60% of its authorized strength. By being transferred to the Troarn area, it also managed to avoid being trapped in the Falaise Pocket. Though it had managed to emerge victorious after contributing more than its fair share towards the effort to stop Operation Goodwood, much more lay ahead - fighting at Troan, retreat across the Dives, the tank battle at Lisieux, and the retreat across the Seine and the low countries.

Though not as glamorous as their counterparts from the highly-vaunted Waffen SS, the ordinary Grenadiers of the 272nd had acquitted themselves very well indeed, helping to stop numerous tank-heavy British assaults even though it lacked armor of its own. Using Panzerfaust, hand grenade bundles, antitank guns, and sheer guts, the 272nd Infantry Division had racked up numerous tank kills in ten days of combat, while undergoing some of the fiercest bombardments of the Normandy Campaign, a feat rarely equaled by any other German infantry division at the time and recognized by being named in a second Wehrmachtsbericht on 4 August 1944, which stated "The 272nd Infantry Division ... forced to rely alone on the tough resistance of its brave Grenadiers ... is to be thanked that the enemy breakthrough attempt south of Caen was prevented by timely counterattack by its assembled forces".