36th Infantry Division ( Wehrmacht ) The 36th Infantry Division was a German infantry formation of World War II . It was formed in Kaiserslautern on 1 October 1936 . During World War II it was mobilized in August 1939 , as part of the first wave . It was later reorganized and re - designated the 36th Infantry Division ( mot ) in November 1940 . It was then de - motorized , reorganized and re - designated the 36th Infantry Division on 1 May 1943 . The division was destroyed at Bobruysk in June 1944 during the Soviet summer offensive . It was reformed on 3 August 1944 as the 36th Grenadier Division and renamed the 36th Volksgrenadier Division in October 1944 . Operational history . The division was formed in October 1936 with men from Kaiserslautern , and consisted largely of Bavarian Palatinates . The division remained in its garrison during the 1938 German occupation of Czechoslovakia and 1939 Invasion of Poland . France . During the German invasion of France the 36th Infantry Division was part of Army Group A ' s 16th Army , where it served with VII Corps . Crossing into France through the Chiers , the corps ' objective was a commune by the name of La Ferté . Although part of the attack force , the division saw no frontline action . On 11 August the division returned to Germany , where it was reformed into a motorized division . The 70th Infantry Regiment was transferred to the 111th Infantry Division during this stay . Eastern Front . The division took part in Operation Barbarossa as part of XXXXI Panzer Corps , itself attached to Army Group North . On September 7 , the 87th and 118th regiments made their way through woodland , making preparations to attack the same day . Attacking a small village occupied by Red Army troops , the regiments came under fire across the woodland after the Soviets dispersed into the trees . The 87th continued on its way through the woods to capture two villages decided to be essential in preparation for storming the Soviet bunkers outside Leningrad . The capturing of the villages led to the deaths of a number of men of 1st Company , who had been flanked in the woodlands ; firing between the company and the Soviets lasted into the following day , when the regiment began to move onward into No Man ' s Land . In late October the division helped establish a bridgehead near Kalinin , which it did so while under heavy Soviet fire . In November the division relieved Kampfgruppe Manteuffel at the Kalinin - Klin - Moscow railway lines near the Volga reservoir . In December 1941 , the division had reached just west of Klin when it came under fire from the Soviet ' s 365th Rifle Division . The Soviet division was forced to retreat after German forces began flanking them from the east . During the winter the division took heavy - casualties . In Summber 1942 the division defended Rzhev and Baranova from the Red Army , taking even more losses . The division was de - motorized in May 1943 , though retained more motorized vehicles than other Infantry Divisions . On July 1943 , during the Battle of Kursk , the division was part of the XXXXVII Panzer Corps , a reserve unit for the 9th Army just south of Oryel . With Soviet forces slowing down Walter Model ' s advance , the division was put on active duty on July 6 . On the 12th , Field Marshall Günther von Kluge ordered the division to retreat from Oryol to rejoin the 9th Army as the Soviets began to storm into the city outskirts . Changing his mind , he sent it back north with the 12 Panzer Division s arrived in their full nearly four hours later . In Summer 1944 the division took part in Operation Bagration at only the size of two regiments . It was here that the division ' s commanding officer , " Generalmajor " Conrady , was captured . The division ' s remnants were largely destroyed , though a number of survivors managed to get back to Germany . Return to France . Replenished and reformed as the " 36th Volksgrenadier Division " , and containing the remnants of the 268th Infantry Division , the 36th was sent westwards to defend France ; Luxembourg and the Saarland from Allied advances in September 1944 , though remained in reserve until September 10 , when it was given to the 1st Army as it defended the Moselle . With the army pulling back to the Franco - German border , by November the division had worn itself out in the two months of fighting . The division was part of the January 1945 Operation Nordwind , where it served as part of the XIII SS - Infantry Corps under " Obergruppenführer - SS " Max Simon . By now the division was reduced to the size of a single regiment , though its morale remained stable . On March 28 , the division formed part of the 7th Army ' s left wing as LXXXII Corps , which was now resisting American General George S . Patton ' s 3rd Army in central Germany .