227th Infantry Division ( Wehrmacht ) The 227th Infantry Division named " Rheinisch - Westfälische " was created on 26 August 1939 in Krefeld . The Division was deployed for the last time in February 1945 in the Tuchola Forest . Operational history . Activation and the low countries . The 227th Infantry Division was formed during the 3rd wave mobilization in August 1939 in Krefeld . Shortly thereafter it served with the 5th Army performing border protection in the Eifel region . In December 1939 it was assigned to the 6th Army and became a part of Army Group B in preparation for Gronau yellow . In early 1940 , motorcycle components of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler under Kurt Meyer were attached to the 227th Infantry Division during the preparations for the invasion of the Netherlands . The division took part in the invasion of the Netherlands and France in May – June 1940 . As part of the X Army Corps of the 18th Army , it participated in the advance through Enschede and Deventer , and helped to capture the fort at Pannerden and the break through the Grebbe line . After the crossing of the Leie the division advanced through Ghent , Zwolle and Amersfoort . Shortly thereafter came the capitulation Holland . Leningrad . Following the victory in France the division performed occupation , security and coastal defense duties along the Normandy coast near Le Havre from July 1940 until December 1941 , when it was transferred to Army Group North on the Eastern Front . There , the division engaged in continual fighting in and around Leningrad . In January 1942 , the division was part of Herbert Loch ' s 28th Army Corps ( XXVIII AK ) , in the 18th Army . The division engaged in heavy fighting during the Red Army ' s main offensive at Sinyavino Heights , the Chernaya and the south shore of Lake Ladoga . The division suffered heavy casualties in what was called the Battle of Lake Ladoga from August through September 1942 . In January 1943 the Soviets launched Operation Iskra ( the second Battle of Lake Ladoga ) and the division became encircled in Schlüsselburg , along with two battalions of the 96th Infantry Division . After fierce fighting the division was able to rally and break out of the pocket . It reached the German lines to the south , but three of its grenadier battalions were so badly mauled that they were disbanded , with the survivors being transferred to other grenadier battalions in the division . In January 1944 the pressure from the Soviet army was such that the 227th Infantry Division and the rest of the XLIII Army Corps had to withdraw to positions behind Narva . During this withdrawal the division suffered heavy losses . In February 1944 the division was strengthened by elements of the 9th Luftwaffe Field Division , which itself had suffered heavily and been dissolved . Intense fighting followed in Courland , when the division was picked up by the German Navy during the evacuation , linking up with Army Group Vistula ' s 2nd Army and transferred to West Prussia . It fought on in the Vistula , Danzig and Gotenhafen , where it was finally decimated completely by March 1945 . In April 1945 , the staff of the division was absorbed by the staff of the Panzer - Verband Ausbildungs Ostsee .