161st Infantry Division ( Wehrmacht ) The 161 Infantry Division was a major unit of the German Wehrmacht . It fought in the Battle of France , and then later on in the Eastern Front . Organisation . Formation . The division was formed in December 1939 as part of the 7th wave of German mobilisation , and used the replacement battalions in Werkrise 1 , East Prussia , to form its combat units . The 161st was organised as a standard triangular infantry division with 3 Infantry Regiments , with 9 battalions and 1 Artillery Regiment plus supporting units . It was a sign of the Wehrmacht ' s rapid expansion that the division was short of artillery with only 6 medium batteries instead of 9 and no heavy artillery . It was also short of motor transport , and had a small mixed battalion of an anti - tank company and a bicycle company instead of an anti - tank battalion and a reconnaissance battalion . Summer 1941 . By the start of the Russian campaign the equipment shortages had been resolved and the division had a full complement of 36 105mm howitzers and 12 heavy 150mm howitzers . It also now had a 3 company anti tank battalion , greater capacity in its supply units and a field replacement battalion . However it was still missing a reconnaissance battalion , instead it only had a bicycle squadron . By 1 December the division had reorganised its infantry regiments into 2 battalions each , instead of three , due to manpower shortages In November 1942 the division was posted to France to recover and refit . November 1943 . Parts of the division were incoperated into the Korps Abteilung A , with each regiment contributing a battalion sized unit as a ' regiment gruppe ' . The expedient of forming these Korps Abteilung was to rebalance the ratio of staff and service troops to combat troops . The excess staff and support specialists could then be used to build new formations in Germany . Reformation . Many of the Korps Abteilung were later reformed into infantry divisions , and this is true of Korps Abteilung A , which was converted into a second incarnation of the 161st infantry in July 1944 . The new division did not last long and was destroyed in the following month . Its surviving personnel were used to refresh the 76th Infantry Division and in the reformation of the 15th Infantry Division . Combat History . In 1940 the 161st took part in a short - lived attack on the Maginot Line on 21 June . After a single day ' s assault that achieved little , the attack was called off by Colonel General von Leeb as unnecessary . Attack on the Soviet Union . On 22 June 1941 the 161st attacked the Soviet Union as part of Army Group Centre ' s 9th Army , commanded by Colonel General Adolf Strauß . After participating in the first great encirclement at Mink , the 161st had to march hard to catch up with the fighting to the east , eventually helping to relieve the mobile units of 3rd Panzer group for other tasks . By mid August the division was part of the 9th Army ' s eastern front north of Smolensk . On 17 August the division was hit by a massive attack , a main component of Timoshenkos counter offensive , which was aimed at disrupting German offensive action and recapturing lost ground in the Smolensk region . Virtually the whole of the Soviet 19th Army attack sector fell upon the 161st Division and its forward defences were overrun by 4 Russian infantry divisions and a tank division . In one week ' s fighting the division lost 75 % of its combat strength and much equipment and had to be pulled out of line and replaced by the 14th Infantry Division ( mot ) By the year ' s end the division had suffered a staggering 7 , 192 casualties since the start of Operation Barbarossa , including 252 Officer casualties , and of these 1 , 722 were killed . 1942 On the defensive on the central front . Nevertheless , in spite of its loses , the division remained in line and in January 1942 the division was moved to the Rzhew front . In August 1942 the 161st sector was again the focus of a major Soviet offensive , this time Zhukovs attempted to eliminate the Rhzev salient . " In the morning of 4 August , Thirty - first { Russian } Army surged into and over the 161st Infantry division on an eight mile stretch east of Zubtov . The break through was complete almost at once . By Dark , the only trace of the former front was the occasional white flares that were sent up , here and there , by a bypassed strong point . " The remnants of the division were forced back onto Zubstov . The situation for 9th Army was precarious and its grip on Rhzev tenueus , so in spite of its battered state the 161st had to stay in line , as reinforcements were rushed to the area . The fighting continued into the second half of September , and after finally subsiding , the depleted division was posted to France to rebuild in November 1942 . By December the 161st was located in the Pas - de - Calais area , on the channel coast absorbing replacements . The German 161st Infantry division participated in the Battle of Kursk , under the 42nd Army Corps whose other divisions were the 39th and the 282nd Infantry division s . During the battle , the 161st was responsible for protecting the flank of the 3rd Panzer Corps . In November 1943 the remaining combat elements of the division were incorporated into Corps Abteilung A , and the formation was effectively dissolved . The end in Romania . The division was reformed in July 1944 , as an infantry division again by redesignating Korps Abtielung A . It was on the defensive in southern Ukraine on the Romanian border under LII corps of the 6th Army . Its second life however only lasted a few weeks as on 20 August the Russian 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts unleashed a major offensive into Romania . These forces blasted huge holes in the Axis front and within 3 days encircled most of the ill - fated 6th Army , including the 161st Division , near Jassy . The encirclements were reduced within a few days and the trapped German units completely destroyed . The division was officially disbanded in October 1944 and not rebuilt .