272nd Volksgrenadier Division ( Wehrmacht ) The 272nd Volksgrenadier Division ( more accurately " Volks - Grenadier Division " ) , was a German Army volksgrenadier division formed following the defeats of the Normandy Campaign in 1944 . Composed of men taken from existing Heer units and airmen and sailors retasked to infantry duties , the division fought on the retreating Western Front until it was largely encircled in the Ruhr Pocket in April 1945 . Unit history . 272nd Volksgrenadier Division was formed on 17 September 1944 at the Döberitz Training Area in Germany by combining the then - forming 575th Volksgrenadier Division with the remnants of the veteran 272nd Infantry Division , which had barely managed to escape from the Allied offensives following the Normandy landings . Organized using the new volksgrenadier division structure designed in August 1944 , the division consisted of three two - battalion infantry regiments , a four - battalion artillery regiment , a combat engineer battalion , an antitank battalion , a signals battalion , a fusilier company , and a logistics regiment . At its full table of organization strength it fielded 10 , 000 men . After six weeks of reorganization and training , the division was shipped to the Western Front in early November 1944 , and fought in the Battle of the Huertgen Forest , along the Roer River , and the retreat to the Rhine . It eventually was forced to capitulate in April 1945 when it was encircled in what became known as the Battle of the Ruhr Pocket , though a single regiment escaped but was later forced to surrender at the Harz " Fortress " . Its most singular engagement was during the Battle of Kesternich from 13 to 18 December 1944 , when it managed to encircle and destroy an entire battalion from the 310th Infantry Regiment of the U . S . 78th Infantry Division , capturing over 300 men and officers . Though , like other volksgrenadier divisions , the 272nd ' s ranks were filled with a large proportion of former Luftwaffe ( Air Force ) and Kriegsmarine ( Navy ) personnel ( up to 50 % by some estimates ) , the division performed creditably , due in part to the large number of veteran commanders and non - commissioned officers it retained from the old 272nd Infantry Division , which itself was built on the foundation of the disbanded 216th Infantry Division . Most notable about the volksgrenadier division concept was its pared - down manpower allocation ( 10 , 000 men vs . the older division structure of 16 , 000 men ) and the reliance on large numbers of a new weapon , the assault rifle model 1944 , or Sturmgewehr 44 , a radical departure from the bolt action Mauser model 98 rifle . Combining reliance on this new weapons technology , the volksgrenadier divisions were supposed to be the new model division representing the will of the German people , or das Volk , and their willingness to fight to the bitter end . Though a few volksgrenadier divisions lived up to this ideal , most failed to meet expectations and by the war ' s end , the term volksgrenadier came to be viewed by the Allies as meaning a second - rate , bottom - of - the - barrel type of soldier . Order of battle . Order of Battle , October 1944 :