The 304. Infanterie-Division was formed on 15 November 1940 as part of the 13. Welle (wave). It performed coastal defense and training duties in Belgium until transferring to the Eastern Front in December 1942. The division suffered heavy losses, including the destruction of Grenadier-Regiment 574, in heavy defensive combat during the withdrawal from the Don River.
Reduced to a Kampfgruppe during the withdrawal through the Ukraine, the division received a manpower boost in May 1944 by absorbing elements of the disbanded 5. Feld-Division (L). The division was destroyed in January 1945 on the Vistula. The division staff escaped encirclement south of Kattowitz and formed Gruppe Gen.Lt. Sieler which controlled several Kampfgruppen. Reformed in February 1945 in Ostrava, Moravia, the division surrendered in May 1945 to the Red Army at Deutsch Brod.

Oberleutnant d.R. Gerhard Wischniewski was awarded the Army Honor Roll Clasp on 5 February 1945 while serving as NSFO, Nationalsozialistischer Führungsoffizier (National Socialist Guidance Officer), in the division, one of only two NSFO officers to receive higher awards. These were normally ordinary officers of the Army who were given the task of and were appointed to NSFO officially, added for illustration of the influence on the Wehrmacht from "outside" after the 20 July 1944 plot and to show last administrative measures and efforts in the autumn of 1944 to keep up and to strengthen order and morale.

Commanders

Generalleutnant Heinrich Krampf (15 Nov 1940 - 16 Nov 1942)
Generalmajor Ernst Sieler (16 Nov 1942 - 1 Feb 1943)
Oberst Alfred Philippi (1 Feb 1943 - 1 Mar 1943)
Generalleutnant Ernst Sieler (1 Mar 1943 - 30 Aug 1943)
Oberst Norbert Holm (30 Aug 1943 - Oct 1943)
Generalleutnant Ernst Sieler (Oct 1943 - 8 May 1944)
Generalmajor Gustav Hundt (8 May 1944 - 9 Aug 1944)
Generalleutnant Ernst Sieler (9 Aug 1944 - Jan 1945)
Generalmajor Ulrich Liß (10 Jan 1945 - 22 Jan 1945) (WIA/POW)
Oberst Friedrich Krüger (Feb 1945 - Apr 1945)
Oberst Robert Bader (6 Apr 1945 - 17 Apr 1945)

Operations Officers (Ia)

Oberstleutnant Hans-Ulrich von Oertzen (21 Oct 1942-Dec 1942)
Oberstleutnant Eberhard Einbeck (25 Nov 1942-20 Mar 1944)
Major Gerd von Koblinski (25 May 1944-May 1945)

Area of operations

Germany (Nov 1940 - Apr 1941)
Belgium (Apr 1941 - Dec 1942)
Eastern front, southern sector (Dec 1942 - July 1944)
Poland & Czechoslovakia (July 1944 - May 1945)

Order of battle (1940)

Infanterie-Regiment 573
Infanterie-Regiment 574
Infanterie-Regiment 575
Artillerie-Regiment 304
- I. Abteilung
- II. Abteilung
- III. Abteilung
Pionier-Bataillon 304
Panzerjäger-Abteilung 304
Nachrichten-Kompanie 304
Versorgungseinheiten 304

Order of battle (1942)

Grenadier-Regiment 573
Grenadier-Regiment 574
Grenadier-Regiment 575
Artillerie-Regiment 304
- I. Abteilung
- II. Abteilung
- III. Abteilung
- IV. Abteilung
Pionier-Bataillon 304
Panzerjäger-Abteilung 304
Nachrichten-Abteilung 304
Versorgungseinheiten 304

Order of battle (1943-1945)

Grenadier-Regiment 573
Grenadier-Regiment 574
Grenadier-Regiment 575
Füsilier-Bataillon 304
Artillerie-Regiment 304
- I. Abteilung
- II. Abteilung
- III. Abteilung
- IV. Abteilung
Pionier-Bataillon 304
Panzerjäger-Abteilung 304
Nachrichten-Abteilung 304
Feldersatz-Bataillon 304
Versorgungseinheiten 304

Sources used

Antonio Muñoz – Göring’s Grenadiers: The Luftwaffe Field Divisions, 1942-1945
Georg Tessin - Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht 1933-1945

Reference material on this unit

- None known at this time -