The 36. Infanterie-Division was formed on 1 October 1936 in Kaiserslautern within Wehrkreis XII and mobilized in August 1939 as part of the first wave, initially assigned to defensive duties along the Westwall near Zweibrücken. Under Generalleutnant Georg Lindemann it advanced in May 1940 with the 16. Armee and VII. Armeekorps through Luxembourg and into France, enduring heavy fighting at Stonne south of Sedan before capturing Verdun on 15 June and continuing to the Toul area. Redesignated 36. Infanterie-Division (mot.) on 1 November 1940 after transferring Infanterie-Regiment 70 and receiving motorized elements, the division under Generalleutnant Otto-Ernst Ottenbacher and later General der Infanterie Hans Gollnick participated in Operation Barbarossa with Heeresgruppe Nord, destroying Soviet armor near Raseiniai on the Dubysa, breaking the Stalin Line north of Ostrow, and fighting at the Luga bridgehead and toward Leningrad. De-motorized and redesignated 36. Infanterie-Division again on 1 May 1943, it continued defensive operations on the central Eastern Front until nearly annihilated at Bobruysk in June 1944 during Operation Bagration. Reformed on 3 August 1944 as 36. Grenadier-Division and renamed 36. Volksgrenadier-Division in October 1944, the division fought on the Western Front until the end of the war in May 1945. Its original structure included Infanterie-Regiment 87, Infanterie-Regiment 118 and Artillerie-Regiment 36 together with supporting units numbered 36.
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RITTERKREUZTRÄGER
Generaloberst Georg Lindemann (1884-1963) was born on 8 March 1884 in Osterburg in the Altmark as the son of a Prussian judicial official and entered the Prussian army on 26 February 1903 as Fahnenjunker in the Magdeburgisches Dragoner-Regiment Nr. 6, receiving his commission as Leutnant in 1904 and later serving with the Jäger-Regiment zu Pferde Nr. 13 before assignment to the Großer Generalstab. During the First World War he saw service on both the Western and Eastern fronts as well as in the Balkans, rising to Rittmeister and earning the Iron Cross Second and First Class along with the Ritterkreuz des Königlichen Hausordens von Hohenzollern mit Schwertern while performing staff duties with various Korps and Armeen. After the war he briefly served with Freikorps units suppressing communist uprisings, then continued his career in the Reichswehr, commanding Reiter-Regiment 13 and later the Kriegsschule Hannover before being promoted to Generalmajor in 1936 and taking command of the newly formed 36. Infanterie-Division. In the 1940 Western Campaign this division under his leadership as Generalleutnant formed the spearhead that broke through the Maginot Line near Douzy on 15 May and, after further hard fighting, captured Hill 304 and the “Dead Man” positions on 14 June, enabling the rapid fall of Fortress Verdun; for these achievements he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 5 August 1940. Promoted to General der Kavallerie, he next commanded the L. Armeekorps in the Balkan Campaign and then in Operation Barbarossa with Heeresgruppe Nord, advancing toward Leningrad. On 16 January 1942 he assumed command of the 18. Armee, was promoted to Generaloberst in July 1942 after the destruction of the Soviet 2nd Shock Army on the Volkhov, and successfully defended the Leningrad front through successive battles south of Lake Ladoga in 1942–43, for which leadership he received the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 21 August 1943. He briefly led Heeresgruppe Nord from March to July 1944 until relieved after disagreements with Hitler over the defence of Polozk, later serving as Wehrmachtbefehlshaber Dänemark until the German surrender. Held in Allied and Danish captivity until 1948, he lived quietly in Freudenstadt until his death on 25 September 1963.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/36th_Infantry_Division_(Wehrmacht)
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