Created on 26 August 1939 in Krefeld as part of the third wave of mobilization, the German 227. Infanterie-Division, nicknamed the Rheinisch-Westfälische Division, initially underwent training and border defense preparations before participating in the Western Campaign of 1940 under the command of Generalleutnant Friedrich Zickwolff and later Generalleutnant Friedrich-Karl von Wachter, during which it saw active combat in the Netherlands and subsequently took up extensive occupation, security, and coastal defense duties along the Normandy coast near Le Havre from July 1940 until late 1941. In December 1941, the division was transferred to the Eastern Front under Heeresgruppe Nord, where it was immediately thrust into grueling, high-attrition positional and defensive engagements during the bitter winter battles around Leningrad, operating alongside the 18. Armee. Over the following years, under successive commanders including Generalleutnant Friedrich von Scotti, General der Infanterie Wilhelm Berlin, and Generalmajor der Reserve Maximilian Wengler, the division stubbornly held its sectors against heavy Soviet pressure during the prolonged siege operations and subsequent retreat movements through the Baltic regions. As the strategic situation deteriorated rapidly for the German forces, the unit fought in relentless defensive actions across Poland, the Vistula sector, Danzig, and Gotenhafen, ultimately facing severe fragmentation and destruction by early 1945 in the Tuchola Forest, concluding a long and destructive combat history defined by extensive garrison duty in the west and relentless defensive attrition in the east.
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SCHWERTERTRÄGER
Generalmajor der Reserve Maximilian Wengler (1890-1945) was born on 14 January 1890 in Roßwein, Saxony, and entered the Königlich Sächsische Armee on 28 November 1909 as Fähnrich in the 9. Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 133 at Zwickau, being promoted to Leutnant on 15 August 1910. During the First World War he served as Zugführer and distinguished himself in the Battle of the Marne despite a leg wound, receiving the Ritterkreuz of the Militär-St.-Heinrichs-Orden on 15 October 1914 along with the Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse and 1. Klasse; he left the army in 1919 as charakterisierter Hauptmann and worked as an insurance director until reactivated in 1939 as Hauptmann der Reserve and Kompaniechef in Infanterie-Regiment 40 of the 27. Infanterie-Division, taking part in the Polish and French campaigns, earning the Spange to the Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse on 20 May 1940 and 1. Klasse on 29 December 1940, and advancing to Major der Reserve and Bataillonskommandeur. Transferred to Infanterie-Regiment 366 of the 227. Infanterie-Division, he fought on the northern Eastern Front near Leningrad; promoted to Oberstleutnant der Reserve and appointed Kommandeur of the regiment in July 1942, he earned the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 6 October 1942 for holding a critical ridge known as the Kugelwäldchen in the German corridor to Lake Ladoga after Soviet forces broke through adjacent lines on 19 August 1942 during the First Battle of Lake Ladoga, isolating his unit near Gaitolowo for eight days while it repelled repeated assaults, relied on aerial resupply, and used shock groups to reopen supply routes until linking with a relief force, creating the lasting front bulge called the Wengler-Nase. Promoted to Oberst der Reserve on 1 December 1942, he continued commanding the redesignated Grenadier-Regiment 366 and received the Eichenlaub (404th award) on 22 February 1944 for defensive success at Narva in early 1944, where his regiment destroyed 73 of 105 attacking Soviet tanks over two days while defending the Narva River at Omuti and helped crush a Soviet naval landing west of Narva. Named Kommandeur of the 227. Infanterie-Division in mid-1944, he led it in Courland battles at Doblen and Liepna, earning a Wehrmachtbericht mention on 3 August 1944, and was awarded the Schwerter (123rd award) on 21 January 1945 as Generalmajor der Reserve for the division’s distinguished performance that summer around Liepna in Latvia; on 27 March 1945 he took command of the 83. Infanterie-Division near Gotenhafen, broke out of encirclement, and reached Oxhöfter Kämpe and Pillau-Neutief, where he and staff members were killed by an aerial bomb on 25 April 1945. Additional awards included the Infanterie-Sturmabzeichen in Silber, Nahkampfspange in Bronze, and Ostmedaille.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/227th_Infantry_Division_(Wehrmacht)
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