The 340. Infanterie-Division was formed on 16 November 1940 in the area of Schleswig within Wehrkreis X as a static division of the 14. Aufstellungswelle, drawing personnel and units from elements of the 68. Infanterie-Division, the 170. Infanterie-Division and one battalion of the 290. Infanterie-Division. After initial training near Hamburg it was deployed in June 1941 to northern France around Calais for occupation and coastal defence duties under the 15. Armee. In May 1942 the division transferred to the Eastern Front and was subordinated to Heeresgruppe Süd, taking part in operations with the 4. Panzerarmee near Kiev before fighting under the 2. Armee in the Voronezh sector from August 1942 to January 1943 and later around Kursk in March 1943 as part of the XIII. Armeekorps. Severe losses during the autumn 1943 retreats through the Ukraine from Kiev via Zhitomir to Vinnitsa reduced its strength drastically; remnants of the destroyed 377. Infanterie-Division were absorbed, yet the division still numbered only about 7,200 men, and further incorporation of Divisionsgruppe 327 from the shattered 327. Infanterie-Division occurred in November 1943. By early 1944 trench strength had fallen below 300 men, prompting temporary withdrawal, rebuilding and return to the front in February 1944. Although it escaped one encirclement near Brody in April, the division was largely destroyed during the Soviet Lvov-Sandomierz Offensive in the Brody Pocket in July 1944 and formally dissolved by OKH order in August 1944. Surviving cadres helped form the 572. Volksgrenadier-Division in Wehrkreis XX at Thorn, which on 15 September 1944 was redesignated the 340. Volksgrenadier-Division under Generalleutnant Theodor Tolsdorff. Its organisation comprised Grenadier-Regiment 694, Grenadier-Regiment 695 and Grenadier-Regiment 696 together with Artillerie-Regiment 340, a Divisions-Füsilier-Kompanie, Panzerjäger-Abteilung 340, Pionier-Bataillon 340 and supporting elements; manpower included roughly 1,500 men from the Kriegsmarine, 2,200 from the Luftwaffe, convalescents and limited veterans of the old division. After reaching combat readiness the 340. Volksgrenadier-Division moved west and fought in the Ardennes Offensive of December 1944, participating in the battles around Bastogne as part of the I. SS-Panzerkorps under the LXXX. Armeekorps commanded by General der Infanterie Franz Beyer. Subsequent defensive actions followed with the XIII. Armeekorps in the Eifel and between the Rhine and Ruhr before the division was finally destroyed in the Ruhr Pocket in April 1945, its remaining staff contributing to the short-lived Division Scharnhorst. Earlier commanders of the 340. Infanterie-Division had included Generalleutnant Friedrich-Wilhelm Neumann, Generalleutnant Viktor Koch, Generalleutnant Otto Butze, Generalleutnant Josef Prinner, Generalleutnant Werner Ehrig and Generalmajor Otto Beutler.
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BRILLANTENTRÄGER
Generalleutnant Theodor Tolsdorff (1909-1978), born on 3 November 1909 at Estate Lehnarten in East Prussia, joined the Infanterie-Regiment 1 of the Reichswehr in Insterburg as a Schütze in 1934 and rose rapidly through the ranks of the Wehrmacht Heer. Promoted to Leutnant in 1936 and Oberleutnant in 1938, he commanded the 14. (Panzerjäger-)Kompanie of Infanterie-Regiment 22 in the 1. Infanterie-Division during the invasions of Poland and France. On the Eastern Front, as Oberleutnant and acting commander of II./Infanterie-Regiment 22, he earned the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 4 December 1941 by leading a counterattack with hastily assembled reserves against a Soviet breakthrough from the Vyborgsskaja bridgehead, regaining the line despite being wounded three times. As Major and Kommandeur of I. Bataillon, Füsilier-Regiment 22, he received the Eichenlaub on 15 September 1943 for holding his sector for fourteen days and restoring neighboring positions during the Third Battle of Lake Ladoga through personal frontline leadership. In July 1944, as Oberstleutnant commanding Grenadier-Regiment 1067 and Kampfgruppe Tolsdorff, he broke through to the encircled garrison of Vilnius, rescued a field hospital with three thousand wounded, defended the city against overwhelming Soviet and Polish forces, and facilitated the breakout, earning the Schwerter on 18 July 1944 and the nickname Löwe von Wilna while being promoted to Oberst. Appointed Kommandeur of the 340. Volksgrenadier-Division, he led it in the Ardennes offensive, seizing and holding a vital river crossing, then conducted an orderly retreat through the Eifel, for which he received the Brillanten on 18 March 1945 as Generalmajor and was promoted to Generalleutnant, one of the youngest in the Heer, later commanding the LXXXII. Armeekorps. Wounded fourteen times in total, Tolsdorff surrendered in May 1945, was released in 1947, and died in Dortmund on 25 May 1978.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/340th_Volksgrenadier_Division