Following a period of occupation duty and also briefly a return to civilian life, its soldiers were sent to the Eastern Front in the winter of 1941.

[2] They were to cross the river and attack a portion of the Maginot line defended by 3 French fortress divisions.

The following day, with the assistance of further artillery, Stuka dive bomber strikes, the 218th was able to pierce the French defenses, together with 21st and 239th infantry divisions.

The French Army was in a state of collapse, as on the previous day, Guderian's Panzer forces had reached the Swiss border, effectively surrounding the French defenders in the Vosges and 3 days later the armistice was signed at Compiègne, marking the end of hostilities.

Although the beginning of the German-Soviet War (Operation Barbarossa) involved much of the German army, the 218th Infantry Division had initially remained on occupation duty in Denmark.

Oberstleutnant Johannes Manitius, the commander of Infantry Regiment 386, joined his unit in Kholm and another battalion from the Regiment managed slipped past advancing units of the Soviet 3rd Shock Army, before the Soviets threw a solid cordon around the town.

The Germans had barely beaten the Soviets to Kholm, and positioned a mixed battlegroup (kampfgruppe) of around 4,500 soldiers under the leadership of Generalmajor Scherer, but the group had virtually no artillery or anti tank guns.

In January 1944 the defensive positions around Leningrad of Army Group North collapsed, and Hitler finally authorized a withdrawal to the Panther–Wotan line.

[7] The 218th Infantry division was formed in the 3rd wave of mobilization in August 1939, using older men of the local defence forces, Landwehr.

[8] Its home station was military district 3, around Berlin, and on formation its composition was, After the Polish campaign the division transferred 3 of its 4 artillery battalions.

[9] By September 1943 the division was reorganized as a Type 44, and in good shape as it was listed as category 2, capable of limited offensive missions[11] and was listed as follows, After again suffering severe losses in the fighting on the Baltic Islands the 397 Regiment was disbanded in December 1944 leaving only 5 battalions of infantry.