[2] The 225th Infantry Division was sent to Aachen and used for border guard duty while the bulk of German forces focussed on the Invasion of Poland.

[1] After the German victory in Poland, the 225th Infantry Division saw action in the western campaign, specifically in the invasion of the Netherlands.

On 25 May 1940, soldiers of the 377th Regiment carried out the Vinkt Massacre, taking 140 Belgian civilians hostage and using them as human shields, resulting in dozens of deaths.

On May 27th, frustrated by the Belgian Chasseurs Ardennais' refusal to surrender and believing they had been fired on by local partisans, the German soldiers began to execute their civilian hostages, only four survived.

The 225th Infantry Division saw action in the Soviet winter offensives of 1941/42 and 1942/43, took part in the Siege of Leningrad, participated in the Battle of Demyansk from November 1942 to February 1943, and fought at Lake Ilmen between March and May 1942.