[1] The division was part of the German invasion of the northern Netherlands where it encountered only weak defences as it was not a strategically important area.

After the Dutch surrender, the division took part in the final actions of the battle of France before serving as an occupation force there and, from September 1940, in Poland.

It participated in the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa, where it was part of the Army Group Center before being sent back to East Prussia for conversion to a tank division.

The division participated in the capture of Voronezh and, in late December 1942, was encircled in the Battle of Stalingrad and destroyed.

[2] The 24th Panzer Division was reformed in March 1943 and served in Normandy, Italy,[2] and then went back to the Eastern Front where it suffered heavy casualties in around Kiev and the Dniepr Bend.