It was almost destroyed in the fighting on the Vistula, and was encircled in the Halbe pocket at the end of the war, but some elements of the division managed to surrender to the United States Army at Travemünde.

[2] On 2 July 1941, Wagner was replaced by Generalleutnant (Major General) Dr. Walter Hinghofer,[3] an Austrian-born career officer who had served the whole of World War I fighting the Russians on the Eastern Front.

This was the result of repeated requests for reinforcements from the Wehrmacht Commander Southeast, Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm List due to a growing insurgency in the eastern parts of the partitioned Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

[5] The division began arriving from France on 20 September 1941, and was quickly committed to counter-insurgency operations in the northwestern part of the German-occupied territory of Serbia.

Between 24 September and 9 October it conducted its first operation, which was aimed at clearing the Mačva region, which consisted of around 600 square kilometres (230 sq mi) west of the town of Šabac between the Drina and Sava rivers.

The Cer operation targeted around 2,500 well-armed Chetniks and 4,000 poorly-equipped Partisans, and the division burned many villages and shot over 3,000 more people despite capturing few weapons and taking few prisoners.

The Krupanj operation was essentially treated as revenge for two companies of the 704th Infantry Division that had been overrun in the town a few weeks earlier, but again failed to decisively engage the insurgents.

[11]: 504 When the Russians broke out of the bridgehead in January 1945, the division was almost completely destroyed during the Vistula–Oder Offensive, but it fought on as a kampfgruppe until it was encircled in the Halbe pocket during the Battle for Berlin.