It was formed using surplus ground crew of the Luftwaffe and served on the Eastern Front from late 1942 to June 1944 when it was destroyed during Operation Bagration.

[Note 1] Intended to serve as infantry, its personnel were largely drawn from surplus Luftwaffe ground crew.

In the summer of 1944, the 4th Field Division (L) was still defending Vitebsk as part of the LIII Corps in the 3rd Panzer Army.

When the Red Army began the Vitebsk–Orsha Offensive of Operation Bagration on 22 June 1944, the corps was surrounded within days.

The division was encircled at Vitebsk and subsequently destroyed with its commander, Generalleutnant Robert Pistorious, killed in action.