Infanterie-Division; nicknamed Gekreuzte Säbel, 'crossed sabres', after the divisional symbol) was a German infantry division which fought during World War II.

The 56th spent mid-1940 in Belgium, then returned to Poland in the early northern hemisphere fall, fighting in Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

The division fought in the Battle of France in May 1940 against the British Expeditionary Force, remaining in Belgium after the fall of Dunkirk.

[1] After taking part in the Invasion of France in 1940, it spent the remainder of its existence on the Eastern Front, mostly with Army Group Centre.

This was itself largely destroyed to the west of Vitebsk when Third Panzer Army failed to hold the salient around the city during the Soviet offensive of June 1944, Operation Bagration.