Raised from Rheinlanders in the German Military District (Wehrkreis) XII, and headquartered in Wiesbaden, the home station of the 79th was Koblenz.

Unteroffizier Werner Psaar stated that since the division's first combat was mainly in the Lorraine region, this is what led to the symbol.

From June 1940 until April 1941, the division was on occupation duty and trained for Operation Sea Lion - the projected invasion of Great Britain.

This late weakening of the 6th Army's left flank to replace the serious infantry losses in the Stalingrad city battle contributed to the success of Operation Uranus, as Red Army's northern pincer axis of attack rolled through the 79th's former positions, which were given over to the Romanian 5th Infantry division.

The division staff, including the Ia (Operations Officer) Oberst Hans Schwanbeck, was flown out of Stalingrad on January 8–9, 1943.

The division, including its commander, Generalleutnant Alexander von Daniels, surrendered to the Red Army when the German forces capitulated.

On August 23, 1944, with the Romanian coup, the 79th was once again encircled and virtually annihilated near Chitcani, Romania on the Berlad River.

It had only ten percent combat veterans and was largely made up by absorbing the 586th Volksgrenadier Division (Katzbach).

Both units suffered very heavy losses, particularly when on December 26 most of the 79th VG artillery and FGB armor was destroyed by American fighter bombers.

Remnants of the 79th fought in the vicinity of Rothenburg ob der Tauber under the name Battle Group (Kampfgruppe) "Hummel" in mid-April.