[citation needed] The division took part in the Nazi German invasion of France in 1940 and spent 1941 on occupation duty.

The town itself was garrisoned by the division's Infantry Regiment 277, along with the divisional artillery and pioneer battalion, under the command of a Lieutenant-Colonel von Saß.

This force was encircled by units of Kuzma Galitsky's 3rd Shock Army in the Battle of Velikiye Luki and destroyed in fighting that lasted two months.

They were pushed back towards Pillau, where elements of the 83rd Division formed the final rearguard defending the harbour mole on 25 April (the divisional commander Maximilian Wengler was killed at Neutief where the last German position was being held by Major-General Karl Henke).

In 1946 several captured officers of Infantry Regiment 277, including its former commander, Eduard Freiherr von Saß, were executed in Velikiye Luki for crimes committed by the Wehrmacht against the civilian population of the city.