After the campaign in France, the division was stationed along the French coast until June 1941, when it was reattached to Army Group North (Heeresgruppe Nord) in preparation for Operation Barbarossa (the invasion of the Soviet Union).

The division saw much action during its advance on Leningrad, and then in the subsequent defensive battles against the Soviet winter offensive.

The division fought and held its lines throughout 1942; in August, the 271st Infantry Regiment was given the honorific of "Feldherrnhalle", due to its outstanding performance during the campaigns in France and the Soviet Union.

The refitted division was once again attached to Army Group North, taking part in desperate attempts to maintain the siege of Leningrad.

The division was evacuated from Courland at the beginning of 1945 and after a short rest, was sent to Samland, a peninsula on the Baltic coast in Eastern Prussia, where it was destroyed by the Red Army in March.