The 362nd Infantry Division was formed in Italy, in the area around Rimini, during the period from October to November 1943. It was formally established on 15 November under the command of GeneralleutnantHeinz Greiner. The division nominally fell within the responsibility of Wehrkreis VII, and was centred on Füssen. It was a Type 44 division, which meant that it had six battalions of infantry in contrast to the nine of a conventional division, and also had less motorised transport. Its core, including Greiner and his divisional staff, were the remnants of the 268th Infantry Division, which had previously served on the Eastern Front and had recently been disbanded following significant losses incurred in the Battle of Kursk and subsequent retreat. Infantry numbers were boosted with battalions from the 44th, 52nd, 76th and the 305th Infantry Divisions. Its first engagement was in the Battle of Anzio in January 1944 and when the Allies managed to break through the German defences four months later, the division was overrun. Greiner was just returning from leave when his division was literally overrun by the massive air-supported assault of the U.S. 3rd Infantry and 1st Armored Divisions on May 23 and 24. Allied intelligence reported that the 362nd was "destroyed."Thus when the 1st Armored Division began its exploitation of the breakthrough on May 26 through Velletri, in the zone of the 362nd Division, no serious resistance was expected. But in one of the most intensive one-day battles of the war, under Grenier's inspiring leadership, the 362nd not only held, its counterattacks drove the surprised American tsnkmen back to their starting positions. Prior to this, the division was involved in the Benedicta massacre, which occurred at Piedmont between 6 and 7 April 1944, where 97 civilians were executed. Withdrawn to Rome, the division suffered heavy losses during the Allied advance and had to be rebuilt. Two of its original grenadier regiments were disbanded and were replaced by the 1059th and 1060th Infantry Regiments, transferred from the recently disestablished 92nd Infantry Division. Returning to the front on the Gothic Line, it manned the frontlines near Florence and later at Bologna. During Operation Grapeshot, the last major engagement mounted by the Allied forces on the Italian Front, the division became surrounded near the Po River by the American forces. It surrendered on 23 April 1945.
