709th Static Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

709th Static Infantry Division
Active	May 1941 – June 1944
Country	Nazi Germany
Branch	Army
Type	Static Infantry
Role	Coastal Defence
Size	Division 12,988 at full strength.
Engagements	Invasion of Normandy
Commanders
Notable commanders	Generalleutnant Karl-Wilhelm von Schlieben

The 709th Static Infantry Division was a German Army static division in World War II. It was raised in May 1941 and used for occupation duties during the German occupation of France in World War II until the Allied invasion. It was on the Normandy coast when the invasion fell, and thus fought in the Battle of Normandy. The division was trapped in the Cotentin Peninsula and destroyed in the defense of Cherbourg.

Static Divisions occupied a rigid defence position, usually on a broad front (for example in 1944, 2,000 km of Atlantic coast line was covered by 23 Static Divisions). They were not trained in mobile warfare and as such possessed very limited transport; any transport assigned to the Division was usually horse drawn. Many of the officers, non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and men in these divisions were either previously wounded, older men, lacking combat experience, with ailments or conscripted prisoners-of-war.

The 709th static infantry Division was a Coastal unit assigned to protect the Eastern and Northern coasts of the Cotentin Peninsula, including the Utah Beach-head and the US airborne landing zones. Its sector was considered to be over a 250 km wide front and ran in a line from the North East of Carentan, via Barfleur-Cherbourg-cap de la Hague to a point west of Barneville. This included the 65 km Land front of Cherbourg.

The Division included a number of "Ostlegionen" – Eastern – units of various nationalities, mainly from the occupied countries such as eastern volunteers, conscripts and former Soviet prisoners-of-war who had chosen to fight in the German Army rather than suffer the harsh conditions as prisoners. Two battalions of the 739th Grenadier Regiment were Georgian Battalions and two other battalions were also designated as Ost units in the Divisional Order of Battle. These battalions were led by German officers and NCOs.

The commander of the division at the time of the D-Day landings was General Karl-Wilhelm von Schlieben who took command in December 1943 after two and a half years of continuous command of Eastern Front combat units, including the 108th Panzer Grenadier Regiment, 4th Rifle Brigade, 208th Infantry Division and the 18th Panzer Division.

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