711th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

711th Infantry Division
Active	May 1941 – May 9, 1945
Country	Nazi Germany
Branch	Army
Type	Infantry
Size	Division

The 711th Infantry Division (German: 711. Infanteriedivision) was a German Army infantry division in World War II.

The 711th Infantry Division was raised in May 1941 as part of the 15th Wave. Equipped only for occupational duties, it was sent to France as a component of the 15th Army. Originally, the division was placed along the demarcation line between German-occupied and Vichy France, but was later moved along the coast to serve in the Atlantic Wall, eventually settling as part of the 15th Army's left flank in a sector between the Orne and Seine rivers. The division was then armed with more effective weapons to assist in coastal defence, including weapons discarded by the Allies during the wide-scale retreats at the end of the Battle of France.

Lieutenant General Josef Reichert took over command of the division in April 1943. During his time in command, he witnessed the transformation of the Atlantic Wall into a defensive more comparable to "Fortress Europe" propaganda. However, the division's participation in the construction of defensive structures on behalf of Marshal Erwin Rommel led to Reichert's criticism of division training being "almost completely neglected" in favour of building concrete pillboxes for Organization Todt. According to General of the Artillery Walter Warlimont, the divisions in place around Normandy were limited in early May; the 711th; 716th and 352nd divisions were placed along the northern coast. This began to change when Hitler concluded that Normandy was a likely spot for an invasion. This provided some level of relief for the division, who were also assigned to prepare a series of mine fields that month.

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