277. Infanterie Division

The division was raised in November 1943 in Kroatia. It was transfered to southern France in January 1944 to continue forming.¹ Its organization was²:

The division was largely composed of Austrians and about one third of the men were veterans from the eastern front.³

On 19 June the division it was reported that the division had 9 136 officers and men plus 1 513 HiWi. Its equipment included 468 light machine guns, 75 heavy machine guns, 58 8 cm mortars, nineteen 7,5 cm le.IG, six 15 cm s.IG, 37 10,5 cm le.FH, nine 15 cm s.FH, 22 7,5 cm Pak, 173 motorcycles, 111 cars, 230 trucks, 36 towing vehicles and 4 618 horses.⁴

The various parts of the division had reached different levels of training. The Pz.Jäg.Abt. and the Füs.Btl. were considered fully trained, while the artillery was sufficiently trained for defensive missions. The infantry had performed exercises as reinforced battalions, but not as complete regiments. Also the NCO:s needed more training.⁵

Despite not being fully trained the division was ordered to Normandy and on 23 June one train had reached the area south of Angers.⁶ Three days later eleven trains had unloaded in Angers, while 17 were still between Narbonne and Angers.⁷ Another 24 had not yet been loaded.⁸

On the morning of 2 July the division components were located⁹:

16 km west of Saumur:	Rgts.Stab G.R. 989, Rgts.Einh, G.R. 989
Northeast Vire:	I./G.R. 989
6 km east of Vire:	II./G.R. 989
Chateau Gontier:	G.R. 990 (except II. Btl.), Pi.Btl. 277
14 km southsouthwest of Domfront:	I./G.R. 991
12 km northwest of Domfront:	II./G.R. 991
16 km southsouthwest of Domfront:	8./A.R. 277, 9./A.R. 277
16 km northnortheast of Laval:	4./A.R. 277
12 km westnorthwest of Domfront:	5./A.R. 277, 6./A.R. 277
12 km northwest of Mayenne:	3./A.R. 277, 7./A.R. 277
4 km northwest of Anhibres le Grand:	10./A.R. 277
6 km northwest of Chateauneuf sur Sarthe:	11./A.R. 277, 12. /A.R. 277
8 km southwest of Anhibres le Grand:	Füs.Btl. 277

One week later the division began to take up positions on the frontline¹⁰, but it was not until 15 July that all rail movements were reported to be completed.¹¹

The division became involved in intensive fighting from 13 July.¹² Until 16 July (inclusive) the casualties amounted to 1 000 men.¹³ Losses of equipment in the period 16 July - 18 July included: five 7,5 cm Pak 40, one 10,5 cm le.F.H., 126 MG 42, twenty-one 8 cm mortars.¹⁴

At the beginning of August the division was facing British forces east of the Orne.¹⁵ This meant that the division was half-way into what would eventually be the "Falaise Pocket". The division did withdraw towards southeast.¹⁶ Temporarily it was reinforced with one company of Jagdpanthers and an Art.Pak.Abt. with 8,8 cm guns.¹⁷ On 17 August the division was located a few kilometers south-west of Falaise.¹⁸ Two days later the division was east of the Falaise - Argentan road, in the area north of Vorche.¹⁹ On this day the division still had a full strength engineer battalion, an artillery regiment almost full strength (but with little ammunition) and an anti-tank battalion in relatively good shape.²⁰ Also, given the easterly location of the combat elements of the division when the allied forces finally closed the pocket, it seems very likely that the rear services of the 277. Inf.Div. had already passed out of the pocket.²¹

According to the chief of staff of the division about 2 500 men succeeded to break out of the pocket.²² If to this is added the rear services assumed to be outside of the pocket probably about 5 500 men remained of the division on 22 August. This would indicate that the casualties suffered during the Normandy campaign amounted to 4 000 - 5 000 men.

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Notes:

1	G. Tessin, Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS (Mittler & Sohn, Frankfurt am Main and Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1966-1975).
2	The organization has been derived from Tessin and manuscripts MS # B-009, MS # B-610 and MS # B-679.
3	A. Praun, 277. Infanterie-Division. Teilnahme am Feldzug in der Normandie, MS # B-009, p 2f.
4	OB West Ia Nr. 4772/44 g.Kdos., T311, R25, F7029683f.
5	Ibid.
6	OB West Ia Nr. 4879/44 g.Kdos. 23.6.44, T311, R25, F7029779.
7	OB West Ia Nr. 5027/44 g.Kdos, 26.6.44, T311, R25, F7029913.
8	Ibid.
9	OB West Ia Nr. 5230/44 g.Kdos, 3.7.44, T311, R28, F7034151f.
10	Praun, op. cit. p. 4. See also H. Fürbringer, 9. SS-Panzer-Division (Editions Heimdal, 1984) p. 307f. The 277. Inf.Div. relieved the 9. SS-Pz.Div.
11	OB West Ia Nr. 5698/44 g.Kdos, 15.7.44, T311, R28, F7034506.
12	Praun, op.cit. p 11.
13	Ob West Ia Nr. 5779/44 g.Kdos, 18.7.44, T311, R28, F7034577.
14	HGr B Ib/Br. B Nr. 01068/44 geh 20.7.44, T311, R1, F7000813.
15	Wangenheim, Einsatz und Verwendung der 277. Inf.Div. in der Zeit vom 25.7. - 20.8.1944, MS # B-679, p. 8.
16	Ibid, p. 13.
17	Ibid.
18	Ibid, p. 15 and Viebig, Nordfrankreich - Einsatz und Kämpfe der 277. I.D. in der Zeit vom 13.8. bis. 1.9.44, MS # B-610, p. 7.
19	Wangenheim, op. cit. p. 19. Note that the author has spelled Vorche wrong, he writes Forche (given the German way of pronouncing "v" this is not surprising.
20	Ibid.
21	It should be noted that the 277. Fought alongside the 12. SS-Pz.Div., whose rear services were not involved in the pocket.
22	Wangenheim, op.cit. p. 1.