The 340th Volksgrenadier Division was a volksgrenadier

Volksgrenadier

Volksgrenadier was the name given to a type of German Army division formed in the Autumn of 1944 after the double loss of Army Group Center to the Soviets in Operation Bagration and the Fifth Panzer Army to the Allies in Normandy. The name itself was intended to build morale, appealing at once to...

 division of the Heer

Heer

Heer is German for "army". Generally, its use as "army" is not restricted to any particular country, so "das britische Heer" would mean "the British army".However, more specifically it can refer to:*An army of Germany:...

 (German Army) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945.

The division was formed in September 1944, by redesignating the 572. Volksgrenadier-Division, under the command of Theodor Tolsdorff

Theodor Tolsdorff

Theodor Tolsdorff was a Lieutenant General in the German Army and one of 27 recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds in the Second World War...

. It contained the 694th, 695th and 696th Grenadier Regiments, and the 340th Artillery Regiment.

The division fought in the Battle of the Bulge

Battle of the Bulge

The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive , launched toward the end of World War II through the densely forested Ardennes mountain region of Wallonia in Belgium, hence its French name , and France and...

, as part of I SS Panzer Corps

I SS Panzer Corps

The I SS Panzer Corps Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler or I SS Panzer Corps was a German Waffen-SS panzer corps which saw action on both the Western and Eastern Fronts during World War II.-Formation and training:...

, and then retreated into Germany as part of XIII SS Corps before finally being destroyed in the Ruhr pocket

Ruhr Pocket

The Ruhr Pocket was a battle of encirclement that took place in late March and early April 1945, near the end of World War II, in the Ruhr Area of Germany. For all intents and purposes, it marked the end of major organized resistance on Nazi Germany's Western Front, as more than 300,000 troops were...

in April 1945.