The 272nd was originaly formed from the 216th Infantry Division of the newly formed German Wehrmacht, or main army. It consisted primarily of Lower-Saxon reservists in the summer of 1939 and was moved to the western border of Germany before the invasion of Poland in September of that year. In the 1940 campaign against France and the low countries, the 216th Division, as it was known in the early stages of the war, was attached to the 18th Army, 9th Corps. It became heavily engaged in the attack through Holland and Belgium before taking part in the elimination of the Allied Expeditionary Force at Dunkirk. When the Allied armies were pushed off of the continent, the division paraded through the Pas de Calais in Paris, through Caen in Normandy where it would again be stationed in 1944, and ended its march in Cherbourg on the Contentin Peninsula in July 1940. The 216th remained in western France as an occupation force where, throughout this time, older reservists of the unit where sent home and replaced by younger soldiers. The division was also modernized and refitted in preparation for Operation Barbarossa in the east.

In June 1941, the massive German invasion of the Soviet Union began. The Division waited uneasily throughout the rest of the summer and fall of 1941 for word that they would be transferred to the east. The orders finally came in November and the 216th moved eastward in December of that year. The first units of the 216th rolled east and arrived in the town of Suchinitschi, 150km from Moscow on December 29, 1941. Several late arriving bataillons were sent to support the area around Rshev, Russia. The 216th Infantrie Division immediately went into combat in the Rshev Gap, as it was later called, and saw constant action against the Russians for the rest of the frozen winter of 1941-1942. In July 1942 the entire 216th was reunited just west of Orel, near Bryansk as part of the 9th Army. The division then began local operations against partisans in the area of Lokot untill September 1942. With the coming of winter 1942-1943, the 216th transferred again to Rshev to repel another Soviet advance. In February 1943, the division was pulled out of the gap and hastily transferred to defend the Orel front against massive Soviet attacks which did not end unitl May of that year.

On July 5, 1943, Operation Citadel, the great German counterattack in the east began and quickly developed into the battle of Kursk. The division which was still part of the 9th Army commanded by Generaloberst Model and part of the 23 Corps, was shifted to the northern section of the Kursk salient. The massive battle that ensued around Kursk left the division weakened and unable to continue offensive operations in the east. The remnants of the 216th slowly pulled back through the Bryansk area, then through Gomel, again continuously fighting partisans as they retreated. Finally, in December 1943, the 216th Division was allowed to be transferred west and given a much needed chance to rebuild as it was sent to Belgium and assigned to the 86 Corps. At this time, the 216th Infantrie Division ceased to exist as the remnants that arrived in Antwerp were referred to as Division Gruppe 216.

In January 1944, the division was rebuilt and was renamed the 272 Infantrie Division. Germany was now entering its fifth year of the war and the constant strain of conflict caused all German divisions to be reformed and reduced in manpower. Infantry regiments became grenadier regiments and some battalions were redone as füsilier battalions. The 396th Battaillon of the old 216th Division became the 272 Füsilier Bataillon of the 272 Division. The infantrymen of the bataillon were referred to as füsiliers which were utilized primarily as recon troops and a division reserve. March 1944 saw the newly formed 272nd relocated to the south of France near the Spanish border and the Mediterranean Sea which began a brief interlude from the war and a few months of rest.

With the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944, the call to arms came once again to the men of the 272nd. On the 29th of June, they boarded trains bound for the Normandy coast, finally arriving on July 11th just outside of Caen. Throughout July and August of 1944, the division remained in the vicinity of Caen, battling British and Canadian forces. The 272nd recieved commendations twice during this phase of operations from the Wehrmacht High Command as it fought alongside the 10th SS, 12th SS, 21st Panzer Division, and the Panzer Lehr Division through several British offensives aimed at taking the city of Caen. When a breakthrough was finally achieved near Caen by the Anglo-American forces, the Normandy defences collapsed in late August 1944. The 272nd was forced north towards the channel coast while many other German divisions were caught in the Falaise Pocket. In order to escape the crumbling front, the division conducted a frantic retreat back through France and Belgium, covering upwards of 40 km per day. Many units within the division had lost 60% of their original personnel.

In late September, 1944 the 272 Infantrie Division was returned to Germany and rebuilt and restored. It now became known as the 272 Volksgrenadier Division with a further reduction in personnel. This reduction caused the 272 Füsilier Bataillon to become the 272 Füsilier Kompanie. Late October 1944 found the 272 VG Division back in the front lines now stationed in the Eifel region opposite the Hürtgen Forest. The Americans attempted a massive thrust right through the area that the 272nd Division was holding which resulted in several months of fierce fighting. The American attacks were only drawn to a close because of the Ardennes Offensive launched by German armored units on December 16, 1944 which threatened the Allied lines. The 272 was supposed to be included in the counterattack which came to be known as the Battle of the Bulge, but heavy fighting against the American 78th Division in the Hürtgen Forest caused the division to be pulled out of the planned offensive.

In January 1945, the 272nd held portions of the Siegfried Line east of the town of Kesternich against repeated assaults by American tanks and engineer troops. This area of the line had a series of bunkers and pillboxes that had to be destroyed with explosives and artillery. Eventually, the Siegfried Line was captured with only dead and wounded füsilier troops in each fortification, at a tremendous cost in men and material to the American attacking armies. This forced the division to conduct yet another fighting withdrawal from the Siegfried Line across the Rhine River in early March 1945, just south of t Remagen and into the Ruhr industrial area of Germany. The Ruhr Cauldron was to be the final battle of the 272 Infantrie Division. Tremendous pressure was put on all the German troops in the area with heavy fighting from the end of March through April 1945. Several regiments of the division ceased to exist as the survivors marched into captivity on May 7, 1945 with the final surrender of Germany.

The 216/272 Infantrie Division has a proud history with six years of almost constant war across the whole of Europe, the Western Wall, the Fall of France and the low countries, two Russian winters near Moscow, the battles of Kursk and Normandy, the forests of the Ardennes and Hürtgen, and the final assault on Germany itself in the end. The German soldier of the 272 Infantrie Division fought with great distinction and recieved many unit commendations engaging in the hardest campaigns of the war, and losing many of its brave soldiers in the struggle. The 272nd Füsilier was the truest example of the basic German combat soldier during the Second World War.