way into the northern part of Luga, encircling and destroying the Soviet defenders. In January 1942, the division was moved to the Volkhov River sector, and on 24 February it was transferred to the Waffen-SS; its personnel changing their police insignia to that of the SS. The formation was involved in heavy fighting between January and March which resulted in the destruction of the Soviet 2nd Shock Army during the Battle of Lyuban. The remainder of the year was spent on the Leningrad front. 1943 In February 1943, the division saw action south of Lake Ladoga and was forced to retreat to a new defensive line at Kolpino where it was successful in holding the Red Army, despite suffering heavy casualties. It was at this point that units of the division were transferred to the west to retrain and upgrade to a Panzergrenadier division; leaving a small Kampfgruppe (battlegroup) in the east and a Dutch Volunteer Legion, the Niederland, to make up the numbers. The Kampfgruppe was disbanded in May 1943, when the division became operational. The division was sent to Greece where it engaged in Nazi security warfare in the northern part of the country. 1944 and Distomo massacre The division remained in Greece until August 1944 before being recalled to face the advancing Red Army at Belgrade. It again suffered heavy losses. While in Greece, the division committed war crimes and atrocities against the civilian population while undertaking anti-partisan operations. In particular they were responsible for the Kleisoura massacre and the Distomo massacre; the latter being one of the worst atrocities committed by the Waffen-SS during World War II. On June 10, 1944, for over two hours, troops of the division under the command of Fritz Lautenbach went door to door and massacred Greek civilians in retaliation for a Greek Resistance attack upon the unit. A total of 214 men, women and children were killed in Distomo, a small village near Delphi. According to survivors, SS men "bayoneted babies in their cribs, stabbed pregnant women, and beheaded the village priest." Elements of this division committed atrocities in the mountains of central Greece ("Ρούμελη") during May and June 1944 that resulted in the destruction of Sperchiada and the massacre of 28 civilians in Ipati. The division later participated in Operation Kreuzotter (5–31 August 1944), an attempt to eradicate Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) bases from the same mountains. The