battalions) 43rd Panzerjäger Battalion 59th Reconnaissance Battalion 59th Pioneer Battalion 84th Signals Battalion 59th Division Support Units The 67th Panzer Battalion had been incorporated into the 10th Panzer regiment as 3rd Battalion, the infantry was now organised under two Regiments of two battalions of motorised infantry each. The Artillery Regiment had gained another battalion of heavy Guns from the 645th Heavy Artillery Battalion. History It was made a part of XLI Motorized Corps for the Battle of France. In the battles of the Meuse Crossings, French forces were initially able to repel German attacks. Eventually, however, the French were forced to retreat in the face of an overwhelming assault by German tanks. The division was involved in the destruction of the 1st and the 7th Armies in May 1940, and remained on the line in France until the country's conquest in June 1940. At the start of Operation Barbarossa, the 8th Panzer Division was assigned to Erich von Mansteins' LVI Panzer Corps, part of Panzer Group 4, which was tasked with the main drive through the Baltic states in the direction of Leningrad, Soviet Union's second largest city. Attacking in the pre dawn hours of 22 June 1941, the division soon found a gap in the Soviet border defences and by nightfall had penetrated to a distance of 70 km. Driven by the division commander to maintain a rapid pace, and switching focus between its battle groups to find the path of least resistance, the division reached the Dvina river, on the morning of the 4th day. Its combat engineers, with the assistance of a company of Brandenburgers, mounted a ruse and managed to capture both the rail and road bridge intact. Soon the 8th Panzer Division had tanks and infantry across the River, but was forced to halt and wait for resupply and the other Panzer corps of Panzer Group 4 to catch up. The following days were spent gradually expanding its bridgehead whilst fending off Soviet counterattacks from the Soviet 21 Mechanised Corps. Resumed a rapid advance to the east against a Soviet forces now in complete disarray. On 7 October it began to snow in the Army Group North area, and by 15 October the snow was ankle deep. General Leeb completed his regrouping for the continued attack across the Volkhov river towards Tikhvin. The infantry formed bridgeheads from which 8th Panzer and the other mobile units