Panzer Regiment, was involved in heavy fighting from the Dniester to Northern Bessarabia. In early May 1944, the division, as a part of LVII.Panzerkorps took part in the Battle of Târgul Frumos, near Iaşi in Romania. The division was next involved in the fighting around Podul. After a brief rest in early July, the division was transferred to northern Romania and then to East Prussia. Over the next months, Großdeutschland was involved in heavy fighting in both East Prussia and the Baltic States. The division was later forced to withdraw into Germany, where it was nearly destroyed during the battles in the Memel bridgehead. 1945 By March 1945, the Division Großdeutschland had been reduced to around 4,000 men. These escaped by ferry from the collapsing Memel bridgehead and landed at Pillau. By 25 April 1945, the division ceased to exist, having been destroyed in the battles around Pillau. A few hundred of the surviving personnel made their way to Schleswig-Holstein and surrendered to British forces. The remainder surrendered to the Soviet army. Großdeutschland Insignia Großdeutschland insignia consisted of intertwined GD displayed on the shoulder straps; a cuff title, of the type granted to Waffen-SS units, was also distributed. The original version (silver on green) was of the same colour as the LANDZOLL (Customs Service) cuff title. In 1940, a new cuff band (silver on black), similar to the SS, was introduced. The cuff titles may be one reason that the Großdeutschland is often mistakenly identified as a Waffen-SS formation. To distinguish between the two, the Großdeutschland was ordered to wear their cuff title on the right sleeve, while the SS wore theirs on the left. The cuff band was not awarded until after a soldier had completed his trade training and was accepted into the division. As with all items of German military dress, older patterns were permitted to be "worn out" once newer patterns were available, and the older green cuff titles could still be seen worn in Russia by veterans of the original GD Regiment. After expansion to a division, the regiment wore a white numeral "1" on the shoulder strap, later replaced with the wearing of white loops across the straps, to distinguish from the second GD regiment who wore red loops. Even after redesignation as a Panzergrendier regiment, the white waffenfarbe (branch colour) was retained. Commanders Bibliography de Lannoy, François and Jean-Claude Perrigault La division Grossdeutschland