Niehorster had the following to say:
"The Field Army raised Division z.b.V.. This was a divisional echelon headquarters without any organic divisional units at all (except, of course, for the divisional headquarters staff itself.) Almost all of these were raised starting 1944 and into 1945 to command miscellaneous non-divisional units, including but not limited to alarm 'units' and rear echelon services thrown into the battle. After raising, a very few were authorized small divisional support units, such as a signal company, the odd engineer company, or a supply column. I tend to think that most would not really have had a typical infantry division headquarters, but rather would have consisted of a smaller staff with a divisional echelon commander billet.
The Field Army also raised Divisionsstab zbV. (Such as the Divisionsstab z.b.V. 300). Basically the same as the Division zbV. Again, these were merely divisional headquarters with no organic units, to which a varying and changing number of units were assigned. They performed various command and control missions for non-divisional units.
On the other hand, within the Replacement Army there were also Division z.b.V., headquarters created to command Landesschützen (militia) units. The vast majority were converted to Division Nr. in 1942. A few were not converted. They were retained as Landesschützen commands, and late in the war these got caught up in the fighting. By that time they would have an additional conglomerate of second rate units used as combat forces, such as security, alarm, and rear echelon service units."
So, the answer, as most things German in WWII, is complex and defies a single simple conclusion. Basically due to weird organizational quirks, both existed, meant almost the same thing, but mysteriously had different names.The name list I produced includes both types...Division z.v.V and Divisionsstab z.b.V, with the most common name I could find for them in sources, and also provided some degree of recorded combat or security service could be found.
