7th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)

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7th Panzer Division

Troop registration number 1940

Troop registration number 1940
active October 18, 1939 to May 8, 1945 (surrender)
Country German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire
Armed forces Wehrmacht
Armed forces army
Branch of service Armored force
Type Panzer Division
structure Panzer Regiment 25
Rifle Regt. 6 + 7
Artillery Regt. 78
garrison Gera
Nickname Ghost Division
Second World War French campaign
German-Soviet war
Vyazma Cauldron Battle
Kharkov (1943)
Kursk
Kiev (1943)
Zhitomir
insignia
Troop registration number 1940 Troop registration number 1940
Troop registration 1941–1945 Troop registration 1941–1945
Troop plates during the Citadel Company Troop plates during the Citadel Company

The 7th Panzer Division was a major unit of the Army of the German Wehrmacht in World War II . It was set up on October 18, 1939 and is best known by its nickname, Ghost Division. It was created through the regrouping of the 2nd light division after the attack on Poland (White case) its lack of tanks had made itself felt.

history

The 7th Panzer Division became famous under its commander Major General Erwin Rommel in the French campaign in 1940. He was able to break through the extended Maginot Line near Maubeuge and advance through the Artois to the coast. With the rapid advance he surprised not only the French, but also his own superiors. Some of these were quite angry, as Rommel neglected to secure his flanks and thus exposed his units to the risk of being cut off. Since Rommel commanded his units from the front line, even his own division staff did not always know where the commander was. The division was briefly disturbed on May 21 by a British counter-attack at the Battle of Arras .

Because the 7th Panzer Division showed up in places where they were not expected, French soldiers gave it the name "Ghost Division " ( La division fantome ). This name stayed with her until the end of the war.

The 7th Panzer Division stayed in France until February 1941 to freshen up in preparation for the attack on the Soviet Union . There she was subordinate to Army Group Center and fought in the Vyazma Kesselschlacht within the Panzer Group Guderian , of which over 600,000 Soviet soldiers were captured.

Sd.Kfz. 251 of the 7th Panzer Division with a heavy throwing frame 40, southern France 1942

In May 1942, the division was refreshed again in France, in order to be used again on the Eastern Front from February 1943 . This time, however, on the southern section as part of the Don Army Group, renamed Army Group South . At that time she took part in the Battle of Kharkov and the Citadel Company , and later in the long retreat through Ukraine , fought in the Battle of Kiev and Zhitomir . In autumn 1943 the division received the new Tiger tanks in order to be able to counter the Soviet T-34 tanks, which had been superior until then . In August 1944 the division was transferred to Army Group North in the Baltic States and remained there until November of the same year. She was then pushed back to the west by the Red Army .

At the beginning of May 1945 before Schwerin

In order to avoid Soviet captivity, the 7th Panzer Division under Colonel Hans Christern surrendered to the British Army in Schwerin on May 8, 1945 .

Four of a total of 27 winners of the Knight's Cross with oak leaves, swords and diamonds were temporarily commanders of this division:

Commanders

  • Major General Georg Stumme - October 18, 1939 to February 5, 1940
  • Major General Erwin Rommel - February 5, 1940 to February 14, 1941
  • Major General Hans Freiherr von Funck - February 15, 1941 to August 17, 1943
  • Colonel Wolfgang Glaesemer - August 17-20 , 1943
  • Major General Hasso von Manteuffel - August 20, 1943 to January 1, 1944
  • Major General Adelbert Schulz - January 1st to 28th, 1944
  • Colonel Wolfgang Glaesemer - January 28-30, 1944
  • Colonel / Major General Karl Mauss January 30 to May 2, 1944
  • Major General Gerhard Schmidhuber - May 2 to September 9, 1944
  • Major General / Lieutenant General Karl Mauss - September 9 to October 31, 1944
  • Major General Hellmuth Mäder - October 31 to November 30, 1944
  • Lieutenant General Karl Mauss - November 30, 1944 to January 5, 1945
  • Major General Max Lemke - January 5-23, 1945
  • Lieutenant General Karl Mauss - January 23 to March 25, 1945
  • Colonel Hans Christern - March 26 to May 8, 1945

structure

April 1940
Western campaign 		1943
Eastern Front
  • Panzer Regiment 25
  • Panzer Division 66
  • Panzer Regiment 25
  • Rifle Brigade 7
    • Rifle Regiment 6
    • Rifle Regiment 7
  • Army Flak Artillery Department 296
  • Panzer Reconnaissance Division 7
  • Panzerjäger detachment 42
  • Panzer Pioneer Battalion 58
  • Panzer News Department 83
  • Tank Supply Troops 58

Areas of application

  • Poland - September 1939 to May 1940
  • Belgium and France - May 1940 to February 1941
  • Germany - February to May 1941
  • Soviet Union - May 1941 to May 1942
  • France - May 1942 to February 1943
  • Soviet Union - February 1943 to August 1944
  • Baltic States and East Prussia - August 1944 to January 1945
  • Poland and Germany - January to May 1945

Well-known members of the division

  • Siegfried Lowitz (1914–1999), actor, was drafted into the 6th Rifle Regiment as a grenadier, fought on the Eastern Front and in France, was then unfit for the front in 1943 due to an injury he had sustained in a motorcycle accident and as a soldier Army fired.

literature

  • Hasso von Manteuffel : The 7th Panzer Division in World War II , Podzun-Pallas-Verlag, Friedberg 1986, ISBN 3-7909-0296-9 .
  • Horst Scheibert: The ghost division. A German Panzer Division (7th) in World War II. Podzun-Pallas Verlag, Friedberg, ISBN 3-7909-0144-X .
  • "7. Panzer Division ” in Veit Scherzer (ed.): German troops in World War II , Volume 3, Scherzers Militaer-Verl., Ranis / Jena 2008, ISBN 978-3-938845-13-4 ; Pp. 387-418.
  • Samuel W. Mitcham : German Order of Battle.Panzer, Panzer Grenadier, and Waffen SS Divisions in World War II , Stackpole Books, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8117-3438-7 .
  • Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945. Volume 3: The Land Forces 6-14 . 2nd Edition. Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1974, ISBN 3-7648-0942-6 .

Web links

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