7th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)
| German 7th Panzer Division | |
|---|---|
Unit insignia
|
|
| Active | 18 October 1939 – 8 May 1945 |
| Country |
 Nazi Germany
|
| Branch | Army |
| Type | Panzer |
| Role | Armoured warfare |
| Size | Division |
| Nickname(s) | "Gespensterdivision" |
| Engagements | World War II |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Georg Stumme Erwin Rommel Hans Freiherr von Funck Hasso von Manteuffel |
| Insignia | |
| 1940 | |
| 1941–1945 |  |
| at Kursk |  |
The 7th Panzer Division was an armored formation of the German Army in World War II. It participated in the Battle of France, the invasion of the Soviet Union, the occupation of Vichy France, and on the Eastern Front until the end of the war.
The division fought successfully in France in 1940, and then again in the Soviet Union in 1941. In May 1942, the division was withdrawn from the Soviet Union and sent back to France to replace losses and refit. It returned to southern Russia following the defeat at Stalingrad, and helped to check a general collapse of the front in a series of defensive battles as part of Army Group Don, and participated in General Erich von Manstein's counterattack at Kharkov. The division fought in the unsuccessful offensive at Kursk in the summer of 1943, suffering heavy losses in men and equipment and was further degraded in the subsequent Soviet counteroffensive.
Through 1944 and 1945, the division was markedly understrength and continuously engaged in a series of defensive battles across the eastern front. It was twice evacuated by sea, leaving what was left of its heavy equipment behind each time. After fighting defensively across Prussia and northern Germany, the surviving men escaped into the forest and surrendered to the British army northwest of Berlin in May 1945.
Following the completion of the invasion of Poland, the limited effectiveness of the light divisions caused the German High Command to order the reorganization of the four light divisions into full panzer divisions. In October 1939, the 2nd Light Division became the 7th Panzer Division, one of Germany's only ten armoured divisions. It consisted of 218 tanks in three battalions, with two rifle regiments, a motorcycle battalion, an engineer battalion, and an anti-tank battalion.
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