Movements of 7th panzer during invasion of France 1940

Hi guys,

I am hoping that someone here can help me. I am looking for information on the movement of Rommel's panzer division in the invasion of France. I picked up a photo album at auction which seems, as far as I can tell, to have belonged to a member of his signals unit. There's a couple of photos of Rommel in it, along with several identifiable looking locations, and I was hoping to see if I could tie down any of the locations of the photos using known troop movements. I was hoping that someone here might be able to help

Many thanks for your time

 

There are several members who could probably help but we would need to see some of the pictures.

Would you be prepared to put them on public display on the forum?

One of our members has been posting his collection for sometime.

Dunkirk 1940 photos. Some never seen before .

Some members live in the area, some were born there and others study the History of the campaign.

 

Yes, of course. I think the album is arranged chronologically. I will get them scanned and post the ones I think have identifiable places or units within them.

Do I start a new thread, or just post them in the thread you linked to?

 

This is one of the photos from the album. I think the vehicle is a horch 901, and that the emblem indicates a signals unit. The 7th panzers signals unit I understand was the the 83rd Communications Battalion (Nachrichtenabteilung 83) under Oberstleutnant Müller.

20240523_224015 by Genghis_the_cat posted May 25, 2024 at 1:49 AM

 

Stick to posting your photos on this thread & we'll see what we can do to ID locations.

 

Looked this up to get it clear in my mind. My normal subject of study is Italy and North Africa.

7. Panzer-Division (Wehrmacht) – Wikipedia

Nachrichtenabteilung 83 (News Department 83 poor translation? Signals Corps is closer)

The communications corps was a branch of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS army that was set up to set up and operate communications links such as telephone and radio links. Listening companies, in which soldiers who were fluent in foreign languages served, were specifically set up to listen in on enemy.

 

Wondering if anyone has opinions about the progress maps in this book. Would consider the e-book if the juice is worth the squeeze. Looked online and did not find high quality maps with good detail, showing the routes of XV Panzer Korps.

 

IMG_20240608_220317 by Genghis_the_cat posted Jun 8, 2024 at 10:09 PM

The album starts with 5 photos on the first page. Three are of the same young officer, the other 2 show Rommel in the field with a helmeted soldier.

I believe the young officer to be the owner of the album

This is the best shot of him. Can anyone tell me more about him from the uniform?

 

Here he is getting a haircut

IMG_20240608_220130 by Genghis_the_cat posted Jun 8, 2024 at 10:08 PM

 

And here he is with an older officer

IMG_20240608_220415 by Genghis_the_cat posted Jun 8, 2024 at 10:10 PM

 

There is a wealth of place names here, but at the moment I don't have the time to search through them all:
Russisch-deutsches Projekt zur Digitalisierung deutscher Dokumente in den Archiven der Russischen Föderation | Akte 60. Unterlagen der Ia-Abteilung des Generalkommandos des XV. Armeekorps: Tages- und Lagemeldungen der 7. Panzerdivision für den 16. Mai 1940 u.a.

 

Thank you. Some of those look potentially very interesting

 

Here is the first potentially identifiable place. It appears in 2 photos on the second page, first with a group of french captives being marched in front of it, watched by a tank on the left (Panzer II?)

IMG_20240610_140342 by Genghis_the_cat posted Jun 10, 2024 at 2:08 PM

 

And then with a column of German infantry led by an officer on horseback

IMG_20240610_140435 by Genghis_the_cat posted Jun 10, 2024 at 2:10 PM