21st Panzer Division – KStN List 1943

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13 Responses

  1. John Winner says:

    Here is the KStN for Panzerkampfwagen Kompanie c 1.4.41, verifying the French composition. http://www.wwiidaybyday.com/kstn/kstn1171c1apr41.htm

  2. John Winner says:

    If I understand the organization chart correctly it is saying that there are 4 F.H.16 and 6 PaK 40 which are all motorized and armored. I do not think the launchers are covered in the annotation in the chart, only that the StuG Abt. has 4 of them in the Stabskompmanie and each Pz.Gren.Btl. has one in 4. Kompanie. I think these are the “Reihenwerfer nach Vorschlag der Division” in the KStN, these could be test vehicles or possibly 8cm S307(f) Raketen-Vielfachwerfer.

  3. John Winner says:

    Sorry for the third rapid post, but I just noticed that in section b of the Materielle Bestimmungen it says all equipment and vehicles will be exclusively captured French or sourced from Ob.West.

  4. Richard says:

    Hey John, thanks for the feedback and link to the KStN.

    I agree with you that it is likely the Somua S307. I did a little more digging afterwards and found this site with a good set of photos: http://itinerantdispatches.tumblr.com/post/114600109660/mavitpzv-reihenwerfer-somua-s307f-s303f

  5. Richard says:

    It would be interesting to see how they transition from French to German equipment as we know by June 1944 they do have German equipment. i found some information on the “upgrading” of the reconnaissance battalion that i will post once i have pulled it all together.

  6. John Winner says:

    I do have to correct myself, I did not see the little note at the top of the organizational chart about the Reifenwerfer and its reference to the 16 launchers per.

  7. John Winner says:

    The OKH Kriegsgliederung for a Panzer-Division 43 is in T78 roll 409 (H1/103.2), image 6377876. I think I got the PDF from your site. The difference in structure between the standard composition and the 21.Pz.Div. composition is quite noted.

  8. Richard says:

    I agree that the 21st Panzer Division is far from a “typical” 1943 Panzer Division. I have edited the post to include the gliederung you mentioned for the 1943 Panzer Division so others can see the difference. Don’t plan much more work on the 21st Panzer Division as my interest lies in studying what a more typical 1943 Panzer Division looked like.

  9. sam wren says:

    Hi Richard. The 5. (Reihenwerfer)/StuG.Abt. 200 was later transferred to Pz.Art.Abt. 155 as the 10. Battery. There is some evidence that StuG.Abt. 200 was in the process of creating a new Reihenwerfer Kompanie (or Zug) and it is possible that there were some. The evidence is inconclusive however. I posted some of my findings on this here if you are interested, including the citation of the move of 5./StuG.Abt. 200
    http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=79048&hilit=reihenwerfer&start=30

  10. Richard says:

    Hey Sam. thanks for posting this info and the link. That is a great post by the way, well researched and very detailed.

  11. Dave says:

    Looking for information on 701st sturmgeschutz battery

  1. February 18, 2018

    […] The Schnelle Brigade West was an armored unit formed in France in the spring of 1943.  It was composed mostly of French and modified French vehicles.  This brigade eventually disbanded and became a major component of the new 21st Panzer Division. The new 21st Panzer Division was formed in the summer of 1943. Orders from OKH dated July 15, 1943 stated that Schnellen Brigade West would be used for the reconstitution of the 21st Panzer Division.  For additional information see this previous post on the 21st Panzer Division that provides copies of the orders and other documents: 21st Panzer Division K.St.N List – 1943 […]

  2. August 26, 2018

    […] the chassis of the French Somua MCG halftrack. This is a follow-up post to an earlier post on the 21st Panzer Division organization in the summer of 1943 were there was some discussion around this vehicle. I recently […]

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