Regiment 125. 21PZ Div

[Andy Lilof]

Or 192 as the mood takes me. Have another section to go yet and there’s more vehicles to come.

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[Boaz]

Looking great so far … how large will your total force be ?

[Andy Lilof]

I tend to not do a points count as such. So it’s getting built so I can go for small all the way to tank war with all the bells and whistles. Rule of cool really and then I just build some lists and pick out what I need from the big box and with 21 it’s going to be a big box. Lots of options! 😁

[Jim Ripley]

Very nice looking unit . Love the basing on your troops . Is the reason they have French vehicles is because they are a 2nd line unit ? Did they have any German vehicles ? And did you choose to model them because you got to build “strange ” stuff , I mean not usual Panzers and 251s ?

[Andy Lilof]

Hi Jim

Thanks.

No not second line but France was viewed as a cushy posting with the bulk of the German kit being bound for Russia.
21 was effectively destroyed as a unit in north Africa. But it appears to have had Hitler’s respect and so was reformed but they were told to make do. There were few veterans France was a good place to reform and train. 12th SS were doing the same, they only went combat effective less than a week before D Day. Major Becker was a bit of an engineering genius and produced a whole host of vehicles from the plentiful captured French kit which attracted much attention and interest and provided equipment to other units including on the eastern front. The recent release from warlord of the renault ue with the big rockets is checkers work for example. While 21 was equipped with panzer 4s and would have eventually got panthers, most of the support kit was French. Think they had some Russian 122mm guns too. But they also had split trail pak 44 88mm anti tank guns.
I suppose the ultimate reference book is Werner kortenhaus’ war history of 21 PZ Div. Which also gives a German insight into D Day too. Great read. Bit expensive though well worth it.
And yeah I do like the ‘ bit different’ nature of it and I’m increasingly getting a bit anal on the historical accuracy 😁

[invisible officer]

The base of the new 21st Panzerdiv. was Schnelle (Fast) Brigade West, a unit that was formed in 1942 with French material for local defence. Such units had been not 2nd rate in men but in material that was so mixed that it was not ideal for the Blitzkrieg style tank war.
In early 43 it changed to Verstärkte (Enlarged) Schnelle Brigade West.
In May it was decided to convert it into a motorised Infantry Division.
But in June the plan changed it into a new 21. Panzerdivision. For that it got some survivors from the old like men on holyday and recovering wounded.

Those from the Schnelle Brigade had full tactical tank training and needed only the technical training for Panzer IV. Well, mechanics that made the French mix running had no problems with Panzer IV.

In the year until Invasion the I. Abteilung (Battalion) of the Panzer Regiment changed from French tanks to German IV H. The II. Abteilung kept a French tank mix.
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Many first rate German Divisions had French train vehicles. Renault produced Lorries for Wehrmacht until 44.

[Andy Lilof]

Thank you IO
Very useful. I’m Still learning about them but they have captured the imagination. Finding models to achieve the ‘look’ is proving fun. Fortunately our hosts here do provide for a reasonable chunk 😃

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