21st Panzer Division in Normandy. My current painting Project – Part 2 & Final Part.
- Rob Wingrave
- May 26
- 4 min read
Updated: May 27
In part 1, I covered the Panzer Grenadier Regiment and Reconnaissance Battalion. In this part, I will cover the 200th Assault Gun Battalion, 22nd Tank Regiment, 200th AT Battalion, 305th AA battalion and have taken a look at the artillery regiments.
As I mentioned in my first article the composition and equipment of this panzer Division varied significantly from its peers and this can be seen in the Division having its own integral Assault Gun Battalion numbered 200.
The standard assault gun in this period was the ubiquitous Stug but not in the 21st Panzer Division. Alfred Becker had a numerous Souma 39 tanks converted into self-propelled gun platforms for this Battalion. The Battalion had 5 Batteries, a HQ with some integral support units including an engineer platoon and AA platoon.
The batteries had 2 components; the first component was an anti-tank function. This was provided by a self-propelled PAK 40 75mm AT gun. The Souma SP gun designated as a 7.5cm PaK 40 auf 39H(f). The second Element was an artillery and infantry support function. This was provided by a self-propelled 105mm artillery gun. The Souma SP gun was designated by the Germans as 10.5cm PzFH 18 auf 39H(f). The FOOs for these artillery pieces were transported in converted Souma 39 tanks. These armoured artillery observation vehicles were designated Pzbeobw 39H(f). Some sources say the HQ also had some Renault 35R tanks with 47mm Guns.
For my scaled down Battalion I have created 5 batteries each of 1 x SP AT gun, 2 SP 105mm guns with a FOO in an armoured observation vehicle.
HQ was a Unic SPW107 HQ vehicle and another Souma observation vehicle, with the support elements covered by a Souma 307 Pioneer halftrack with engineers, and a SP 10mm FLAK gun in a SPW107 halftrack.
The 22nd panzer Regiment was also different. Usually, each Panzer Division has 1 battalion of Panthers and the second battalion was equipped with MKIV tanks. For the 21st Panzer Division in April / May their first battalion was MKIVs rather than Panthers and their second battalion was a mix of MKIV tanks and French Souma tanks. Some sources suggest the 8th company had short barrelled MKIV B/C models. The HQ units have MKIII command tanks and the converted French SPW107 halftracks. By June the French tanks were replaced by MKIVs. I cannot find any accounts of these French tanks in action.
However, being a typical wargamer with a penchant for the unusual I could not help myself and acquired several Souma tanks for the 2nd Panzer Battalion. I can use my MK IV tanks from my other painted armoured division (2nd Panzer Division) for the 1st Battalion. With the Souma tanks and early MK IV tanks I can field 2nd Battalion as it was in May 1944. The 5th – 7th companies had a mix of late war MK IVs and Souma tanks.
I also painted up specialist HQ units. This included MK III command tanks and HQ versions of the SPW107 halftracks for the 1st Battalion and Regimental command to enable to field Kampgruppe Oppeln and Ruach for future scenarios.
HQ Groups from left to right, 2nd Battalion HQ, Regimental HQ and 1st Battalion HQ
The AT Battalion 200 was also organised different from the standard 1944 panzer Division. Rather than the usual SP AT guns (usually Jagpanzer IVs) and towed 75mm PAK 40s this division were equipped with the deadly 88mm PAK 41/43. However, several sources mention that they have difficulty transporting these due to the fact that some were towed by French Laffley S35 wheeled tractors. I am not sure how I ended with six 88mm PAK 41/43 guns in my collection, but I gave each pair a different tow. One group has the Laffley 35 tractor, one group a French halftrack tow (Frontline wargaming) and the final pair with the more standard German Sdkfz 7 tow to enable me to use these in a variety of scenarios in the future.
88mm PAK 41/43 with different tows, left to right French Halftrack, SdKfz 7and Laffley S35 towing tractor
AA Battalion 305 was also different with the standard German self-propelled halftrack Sdkfz10/4 in the first 2 batteries being replaced by the SPW107 20mm FLAK French halftrack. The 3rd battalion had the Sdkfz 7/1 Quad 20mm AA halftrack rather than towed 20mm AA guns.
The Artillery Regiments supporting the battery were not equipped with the usual self-propelled artillery pieces. These were usually the 105mm Wespe and 150mm Hummel, The division had a mixture of older guns, captured Russian equipment and converted SP guns on French Lorriane chassis. The 3 regiments were equipped as follows.
1st Battalion 155 artillery regiment
10cm K18 (1st Battery)
12.2cm FH 396(r) (2nd & 3rd Batteries)
2nd Battalion 155 artillery regiment
105mm (4th & 5th Batteries) and 155mm on Lorraine chassis (6th Battery)
3rd Battalion 155 artillery regiment
105mm (7th & 8th batteries) and 155mm on Lorraine chassis (9th Battery)
From left to tight, 15 cm sFH 13/1 (Sf.) auf Geschützwagen Lorraine Schlepper(f), 10cm K18 gun and and a Russian12.2cm FH 396(r)
One other difference was the 10th Werfer brigade 155 artillery regiment which was equipped with converted Souma MCG Halftrack into rocket launchers. The launchers were a copy of the Katyusha and held 48x 8cm rockets
10th Werfer brigade 155 artillery regiment with FOO
The combat engineers followed the usual divisional organisation but with some sources saying they were equipped with the Unic SPW107 rather than the standard German Hanomag halftracks. For these I would use my combat engineers from my standard panzer division and the standard Sdkfz 251 halftracks.
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