Exceptional Model 1936 (“Four Pocket”) NCO dress tunic belonging to the Sergeant Major of First Battalion, Motorized Rifle Regiment 7 assigned to Rommel’s 7^th Panzer Division during the French Campaign of 1940.  The tunic was privately purchased and likely from a smalltown tailor as no maker’s label is present (and there never was one), perhaps indicating that the sergeant major was a man of modest means.  There is an all-important ink stamp under the flap of the right breast pocket that reads “Geprüft Stab I./J.R.103”.

The ink stamp shows this sergeant major formerly served on the command staff of I Battalion, Infantry Regiment 103.  I Battalion, Infantry Regiment 103 became I Battalion, Schützen Regiment 7 in October 1938.  This uniform was obviously purchased in anticipation of the regiment’s reassignment to 2^nd Light Division, which entailed a switch from infantry white branch piping color to cavalry gold yellow being used by the newly created light division.  Soldiers were required to have private purchase uniforms approved by their command to ensure conformity to uniform regulations.  This “Geprüft” (approved) ink stamp from Infantry Regiment 103 therefore dates the uniform to 1938.

The shoulder straps denote the rank of Stabsfeldwebel or Stabswachtmeister (sergeant major) and are piped in cavalry gold-yellow with “S7” devices for Schützen Regiment 7.  Schützen Regiment 7 (Motorized Rifle Regiment 7) was initially assigned to the 2^nd Light Division, formed in November 1938.  Following the campaign in Poland, the division was reorganized as 7^th Panzer Division in October 1939.  Despite assignment to an armored division, Motorized Rifle Regiment 7 retained the gold-yellow piping color of the light division during the campaigns in France and Russia (1940 – 1941).

7^th Panzer Division, commanded by General Erwin Rommel and equipped primarily with Czech 38(t) tanks, achieved great success in the French Campaign of 1940, capturing 97,468 Allied soldiers and destroying/capturing 458 tanks, 277 field guns, 64 anti-tank guns, and 7,300 trucks. The 7^th Panzer Division earned the sobriquet of “Ghost Division” during the French Campaign. Rommel often advanced so far ahead of other units that corps and army headquarters would lose track of his division’s location, prompting staff officers to refer sardonically to Rommel’s command as the “Ghost Division” because it had disappeared!

In France, Motorized Rifle Regiment 7 was commanded by Georg von Bismarck, who was later killed in action in August 1942 while leading 21^st Panzer Division in North Africa.

The award ribbon in the buttonhole denotes the Iron Cross Second Class, and the ribbon bar includes the War Merit Cross with Swords Second Class and the Medal for the Winter Battle in the East 1941-42 (Russian Campaign). The tunic also has loops for two breast awards, which likely held the Iron Cross, First Class and a Bronze Panzer Assault Badge.  A photo of regimental commander Georg von Bismarck taken after the campaign in France shows him wearing a Bronze Panzer Assault Badge, so other combat veterans of the campaign would have received the same award.

Since I Battalion, Schützen Regiment 7 only had one sergeant major assigned, and he obviously served in the battalion from 1938 until 1942 (given his service in Russia), it is possible a dedicated researcher could identify the owner of this tunic.

German army uniforms with such historic significance rarely come on the market!  As such, this is an excellent opportunity to own a collector grade classic Model 1936 uniform from a famous panzer division at the height of German military success in World War II!  [sk] [ph:L]

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