Pen & Sword - Images Of War

Rommel’s Ghost Division

Dash To The Channel - 1940

Pen & Sword Publishing’s Images of War series of books cover a wide and ever expanding array of subjects of interest to military history enthusiasts, as well as military subject modelers. The series includes a wide range of specific military vehicles or classes of vehicles, military campaigns or specific battles, and other related military subjects. The emphasis in these volumes is primarily on the photographs, with a good amount of text content typically provided, and sometimes maps as well.

This title is one of two new titles from Pen & Sword that address the German blitzkrieg across France and the Low Countries in May / June of 1940, with Erwin Rommel and his 7th Panzer Division at the forefront of the charge to the English Channel. 

Long before he became a well known master of mobile combat in North Africa at the head of the famed Afrika Korps, Erwin Rommel was a gifted soldier in World War I, winning the coveted Pour le Mérit (aka the Blue Max) for gallantry at the Battle of Caporetto. Rommel was one of just 4,000 officers retained to serve in the post WWI Reichswehr. He lobbied hard at the beginning of WWII to be given command of a panzer unit, and to the dismay of many officers senior to him, Hitler gave him command of the 7th Panzer Division. The 7th Panzer Division earned the nickname “Ghost Division” for its unexpected speed and movements across France.

Vital Statistics

Format - softcover, portrait format

Page Count - 235 pages

Size - 7.5” x 9.75”

Photos - Black and White images

Tables / drawings / diagrams - maps, some period documents

All text and photograph captions are in English

What's between the Covers?

Above - after some preliminary brief examination of Rommel’s career and the formation of the 7th Panzer Division from a Light Armored Division, the book moves to a chronological look at the time frame beginning with the invasion of France and the Low Countries on May 10, 1940 and concluding with the 7th Panzer at the English Channel in mid-June.

The first chapter gives the reader some background on the formation of the 7th Panzer, and the equipment that it was made up of. Towards the end of the lengthy top paragraph seen above on the chapter’s opening page, is a list of the various tanks that made up the armored strength of this Panzer division. It’s shocking to see just how much of the armor making up the division were the tiny Panzer I’s and II’s, and much of the rest were Czech 38(t) tanks.

As this is primarily a photographic study of this campaign, the photos dominate the content of this book. There is plenty of informative text, well written and interesting as well. There are lots of good looks at some fairly scarce early-war pieces, such as the “Bison” self-propelled guns, made up of the 150mm sIG 33 infantry gun mounted on a Panzer I chassis.

Above - there are many excellent looks at the French armor encountered by Rommel and the 7th Panzer Division on its headlong dash across France. While French armor was often superior to the German armor, German tactics and armored force training and doctrine resulted in victory for German forces.

Above - not forgotten by the author is the artillery that faced off in clashes across France. Good looks are provided at the guns used on both sides. Surprisingly, the French had numerical superiority in artillery over the Germans.

The vaunted Maginot Line proved to be no problem for the Germans, who unlike the French, seemed to realize that they were not re-fighting World War I. There are some nice images of some of the concrete dinosaurs included in the book. Also above left, one of the several maps that show actions and routes taken by Rommel and the 7th Panzer on their route to the sea.

Above - more interesting images of early war armor, this time it’s the British Matilda I. There are many terrific in-action or just post-action images of not commonly seen armor throughout this book. 

A Note on the Images - Rommel himself was a bit of a photo buff, sometimes taking photographs himself, sometimes having his aides take them. Rommel’s staff kept all wartime document, records and photographs. The majority of the images in this book came from the Rommel collection, held by the U.S. National Archives. There are very few posed images in this book, most are candid snapshots of action, or after the battle style images. The vast majority of the images are of good quality, with a few here and there that may be a bit dark or blurry due to conditions when the images were taken.

Above - there are several pages of interesting photos of the bridging operations that the Germans needed to do while advancing across France.

Above - something I found very useful were the several detail maps showing where some of the photographs were taken. 

While this volume is primarily a photographic study of its subject, the text and photo captions are very well done. Some of the captions are quite lengthy, giving the reader a great amount of detail on the images and the context of them.

Given the title of this book, it ends in a predictable place; with panzers at the English Channel, at water’s edge. These are some iconic images!

Conclusions

This book provides the reader with a really good look at the lightning fast campaign across France in 1940, from the aspect of a single panzer division commanded by a soon to be legendary commander. 

The images in this book are generally of a very good technical quality photographically, they are all uniformly well selected for interest. The few images that are somewhat less than perfect are still acceptable in my view, due to the interesting content. 

The bulk of the text contained in this volume is contained in the well written photo captions, which have loads of interesting content in them. There is a wealth of raw information in these photo captions, along with interesting anecdotes pertaining to the images. The text throughout the book is easily followed by the reader.

For those interested in the blitzkrieg, the fall of France in 1940, or Rommel’s exploits pre - North African campaign, this book belongs on your book shelf.

Highly Recommended

Thanks to Casemate Publishing for this review copy.

Reviewed by Chuck Aleshire, AMPS Chicagoland

AMPS 2nd Vice President, Midwest Region

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