The 7th Infantry Division formed in Bavaria as one of the twelve divisions of the Reichswehr in 1921. It held the 19th, 61st and 62nd Infantry regiments as well as the usual regiment of artillery and battalions of reconnaissance, antitank, engineer and signal troops. Considered a first line infantry division, it fought in Poland in 1939, and in the campaign of 1940 through the fall of Dunkirk. Forming with Army Group Center for the invasion of Russia, the 7th participated in all its key campaigns, escaping destruction in the collapse of Summer, 1944. It finished the war isolated on the Hela Peninsula, at the mouth of the Vistula River, surrendering on May 8, 1945.
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