A Pictorial Record of the Unit's Early Days
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7th Panzer Division was built around its core formation, the 7th Panzer Regiment. The regiment and division are over a thousand years old and found fame in its early actions in the Great Europa Crusade of M40, where it earned its nickname "Ghost Division" because of its ghost-like ability to seek out and destroy the forces of Chaos where the enemy least expected it. 4th Company was the regiment's Schwerer Company, containing most of the operational battle cannon-armed Leman Russes and Vanquishers in the regiment. Companies 1 to 3 were predominantly equipped with Exterminators.
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4th Company, 7th Panzer Rgt about a year after arriving at Balau Sector. Note that this pic is not of the company at full-strength, and includes units from other 7th Panzer Division formations. The Hellhound was from 1st Company, the infantry and Chimera were from 6th Schutzen, the Demolisher was from the 223rd Assault Gun Battalion and the Basilisk was from the 121st Independent Artillery Company. |
| HQ | |
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Reich Konsular (Commissar) Herbert von Lanne in his Vanquisher. Von Lannes came to the 7th Panzer as regimental commissar and took command of 4th Company in the heat of the Arannes tank battle when the previous commander was martyred. Upon his personal request, and with the approval of division, von Lannes stayed in command of the company. |
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| TROOPS | |
| Panzer vorwart! Reich Konsular Lanne's tank is flanked by some of 4th Company's armor. Of note is the Exterminator in the foreground. '402' denotes that this must have been Leutnant Bauer's tank, the second-in-command of 4th Company. |  |
| The Hellhound shown here was from 1st Company. Note too the lack of sponsons on the standard Leman Russes. Most Brandenburger tanks operating in the Balau Sector discarded their sponsons and lascannon hull armament due to the lack of space in the transport ships that ferried them there. |
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| Another pic of Imperial armor of the 4th Company, this time showing some of the infantry support from troops of the 6th Schutzen. |  |
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Panzer grenadier, courtesy of the 6th Schutzen, which frequently detached platoons to lend infantry support to 7th Panzer. Incidentally, this practice was to lead to 6th Schutzen's conversion to a full-fledged panzer grenadier unit later in its career. Note that the platoon command section was equipped with a disproportionate number of melta and plasma guns, which was really against regulations. This practice ended soon after the pic was taken. |
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| Close-up of the panzer grenadier command Chimera, clearly showing its deadly hull-mounted heavy flamer. |  |
| This particular Chimera happened to be the command vehicle of Captain Schaeffer from 6th Schutzen. The infantry captain often loaned his Chimera to his troops assigned to armored support duty. |  |
| FAST ATTACK | |
| This particular Hellhound assigned from 1st Company also saw action with the 6th Schutzen. |  |
| HEAVY SUPPORT | |
| Basilisk from the 121st Independent Artillery Company. Note the lack of gun-shield, a practice employed by almost all Brandenburger Basilisk crew to give the vehicle a lower silhoutte. |  |
| This particular Leman Russ Demolisher under the command of Gefreiter Pentaganet was later to find fame as one of the division's top tank hunter, much to the chagrin of the 7th Panzer Rgt, since the Demolisher was from an assault gun battalion. Most of the tank kills were during the fierce cityfights of Balau Prime, in which the Demolisher's unique abilities as a short-ranged killer came to the fore. |  |
| OTHER | |
| Very early days. This pic was taken in Eschen at one of Brandenburg's 700 manufactoriums. All the factory-fresh armor pictured here were destined for units in the 7th Panzer Division. |  |
