Seelöwe Panzer Abteilung (F)100

Begonnen von Arjan, 16 November 2015, 22:38:49

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Arjan

I wonder if there are any KTB's or other documents mentioning Seelöwe exercises of this unit . Of course I would also be very interested in pics. According to Peter Schenk (Landung in England) three LWS were attached to Pz.Abt.100 because its commander Hauptmann von Zezschwitz was such a fervent advocate of Unternehmen Seelöwe. I know the well-known LWS pics taken at de Haan (near Ostend). I also know one pic of an LWS (probably LWS 299) in Terneuzen (September 1940).

Peter Schenk also mentions exercises involving the British Beutepanzer that were in the 4.Kompanie. I only know one pic showing a landing/loading exercise with an A13 cruiser tank in Dunkirk. There are also pics of an A 13 cruiser tank and a Matilda with Kriegsmarine personnel in Antwerp. I'm not sure though if these pics show vehicles of the unit in question. I wonder if anyone has seen other pics of Seelöwe exercises involving British Beutepanzer.

From the info in Peter Schenk's book I get the impression that Hauptmann von Zezschwitz was a rather colourful character (if perhaps slightly foolhardy  :-)). On the internet I discovered he had also contributed to some Panzer books  before the war. Unfortunately I haven't managed to find much else about him (apart from the fact that he was killed in Russia).

Some pics of the Beutepanzer can be found in the following two threads :

http://www.twenot-forums.nl/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=31218
http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/58212-panzer-beute-kompanie-e/

Arjan

Bergedorf

Hi Arjan,

the Pz.Abt.100 had only 3 Companies in Autum 1940. In a Document of the AOK 16 dated 5.8.1940 is a TOE of this Abteilung. I have also some loading lists of the Transport ships which should ferry the mass of the Abteilung over the channel. No 4. Coy and no british tanks mentioned in this list.

The problem with the exercises is, that the tanks which took part were named in the stile 20-to tank, 22-to tank, 10-to tank.

In another post I mentioned some curious story about Hptm. v. Zezschwitz:  http://www.forum-marinearchiv.de/smf/index.php/topic,21817.msg244491.html#msg244491

Cheers

Dirk

P.S.: there exists a "Erfahrungsbericht" of  the Pz.Abt with the LWS-stuff etc. I have to search it in my archive...

Arjan

#2
Zitat von: Bergedorf am 17 November 2015, 02:21:55

P.S.: there exists a "Erfahrungsbericht" of  the Pz.Abt with the LWS-stuff etc. I have to search it in my archive...

Thanks a lot for your reply Dirk, I'm interested in anything you can find about Pz.Abt.(F)100 and the various Landwasserschlepper in particular. I also wonder if there is any information about LWS 1071. There is a photo of this vehicle taken off Vlissingen (with the Oranjemolen in the background) and there are several pics of this vehicle taken in the port of Le Havre and in front of Hotel Frascati  (also in Le Havre). Unfortunately, I have no idea if these pics were taken in 1940 or later.

From what I have been able to find it would appear that Pz.Abt. (F)100 arrived in Terneuzen in September 1940. Part of the unit stayed in Zaamslag, a village near Terneuzen. Some years ago I interviewed a local who was 15 years old when the Abteilung was in Zaamslag. He told me that his father (who was a plumber) had been asked to repair the frost-damaged radiators of some Flammpanzer.  Unfortunately, there is only one pic showing two A13 cruisers in the steets of Zaamslag. There are quite a few pics of Flammpanzer in Terneuzen and Zaamslag though. I even have a photo of a Fahrschule Panzer (Flammpanzer without the turret) in my home town Hulst  :-). Judging from the various photos, the Abteilung moved from the Terneuzen area to Murowana Goslina in Poland in the first months/ early spring of 1941.

Gruss,

Arjan

Seelöwe

Hello Arjan and Dirk,
Well, I wrote the mentioned book. I only have handwritten notes from the files in Freiburg. 3 pages on Pz. Abtl. 100.  On 2.Feb 41 Aok 16 ordered to remove the coy E of this detachment which has been established with captured tanks. The coy E was thought to reinforce the gun protection of the detachment which otherwise had only flame thrower tanks and a few Pz III. A " landing column" was formed with Bren Carriers, the 4 coy had a platoon Mark II and 2 platoons Cruiser Tanks, the supply vehicles were Bredford trucks.
The detachment came in August to Belgium for the XIII Army. End of August to Terneuzen. It was to land at Rhey.
A platoon LWS was allocated to the staff coy as reinforcement. The crew was naval soldiers.

I never saw photos with British tanks in landing exercises.
Dirk, die Dokumente würden mich sehr interessieren.
Beste Grüße
Peter

Arjan

Thanks a lot Peter for the info you've provided ! I do indeed have some pics of Bren carriers and one photo of a Bedford truck. Panzer Abteilung (F) 100 did also have some "normal" Panzerkampfwagen II though. Here you can find a pic of three Pz.II's, one happens to be a  Befehlspanzer (equipped with a frame antenna). You can also see the French captured trailers that were frequently used by the Abteilung. Also a pic of a Flammpanzer and an LWS crossing the same lock. I think it's LWS 299 because it seems to be missing the bow rope bumper. The pics at the Zeepreventorium (De Haan) also show 299 without this bumper.

http://digitaal.dezb.nl/beeldbank/start/120?q_searchfield=Terneuzen+1940

Some interesting Kriegsmarine photos and LWS pics at the Zeepreventorium:

http://www.zeepreventorium.org/histo/1940-1945.htm

Thanks again.

Gruss,

Arjan


Bergedorf

Hallo Peter,

ich suche das Dokument am Wochenende mal raus und schicke es Dir.

@Arjan: You can send me your email-account as PM and I will send the document to you too.

Gruß

Dirk

Seelöwe

Hallo Arjan,
vielen Dank für die Fotos!
Hallo Dirk,
ebenfalls danke fürs raussuchen!
Beste Grüße
Peter

Bergedorf

Hi,

I just read the document from 5.8.40 again. The PzAbt wanted to use french or british "Beutepanzer" as "Bugwaffe" for lighters. This plan was not adopted.

Cheers

Dirk

Arjan

Hi Dirk,

Thanks a lot for the very interesting documents you've sent ! If I understand it correctly,  Hauptmann von Zezschwitz was opposed to committing his Flammpanzer in the first or second landing wave and he stressed the need for sufficient fire support from a Panzer or Stug Abteilung.  He also felt that a concentrated commitment of his Abteilung would be more effective than splitting it up in smaller units (companies/platoons). The loading illustrations are also very nice, I can understand why Peter wrote in his book that having the Panzer drive off the barges sideways wouldn't be a very good idea  :-).

By the way, I think that the pic of the A13 cruiser in the loading exercise was probably made in Calais rather than in Dunkirk (both these towns have very similar Belfort towers).

Thanks again for all your trouble.

Gruss,

Arjan


Bergedorf

Hi Ajran,

yes that´s also my understanding. He thought, that putting ashore the Flamm-Panzer piecemeal would cause their destruction before they could come to real effect.

Cheers

Dirk

Knouterer2

Regarding von Zezschnitz's idea to load his Flammpanzer on the deck of barges, as Peter Schenk writes (p.223): "Diese Vorschläge zeigen natürlich wenig praktischen Sachverstand, denn seitliches be- und entladen bringt einen Prahm ebenso schnell zum Kentern wie schweres Gewicht auf dem Deck."

As this little video shows  :-D:

https://www.facebook.com/btpnews247/videos/734021900031630/

Arjan

#11
Thanks a lot for this very instructive video  :-D. In reality the exercises were less adventurous, some days ago I found a very rare photo on the Weitze Net of a Panzer Abteilung 100 Flammpanzer Flamingo during a landing exercise  :

https://www.weitze.net/militaria/12/Pressefoto_Sicheres_Ausladen_eines_Panzer_ueber_ein_Spezial_Landestege_des_Truppentransporters_bei_Duenkirchen__196712.html

Another nice one showing an exercise of an unidentified unit in Antwerp :

https://www.weitze.net/militaria/10/Pressefoto_Panzer_II_wird_in_Antwerpen_an_Bord_eines_Transportschiffes_geladen__196710.html

Gruss,

Arjan

Bergedorf

Hi Arjan,

intersting photo! The Flamingo should be unloaded on the Stern of a barge! So could it be a Typ-C-Prahm?

I think I have an Report about an exercise with a C-Prahm and a 10 to-tank. Could this be a photo for this exercise?

Cheers

Dirk

Arjan

Hallo Dirk,

As far as I know there are pics of exercises with Flammpanzer in Ostend and Dunkirk (see my other Seelöwe topic), does your report mention a location ?

Gruss,

Arjan

Bergedorf

Hi Arjan,

I will check this (hopefully tonight).

Cheers

Dirk

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