A Simpler Landing Force
The 7th Infantry Division in July of 1940
Yesterday, I discovered that the repository of German documents found in Russian archives holds more than a thousand documents related to Sea Lion. One of these, dated 25 July 1940, described a scheme to turn an ordinary infantry division into an amphibious formation.
Like the plan to modify the XXXVIII Army Corps into a landing force, this proposal divided the 7th Infantry Division into two echelons, mounted some companies on bicycles, rearmed some field batteries with mountain guns, and reinforced the formation with non-divisional units. The collection of company-sized units attached to the 7th Infantry Division, however, paled in comparison to the armada of armor, artillery, and engineer organizations assembled for the use of the amphibious army corps.