BLITZKRIEG! - Original Pencil Drawing

Having foiled a British counter-attack at Arras and forced the surrender of the 51st Highland division at Saint-Valery-en-Caux, units of Rommel’s 7th Panzer ‘Ghost’ Division race west in a twenty-four-hour dash towards Cherbourg 150 miles away. The port surrendered on 18 June 1940.

The term ‘Blitzkrieg’ is defined by the method of offensive warfare combining forces of tanks, motorised infantry and artillery to penetrate an opponents’ defences on a narrow front, while the Luftwaffe provide close air support.

And on 10 May 1940 when Hitler’s Panzer divisions smashed through Belgium, the Low Countries and into France, Erwin Rommel’s 7th Panzer Division would become an outstanding example of Blitzkrieg tactics, advancing so fast that even the German Army headquarters sometimes lost track of what many were now calling Rommel’s Ghost Division. Racing west, they’d overcome heavy French resistance along the Meuse, skilfully deflected a British counter-attack at Arras, captured the large French garrison city of Lille before reaching the Channel coast on 12 June where they proceeded to force the surrender of the entire British 51st Highland Division at Saint-Valery-en-Caux.

Yet Rommel wasn’t finished; despite the withdrawal of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk, other Allied troops were still being evacuated from Cherbourg, 150 miles to the west. On 17 June Rommel received orders to stop them. It took his division just twenty-four hours to reach the port in a lightning thrust graphically portrayed by Richard Taylor in his masterfully detailed drawing Blitzkrieg. Cherbourg surrendered the following day.

Framed to full conservation standards ...

It's easy to see why the precise quality of Richard's drawings elevates him to one of the most gifted exponents of pencil work in the industry. Completed in a combination of graphite, wash and coloured highlights on antique buff paper in a style that has gained him recognition around the globe, this stunning original pencil drawing is now available having been framed to full conservation standards by our expert team.

Adding great historical importance, an extremely RARE and ORIGINAL autograph of Erwin Rommel has been included in the matting, along with a Panzer tank crewman and a Stuka pilot who flew during the period depicted: