The 7. Division was formed on 1 October 1920 from Reichswehr-Brigade 21, Reichswehr-Brigade 23 and Reichswehr-Brigade 24.

The original seven Infanterie-Divisionen of the Reichswehr were used to form 21 new divisions 1 October 1934. These divisions used at first used cover names to hide their divisional size but in October 1935 these were dropped.
The infantry regiment of this division was used to form infantry regiments of 7. Infanterie-Division, 10. Infanterie-Division and 17. Infanterie-Division and the staff formed VII Armeekorps.

Commanders

General der Infanterie Arnold Ritter von Möhl (1 Oct 1920 - 1 Jan 1923)
Generalleutnant Otto von Lossow (1 Jan 1923 - 20 Mar 1924)
General der Artillerie Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein (20 Mar 1924 - 1 Jan 1928)
General der Infanterie Adolf Ritter von Ruith (1 Jan 1928 - 1 Feb 1930)
Generalleutnant Wilhelm Rittel von Leeb (1 Feb 1930 - 1 Oct 1933)

Wehrkreis

VII

Order of battle

19. (Bayerisches) Infanterie-Regiment
20. (Bayerisches) Infanterie-Regiment
21. (Bayerisches) Infanterie-Regiment
7. (Bayerisches) Artillerie-Regiment

Notable members

Werner Hahn (Served in Infanterie-Regiment 19, later division-commander in the Waffen-SS)
Alfred Jodl (Generaloberst, sentenced to death as a major war criminal at the Nuremberg war crime trials in 1946)
Thomas Müller (Served in Gebirgsjäger-Bataillon 21 and Infanterie-Regiment 19, later division-commander in the Waffen-SS)
Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb (Reached the highest rank in the German Army, Generalfeldmarschall, in 1940)
Wilhelm List (Reached the highest rank in the German Army, Generalfeldmarschall, in 1940)
Helmuth Raithel (Served in Infanterie-Regiment 19, later division-commander in the Waffen-SS)
Ferdinand Schörner (Reached the highest rank in the German Army, Generalfeldmarschall, in 1945 and became Commander-in-Chief of the Army in April 1945, he was the last living German Field Marshal)
Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma (Commander of the ground contingent of the German Legion Condor during the Spanish Civil War)

Officers of 5. Division and 7. Division on an exercise in 1926, second from the right is Alfred Jodl

(Courtesy of Bundesarchiv/Wikimedia, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Germany)

Reichswehr soldiers displaying the banners on the old Bavarian Army during a large ceremony in 1927 honoring the Bavarians who died in the First World War

(Courtesy of Bundesarchiv/Wikimedia, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Germany)

Reichswehr soldiers during a large ceremony in 1927 honoring the Bavarians who died in the First World War

(Courtesy of Bundesarchiv/Wikimedia, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Germany)

Sources used

Andris J. Kursietis - Between Kaiser and Führer: The history of the German Army 1919-1933
Georg Tessin - Deutsche Verbände und Truppen 1918-1939
Georg Tessin - Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht 1933-1945
Mark C. Yerger - Waffen-SS Commanders: The army, corps and divisional leaders of a legend (2 vol)

Reference material on this unit

- None known at this time -