Complex sentence: In 1940 he was appointed as the commander of the 3rd Panzer Brigade and 1941 promoted to Generalmajor and given command of the 7th Panzer Division as the successor to Erwin Rommel and held this command on the central and southern sections of the Eastern Front.
Split into simpler sentences: In 1940 he was appointed as the commander of the 3rd Panzer Brigade. He held this command on the central and southern sections of the Eastern Front.