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A Panzer division was one of the armored (tank) divisions in the army of Nazi Germany during World War II.Panzer divisions were the key element of German success in the blitzkrieg operations of the early years of World War II.
In 1940 Czech tanks made up around a quarter of the entire German panzer force. Lighter tanks formed almost the entirety of the German forces, but the heavier tanks were at least in prototype. In 1934 several heavy prototypes were constructed, based around either 75 mm (2.95 in) or 105 mm (4.1 in) main guns.
Panzer-Division, English: 1st Tank Division) was an armoured division in the German Army during World War II. The division was one of the original three tank divisions established by Germany in 1935. It took part in pre-war occupations of Austria and Czechoslovakia and the invasions of Poland in 1939 and Belgium and France in 1940.
However the first Panzer IV tanks with 75 mm L/48 cannon marked the end of the Panzer III's role as the German main tank. Eventually, Panzer III production was ended in August 1943 with the Ausf. M (a conversion of older types), the vehicle having been fitted with a short barrelled 75 mm KwK 51 gun (effectively the same gun the Panzer IV had ...
In May the division received 37 Panzer IV and 55 Panther tanks, well below the official complement of 62 of each, but a full complement of 30 Sturmgeschütz III assault guns. Fuel and truck shortages hampered training and movement and many of the more than 15,000 men in the division were recent recruits and inadequately trained. [25]
To keep its existence secret, the first German airborne division was named as if a Flieger ("flier") division in the series of Luftwaffe divisions that controlled air assets rather than ground troops-named 7th Flieger Division (often translated 7th Air Division - which see: 1st Parachute Division (Germany)) The division was later reorganized to ...
The mainstay of the Panzerwaffe was the Panzer division. These consisted of a panzer brigade (two tank regiments) and two motorized or mechanized infantry regiments. All forces of a Panzer division were mobile. Support elements included self-propelled artillery, self-propelled anti-tank, and armored reconnaissance cars.
German industry had not produced arms in many years, and time was required to develop the necessary techniques for hardening steel and for the development of tooling to produce arms. [5] The first tank type produced was the two-man, Panzer I light tank, designed and produced by the Krupp works as a training vehicle. [6]