At the beginning of the WW2, German forces gained notoriety for the rapid and successful invasions of Poland, the Low Countries, France, and the Soviet Union. Although the early panzers were in some respects inferior to some of their French and Soviet counterparts, the Blitzkrieg was made possible by the German military experience in WWI, their level of training, integrated communications, coordinated use of airpower, and, perhaps most famously, by the combined-arms employment of integrated infantry and armoured forces, the panzer divisions. Later in the war a new generation of big tanks, the heavy Tiger, Panther, and King Tiger tanks were developed and rushed into the battlefield. The Soviets continued to produce the medium-sized T-34 by the tens of thousands as well as introducing the heavy Iosef Stalin (IS series) tanks, and U.S. industry nearly matched them in the number of M4 Sherman tanks built and deployed in Europe after D-Day. Throughout the war, the panzer was a key piece of the combined arms doctrines supporting the German Blitzkrieg. The tanks were used in almost every theatre of German involvement. Their largest engagement occurred at the Battle of Kursk, which saw about three hundred panzers pitted against five hundred Soviet tanks.

1. What People Say About
The Panzer Division

2. The engine of the Panzer is a weapon just as the main-gun.

3. If the tanks succeed, then victory follows.

4. Whenever in future wars the battle is fought,
armored troops will play the decisive role

5. "One battalion of Tigers is worth a normal
Panzer Division…"

6. "Enemy introduced new tank !
Shape roughly similar to ‘Tridsatchedverka’ (T-34).Tank is
heavily armored, weight is estimated 40-50 tons.Armament is
probably 88mm AA gun. We had losses at combat ranges beyond
2,000m. …"
- Soviet radio message, July 8th of 1943.

7. "To destroy a Panther, a tank destroyer with a
three inch (Gun Motor Carriage M10) or 76mm gun
(Gun Motor Carriage M18 Hellcat) would have to
aim for the side or rear of the turret, the
opening through which the hull-mounted machine
gun projected, or for the underside of the gun
shield (mantlet)."
- U.S. Army report prior to September of 1944.

8. "It is suggested to the Red Army to use such German
tanks as StuG III and Pz IV due to their reliability
and availability of spare parts. The new German
Panther and Tiger can be used until they broken down
without trying to repair them. They have bad
engines, transmission and suspension."
- Department of Weaponry of the Red Army, late 1944.

9. Panther was liked by its crews, best
summarized in statement by Lieutenant
Berger of "Grossdeutschland" - "We
were shot three times - I owed my
life to the Panther…".

10. "On the road from Bollersdorf to Strausberg stood a further
11 Stalin tanks, and away on the edge of the village itself
were around 120-150 enemy tanks in the process of being
refueled and re-armed. I opened fire and destroyed first and
last of the 11 Stalin tanks on the road….My own personal
score of enemy tanks destroyed in this action was 39."
- SS-Hauptscharführer Karl Körner,
schwere SS Panzer Abteilung (103) 503 / III SS Panzer Corps,
East Germany, April of 1945.

11. We will be victorious -
thanks to our Tigers

12. "One day a Tiger Royal tank got within 150 yards
of my tank and knocked me out. Five of our tanks
opened up on him from ranges of 200 to 600 yards
and got five or six hits on the front of the
Tiger. They all just glanced off and the Tiger
backed off and got away. If we had a tank like
Tiger, we would all be home today."
- Report by tank commander Sergeant Clyde D.
Brunson from 2nd Armored Division, 1945.

13. "I have inspected the battlefield at Fais Pass in Tunisia, being with the force
which retook it. Inspection of our tanks destroyed there indicated that the
88mm gun penetrated into the turret from the front and out again in the rear.
Few gouges were found indicating that all strikes had made penetrations."
- Report by American Colonel from Tunisia, 1943.

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