Heinz Guderian first proposed the formation of panzer units larger than a regiment, but the inspector of motorized troops, Otto von Stuelpnagel, rejected the proposal. This is similar to a panzer division, but with a higher proportion of infantry and assault guns and fewer tanks. The World War II German equivalent of a mechanized infantry division is Panzergrenadierdivision (‘armored infantry division’). The proportions of the components of panzer divisions changed over time. At the start of the war, panzer divisions were more effective than the equivalent Allied armored divisions due to their combined arms doctrine, even though they had fewer and generally less technically-advanced tanks.īy mid-war, though German tanks had often become technically superior to Allied tanks, Allied armored warfare and combined arms doctrines generally caught up with the Germans, and shortages reduced the combat readiness of panzer divisions.
Later the Waffen-SS formed its own panzer divisions, and even the Luftwaffe fielded a panzer division: the Hermann Göring Division.Ī panzer division was a combined arms formation, having both tanks (German Panzerkampfwagen, ‘armored fighting vehicle’, usually shortened to “ Panzer“), mechanized and motorized infantry, along with artillery, anti-aircraft and other integrated support elements.
Panzer divisions were the key element of German success in the blitzkrieg operations of the early years of World War II. In German-speaking countries, Panzerdivision is not immediately associated with the Wehrmacht as it is in English, as the German term simply means “armored division” and has no additional connotation. This is a more restricted meaning than the German-language equivalent Panzerdivision (short: PzDiv), still used in the modern German Army of the Bundeswehr (for example the 1. A panzer division is one of the armored (tank) divisions in the Wehrmacht of Germany during World War II.
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