The
1st Light Brigade was a mechanized unit established in October 1937 in imitation of the French
Division Légère Mécanique. It was intended to take on the roles of army-level
reconnaissance and security that had traditionally been the responsibility of
cavalry. It included mechanized reconnaissance units, motorized infantry, and a battalion of tanks. The concept of the Light Brigade, of which three were planned by the Wehrmacht, quickly showed its flawed nature and was abandoned. In April 1938 the brigade was enlarged to become the
1st Light Division, receiving the 11th tank regiment as an attachment for its participation in the occupation of the
Sudetenland in October 1938 and the subsequent disestablishment of Czechoslovakia in March 1939. Following the latter the division received 130 Czech-built tanks which were superior to the
Panzer I and
Panzer II the division had been equipped with. In 1939, the division fought in the
Invasion of Poland. Due to shortcomings that the campaign revealed in the organization of the Light divisions, it was reorganized as the
6th Panzer Division in October 1939, as were the other three light divisions which became the 7th, 8th and 9th Panzer Divisions. As the 6th Panzer Division, it participated in the 1940
Battle of France. The division contained a single panzer regiment, the
Panzer-Regiment 11, which in turn contained three Abteilungen, or battalions. The 11th Regiment was equipped with 75 Czech-built
Panzer 35(t) tanks, which proved efficient but difficult to maintain because the maintenance manuals were in Czech rather than German, and spare parts were less readily supplied and harder to easily requisition as a result. Furthermore, there were six
Befehlspanzer 35(t), which were a subtype of the 35(t) designed for military commanders, as well as 45
Panzer II and 27
Panzer IV. The division was part of the German advance to the
English Channel through Belgium. It then swung back towards the French-Swiss border before relocating to Eastern Prussia in September 1940 where it remained until June 1941. At the time of the German invasion of the Soviet Union the division had 239 tanks, but only twelve of those were
Panzer III, which still struggled to pierce the armour of Soviet tanks such as the
T-34 and
KV-1. It was moved to southern France after the Allied landings in North Africa in November 1942 -
Operation Torch - but soon after relocated to the southern sector of the Eastern Front after the German 6th Army had been entrapped at
Stalingrad.
Operation Winter Storm The 6th Panzer Division along with the
23rd Panzer Division former the
LVII Panzer Corps of
General Friedrich Kirchner which was the southern pincer of
Operation Winter Storm. Ultimately, failed German attempt to break through to the encircled forces but then had to retreat to escape encirclement itself. The division was part of the German retreat and successful counter offensive at
Kharkov and the failed attempt to regain initiative in the
Battle of Kursk. On 22 November 1943, the 6th Panzer Division possessed 38 tanks, of which 25 were operational. This rendered it the third-weakest panzer division of Army Group South; only
23rd Panzer Division and
Großdeutschland were weaker. The 6th Panzer Division was part of the partially successful relief operation at the
Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket as well as the escape from the
Kamenets-Podolsky pocket. After the retreat through Ukraine the division was sent to Germany for reorganisation but hastily returned to the Eastern Front in July, after the destruction of
Army Group Center in the Soviet
Operation Bagration. It was part of the German defence of northern Poland and East Prussia before being relocated to Hungary in December 1944. It took part in the battles around
Siege of Budapest before retreating into Austria and taking part in the defence of
Vienna. When the city fell it moved into Czechoslovakia where it surrendered to US 3rd Army in May 1945 but was handed over to Soviet forces. ==War crimes==