World War I tank at
Roye on March 21, 1918. The A7V was first used in combat on 21 March 1918. Five tanks under the command of Hauptmann Greiff were deployed north of the St. Quentin Canal. Three of the A7Vs suffered mechanical failures before they entered combat; the remaining pair helped stop a minor British breakthrough in the area, but otherwise saw little combat that day. The first tank against tank combat in history took place on the 24 April 1918, when three A7Vs (including chassis number 561, known as "Nixe") taking part in an attack with infantry incidentally met three
Mark IVs (two '
Female' with only machine guns and one
'Male' with two
6-pounder guns) near
Villers-Bretonneux. During the battle, tanks on both sides were damaged. According to the lead tank commander, 2nd Lt Frank Mitchell, the Female Mk IVs fell back after being damaged by armour piercing bullets as they were unable to damage the A7Vs with their own machine guns. Mitchell then attacked the lead German tank, commanded by 2nd Lt
Wilhelm Biltz, with the 6 pounders of his own tank and knocked it out. He hit it three times and killed five of the crew when they bailed out. His Mark IV fired at the enemy tanks and moved. He then went on to rout infantry with
case shot. The two remaining A7Vs in turn withdrew. As Lt. Mitchell's tank withdrew from action, seven
Whippet medium tanks also engaged the infantry. Four of these were knocked out in the battle, one of the A7Vs destroyed one Whippet and damaged three ones (three more Whippets were destroyed by German artillery). Lt. Mitchell's tank lost a track towards the end of the battle from a mortar shell and was abandoned. The damaged A7V was later recovered by German forces. All 18 available A7Vs had been put into action that day with limited results; two toppled over into holes, some encountered engine or armament troubles. After a counterattack, three ended up in Allied hands. One was unusable and scrapped, one used for shell testing by the French, and the third captured by the Australians when the Infantry moved forward and dragged it back to their lines, the Germans still being in a position in sight of the tank and firing at them. The tank name,"
Mephisto" of this captured A7V is painted on the end facing of the box-shaped tank chassis serial number 506, as almost all German tanks in WW1 were given individual names. . . forces using captured British
Mark IVs during the
Second Battle of the Marne. The A7V was not considered a success and other designs were planned by Germany, however the end of the war meant none of the other tanks in development, or planned ones, would be finished (such as the
Oberschlesien,
K-Wagen,
LK I or
LK II). The final use in World War I of A7Vs was in October 1918; a number were scrapped before the war ended in November. The extremely limited production of twenty A7Vs made a very limited contribution, and most of the tanks (less than a hundred in total) that were fielded in action by Germany in World War I were captured British Mark IV tanks (
Beutepanzer). The British tanks were repaired and overhauled in workshops established at
Charleroi and rearmed with 57mm Maxim Nordenfelt guns in place of their 6-pounders. Some French tanks (including
Renault FT light tanks) were also captured during the German offensive in November 1918, but no changes are known to have been done.
Post World War I After the war, many nations needed to have tanks, but only a few had the industrial resources to design and build them. During and after World War I, Britain and France were the intellectual leaders in tank design, with other countries generally following and adopting their designs. Germany was one of the countries which began to design and build their own tanks. The
Treaty of Versailles had severely limited Germany's industrial output. Among the German proponents of mechanization, Gen. Heinz Guderian was probably the most influential. Guderian's 1914 service with radiotelegraphs in support of cavalry units led him to insist on a radio in every armored vehicle. By 1929, when many British students of armor were tending towards a pure armor formation, Guderian had become convinced that it was useless to develop just tanks, or even to mechanize parts of the traditional arms. What was needed was an entirely new mechanized formation of all arms that would maximize the effects of the tank. , Mark A on a turntable The German tanks were not up to the standards of Guderian's concept. The Panzer I was really a machine gun-armed tankette, derived from the British Carden-Loyd personnel carrier. The Panzer II did have a cannon, but little armor protection. Germany, constrained by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, was not allowed to produce tanks of any kind and only a few armoured cars. In 1926 an unofficial program of tank construction was initiated by Von Seeckt, the commander of the Reichswehr. Built by Rheinmetall-Borsig the first
grosstraktor was similar to the existing British Mk II medium tank, with a gun. This and other designs were tested with Soviet cooperation at a tank school in western Russia. In Germany proper dummy tanks were used in training, apparently at the instigation of then Major, Heinz Guderian, a staff tactical instructor. Guderian had read Fuller, Liddell-Hart, and other tank warfare theorists and he had the support of his commanders to develop his theories into reality. In 1931 the German General Staff accepted a plan for two types of tank, a medium tank with a gun and a lighter vehicle with a gun. While design and then construction work was carried out the German army used a variety of light tanks based on the British Carden-Lloyd chassis. The early tanks were code-named
Landwirtschaftlicher Schlepper (La S), a designation that lasted until 1938. The first of these light tanks ran in early 1934, a Krupp design it was dubbed the LKA1. The new government approved an initial order for 150 in 1934 as the 1A La S Krupp, around 1500 of these light tanks were built. Later German tanks received a new designation,
Panzerkampfwagen (PzKpfw or PzKw). The first machine to use this was the two-man PzKpfw I
Ausf A, a machine with a 3.5-litre petrol engine. It had of armour and was armed with twin machine guns. The Panzer I
light tank design began in 1932 and mass production in 1934. The more common
Ausf B was a trifle larger to accommodate a Maybach engine. Both models were sent to the Spanish Civil War for testing, along with other new German weapons. From Spain it quickly became clear that the next generation of tanks would need better armour, greater range and much heavier weapons. Experiences with the Panzer I during the Spanish Civil War helped shape the German armored corps' invasion of Poland in 1939 and France in 1940. The Panzer I's performance in combat was limited by its thin
armor and light
armament of two
general purpose machine guns. As a design intended for training, the Panzer I was not as capable as other light tanks of the era, such as the
T-26. The PzKpfw II was around 50% heavier than the I and added a Solothurn cannon as main armament as well as increasing maximum armour to . In 1934, delays in the design and production of the Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks were becoming apparent. Designs for a stopgap tank were solicited from Krupp, MAN, Henschel, and Daimler-Benz. The final design was based on the Panzer I, but larger, and with the turret mounting the anti-tank gun making it a more formidable tank than the Panzer I. Production began in 1935, but it took another eighteen months for the first combat-ready tank to be delivered. It was also sent to Spain from 1937, and the PzKpfw II proved more capable against light infantry, but no better when faced with capable anti-tank guns or other tanks. Despite these weaknesses production continued until 1941, at the outbreak of war the German Army had 955 PzKpfw IIs and almost 4000 were built in total. A major boost to German armour came with the acquisition of Czechoslovakia in 1938, giving the entire Czech arms industry to Germany. The Czechs already had two main tank designs, the Škoda LT vz. 35 and the
Českomoravská Kolben-Daněk (ČKD) TNHP (LT vz. 38). The Škoda was a machine with a main gun and excellent cross-country capabilities; the ČKD was and also fitted with a gun - due to extensive tests it was an extremely reliable machine with a top-quality chassis. Both were taken into the German panzer forces, as the PzKpfw 35(t) and the PzKpfw 38(t), and further production was ordered. ČKD was renamed
Böhmisch-Mährische Maschinenfabrik AG (BMM) in 1940 and continued production until 1942, providing the Wehrmacht with 1,168 PzKpfw 38(t)'s. 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 or main guns. Designated
Neubaufahrzeug (NbFz) and similar to contemporary Russian and British designs six were built by Rheinmetall and Krupp. Useful for propaganda purposes these tanks did not enter production, their later designations of PzKpfw V and VI were transferred to the production Panther and Tiger types. With the knowledge of the NbFz and the experiences of the lighter tanks in Spain, German designers began to create their own designs. The PzKpfw III was the first German tank capable of firing armour-piercing rounds, although the gun was considered underpowered but was used in the interests of standardisation with the infantry. The official German designation was
Panzerkampfwagen III (abbreviated PzKpfw III) translating as "armoured battle vehicle", and it was intended to fight other
armoured fighting vehicles and serve alongside the infantry-supporting Panzer IV. Limited by existing bridges to a maximum weight of , development contracts for the Zugkraftwagen were issued late in 1936. Development work continued until 1938 when the
Ausf D went into limited production, a machine it was powered by a 12-litre engine, with a top speed of and fitted with armour all round. By the outbreak of war around fifty had been completed and some saw service in Poland. Full-scale production did not begin until October 1939 as the
Ausf E, around 350 PzKpfw IIIs in D and E variants were ready by the invasion of France.
Spanish Civil War On 18 July 1936 the
Spanish Civil War broke out. After the chaos of the initial uprising, two sides coalesced and began to consolidate their position—the
Popular front (the Republicans) and the
Spanish Nationalist front. In an early example of a
proxy war, both sides quickly received support from other countries, most notably the
Soviet Union and
Germany, who wanted to test their tactics and equipment. Fifty Soviet
T-26 tanks arrived on 15 October; Germany immediately responded by sending forty-one Panzer I's to Spain a few days later - 38
Ausf A and three
Panzerbefehlswagen command vehicles. This was followed by four more shipments of Panzer I
Ausf. B's, with a total of 122 vehicles. The first shipment of Panzer I's was brought under the command of Lieutenant Colonel
Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma in
Gruppe Thoma (also referred to as
Panzergruppe Drohne).
Gruppe Thoma formed part of
Gruppe Imker, the ground formations of the German
Condor Legion, who fought on the side of
Franco's Nationalists. Between July and October, a rapid Nationalist advance from Seville to Toledo placed them in position to take the Spanish capital,
Madrid. The Nationalist advance and the fall of the town of Illescas to Nationalist armies on 18 October 1936 caused the government of the Popular Front's
Second Republic to flee to
Barcelona and
Valencia. In an attempt to gain crucial time for Madrid's defence, Soviet tanks were deployed south of the city under the command of Colonel Krivoshein before the end of October. At this time, several T-26 tanks under the command of Captain Paul Arman were thrown into a Republican counterattack directed towards the town of Torrejon de Velasco in an attempt to cut off the Nationalist advance north. This was the first tank battle in the Spanish Civil War. Despite initial success, poor communication between the Soviet Republican armor and Spanish Republican infantry caused the isolation of Captain Arman's force and the subsequent destruction of a number of tanks. This battle also marked the first use of the
molotov cocktail against tanks. Ritter von Thoma's Panzer Is fought for the Nationalists only days later on 30 October and immediately experienced problems. As the Nationalist armor advanced, it was engaged by the Commune de Paris battalion, equipped with Soviet
BA-10 armored cars. The gun in the BA-10 was more than sufficient to knock out the thinly armored Panzer I at ranges of over . Although the Panzer I would participate in almost every major Nationalist offensive of the war, the Nationalist army began to deploy more and more captured T-26 tanks to offset their disadvantage in protection and firepower. At one point, von Thoma offered up to 500
pesetas for each T-26 captured. Although the Panzer I was initially able to knock out the T-26 at close range or less—using an armor-piercing bullet, the Republican tanks began to engage at ranges where they were immune to the machine guns of the Panzer I. The Panzer I was upgraded in order to increase its lethality. On 8 August 1937 Major General García Pallasar received a note from Generalísimo
Francisco Franco which expressed the need for a Panzer I (or
negrillo, as their Spanish crews called them) with a gun. Ultimately the weapon chosen was the
Breda Model 1935, due to the simplicity of the design over competitors such as the German
2 cm FlaK 30. Furthermore, the Breda was capable of perforating of armor at , which was more than sufficient to penetrate the frontal armor of the T-26. Forty Italian
CV.35 light tanks had been ordered with the Breda in place of their original armament, this order was canceled when it was thought adaptation of the same gun to the Panzer I would yield better results. Prototypes were ready by September 1937 and an order was placed after successful results. The mounting of the Breda in the Panzer I required the original turret to be opened at the top and then extended by a vertical supplement. Four of these tanks were finished at the Armament Factory of
Seville, but further production was canceled as it was decided enough Republican T-26 tanks had been captured to fulfill the Nationalist leadership's request for more lethal tanks. The Breda modification was not particularly liked by German crews, as the unprotected gap in the turret, designed to allow the tank's commander to aim, was found to be a dangerous weak point. In late 1938 another Panzer I was sent to the Armament Factory of Seville to mount a gun, captured from a Soviet tank (a T-26 or
BT-5). A second was sent sometime later to exchange the original armament for a Maklen anti-tank gun, which had been deployed to Asturias in late 1936 on the Soviet ship
A. Andreiev. It remains unknown to what extent these trials and adaptations were completed, although it is safe to assume neither adaptation was successful beyond the drawing board.
Second World War During the initial campaigns of the
Second World War, Germany's light tanks, including the Panzer I, formed the bulk of its armored strength. In March 1938, the German Army
annexed Austria, experiencing a mechanical breakdown rate of up to thirty percent. However, the experience revealed to Guderian several faults within the German
Panzerkorps and he subsequently improved logistical support. Germany also had some other tanks that were to prove useful in the early part of the war. In October 1938, Germany annexed the
Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia, and
parts of the remainder of the country in March 1939 to be limited to
Bohemia and
Moravia. The conquest allowed several Czech tank designs, such as the
Panzer 38(t), and their subsequent variants and production, to be incorporated into the German Army's strength. It also prepared German forces for the invasion of
Poland. On 1 September 1939, Germany
invaded Poland using seventy-two divisions (including 16 reserve infantry divisions in OKH reserves), including seven panzer divisions (1., 2., 3., 4., 5., 10., "Kempf") and four light divisions (1., 2., 3., 4.). Three days later,
France and
Britain declared war on Germany. The seven panzer and four light divisions were arrayed in five armies, forming two army groups. The battalion strength of the
1 Panzer Division included no less than fourteen Panzer I's, while the other six divisions included thirty-four. A total of about 2,700 tanks were available for the invasion of Poland, but only 310 of the heavier Panzer III and IV tanks were available. The Germans held some 1,400 of Panzer Is at the ready during the invasion. Furthermore, 350 tanks were of Czech design—the rest were either Panzer I's or Panzer IIs. The invasion was swift and the last Polish pockets of resistance surrendered on 6 October. The entire campaign lasted five weeks with Poland
attacked from the East by the USSR from 17 September and the success of Germany's tanks in the campaign was summed up in response to Hitler on 5 September: when asked if it had been the
dive bombers who destroyed a Polish artillery regiment, Guderian replied, "No, our panzers!" The Poles suffered almost 190,000 casualties (including around 66,300 killed) in the campaign, the Germans around 55,000 (including around 35,000 wounded). However, some 832 tanks (including 320 PzI, 259 PzII, 40 Pz III, 76 PzIV, 77 Pz35(t), 13 PzBef III, 7 PzBef 38(t), 34 other PzBef and some Pz38(t)) were lost during the campaign, approximately 341 of which were never to return to service. This represented about a third of Germany's armor deployed for the Polish campaign. During the campaign no less than a half of Germany's tanks were unavailable due to maintenance issues or enemy action, and of all tanks, the Panzer I proved the most vulnerable to Polish anti-tank weapons. It was found that handling of armored forces during the campaign left much to be desired. During the beginning of Guderian's attack in northern Poland, his corps was held back to coordinate with infantry for quite a while, preventing a faster advance. It was only after Army Group South had its attention taken from Warsaw at the
Battle of Bzura that Guderian's armor was fully unleashed. There were still lingering tendencies to reserve Germany's armor, even if in independent divisions, to cover an infantry advance or the flanks of advancing infantry armies. Although tank production was increased to 125 tanks per month after the Polish Campaign, losses forced the Germans to draw further strength from Czech tank designs, and light tanks continued to form the majority of Germany's armored strength. The occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 had provided the German military with large quantity of high-quality weapons at no cost, from the arsenal of the Czech military. There was enough equipment for about 40 army divisions. The Germans integrated the Czech industry, mainly the Škoda factories, becoming part of the German military production machine and continued to produce tanks and other weapons for Germany. So when Germany invaded France, three full German Panzer divisions were equipped with Czech tanks. One division was equipped with the Czech type 35 light tank () known as
Panzer 35(t), and two divisions were equipped with the type 38 light tank () renamed
Panzer 38(t). The Panzer 35 had a crew of four and carried a Czech gun (with 72 rounds) and two machine guns, one coaxial and remained in front line service until 1942, when they were converted for other roles. The Panzer 38 had a crew of four and carried a Czech gun (with 90 rounds) and two machine guns, one coaxial and one in the front (with 2550 rounds). 1400 tanks were produced for the German army in 1939-1942 and many variants used its chassis, including the Hetzer, a tank destroyer with a gun. , France in May 1940, while rounding up British prisoners of war Despite its obsolescence, the Panzer I was also used in the
invasion of France in May 1940. Of 2,574 tanks available for the campaign, no fewer than 523 were Panzer I's. There were only 627 Panzer III and IV medium tanks. At least a fifth of Germany's armor was composed of Panzer I's, while almost four-fifths was light tanks of one type or another, including 955 Panzer II, 106 Czech
Panzer 35(t), and 228 Panzer 38(t). The French Army had up to 4,000 tanks, including 300
Char B1 heavy tanks, armed with a gun in the turret and a larger low-velocity howitzer in the hull. The French also had around 250
Somua S-35, widely regarded as one of the best tanks of the period, armed with the same main gun and protected by almost of armor at its thickest point. The French forces also included over 3,000 light tanks, of which 500 were World War one-vintage
FT-17s. The two main advantages German armor enjoyed were radios allowing them to coordinate faster than their British or French counterparts and superior tactical doctrine. The last big campaign in which the Panzer I formed a large portion of the armored strength was
Operation Barbarossa, 22 June 1941. The 3,300 German tanks included about 410 Panzer I's. By the end of the month, a large portion of the
Red Army found itself
trapped in the Minsk pocket, and by 21 September
Kiev had fallen, thereby allowing the Germans to concentrate on their ultimate objective,
Moscow. Despite the success of Germany's armor in the Soviet Union, between June and September most German officers were shocked to find their tanks were inferior to newer Soviet models, the
T-34 and
Kliment Voroshilov (KV) series. Army Group North quickly realized that none of the tank guns currently in use by German armor could penetrate the thick armor of the
KV-1. The performance of the Red Army during the
Battle of Moscow and the growing numbers of new Soviet tanks made it obvious the Panzer I was not suitable for this front. Some less battle-worthy Panzer I's were tasked with towing lorries through mud to alleviate logistics problems at the front. In the Western Desert, the British
Operation Compass pushed Italians out of Egypt back into
Libya and destroyed the Italian 10th Army; Hitler dispatched aircraft to
Sicily, and a blocking force to
North Africa. This blocking force was put under the command of Lieutenant General
Erwin Rommel and included the motorized
5th Light Division and the
15th Panzer Division. This force landed at
Tunis on 12 February 1941. Upon arrival, Rommel had around 150 tanks, about half Panzer III and IV. The rest were Panzer I's and IIs, although the Panzer I was soon replaced. On 6 April 1941, Germany attacked both
Yugoslavia and
Greece, with fourteen divisions
invading Greece from neighboring
Bulgaria, which by then had joined the
Tripartite Pact. The
invasion of Yugoslavia included no less than six panzer divisions, which still fielded the Panzer I. Yugoslavia surrendered 17 April 1941, and Greece fell on 30 April 1941.
Afrika Korps tank with 20 mm gun and machine-gun in rotating turret. The Panzer II was the most numerous tank in the German Panzer divisions beginning with the
invasion of France, and was used in the German campaigns in
Poland,
France, the
Low Countries,
Denmark,
Norway,
North Africa and the
Eastern Front. Originally,
Panzerkampfwagen II was the main component of the early Panzer divisions being issued to company and platoon commanders. It was soon after issued to Panzer Battalions and in the Polish Campaign was used as a combat tank. It began to be supplemented in the armoured forces by the
Panzer III and IV in 1940/41. Following the reorganization of the Panzertruppen in 1940/41, it was relegated to the role of reconnaissance tank. During the Campaign in the West in 1940 and early stage of the
invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941,
Panzerkampfwagen II served mainly as reconnaissance but were often used as combat tanks and many were lost to Soviet tanks and anti-tanks. By 1942 a majority were removed from frontline service. Afterwards, it was used to great effect as a
reconnaissance tank, and when removed from front-line duty, it was used for training and on secondary fronts. The
Panzerkampfwagen II tanks were also used in North Africa, by the German
Afrika Korps, with some success as the nature of the battlefield was more mobile and shortages of equipment forced Rommel to use them lacking updated replacements. Despite increasing production of the medium Panzer IIIs and IVs prior to the
German invasion of France on 10 May 1940, the majority of German tanks were still light types. According to Guderian, the Wehrmacht invaded France with 523 Panzer Is, 955 Panzer IIs, 349 Panzer IIIs, 278 Panzer IVs, 106 Panzer and 228 Panzer . Around the time of
Operation Barbarossa, the Panzer III was numerically the most important German tank. At this time the majority of the available tanks (including re-armed
Ausf. E and F, plus new
Ausf. G and H models) had the KwK 38 L/42 cannon which also equipped the majority of the tanks in North Africa. Initially, the Panzer III's were outclassed and outnumbered by Soviet
T-34 and
KV tanks. However, the most numerous Soviet tanks were the
T-26 and
BT tanks. This, along with superior German tactical skill, crew training, and the good ergonomics of the Panzer III all contributed to a rough 6:1 favourable kill ratio for German tanks of all types in 1941. The Panzer III was used throughout the war and a handful were still in use in
Normandy and
at Arnhem in 1944, but most were replaced with Panzer IV or the newer Panther. In the early battles of
Second World War, German forces had gained notoriety for the rapid and successful invasions of
Poland, the
Netherlands, Belgium, and France, and the
Soviet Union, in 1939–41. Although the early-war Panzer II, III, and IV were clearly inferior to some of their French and Soviet counterparts, this
blitzkrieg ('lightning warfare') was made possible by training and organization, integrated communications with the combined-arms employment of integrated
infantry, armoured forces and aircraft. Although the Panzer IV was deployed to
North Africa with the German
Afrika Korps, until the longer gun variant began production, the tank was outperformed by the Panzer III with respect to armor penetration. Both the Panzer III and IV had difficulty in penetrating the British
Matilda II's thick armor, while the Matilda's
40-mm QF 2 pounder gun could knock out either German tank; its major disadvantage was its low speed. By August 1942, Rommel had only received 27 Panzer IV Ausf. F2s, armed with the L/43 gun, which he deployed to spearhead his armored offensives. and measured over the entire war it comprised 30% of the
Wehrmacht's total tank strength. It came into service by early 1939, in time for the
occupation of Czechoslovakia, but at the start of the war the majority of German armor was made up of obsolete Panzer Is and Panzer IIs. in western Belarus in June 1941. As the blitzkrieg began to stall on the
Eastern Front, and a mobile war pushed back and forth across
North Africa, Germany was quickly forced into an arms race in armour and
antitank weapons.
88 mm antiaircraft guns were used as antitank weapons, thousands of captured Soviet antitank guns were marshaled into German service as the
7.62 cm PaK 36(r), and new inexpensive self-propelled anti-tank guns
Panzerjäger such as the
Marder I series were put into production, while the Panzer III & IV tanks & the Sturmgeschütz were hastily up-armoured and up-gunned. operating in
Tunisia, January 1943. A new generation of big tanks, the heavy
Tiger,
Panther, and
King Tiger tanks were developed and rushed into the battlefield. The Panther was a direct response to the Soviet [T-34 and KV-1 tanks. First encountered on 23 June 1941, the T-34 outclassed the existing Panzer III and IV. During Zitadelle the Panthers claimed 267 destroyed tanks. The Panther demonstrated its capacity to destroy any Soviet AFV from long distance during the Battle of Kursk, and had a very high overall kill ratio. However, it comprised less than seven percent of the estimated 2,400–2,700 total AFVs deployed by the Germans in this battle, and its effectiveness was limited by its mechanical problems. At the time of the invasion of Normandy, there were initially only two Panther-equipped Panzer regiments in the Western Front, and the majority of German
Panzer forces in Normandy – six and a half divisions, were stationed around the vital town of
Caen facing the Anglo-Canadian forces of the
21st Army Group; and the numerous battles to secure the town became collectively known as the
Battle of Caen. US forces in the meantime, engaged mainly the
Panzer Lehr Division, and the Panther tank proved to be most effective when fighting in open country and shooting at long range—its combination of superior armor and firepower allowed it to engage at distances from which the American M4 Shermans could not respond. tanks spearhead the assault in the
Battle of Kursk. The Tiger was first used in action on 23 September 1942 near
Leningrad. Under pressure from Hitler, the tank was put into action months earlier than planned. Many early models proved to be mechanically unreliable; in this first action many broke down. Others were knocked out by dug-in Soviet anti-tank guns. In the Tiger's first actions in North Africa, it was able to dominate Allied tanks in the wide-open terrain. The Tiger was originally designed to be an offensive breakthrough weapon, but by the time they went into action, the military situation had changed dramatically, and their main use was on the defensive, and their mechanical failures meant that there were rarely more than a few in each action. Tigers were usually employed in separate
German heavy tank battalions (
schwere-Panzer-Abteilung) under army command. These battalions would be deployed to critical sectors, either for breakthrough operations or, more typically, counter-attacks. The first time the Tiger saw action was on August 29 of 1942 and September 21/22 at Mga, southeast of Leningrad with 1st company of sPzAbt 502. The unsuccessful engagements ended in the new Tiger being captured by the Soviets, who then examined it and exhibited during the captured equipment exhibition in Moscow's
Gorky Park in 1943. The failure of the Tiger was attributed to mechanical problems as well as poor terrain conditions, totally unsuitable for heavy tanks. In December 1942, Tigers from sPzAbt 501, saw action near Tunis in North Africa. During their combat service, Tigers destroyed large numbers of enemy tanks and other equipment, creating the myth of their invincibility and fearsome power - "Tiger-phobia". The Tiger also had tremendous effect on morale of both German and Allied soldiers, Germans felt secure, while the Allies thought that every German tank, especially late model PzKpfw IV was a Tiger. The first combat use of the Tiger II was by the 1st company of the
Schwere Heers Panzer Abteilung 503 during the
Battle of Normandy, opposing
Operation Atlantic between
Troarn and
Demouville on 18 July 1944; losses were two from combat, plus the company commander's tank which became irrecoverably trapped after falling into a bomb crater made during the simultaneous
Operation Goodwood. On the
Eastern Front, it was first used on 12 August 1944 by the
Schwere Heers Panzer Abteilung 501 (s.H.Pz.Abt. 501) resisting the
Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive. It attacked the Soviet bridgehead over the
Vistula River near
Baranów Sandomierski. The majority of King Tigers went to Wehrmacht units, while some 150 were assigned to the Waffen SS. The first Tigers II tanks reached schwere Panzer Abteilungen of both Wehrmacht and Waffen SS as early as February 1944. Only two companies of
Schwere Heers Panzer Abteilung 503 (s.H.Pz.Abt. 503), equipped with Tiger II tanks (with Porsche turrets), were committed to the fighting in Normandy. Tiger II tanks of
schwere Panzerabteilung 506 (
s.Pz.Abt. 506), saw combat during the
Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands in September 1944. On 15 October 1944 Tiger IIs of s.H.Pz.Abt. 503 played a crucial role during
Operation Panzerfaust, supporting
Otto Skorzeny's troops in taking the Hungarian capital of
Budapest, which ensured that the country remained with the Axis until the end of the war. The Tiger II was also present at the
Ardennes Offensive of December 1944, the Soviet
Vistula–Oder and
East Prussian Offensives in January 1945, the German
Lake Balaton Offensive in Hungary in March 1945, the
Battle of the Seelow Heights in April 1945, and finally the
Battle of Berlin at the end of the war. During the war, the mass of a panzer increased from the of a pre-war Panzer I light tank, to of the Tiger II. In the meantime, the Soviets continued to produce the
T-34 by the tens of thousands, and U.S. industry nearly matched them in the number of
M4 Sherman tanks built and deployed in Western Europe.
Cold War Leopard 1A1 After the war, West Germany was given United States-built
M47 and
M48 Patton tanks and in 1956 the Germans began development of the Leopard tank project to build a modern German tank, the
Standard-Panzer, to replace the Bundeswehr's outdated tanks. The German
Leopard (later known as Leopard 1) tank first entered service in 1965. The Leopard used a German-built version of the British
105 mm L7 gun, and had improved cross-country performance that was unmatched by other designs of the era. The Leopard quickly became a standard of European forces, and eventually served as the
main battle tank in over a dozen countries worldwide, but the German Leopards never saw combat. In the German Army, the Leopard 1 MBTs have been phased out in 2003 while Leopard 1-derived vehicles are still widely used. The
Leopard 2 MBTs have taken over the MBT role and first entering service in 1979. The Leopard 2 have served in the armed forces of Germany and twelve other
European countries, as well as several non-European nations. More than 3,480 Leopard 2s have been manufactured. The Leopard 2 first saw combat in Kosovo with the German Army and has also seen action in Afghanistan with the Danish and Canadian ISAF forces.
KFOR The German contingent of the Kosovo Force operated a number of Leopard 2A4s and 2A5s in Kosovo during the NATO-led international peacekeeping force responsible for establishing a secure environment. Also Canadian Leopard C1A1s, served with
Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) in the 1999
KFOR mission in
Kosovo. Denmark also sent some Leopard 1 tanks, which fought in
Operation Bøllebank and
Operation Amanda, which are believed to be the first combat engagements of the Leopard 1 tank. ==Modern times==