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PANZERTRUPPEN
The Complete Guide to the
Creation &Combat Employment of
Germany's Tank Force
1943-1945
Also by Thomas L. Jentz
GERMANY'S PANTHER TANK: THE QUEST FOR COMBAT SUPREMACY
PANZERTRUPPEN: 1933-1942
PANZERTRUPPEN
The Complete Guide to the Creation
& Combat Employment of
Germany's Tank Force • 1943-1945
Book Design by Robert Biondi.
Copyright © 1996 by Thomas L. Jentz.
Library of Congress Catalog Number: 96-67793.
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or used in any forms
or by any means - graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or
information storage and retrieval systems - without written permission from the
copyright holder.
Printed in the United States of America.
ISBN: 0-7643-0080-6
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Contents
Introduction 6
Chapter 21 DEFEAT IN NORTH AFRICA 8
Chapter 22 SURROUNDED AT STALINGRAD TO THE COUNTEROFFENSIVE TO RETAKE KHARKOV 21
Chapter 23 REORGANIZATION OF THE PANZERTRUPPEN - OCTOBER 1942 THROUGH DECEMBER 1943 .47
Chapter 24 OPERATION ZITADELLE 74
Chapter 25 DEFENSE OF SICILY 102
Chapter 26 THE THIRD YEAR ON THE EASTERN FRONT 108
Chf!1pter 27 DEFENSE OF ITALy 135
Chapter 28 REORGANIZING AND REBUILDING THE PANZERTRUPPEN IN 1944 ~ 152
Chapter 29 INVASION OF NORMANDY TO THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE 177
Chapter 30 THE LAST YEAR ON THE EASTERN FRONT 204
Chapter 31 FORMATION OF THE LAST UNITS 232
Chapter 32 DEFENSE OF THE FATHERLAND 246
Appendices
Appendix A: Formation of Panzer Units for the Heer 249
Appendix B: Panzer Inventory, Gains, and Reported Losses 276
Appendix C: Technical Specifications of the Opponents Tanks 292
Appendix D: Penetration Capabilities of Tank Guns 296
Appendix E: Recommended Books 297
Appendix F: Glossary of German Military Terms 298
INTRODUCTION
aving failed to win their strategic objectives, the five years. The content of this book is derived solely
Heer (German Army) was overextended deep from these original records consisting of war diaries,
Hin enemy territory facing numerically superior reports, and technical and tactical manuals written dur-
forces in the Fall of 1942. Now it was the Allies turn to ing the war. No attempt has been made to analyze the
launch the offensives that would keep the Heer off bal- content or to interject personal opinion. The story is told
ance. With few exceptions the days of employing as recorded by those responsible for decisions in de-
massed Panzer formations to gain strategically deci- veloping the Panzertruppen and by those who fought in
sive objectives had come to an end. And, these few ex- the Panzers. The only editing of reports was done to
ceptions were almost invariably failures. Forced onto eliminate information that was not pertinent to under-
the defensive the Panzertruppen modified their tactics standing development or tactics of the Panzers and
becoming expert at counterattacks that spoiled their op- Panzer units.
ponents drives and inflicted heavy casualties. They be- In presenting how the Panzers fared in combat, only
came so proficient that the Allied armies took years to original combat and experience reports written directly
retake territory that the Heer had overran in a few weeks after the actions were used to relate the thoughts of the
or months. This book presents how the Panzertruppen troops that fought in the Panzers. This establishes a
fought during their defensive struggle with details on foundation for the reader to evaluate their performance
the units, organizations, type of Panzers, and tactics. free from the influence of assumptions, generalities,
Many other books have successfully covered the opinions, and other uninformed statements expressed
history of the Panzertruppen at division, corps, army, by armchair armor experts. The reader should be aware
and army group level. These have dealt with the strate- that many of these original experience reports are bi-
gic decisions of the high command, the successes and ased in that they do not describe routine activity but
the mistakes. A listing of other books that have very were written to relate the unusual. Most of the German
thoroughly related the history of the higher level strat- reports were written with the motive of initiating improve-
egy and tactics are listed as Appendix E. After reading ments to the Panzers or changing tactics.
many of these published accounts, I was still left with Throughout this book, I have retained the names of
many unanswered questions. How many Panzers were the Panzers, Panzer units, rank, and title as they were
actually available with each unit at the start of each cam- used in the original reports. These names can not be
paign? When were new units formed and committed to translated without loss of identity and meaning. As each
action? What was their organization and equipment? new name is introduced, the American equivalent is in-
What were the Panzers armament, armor protection, cluded in parenthesis when the equivalency is not obvi-
and capabilities? What tactics were used by the smaller ous (Le. Division, Brigade, Regiment, Bataillon,
units from platoons up to regiments? How did they sur- Kompanie). The Panzer-Abteilung frequently is
vive in the face of overwhelming numerical superiority? mistranslated as being a detachment or a unit. It is not
The answers to all of these questions were obtained a German battalion which at the time consisted of five
by digging through original records for the past twenty- companies. With its two to four Panzer-Kompanien
6
INTRODUCTION
under command, it is roughly the equivalent of an Ameri- command of the German language. Peter Frandsen is
can tank battalion. To somewhat ease the impact of thanked for his efforts in reviewing the manuscript as a
German terms on the English speaking reader, I have representative for the average armor enthusiast. Thanks
inserted hyphens to break up some of the longer names are also due to professional proofreader Stanley
and have blatantly hacked o.ff suffixes that are normally Thawley for his role in degermanizing sentence struc-
appended to German nouns. A glossary of terms is in- ture in the translations.
cluded as Appendix F. Any difficulty you may find while attempting to read
Many thanks are due to George Wagner (now re- through this book as if it was a light work of fiction is
tired) of the Captured Records Section at the National entirely your own fault for even attempting to embark
Archives for his advice and guidance in digging my way on such an endeavor. It took over five times the length
through the mountain of available records. I would also of World War II to compile this information. There is much
like to thank his replacement, Robin Cookson, who has more information contained in these two volumes than
been a great help in locating the odd box of records. any single person actively involved with the
Thanks are also due to Heer Meyer and Heer Loos at Panzertruppen knew at the time. It is impossible for the
the Militaerarchiv and Heer Nielges and Frau Kuhl at most casual observer to even start to comprehend the
the Bildarchiv for their friendly assistance in extracting most obvious facts after a few hours of light reading.
data from the massive collection of documents and pho- Don't be quick to jump to conclusions. Keep an open
tographs. Special thanks go to Werner Regenberg (spe- mind, absorb the information at face value, and then
cializing in research on units outfitted with captured apply it to analyze and understand how armored battles
tanks) and Leo Niehorster (specializing in unit organi- were fought in World War II.
zations) for reviewing and providing additional details This book is intended for those interested in facts
for the list of Panzer units presented in Appendix A. and figures. As such it should be studied in conjunction
Thanks are also due to Steve 2aloga for providing data with many other fine books on the subject. Your reward
on the T-70 and IS-2 Soviet tanks as presented in Ap- will be new discoveries on practically every page that
pendix D. Any omissions or mistakes are my own and debunk the old myths, propaganda, and erroneous mili-
may be largely due to my stubborn refusal to use any tary intelligence which have been insidiously infiltrated
data that could not be verified in original records. into our common knowledge and many published histo-
The research was the fun part, providing constant ries on World War II.
rewards as long-sought-atter facts and figures were fi-
nally discovered. The hard part was beating the data
into some semblance of order and the tedious hours of Tom Jentz
translation so that the information would be made avail- Germantown, Maryland
able to the many interested readers who don't have a 6 June 1996
7
21
Defeat in North Africa
he German forces had overextended and lost the ini- The following excerpts from the war diary of the
tiative in North Africa. From now on they were forced 15.Panzer-Division relate how Panzer-Regiment 8 attacked
T to react to their opponent's moves. With very few ex- and held up the British advance - for one more day:
ceptions, the days of employing massed Panzer formations
to gain strategically decisive objectives had come to an end. 2 November 1942
But even decimated Panzer units were still very dangerous 0200 - Contact between Panzer-Grenadier-
opponents, expert at counterstriking and inflicting serious Regiment 115 and Panzer-Regiment 8 was dis-
casualties. rupted.
Panzerarmee Afrika settled into a heavily mined defen- 0220 - Intercepted enemy radio message: Our
sive belt running parallel to the British positions at EI Alamein tanks have passed through the gap in the minefield
and held the Panzer-Regiments in reserve. When the Brit- and are now advancing on a wide front.
ish launched their major offensive during the night of 23/24 0320 - The forward elements of the enemy have
October 1942, Panzer-Regiment 5 and 8 were positioned broken through to the headquarters ofPanzer-Regi-
where they could strike at any armored force that managed ment 8 and the main body is located on the Otto-
to break through the static defenses. Their operational strength Piste (track). Contact with Panzer-Regiment 8 is not
reported for the evening of 23 October 1942 was: available.
0445 - Telephone contact with Panzer-Regiment
PzlI Pzlli PzIIISp PzlV PzlVSp PzBef Total 8 was restored.
Pz.Rgt.5: 0505 -As dawn broke enemy tanks could be seen
Available 19 53 43 7 15 6 143 on the telegraph track from the division command
Operational 18 43 43 6 15 3 128 post. Artillery fire and shells fired by tanks are hitting
Pz.Rgt.8: close to the division command post.
Available 14 43 44 3 15 2 121 0636 - Our Panzers are advancing from the
Operational 12 38 43 2 15 1 111 southwest toward the northeaston the Otto-Piste. The
enemy is pulling back. The burning tanks are the
In preventing the British from achieving a complete break enemy's.
through, the Panzer-Regiments lost 1 Pz.Kpfw.lI, 18 The 21.Panzer-Division has reached the Otto-
Pz.Kpfw.lIl, 20 Pz.Kpfw.l1l Sp., 1 Pz.Kpfw.lV, and 10 Piste near A.P.412. From there they intend to strike
Pz.Kpfw.lV Sp. as total write-ofts during the period from 24 south to hit the enemy in the flank at A.P.411.
to 29 October. This battle of attrition had left the Panzer-Regi- 0705 - Orders to Panzer-Artillerie-Regiment33:
ments with the following operational strengths to face the The enemy is located at A.P.411 with 80 tanks.
renewed British assault in Operation Supercharge on 2 No- 21.Panzer-Division has been given the assignment
vember 1942: to immediately attack south. Panzer-Regiment 8 is
attacking toward the east to close the gap.
PzlI Pzlli PzIliSp PzlV PzlVSp PzBef Total I.Abteilung/Panzer-Regiment 8 is still at the old lo-
Pz.Rgt.5 9 28 20 4 11 3 75 cation. II.Abteilung/Panzer-Regiment8 is in the area
Pz.Rgt.8 5 15 27 3 5 1 56 ofA.P.507. Artillery to commence firing.
8
CHAPTER 21: DEFEAT IN NORTH AFRICA
This Pz.Kpfw.lV Ausf.F2 and Pz.Kpfw.11I Ausf.L of Panzer-Regiment 5 were knocked out at EI Alamein. (TIM)
ORGANIZATION AND STRENGTH OF PANZER UNITS
At EI Alamein on 23 October 1942
15.Panzer-Division
~ ~
'Tn\ leS leS le \ 'TnSleS leS le \
14 PzlI, 43 PzllI(kz), 44 PzlIl(lg), 3 PzIV(kz), 15 PzIV(lg), 2 PzBef
21.Panzer-Division P R
~ z. gt.5
~II. avo ~1.
6~o 6~o
'Tn\ leS le\ le \ 'Tn\ leS leS le \
19 PzlI, 53 PzllI(kz), 43 PzlIl(lg), 7 PzIV(kz), 15 PzIV(lg), 6 PzBef
9
