Figure 1.--Hitler delayed the Battle of Kursk several months so that the superb new Mark V could reach the German forces massing for their third summer offensive in the East. The Panther is generally considered to be the finest tank of the War. It failed, however, to bring Manstein his victory over Zukov at Kursk and turn the tide on the Eastern Front (July 1943). Note the age of the tankers on this Panther, including the commander, probably in 1944. We think they are the Hitler Youth boys of the 12th-SS Oanzer Division deployed in Normandy. There was a fifth crew member who cannot be seen here, the driver.
The Germans won the battle in West not because they had substantial technical or numerical superiority. In fact they only had comparable numbers of tanks with the British and French because they added the Czech tanks to their Panzer corps. The key to the German victory was that they worked out the most effective tactics--Blitzkrieg. Organizing armored divisions and concentrating them at the decisive point and time of the battle along with close air support. They also worked out the importance of anti-tank guns in tank battles and had a highly effective available gun from a very early point of the War. The German 88-mm gun was developed as an anti-aircraft artillery, but proved to be one of the finest anti-tank weapons of the War. And after encountering the T-34, the Germans produced some superb tanks, especially the Panthers, but were unable to mass produce them. The fearsome Tiger tanks were heavily gunned and armored, but not very mobile and could not be produced in needed numbers. Germany began the War without the material nor human resources to win a protracted global war. Their only hope was to defeat their targets quickly before the other countries could arm and adopt Blitzkrieg tactics of their own. This worked with France, but the Channel and the RAF saved the British. Time, space, and weather saved the Soviets. Thus the Germans would face enraged adversaries with superior material resources and militaries that had learned Blitzkrieg tactics from the Germans. Once the material and human resources if the United states were added to the equation, Hitler and the NAZIs were doomed. The Germans had won most tank battles in the early years of the War. This continued with Barbarossa (June 1941). The appearance of the Soviet T-34 shocked the Germans. A combination of poor Soviet tactics and excellent German tactics enabled the Panzer spearhead to achieve massive victories. The Germans rushed the development of the Mark V Panther, probably the finest tank of the War. The Germans also produced the Tigers which were virtually indestructible, but slow, gas guzzlers, and not very maneuverable.. The fortunes of the German Panzer corps began to change in the Western Desert (July 1942). Then came Kursk, the greatest tank battle in history (July 1943). It was the Red Army's first major tank victory. The Germans would never win another important battle in the East. The Germans did launch a tank offensive in the West--the Ardennes (December 1944). But without adequate fuel stocks and needed air cover it was the last German offensive operation of the War. And after the Bulge, American tankers began t get the new M-26 Pershing which could take on the Panthers.
The Gernans invented Blizkrieg, essentially modern war. The Great German victories weee achieved dur=eing the first 2 years of the war, before its targets had mobilized and both the Soviet Union and America were in the War. Blitzkrieg and German industry was enough to win the War on small European battlefields--but not eniugh to carrt Germans arms across the Channel. The Soviet Union and America proved a very different matter. The Germans won the battle in West not because they had substantial technical or numerical superiority. In fact they only had comparable numbers of tanks with the British and French because they were able to add the Czech tanks as a result of Munich to their Panzer corps. And thevFrrench ranks werevactually better than the German tanks. The key to the German victory was that they worked out the most effective tactics--Blitzkrieg. Organizing armored divisions and concentrating them at the decisive point and time of the battle along with close air support. And the German tanks and planes has effective connunicarion sysrems. The Gernans also worked out the importance of anti-tank guns in tank battles and had a highly effective gun available from a very early point of the War. The German 88-mm gun was developed as an anti-aircraft artillery, but proved to be one of the finest anti-tank weapons of the War.
Terminology
The German term for tank was Panzerkampfwagen meaning armored fighting vehicle, abrevioated Pz.Kpfw. Military historians generally just call them Panzers.
Specific Types
Although the Germans began the War with tanks types that were not particularly impressive, they were skillfully used. And infantry anti-tank weapons had not yet been developed. After encountering the T-34, the Germans produced some superb tanks. Probably the best tank of the war was the German answer to the Soviet T-34--the Mark V Panzer. It incorporated important features to deal with the T-34s like sloped armor. It was not the fastest or most heavily armored, nor did it have the greatest firepower. It was an elegant design that achieved that perfect balance of firepower, armor protection, and mobility--virtually the most that could be achieved with World War II technology. [Green] Hitler delayed the Battle of Kursk so the new Panthers could be deployed. It has been described as an engineering masterpiece. The most famous German tanks are probably the massive Tigers. The fearsome Tiger tanks were heavily gunned and armored, but not very mobile and could not be produced in numbers needed by the Germans. The Mk VI Tiger I and the Mk VII Tiger II were especially feared by advancing Allied infantry encountering them. They saw the Tigers as virtually indestructible. One of the elements of tank design was maneuverability and speed. And here the Tigers (but not the Panthers) failed. They were not indestructible, but they took out many lightly armored Shermans. This was a shoick to American tankers who thought they had the most effective tank of the War. The Shermans had a bad but true nickname as portable bunson burners on tracks. The Germans called them 'Ronsons'--the name of popular cigarette lighters that adveru=ized as lighting the first time when stroked. The Germans used their Tigers essentially as movable pillboxes as they shifted to the defense. They were superior in one vs one tank battles. Encounters with Tigers such as the Canadian 7th Division at Villers-Bocage could prove deadly (June 1944). By the time Tigers were deployed this is not usually how battles unfolded. The Allies had much larger numbers of tanks. Soviet T-34 and American Sherman tankers worked out killing tactics. Groups of Allied tanks maneuvered to get in a killing shot to the vulnerable rear engine area. In an ambush situation one or two Shermns could get the job done and in the small European villages the Tigers could not maneuververy well and even driving right through buildings they could be hunted down one on one. And the Tigers were also targeted by specially designed or adapted anti-tank aircraft. Clear skies brought down a hail of murderous rockets or bombs from the anti-tank aircraft. Rockets in particular proved very effective against tanks. Perhaps the most salient aspct of the Grman Panzers is the relatively small number that the Germans were able to build. The German Panzrs were built in the housnds. The american ns Soviet tanks were built in the yens of thousands and the weight of numbers would have a huge impact on the battlefield.
Mark I
The first German Panzer was the Mark I. It was a light tank. Designing the tank began before Hitler seized control of Germany even though it was a violation of the Versailles Treaty (1932). Production began after Hitler seized power (1934). It was not designed for actual combat use. It was meant as a training vehicle. to allow Panzer crews to gain experience with armored vehichles and test out the new tacyical theries being developed by commanders like Guderian and Rommel. The Markl I also asited Germn industry in develoing manufacturing processes. Probelms with the design wre corrected in the design of futute tanks. While primitive, the Mark I was an advance on the tanks in the inventories of most other countries. As arsulr, some Nark Is were used in the Spanish Civil War abd even during the early phase of World War I. Some 1,500 Mark Is were built.
Mark II
The German Mark II Panzers poured accross the Czech norder and into Prague (March 1939). This was to be Hitler's last German move before launching World War II. The Skoda arms complex would then play a major role in German tank construction hroughout the War. The Mark II was larger and both more heavily armed and armoured than the Mark I. Even so, it was still a light tank. As an example of how Hitler launched the War on a shoe string, the Mark IIs were the mainstay of the German Panzer corps for the first 2 years of the War. Battlefield success was more due to German tactical doctrine that overwealming tank superiority. OKW had hoped tgo have more of the powerful Mark iIIs and IVs, bu these were complicated weapons to build and significant delays were experienced. Full-scale production of the Mark IIs began as Hitler was becoming more aggressive (1937). It was armed with 20-mm gun and one machine gun. Frontal armor protection was 30 mm thick. The Mzrk II weighed only 10 tons and because of this was very fast. It had a top road speed of 40 km (25 miles) per hour. It had a three-man crew. About 1,000 Mrk IIs were committed to the campaigns in Poland, the West, nd Barbarossa.
Mark III
Mark IV
The Panzer Mark IV was a medium tank developed in the 1930s. Production of Variant A began in 1936. It became a main stay of the Whermacht military campaigns. It was designed as an infantry-support tank, and was not initially intended to engage enemy tanks. This was a task to be performed by the lighter Mark IIIs. In actual combat, however, it was soon seen that pre-War tactical concepts had to be adjusted. This in particular was apparent with the appearannce of the Soviet T-34s. The Mark IIIs were increasingly seen as obsolescent. And the Mark IVs were assigned the role of tank fighting. The Mark IV chasis was used for a range of combat vehicles, uincluding tank destroyers and self-propelled anti-aircraft guns. Nearly 9,000 Marks were produced, but this was only a small fraction of American and Soviet production runs. The Mark IV was the most robust and reliable of the German Panzers. It was in continuous production throughout the War. There wre a range of upgrdes creating several important variants. Themost important variations involved increasing the armor protection and upgrading its weaponry. During the final months of the war with German resistance collapsing, the Grmans finally made retrograde design changes to simplify and speed manufacture. If these changes had bee made earlier, larger numbers of Mark IVs could have been built when they might have made a real difference.
The Mark V Panther is often seen as the best all around tank of the War. The tank seen here is a Panther (figure 1). With the onset of Barbarossa (June 1941), despite the huge successes, the Germans were shocked by he Red Armt T-34. Hitler's whole war concept was that Germany war spirit and technological superiority could gain victory over target countries that outweighed Germany in population, industry, and technology. The Battle of Britain brought that concept into question, And now it was found that the Soviets were producing better tanks than Germany. Notably the suscess of Blitzkrieg and Germany's great military success (1939-41) were based on planes and tanks. And now the Wehrmacht had confronted planes and thanks that werre more than a match for them. Prioritybwas given to developing a new German tank to match the Soviet T-34. It was to be the answer to the T-34, but would nitb be available for 2 years. The Mark V Panther surely was the most elegantly designed tank of the War with a superb ballance of firepower, armor protection, and mobility. In this it was unmatched by any other tank of the War. Hitler wanted a war winner and delayed the Kursk offensive so it could be rushed to the front without asequate testing (July 1943). This bought the Soviets time to prepare the Kursk defenses for the German blow. The Panther at first failed, to live up to expectations. [Green] Part of the problems at Kursk was that it was delivered into combat right off the assembly lines. Once fully tested andrefined it proved to be a superb battle tank. It has been described as an engineering masterpiece. The Panther incorporated important features to deal with the T-34s like sloped armor. It was not the fastest or most heavily armored, nor did it have the greatest firepower. It was an elegant design that achieved that perfect balance of firepower, armor protection, and mobility--virtually the most that could be achieved with World War II technology. [Green] There were weakness. The Panther was superbly enginered. But this meant that it was more costly and more dicficult to build tham the simpler American and Soviet tanks. This limited the number that could be built. The Germans buld some 6,000 Pathers. It was also difficult to maintain in the field. And 6,000 tanks was not going to be a war winner against owerrs countries producing tens of thousands of tanks.
The most famous German tanks are probably the massive Tigers. The fearsome Tiger tanks were heavily gunned and armored, but not very mobile and could not be produced in numbers needed by the Germans. The Mk VI Tiger I and the Mk VII Tiger II were especially feared by advancing Allied infantry encountering them. They saw the Tigers as virtually indestructible. One of the elements of tank design was maneuverability and speed. And here the Tigers (but not the Panthers) failed. They were not indestructible, but they were about as indestrutable as was possiblertook out many lightly armored Shermans. In one sureal encounter, a Canadian tank crew in a Sherman positioned itself behind a hedge. A tiger, not seeing the Canadians, pulled up to the other side of the hedge. The Canadians at point blank range fired several shells at the Tiger--to no affect. This was all a shock to American tankers who thought they had the most effective tank of the War. The Shermans had a bad but true nickname as portable bunson burners on tracks. The Germans called them 'Ronsons'--the name of popular cigarette lighters that adverized as lighting the first time when stroked. The Germans used their Tigers essentially as movable pillboxes as they shifted to the defense. They were superior in one vs one tank battles. Encounters with Tigers such as the Canadian 7th Division at Villers-Bocage could proved deadly (June 1944). By the time Tigers were deployed this is not usually how battles unfolded. The Allies had much larger numbers of tanks. Soviet T-34 and American Sherman tankers worked out killing tactics. Groups of Allied tanks maneuvered to get in a killing shot to the vulnerable rear engine area. In an ambush situation one or two Shermans could get the job done. And in the small European villages the Tigers could not maneuververy well and even driving right through buildings they could be hunted down one on one. The Tigers were also targeted by specially designed or adapted anti-tank aircraft. Clear skies brought down a hail of murderous rockets or bombs from the anti-tank aircraft. Rockets in particular proved very effective against tanks, even the Tigers.
Weaknesses
The German Panzers along with the Stuka dive bomber were the weapons that played a major role in the stunning Whermacht victories at the onset of the War. Thus when the Germans came up with the superb Mark V Panthers, one might have thought, as Hitler did, that the victories would continue. They did not. As effective as the Panthers were, they did not give the Germans the battlefield dominance that Hitler hoped. The failure was only in part a design problem. Tanks did not exist in a vacuum. Other industrial and battlefield developments doomed the Panzers and the German war effort. Several factors were involved:
1) Superiority: The Panthers were a superb tank, but not all that much superior to the T-34, its primary battlefield
opponent. And the T-34 had some advantages, especially its ease of maintenance in the field. And by the end of the War the Americans began deploying the M26 Pershing which was capable of slugging it out with the Panthers.
2) Design: The Panther was an elegant
design, but it was also more complicated and difficult to produce. This was a fatal flaw with Germans struggling as they
were against the vastly superior industrial capacity of their adversaries. They managed to produce 6,000 Panthers, but that
was only a fraction of Soviet, American, and British production.
3) Infantry tatiucs and weapons: When the Germans launched the War, infantry was unprepared for tanks. By 1943, infantry had begun to develop anti-tank tactics and hand held anti-tank weapons. The American bazooka was not as effecrive as the German Panzerfaust, but it made it dangerous for the Panzers to drive into American lines without supporting infantry.
4) Air support: The Germans
enjoyed air superiority during the early years of the War. This began to shift in 1942 and by 1943 were losing air
superiority. American, British, and Soviet aircraft proved to be effective tank killers. The fearsome Tigers proved to be
very large targets from the air.
5) Soviet and Allied tanks: Even on the ground, the German tanks began to lose out to Allied tanks that were deployed in far greater numbers. The Germans did not have the industrial capacity to match Soviet and Allied production. And complicated German designs made it difficult for the Germans to fully utilize the producrion capity tht they had.
6) Artillery: Artillery was a factor. Not only did the Allies deploy effective anti-tank weapons, but also had much more effective artillery support. After the disaster at Kasserine, Patton at El Guettar in Tunisia stopped the German 10th Panzer Division in its tracks with only infantry and artillery (March 1943). While OKW took Kasserine as an indicatiuin of the poor capabilitie of the new Anerican Army, Rommel was impressed with the American artillery. The artillery could not only destroy tanks, but also strip away supporing infantry. It was the skillfully deployed artillery that again stopped Gernman Panzers in the battle for Bastogne during the Bulge (December 1944).
7) Radios: Radios were another factor. Equipping Panzers with
radios were an important factor in the victory over France. American industrial capacity gave the Allies the ability to
produce radios in vast numbers. As a result, virtually every second lieutenant in the U.S. army to call in devastating air strikes and artillery barages.
8) Oil: Germany began the War without the resources needed to wage global war. And the most
notable resource they lacked was petroleum. The Tigers in particular were gas guzzlers. This was an especially serious
problem for the Germans because by the time the Tigers were deployed, the allies had begun to get a grip on German oil
production, first the Ploesti Oil fields and then the synthetic fuel plants in the Reich.
German Panzer crews spearheaded every major Whermacht campaign of World war Ii beginning with the invasions of Poland (September 1939) and most spectacularly apparent in the Western Offensive (May 1940) and Barbarossa (June 1941). This continued with the last great German offensive in the Ardennes (December 1944). The Panzer corps on every front of the War. They earned a formidable reputation for comptence and commitment in both offensive and defensive assignments. As far as we cal tell, Panzer vews were not a particularly select group, but rather chosen from the same pool as other Heer groups. It was not a volunteer group, but rather men were assigned to the Panzers. The Panzer corps did, however develop a special �lan and pride based on their impressive success in battle and contribytion to the war effort. They had destinctive uniforms and thus insrantly recognizable even not with their tanks. Tank commanders wee chosen from Panzer crewmen who destinguished themselves in battle. The crew positions varied depending on the particular Panzer type. The mainstay of the German Panzer corps was the Mark IV which has five crew members. Three men (commander, gunner and loader were situated in the turret. The driver and radio operator/bow gunner were situated un the forward hull. The training for these roles was specialized normally taking about 6 months. Each crew member usually qualified for at least two these roles so the tank could be operated even if they sustaind casualties.
German Strategy
Germany began the War without the material nor human resources to win a protracted global war. Their only hope was to defeat their targets quickly before the other countries could arm and adopt Blitzkrieg tactics of their own. This worked with France, but the Channel and the RAF saved the British. Time, space, and weather saved the Soviets. Thus the Germans would face two enraged adversaries with the immense material and industrial resources. And both those militaries had by 1943 learned Blitzkrieg tactics had the hands of the Germans. Once the material and human resources of the United states were added to the equation, Hitler and the NAZIs were doomed. The German defeat after Stalingrad is not surprising. The ability to fight off the massed armies of its enemies for 2 1/2 years is surprising. And important part of that story is the Panzers which the Germans began using as defensive weapons.
Tank Combat
The Germans had won most tank battles in the early years of the War. This continued with Barbarossa (June 1941). The appearance of the Soviet T-34 shocked the Germans. A combination of poor Soviet tactics and excellent German tactics enabled the Panzers spearhead to achieve massive victories. The Germans rushed the development of the Mark V Panther, probably the finest tank of the War. The Germans also produced the Tigers which were virtually indestructible, but slow, gas guzzlers, and not very maneuverable. The fortunes of the German Panzer corps began to change in the Western Desert (July 1942). Then came Kursk, the greatest tank battle in history (July 1943). Hitler delayed the battle and rushed the new Mark V Panthers to the German units deployed for the strike at the Kursk salient. Some were so new that they had not yet been thorughly checked out. Kursk proved to be the Red Army's first major tank victory. The Germans would never win another important battle in the East. One of the largest tank battles in the West was fought by Patton and Montoffel at Atincourt (September 1944). While Montgomery with vast supplies failked weith Market Garden, Patton pressed forward with limited supplies. The Americans fought the battle with out-gunned Shermans against Panthers and Tigers and managed to prevail with the aid of artillery and air support. The Germans did launch a major tank offensive in the West--the Ardennes (December 1944). But without adequate fuel stocks and needed air cover it was the last German offensive operation of the War. And after the Bulge, American tankers began to get the new M-26 Pershing which could take on the Panthers.
Sources
Green, Michael & Gladys. Panther: Germany's Quest for Combat Dominance (2012), 256p.
