(German: "armoured fighting vehicle," or
"tank"), abbreviation PZKPFW, PZKFW,
PZKW, or PZ, byname PANZER, series of
battle tanks fielded by the German army in the
1930s and '40s. The six tanks in the series
comprised virtually all of Germany's tank
production from 1934 until the end of World
War II in 1945. Panzerkampfwagens provided
the striking power of Germany's panzer
(armoured) divisions throughout the war.
In the period following World War I, the German army had been prohibited by the Treaty of
Versailles from using tanks. After Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, however, the army began
to rebuild its tank forces, secretly at first, and then openly from 1938 on. This late reentry into
tank manufacturing actually conferred a distinct advantage on the German army, which entered
World War II without being hampered by masses of obsolescent tanks, as was the case with
France, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. The German army began issuing specifications for
its first tank, the Pz. I, in late 1933, and specifications for models II through IV were issued in
the following three years.
Pz. I. The Pz. I was a light tank intended as a training vehicle for the new panzer divisions until
more powerful Pz. II, III, and IV tanks could be put into service. It went into production in
1934. It was lightly armed, with two 7.92-millimetre machine guns mounted on its turret and was
likewise lightly protected by armour only 15 millimetres thick. The tank weighed 5.4 tons, had a
top road speed of 24 miles (39 kilometres) per hour, and was manned by a crew of two. The
Pz. I first saw combat in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), and an improved version, the IB,
was used in large numbers by the German army in the invasions of Poland (1939) and France
(1940). The lightly armed and armoured IB performed adequately in these campaigns because it
was used in massed formations and because opposing forces made poor use of antitank
weapons. By the time Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, the IB's vulnerability to light
artillery and heavier enemy tanks had rendered it obsolete for any role except reconnaissance.
About 2,000 Pz. IBs were built, of which about 1,450 fought in the campaign against France in
1940.
Pz. II. The Pz. II was larger and more heavily armed and armoured than the Pz. I, but it was still
a light tank. It was nevertheless the mainstay of the panzer divisions in the first two years of the
war, owing to delays encountered in building the more powerful Pz. III and IV. The Pz. II went
into full production in 1937. It carried a 20-millimetre gun and one machine gun and was
protected by armour with a maximum thickness of 30 millimetres. The tank weighed 10 tons,
had a top road speed of 25 miles per hour, and was manned by a crew of three. The German
army used about 1,000 Pz. IIs in each of the invasions of Poland, France, and the Soviet Union.
By early 1942, however, the Pz. II was clearly outgunned by Soviet and British tanks armed
with 50- or 75-millimetre weapons. To remedy this, the IIF version of the tank was equipped
with a larger gun and thicker armour, but its combat performance in Russia and North Africa
was disappointing, partly because its six-cylinder engine could not cope with the tank's increased
weight. With its design limits reached, production of the Pz. II was discontinued at the end of
1942. More than 3,500 Pz. IIs were manufactured, with the later models specifically designed
for use as reconnaissance vehicles.
Pz. III. The first medium tank developed by Nazi Germany was the Pz. III, which did not enter
active service in large numbers until 1939. The Pz. III was initially armed with a 37-millimetre
antitank gun and two machine guns. It weighed about 20 tons, had a top road speed of 25 miles
per hour, and carried a crew of five. About 100 Pz. IIIs fought in the Polish campaign and about
350 in the invasion of France. The need for greater firepower and more protection was apparent
by 1941, so newer versions were given a 50-millimetre gun and fitted with armour 30-50
millimetres thick. The Pz. III could accommodate these improvements because it had been
designed with a larger turret and a 12-cylinder, 300-horsepower engine. The 1,500 Pz. IIIs that
took part in the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 outfought most Soviet tanks but were in
turn completely outclassed by the new Soviet T-34, which had a lethal 76.2-millimetre gun,
sloping armour, and excellent speed and mobility. Even Pz. IIIs fitted with a high-velocity
50-millimetre gun and protected by armour 50-70 millimetres thick could not cope with the
T-34, so the tanks were taken out of service on the Eastern Front, though they continued to fight
in the Mediterranean theatre into 1943. By the time production was halted early that year, about
5,660 Pz. IIIs had been built.
Pz. IV. Though originally intended as an infantry-support tank, the Pz. IV (along with the Pz. V
Panther; see below) formed the backbone of Germany's panzer divisions from 1943 to the war's
end. The tank had the same engine and general appearance as the Pz. III, but the Pz. IV had a
larger turret and gun, thicker frontal armour, and better
cross-country mobility.
It mounted a 75-millimetre gun and two machine guns and was protected by armour ranging in
thickness from 30 to 80 millimetres. It weighed 25 tons, had a top road speed of 25 miles per
hour, and carried a crew of five. The first Pz. IVs went into active service in 1939 with a
short-barreled gun and were extremely successful until confronted by Soviet T-34 tanks in late
1941. To cope with this threat, the Pz. IV was given thicker armour and refitted with a
long-barreled, high-velocity gun that could better penetrate the T-34's armour. The improved Pz.
IV could engage the T-34 on nearly equal terms and was superior to the U.S. Sherman tank in
many respects. The Pz. IV was the only tank made by Germany throughout the course of the
war, from 1939 to 1945. More than 8,000 Pz. IVs were built, making it the most prolific of all
German tanks. Its inexpensive, mass-produced chassis, like those of its three predecessors, was
used as a platform for various types of antitank, assault, and self-propelled guns and also
functioned as an armoured personnel carrier.
Pz. V Panther. Germany had experimented with heavy tanks as early as 1935, but these efforts
acquired a new urgency after German medium tanks encountered Soviet T-34s in late 1941. A
crash program was undertaken to design a tank that would incorporate the advanced features of
the T-34, and the result was the Pz. V, or Panther, which entered production in November 1942
and active service soon afterward. With the possible exception of the T-34, the Panther was
probably the finest tank built by any country during the war. At 45 tons it was a heavy vehicle,
but a 12-cylinder, 700-horsepower engine enabled it to reach a top road speed of 28 miles per
hour, and an excellent suspension system gave it unusually good cross-country mobility for a
German tank. Its long-barreled, high-velocity 75-millimetre gun had good range and penetrating
power against most enemy tanks, and the Panther's armour, 80 millimetres thick at the front and
40-45 millimetres on the sides and rear, was sloped so that shells would ricochet off it.
The Panther's combat debut in the Battle of Kursk (July 1943) was not auspicious: transmission,
suspension, and cooling-system problems brought most of the tanks to a halt before they could
even reach the battle zone. Once these defects were resolved, however, Panthers operated with
great success on both the Eastern and Western fronts. They were especially effective against
American Sherman tanks and British Cromwell tanks in northern France during the Normandy
campaign, though they remained vulnerable to attack by Allied aircraft. More than 5,000
Panthers were built during the war.
Pz. VI Tiger. The last and largest tank used by Germany in the war was the Pz. VI, or Tiger.
Like the Panther, the Tiger was hurriedly developed in response to the Soviet T-34. It went into
production in August 1942 and, like the Panther, first entered combat in large numbers at Kursk.
The Tiger emphasized to an extreme the German preference for firepower and survivability at the
expense of speed, agility, range, and reliability. Its long-barreled, high-velocity 88-millimetre gun,
adapted from the Germans' formidable antiaircraft (Flak) and antitank (Pak) guns, could
penetrate even the most heavily armoured Soviet tanks at extremely long range.
The Tiger's own frontal armour, 100 millimetres thick, was proof against almost any antitank gun,
and the side and rear armour were 60-80 millimetres thick. The tank's big gun and heavy armour
seriously compromised its mobility, however. The early Tigers weighed about 55 tons, and the
Tiger II model introduced in 1944 weighed 70 tons, making it the heaviest tank of the war. The
Tiger had a top road speed of only 24 miles per hour, and it could travel only about 12 miles per
hour cross-country. Whereas the Panther had a range of 60 to 120 miles, the Tiger needed
refueling after only 45 to 70 miles' travel, and it was prone to breakdowns and was difficult to
maintain.
The Tiger tank was thus best used in a defensive role, where speed and agility were not decisive
factors. Lightly armoured Sherman tanks suffered terrible losses against Tigers in the Normandy
campaign, but the Allies quickly learned to capitalize on their superior numbers and agility in
successful attacks on Tigers from the side and rear. Because Tiger tanks were difficult to
manufacture, only about 1,340 had been built when Germany ceased production of them in
August 1944.