1st Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)
| 1st Panzer Division | |
|---|---|
| 1. Panzer-Division | |
Unit insignia
|
|
| Active | 15 October 1935 – 8 May 1945 |
| Country |
 Nazi Germany
|
| Branch | Army |
| Type | Panzer |
| Role | Armoured warfare |
| Size | Division |
| Garrison/HQ | Wehrkreis IX: Weimar |
| Engagements | |
| Insignia | |
| 1935–1940 and 1943–1945 | |
| 2nd half 1940 |  |
| 1941–1942 |  |
The 1st Panzer Division (English: 1st Tank Division) was an elite armoured division in the German Army, the Wehrmacht, during World War II.
The division was one of the original three tank divisions established by Germany in 1935. It took part in pre-war occupations of Austria and Czechoslovakia and the invasions of Poland in 1939 and Belgium and France in 1940. From 1941 to 1945 it fought on the Eastern Front, except for a period in 1943 when it was sent for refitting to France and Greece. At the end of the war the division surrendered to US forces in Bavaria.
The 1st Panzer Division was formed on 15 October 1935 from the 3rd Cavalry Division, and was headquartered in Weimar. It was one of three tank divisions created at the time, the other two being the 2nd and 3rd Panzer Division. Germany had renounced the Treaty of Versailles earlier in the year which had forbidden the country, among other things, from having tank forces, a treaty Germany had violated almost from the start by secretly developing tanks and operating a covert tank school in the Soviet Union.
Initially the division consisted of two panzer regiments organized into brigades, a motorized infantry brigade, a reconnaissance battalion, a divisional artillery regiment, and supporting ancillary formations. Initially the division was equipped with the sub-standard light Panzer I, with the more powerful Panzer III arriving in late 1936. Despite this the division was also equipped with obsolete Panzer II's up until 1941.
In 1938 the division participated in the Anschluss of Austria and the occupation of the Sudetenland in 1938 and the subsequent occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939. In September 1939 the 1st Panzer Division took part in the invasion of Poland, reaching the outskirts of Warsaw after eight days. After Warsaw the division was moved to support the 18th Infantry Division before returning to Germany in November 1939, after the Polish surrender.
...
Wikipedia