Blitzkrieg: Inside the German Panzer Tank

The Panzer tank divisions of Nazi Germany in WWII were a terrifying force. Fortunately for the Allies their greatest strengths were also bitter weaknesses.

There are two discrepancies regarding the fierce tank divisions of Germany's Wehrmacht used in World War II that the casual reader of military history may find surprising.

The first is that the word "panzer" does not mean "panther" like many believe. There was a panther tank and its capabilities in combat are largely where the rumors of German massive hulking machines of destruction prowling the battleground for their next meal come from. The word panzer actually means "armor" in German and is short for the full word Panzerkampfwagen or Armored Fighting Vehicle.

The second realization and one that may shock fans of military history is that Germany's panzer divisions were not always the best tanks in WWII. In fact they suffered many losses and with the exception of the panther tank might be an underestimated factor in what cost Hitler the war.

Panzer tanks in WWII Leading up to the Panther

For one thing not all of the Wehrmacht's armor was as large and powerful as the Tiger, which appeared very late in the war. Nor the infamous, however, ironically mechanically flawed Panzerjager Tiger aka Elefant tank designed by Porsche. The most common tank to be used by the German forces in the beginning of the war was the much lighter in both armor and armament Panzer II.

Replacing the Panzer I even before the war begin in the mid 1930s, the Panzer II weighed around ten tons, boasted a small 20mm turret, and one 7.92mm machine gun to protect it from infantry forces. Despite its limitations for fighting enemy tanks, the Panzer II would serve as the German workhorse making up half of their armored divisions at the start of the war.

Even in the short conquests of France and Poland this tank was easily dealt with by opposing forces. Its thin armor made it both susceptible to any French or polish tank it met in combat as well as the polish anti-tank rifle, which would also be employed by the Russians for the same purpose.

In 1940, an extra 20mm of armor would be added to the Panzer II for its protection. By 1942, the Panzer II was a notch in military history, of the nearly twelve hundred that were built only fourteen were left. Neither its counterparts, the Panzer III or IV would fair much better in the war leading Germany to build a greater tank resulting in the Panther.

Germany's Answer to Russia's T-34 Tank

It was barely even a month into Operation Barbarossa, June 1941 when Germany realized that they had attacked Russia unprepared. The Soviet T-34 tank would dominate the battlefield devastating their panzer divisions. Faster, built for bad weather and rough terrain, heavily armored, and boasting a 76.2 mm gun the T-34 was the beginning of a plague that would bedevil Germany throughout the rest of the war. They needed a better tank and fast.

The Panzerkampfwagen V Panther tank was their solution to their Russian opponents. It was built with the sole purpose of being better than a T-34. The plans were developed after the Russian tank's capture and by 1942 the Panther was put into production.

Built with a large turret, 75mm high velocity gun, thick armor, a powerful engine, and wide body the original Panther was almost a complete disaster. As their hand was forced due to completely underestimating their opponent the production of the Panthers was rushed. The result was in their first year of the war many were simply put out of commission because of mechanical failures.

However, by 1944, the Panther would be perfected. When the Allies executed D-day they landed believing the Panther to be a rare sight. When they discovered that half of Germany's armor was the Panther tank they quickly faced the same nightmare the Wehrmacht had before. Their tank, the Sherman M4, was no match for the Panther.

The Biggest Tank of World War II

Throughout the war, nothing would strike sheer terror among the ranks of allied troops as the German's iconic and unforgettable Tiger tank. A super heavy tank the Tiger was still only slightly slower than the Panther and carried a 88mm gun. Most of its sixty-two tons were placed in its armor making it virtually impervious to any infantry anti-tank device or enemy tank.

Facing a Tiger on the battlefield was a death sentence. Horrified allied troops would run before them as even one lone Tiger could tear through twenty-five Sherman's if given the chance. The ability to outflank the Tiger in hopes of piercing weaker side armor as was done with the Panther still did not improve a Sherman's chances of destroying one either.

Several times Allied and Russian forces would simply just retreat at the sight of the Tiger tank. A condition nicknamed "Tigerphobia" spread in the Allied camps during their campaign in North Africa lowering morale so badly that General Montgomery prohibited all reports from detailing how well the Tiger fought. Fortunately for the Allies as was often the case with Germany's military, the Tiger would be its own worst enemy.

The Real Reason Why Germany Lost World War II

Like its predecessor the Panther the production of the first Tigers was so rushed that very quickly most of the originals fell apart mechanically. It became apparent that their uses were limited. As support units, symbols of power, and stationary guns that could be moved without being towed the Tigers were indestructible. However, they were not designed for those purposes they just wound up serving them for practicality. ThePanzerkampfwagen VI was built to destroy enemy tanks and give Germany an advantage in the attack and this they did not do.

The Tiger was so heavy that if one broke down the hopes of pulling this tank back behind friendly lines for repair was almost a bridge too far by itself. It could take several vehicles to tow a single Tiger tank. Because its wheels often threw their tread or became frozen in icy mud the Tiger could not press ahead without a secure path first being scouted for it. Neither was it an acceptable vehicle to have on roads, as the sheer weight of the vehicle would destroy pavement.

Also losing one of these large vehicles was extremely costly. The Tiger was the most expensive tank to be built in the war, but with its mechanical failures and the amount of fuel it consumed the cost of keeping a division of them operational was also astronomical. Germany was running out of resources and fast.

Yet they continued to attempt to build bigger and more impractical tanks that even if they had been deployed would have been more of a problem than a help to their war effort. Such as the aforementioned heavy tank destroyer nicknamed the Elefant, which practically fell off its own wheels as soon as it was out of the factory. Nevertheless they did not stop there.

There were four more designs for heavy tanks that never saw action. The E-100 Tiger Maus was a smaller counterpart to the largest tank ever actually built the Panzer VIII Maus. Both weighed about three times that of the King Tiger tank or Tiger II.

The other two designs were even more ludicrous and were scraped within a year of their conception in 1942. The first, called the Landkreuzer P. 1000 Ratte was supposed to be a tank with two 280mm guns, a plethora of smaller armaments, and weigh over 1,000 tons. The second had fewer guns, but was even more extreme. The Landkreuzer P. 1500 Monster was meant to weigh 1,500 tons, be 42 meters in length, 18 meters in width, and use a 800mm Krupp cannon as its main turret, the largest artillery gun ever built firing shells that weighed seven tons each.

What makes all of this interesting is that while the idea for the Panther came along as a necessity the original plans for the Tiger tank had been around since 1937. If Germany had waited till the Tigers had been perfected or had cut their losses and mass-produced Panthers as the Allies did with Shermans the outcome of World War II may have ended very differently. The fact that they did not is a true testament to Hitler's exaggerated prowess as a military dictator. In fact almost all of his decisions followed an exact pattern of egotistical impatience and delusional grandiose.