Panzer division (Wehrmacht)A Panzer division was one of the armored (tank) divisions in the army of Nazi Germany during World War II. Panzer divisions were the key element of German success in the blitzkrieg operations of the early years of World War II. Later the Waffen-SS formed its own panzer divisions, and the Luftwaffe fielded an elite panzer division: the Hermann Göring Division. A panzer division was a combined arms formation, having both tanks (Panzerkampfwagen, , usually shortened to "Panzer"), mechanized and motorized infantry, along with artillery, anti-aircraft and other integrated support elements.
FusilierFusilier is a name given to various kinds of soldiers; its meaning depends on the historical context. While fusilier is derived from the 17th-century French word fusil – meaning a type of flintlock musket – the term has been used in contrasting ways in different countries and at different times, including soldiers guarding artillery, various elite units, ordinary line infantry and other uses. The word fusil, which was the name of the type of musket carried by a fusilier, is itself derived from the Old French and Latin foisil, meaning a piece of flint.
PanzerjägerPanzerjäger (German "armour-hunters" or "anti-tank troop", abbreviated to Pz.Jg. in German) was a branch of service of the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War. It was an anti-tank arm-of-service that operated self-propelled anti-tank artillery, also named Panzerjäger. Soldiers assigned to tank hunting units wore ordinary field-gray uniforms rather than the black of the Panzer troops, while Panzerjäger vehicle crews wore the Panzer jacket in field gray.
Tanks in the German ArmyThis article deals with the tanks (Panzer) serving in the German Army (Deutsches Heer) throughout history, such as the World War I tanks of the Imperial German Army, the interwar and World War II tanks of the Nazi German Wehrmacht, the Cold War tanks of the West German and East German Armies, all the way to the present day tanks of the Bundeswehr. The development of tanks in World War I began as an attempt to break the stalemate which trench warfare had brought to the Western Front.
German Army (1935–1945)The German Army (Heer, heːɐ̯; army) was the land forces component of the Wehrmacht, the regular Armed Forces of Nazi Germany, from 1935 until it effectively ceased to exist in 1945 and then was formally dissolved in August 1946. During World War II, a total of about 13.6 million soldiers served in the German Army. Army personnel were made up of volunteers and conscripts. Only 17 months after Adolf Hitler announced the German rearmament program in 1935, the army reached its projected goal of 36 divisions.
Tank desantTank desant (танковый десант, tankovyy desant) is a military combined arms tactic, where infantry soldiers ride into an attack on tanks, then dismount to fight on foot in the final phase of the assault. Note that this differs from infantry troops merely riding on tanks as a form of ad-hoc transportation. Desant (from the descendre, "to disembark") is a pan-Slavic general term for airborne or parachute drops and naval infantry amphibious landing operations. The tactic was used as an expedient by the Red Army during World War II.
GrenadierA grenadier (ˌgrɛnəˈdɪər , ɡʁənadje; derived from the word grenade) was historically a explosives engineering assault-specialist soldier who threw hand grenades in siege operations battle. The distinct combat function of the grenadier was established in the mid-17th century, when grenadiers were recruited from among the strongest and largest soldiers. By the 18th century, the grenadier dedicated to throwing hand grenades had become a less necessary specialist, yet in battle, the grenadiers were the physically robust soldiers who led vanguard assaults, such as storming fortifications in the course of siege warfare.
Armoured warfareArmoured warfare or armored warfare (American English; see spelling differences), is the use of armoured fighting vehicles in modern warfare. It is a major component of modern methods of war. The premise of armoured warfare rests on the ability of troops to penetrate conventional defensive lines through use of manoeuvre by armoured units. Much of the application of armoured warfare depends on the use of tanks and related vehicles used by other supporting arms such as infantry fighting vehicles, self-propelled artillery, and other combat vehicles, as well as mounted combat engineers and other support units.
German ArmyThe German Army (Heer, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German Bundeswehr together with the Marine (German Navy) and the Luftwaffe (German Air Force). , the German Army had a strength of 62,766 soldiers. A German army equipped, organized, and trained following a single doctrine and permanently unified under one command was created in 1871 during the unification of Germany under the leadership of Prussia.
Mechanized infantryMechanized infantry are infantry units equipped with armored personnel carriers (APCs) or infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) for transport and combat (see also armoured corps). As defined by the United States Army, mechanized infantry is distinguished from motorized infantry in that its vehicles provide a degree of armor protection and armament for use in combat, whereas motorized infantry are provided with "soft-skinned" wheeled vehicles for transportation only.
