page_title: Tanks in the German Army
section_title: Second World War
hierarchical_section_title: Tanks in the German Army / Combat history / Second World War
context_section_description: During the initial campaigns of the Second World War, Germany's light tanks, including the Panzer I, formed the bulk of its armored strength. In March 1938, the German Army marched into Austria, experiencing a mechanical breakdown rate of up to thirty percent. However, the experience revealed to Guderian several faults within the German Panzerkorps and he subsequently improved logistical support. Germany also had some other tanks that were to prove useful in the early part of the war. In October 1938, Germany re-took Germany's Sudetenland, and parts of the remainder of the country in March 1939 to be limited to Bohemia and Moravia. The retaking of former German lands from the artificial country of Czechoslovakia allowed several Czech tank designs, such as the Panzer 38(t), and their subsequent variants and production, to be incorporated into the German Army's strength. It also prepared German forces for the invasion of Poland.
  On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland using seventy-two divisions (including 16 reserve infantry divisions in OKH reserves), including seven panzer divisions (1., 2., 3., 4., 5., 10., "Kempf") and four light divisions (1., 2., 3., 4.). Three days later, France and Britain declared war on Germany. The seven panzer and four light divisions were arrayed in five armies, forming two army groups. The battalion strength of the 1 Panzer Division included no less than fourteen Panzer I's, while the other six divisions included thirty-four.
  A total of about 2,700 tanks were available for the invasion of Poland, but only 310 of the heavier Panzer III and IV tanks were available. The Germans held some 1,400 of Panzer Is at the ready during the invasion. Furthermore, 350 tanks were of Czech design—the rest were either Panzer I's or Panzer IIs. The invasion was swift and the last Polish pockets of resistance surrendered on 6 October.
  The entire campaign had lasted five weeks (with help of the Soviet forces which attacked on 17 September), and the success of Germany's tanks in the campaign was summed up in response to Hitler on 5 September: when asked if it had been the dive bombers who destroyed a Polish artillery regiment, Guderian replied, "No, our panzers!"
  The Poles suffered almost 190,000 casualties (including around 66,300 killed) in the campaign, the Germans around 55,000 (including around 35,000 wounded). However, some 832 tanks (including 320 PzI, 259 PzII, 40 Pz III, 76 PzIV, 77 Pz35(t), 13 PzBef III, 7 PzBef 38(t), 34 other PzBef and some Pz38(t)) were lost during the campaign, approximately 341 of which were never to return to service. This represented about a third of Germany's armor deployed for the Polish campaign. During the campaign no less than a half of Germany's tanks were unavailable due to maintenance issues or enemy action, and of all tanks, the Panzer I proved the most vulnerable to Polish anti-tank weapons.
  Furthermore, it was found that handling of armored forces during the campaign left much to be desired. During the beginning of Guderian's attack in northern Poland, his corps was held back to coordinate with infantry for quite a while, preventing a faster advance. It was only after Army Group South had its attention taken from Warsaw at the Battle of Bzura that Guderian's armor was fully unleashed. There were still lingering tendencies to reserve Germany's armor, even if in independent divisions, to cover an infantry advance or the flanks of advancing infantry armies. Although tank production was increased to 125 tanks per month after the Polish Campaign, losses forced the Germans to draw further strength from Czech tank designs, and light tanks continued to form the majority of Germany's armored strength.
  The occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 had provided the German military with large amounts of high quality weapons at no cost, from the arsenal of the Czech military. There was enough equipment for about 40 army divisions. The Germans integrated the Czech industry, mainly the Skoda factories, becoming part of the German military production machine and continued to prod
caption: German PzKpfw III Ausf. D tank, in Poland (1939)
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