1939

PzKpfw III Ausf. E

PzKpfw III ausf. E

Fall Weiss was not the armoured rollercoaster that people sometimes imagine it to be. Ask Hauptfeldwebel Ziegler - he was kicked straight back out of Warsaw by the defending Poles.

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PzKpfw II ausf. C

PzKpfw II ausf. C

After the First World War, some of Germany's eastern provinces were added to Poland. (Thanks, mister Piłsudski...) The German General Guderian came from one of these provinces, so in a sense he was returning home when Fall Weiss began. The Wehrmacht won the campaign, but it did force them to have a good, hard look at their tactics and equipment.

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1940

PzKpfw I Ausf. A

PzKpfw I Ausf. A

Early in the morning, the German 1st Panzer Division was camping out on the Luxemburg border, waiting for the sun and ready to attack France. It was going to be an interesting day, mostly without casualties - if you don't count that one police officer getting bitch-slapped.

PzKpfw IV Ausf. D

PzKpfw IV Ausf. D

Sedan is like the linchpin of Franco-German relations: any army going either way will pass this city. In 1940, Sedan had to be taken quickly because any delay would (possibly) have meant French reinforcements.

PzKpfw IV Ausf. D

Panzer of the Lake

Panzer of the Lake is not about cutlery dispensing, watery tarts but about Heinz getting stuck in the Maas river and Rommel not understanding science.

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PanzerBfw 3 model E

PzBfw III ausf. E

Because the Dutch expected that they could remain neutral, as in the First World War, they were terribly unprepared for what was to come. So when the German army crashed their party, it was all over rather quickly. The Dutch soldiers did sometimes manage to hurt the Germans, and this story is about one of the small battles in which they did.

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PzKpfw 38(t) ausf. C

PzKpfw 38(t) ausf. C

  • Flavion, Belgium
  • early in the morning, May 15th, 1940
  • 25e PzReg, 7e PzDiv "Gespensterdivision

Rommel's 7th Panzerdivision met some French Char B1b's near the Belgian town of Flavion. The French tanks were bigger, stronger and better armed than their German counterparts, but they were scattered and confused. Rommel did what he did best; he drove on, and let the rearguard use their FlaKs on the French.

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PzKpfw IV ausf. E

PzKpfw IV ausf. E

Apparently the French passed through the village where I grew up on their way to meet the Germans near Breda, but they returned south a few days later with the enemy in hot pursuit. Apart from a few StuKa bombing runs on the Hoogstraatse baan and bridge 9, not much happened until 1944, when the Allies arrived and blew up the local windmill.

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PzKpfw I Ausf. B

PzKpfw I Ausf. B

The Germans had a Cunning Plan to avoid another trench war. They were going to lure the Allies to the North by invading Belgium, where we find this vehicle. The operation -Fall Gelb - worked: everythings was over before most people realised what had happened.

PzKpfw III ausf. E

PzKpfw III ausf. E

By the 25th, Northern France had fallen. General Weygand didn't have the troops for a continuous front line, so he decided on impromptu forts or "hedgehogs" to hold the German attack. One of these hedgehogs was manned by Nigerian troops (10ème Compagnie, 53ème Régiment d'Infanterie Coloniale), who proved quite tough, contradicting Nazi racial prejudice. However, as usual the Panzer just ignored the resitance and moved on.

1941

PzKpfw 38(t) Ausf. E

PzKpfw 38(t) Ausf. E

When they first encountered Soviet T-34s, the Germans got quite a scare! No way that a subhuman clod-foot could make such a machine! In one instance, the 18e Panzerdivsion was flank attacked by brand-new T-34s from the local military school and Yakov Kreizer's 1st "Moscow" motorised infantry division. Those hit the Germans pretty hard, but could not stop them.

PzKpfw III ausf. J (Kurz)

PzKpfw III ausf. J (Kurz)

By novermber 1941, Operation Barbarossa was grinding to a halt, because the supplies were running out. The Germans just managed to take Rostov on the Don but were soon kicked out again. This was their first serious defeat in the east.

1942

PzKpfw IV ausf. F

PzKpfw IV ausf. F

There were actually two battles of El Alamein. We all know about the second one, because the British won. The first battle, however, involved a badly coordinated British counterattack, a sandstorm and some excellent FlaK-guns. Bottom line - the UK lost this round, causing Bernard Montgomery to step into the ring.

StuG III ausf F

StuG III ausf F

Karl was a nice boy, until he got mixed up with some bad friends. That took him to the war in the East, where he was quite succesful. And then, he died. Now, all we read of him is the same line, repeated everywhere. I try to fix that, but getting real solid info on him is very hard, so I'm cheating.

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PzKpfw VI ausf. H1

PzKpfw VI ausf. H1

The first Tigers were field-tested near Mga, during the Siege of Leningrad. It was not a success: the engines overheated (in the snow!) and 'the guy from the factory' kept swearing at the crews. One Tiger got stuck so bad it had to be abandoned overnight, only to be 'recovered' by the Russians.

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1943

Afbeelding

PzKpfw VI ausf. H1

You probably know Tiger 313 at the Bovington museum. This is not that tiger. This one spent its time shooting up Shermans at Kesserine, and drove the Americans back to the Hatab river near Thala. Rommel wanted to crush the Amis in this battle, which he couldn't, but instead had to admire the speed at which they improved their operations.

Afbeelding

PzKpfw III ausf. J

This is Michael Wittmann's first little tank. He really wanted a Tiger but instead, he got a Panzer III and was sent off as a screening force during the Third Battle of Kharkov. He was actually quite talented as a commander, and quickly got his own platoon.

Afbeelding

PzKpfw III ausf. M

On the first day of Unternehmen Zitadelle, the Germans penetrated the Soviet defenses a few miles. On the next day, elements of the 2nd Panzer, 20th Panzer, and 6th Infantry Divisions (including this tank) tried to take Hill 274 near Olkhovatka, but they never would. One could even say that on this day, the Germans definitely lost the war.

Afbeelding

PzKpfw V ausf. D

The Panther tanks were first used at Kursk in 1943, by PzAbt 51 and 52 of Großdeutschland. The battle was even postponed because the things needed just a little more work. And, being the first production models, most broke down before they even reached the battlefield. But the ones that did, were excellent.

Afbeelding

PzKpfw III ausf. L

Because of the Dieppe raid, the allies practised amphibious, opposed landings in North Africa ("Torch") and Italy. At Salerno, eminently better suited to lounging and swimming, Herr Graf von Brühl nearly succesfully tried to hold off the Amis.

Afbeelding

PzKpfw VI ausf. E

It was cold out there, and wet. Wittmann had the flu, but nevertheless decided to go out and make life miserable for the Russians. He was a Nazi posterboy and he had to be seen in battle - sick or not. He went to recon, on foot, and had a brief fight with a Russian tank commander who was doing the same. These things happen, you know...

Afbeelding

PzKpfw VI ausf. E

With four Tigers, two StuGs and about 40 Panzergrenadiere, Otto and his friends defended Sinimae against two whole Russian armies. They tried really hard, but they were never going to hold that line.

Afbeelding

PzKpfw III ausf. N

When sPzAbt 501 hit the beach at Tunis, they were equpped with three Tigers and four Panzer IIIs - not what you'd call heavy. Organised into KG Lüder, they moved west to Tebourba, destroying much British and American hardware. However, as their Tigers were also damaged or destroyed, the Kampfgruppe was temporarily disbanded.

1944

Afbeelding

PzKpfw V ausf. A

Gruppe Stemmerman was caught in a kessel near Korsun. The Soviet commander, Konev, was trying for a second Stalingrad, as he promised comrade Stalin. Hitler, quite similar, ordered "Never retreat!" and this did not help either. The result was a terrible mess of drowned horses and crushed bodies, freezing in the snow, and possibly on fire.

Afbeelding

PzKpfw V Ausf. A

The 5th "Wiking" was the first 'international' (or not German) Waffen-SS division, combining volunteers from mainly Belgium, Holland, France, Denmark, and Norway. The division was active on the Eastern Front, where it proved to be a very capable group of soldiers. One of its units was SS Sturmbrigade "Wallonien", lead by a Walloon named Leon Degrelle, who is NOT related to Tintin.

Afbeelding

PzKpfw V ausf. A

Großdeutschland was holding the line at Târgu Frumos, in an attempt to hold off the Soviet wave rolling towards the Heimat. This battle is a good example of how to conduct a mobile defense: the commander (Hasso von Manteuffel) personally lead the counterattacks, they used hunter-killer teams with Panzerfauste and Tellerminen, hidden FlaK gun killzones, and at the most crucial point of the battle, the Tigers of GD's III. Panzer-Regiment showed up.

Afbeelding

PzKpfw V ausf. D/VI-H

Schwere Jagdpanzerabteilung 653 was supposed to use Elefants, but its workshop had a reputation for turning out "funnies". For example, a T34-FlaKpanzer or this one: Major Steinwachs' Bergepanther that got a Panzer IV H's turret (with a fake cannon) fixed to it. The unit had to fight its way out of the Kamenets–Podolsky pocket, where the Germans lost an unsustainable amount of people and equipment.

Afbeelding

PzKpfw IV ausf. H

Watching from the tower of Abbaye des Ardennes, Kurt Meyer saw the Canadians coming. However, his Panthers were messed up - again - so it would fall to his boys and their Panzer 4s to fight off the Allies. They did so quite fanatically, and shot a lot of captives in the process - something Kurt was nearly executed for.

Afbeelding

PzKpfw VI-B (P)

After the Korsun pocket, sPzAbt 503 was re-equipped and sent to France, to face the Allies during operation Goodwood. The British weren't playing fair, though: the German forces were attacked by literally a thousand bombers, plus Typhoons flying CAS. Most of the unit was bombed into oblivion and for thanks, the remainder were sent to freeze their asses of in Hungary.

Afbeelding

PzKpfw V ausf. G

Following the Allied invasion in Normandy, an ever growing flood of Sherman tanks was spamming the Germans. By that time the war was already over for them and I think many of the smarter Germans knew that very well. Maybe Ernst Barkmann knew too, but he was defending his crossroads and he wasn't giving up.

Afbeelding

PzKpfw VI ausf. E(s)

Very early in the morning III Abteilung "DF" approached the crossroads at L'Abbaye Blanche, just north of Mortain. They were told to defend it as part of operation Lüttich, but the Allies knew all about that. They were ready and waiting. The battle of Falaise that followed, effectively broke the Wehrmacht in France.

Afbeelding

PzKpfw V ausf. G

After the Germans pulled back from Leningrad, they fell back on the Narva line. A little further to the east, you'll find three low hills and a small village: Sinimae. That village saw a LOT of fighting and some very sad Estonians.

Afbeelding

PzKpfw VI ausf. E(s)

sPzabt 504 was re-equipped with Tigers and sent to fight the Americans in Italy. The guys were fresh from the Eastern front, so I imagine they quite enjoyed the Italian countyside. A bit too much, perhaps: Tigers 312 and 324 were driving home from an Italian bar, in the dark, missed a sharp corner and drove straight into a ravine.

Afbeelding

PzKpfw VI-B

  • La Gleize, Belgium
  • December 16th, 1944 (and still there!)
  • "213", 2e Co sSSPzAbt 101 "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler"

Kampfgruppe Peiper was the tip of the German spear during the Ardennes offensive. At La Gleize, the Americans slugged it out with Tiger II "213" and somehow managed to shoot its cannon in half. The tank was to be scrapped but a resident of La Gleize bought the wreck for a bottle of cognac. It's still there, and my children climbed all over it.

1945

Afbeelding

PzKpfw V ausf. G mit FG1250

Literally speaking, the Panther was the world's first tank with night vision optics. (Yes, the British had TABBY, I know). It wasn't very useful, though - it only showed green blobs on a cathode ray tube, making IFF rather hard. A lot of myth surrounds these machines; no, they weren't used during Wacht am Rhein. On the Eastern front, though, they were: Hungary, Seelow and Zossen all saw IR assisted night fighting.

Afbeelding

PzKpfw VI-B

The end was nigh, and (nearly) everyone knew it. The Russians were on the Oder, which is uncomfortably close if you live in Berlin. Because the Russians wouldn't be very friendly post-war, the remaining Nazi forces fought to the death. And I say Nazi because by that time, everyone else had already surrendered.

The drawing is off a wonderful RC model by RAD (button below) that captures the mayhem of the last days of the war better than anything I've seen, I mean, his tank is called "Graveyard." A prototype, still in its primer, "Pride Town remains German!" on the side. Very well done!

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