A panzer division (German: Panzerdivision) was an armored (tank) division in the army and air force branches of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II. The panzer divisions were the key element of German success in the Blitzkrieg operations of the early years of the war.
A panzer division was a combined arms formation, having both tanks (German Panzerkampfwagen, "armored fighting vehicle", usually shortened to "Panzer") and infantry as organic components, along with the usual assets of artillery, anti-aircraft, signals, etc. However, the proportions of the components of a panzer division changed over time.
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Famous quotes containing the word division:
“For in the division of the nations of the whole earth he set a ruler over every people; but Israel is the Lord’s portion: whom, being his firstborn, he nourisheth with discipline, and giving him the light of his love doth not forsake him. Therefore all their works are as the sun before him, and his eyes are continually upon their ways.”
—Apocrypha. Ecclesiasticus 17:17-9.