panzer division | military unit
Panzer division, German Panzerdivision, (“armoured division”), a self-contained combined-arms military unit of the German army, built around and deriving its mission largely from the capabilities of armoured fighting vehicles. A panzer division in World War II consisted of a tank brigade with four battalions, a motorized infantry brigade with four rifle battalions, an artillery regiment, and reconnaissance, antitank, and engineer battalions and service units. Early in the war the panzer divisions used mostly light tanks, and later they used mostly medium tanks. The first three panzer divi...