How The Panzer Tank Revolutionised Modern Warfare | The Panzer | War Stories

This channel is part of the History Hit Network. By the time Hitler came to power in 1933, his thoughts on the future of armored warfare had already been widely published in the Nazi press. He had a keen interest in the tank and placed its development high on his list of priorities. When German rearmament began in earnest, plans were made to produce an entire range of armored fighting vehicles. This was based largely on the philosophies of Heinz Guderian, a veteran of the First World War and chief of staff to the Inspector of Motorized Troops. Guderian had long since recognized the full potential of the tank. If allowed to operate at its own speed, instead of being hindered by the slowness of the troops, the tank could provide the ideal means of avoiding static trench warfare. In a series of exercises and motorized war games, Guderian had demonstrated that mobile armored divisions could win a modern war in the shortest possible time. Two main types of tank were envisaged by the German general staff. The first was a light tank, which would carry a 37mm high-velocity anti-tank gun and would be deployed in large numbers to form the bulk of an armored assault. The second type would be a medium tank, weighing some 20 tons. Equipped with the larger 75mm gun, firing high explosive shells, it would act in support of the lighter vehicle. The Panzer III and Panzer IV would eventually fulfill these two roles, but their development and production took much longer than expected. In the meantime, two small, lighter tanks were used to fill the gap. These were the 5.5-ton Panzer I and the 10-ton Panzer II. With relatively weak firepower and thin defensive armor, they were hardly suitable as battle tanks, but they were the ideal vehicles for training and reconnaissance work. History Hit is a streaming platform that is just for history fans, with fantastic documentaries covering fascinating figures and moments in history from all over the world, from the Battle of Trafalgar and the Revolutionary Era right through to the Second World War. If you are looking for your next military history fix, then this is the service for you. We're committed to bringing history fans award-winning documentaries and podcasts that you cannot find anywhere else. Sign up now for a free trial, and War Stories fans get 50% off their first three months. Just be sure to use the code WARSTORIES at checkout. The Panzer I was one of the smallest tanks ever built, measuring just 13 feet in length and less than 7 feet in width. Armed with two 7.92mm MG34 machine guns, it had an operational range of over 100 miles. And in spite of its low-powered four-cylinder engine, it could reach a top speed of 25 miles per hour on the road. With a crew of only two men, the tank commander also had to act as the gunner. His job was made even more difficult by the very poor visibility from inside the turret. To properly judge what was happening outside the tank, it was usually necessary to stand up through the turret hatch. With the top half of his body exposed, the commander presented an extremely good target for both riflemen and machine gunners. The tank itself was designed to be immune to small arms fire, but its angular construction and thin armour plating rendered it susceptible to any gun of a larger calibre. It entered service in 1934 and was built on a relatively large scale. Before long, several variants had evolved, and between them they formed nearly half of the total tank force. By 1935, the larger Panzer II began to appear in limited numbers. The new vehicle had a considerably thicker armour plating, but its horsepower engine enabled it to match the top speed of its predecessor. The addition of a third crewman eased the strain on the commander, enabling him to concentrate fully on directing operations. Armament had been improved by replacing one of the machine guns with a 20mm cannon. But with limited penetrating power, and an effective range of less than 700 yards, the gun was of little use against opposing heavy tanks. Nevertheless, the new tank was well received by its crew. It was a very good vehicle, technically and mechanically. The only problem was the steering. We had the old heavy steering system. You had to have a lot of strength to move this tank in the direction that you wanted it to go, because of this strange old steering system. Once you were on a straight road, it was fine. But as soon as you had to go over uneven ground, there were problems. It was hard to manoeuvre, because it was very long. And with this extra size and the belt system, it was harder to handle. Mostly, people enjoyed driving the Panzer II. The five-wheel suspension of the Panzer II was a distinct improvement over the external girder system used on the Panzer I. The elliptical springing on each wheel was far more effective than the previous layout, and gave the occupants a much better ride. By 1935, compulsory military service had been introduced in Germany. In October, the first three Panzer divisions were formed, together with their own specialised Panzer Command. The tactics and training methods used by the divisions were based on Guderian's two main principles of tank fighting. The first of these was that the tank should play the primary role, while all other weapons should be used to support them. Tank divisions would be used in concentrated thrusts in order to break through and isolate the enemy's position. By using speed and surprise, the tanks would become the single most decisive factor in any major offensive. The second principle involved a system of close cooperation between German aircraft and armour. Pinpoint bombing should be used to clear a path for the tanks and to eliminate any points of resistance. To enable them to fight along these lines, the first Panzer divisions were very carefully structured. Each one consisted of a Panzer Brigade, with two tank regiments, and a motorised Rifle Brigade, with one motorcycle battalion and two rifle battalions. Other divisional units included artillery, reconnaissance and anti-tank battalions, as well as engineering companies and signal battalions. Communications equipment became an integral part of the system, and on Guderian's insistence, every tank was fitted with both an intercom and a radio. During the opening part of the war, this factor would give the Germans a decisive edge over their opponents. I think one of the advantages was the technical abilities of the tank, in that we had much better communications between our tanks. Each of our tanks had a radio, and therefore would always be in radio contact with the leader or commander. This made it successful, not because of superior armaments, but because of the improved communication facilities. In 1938, Hitler ordered the occupation of Czechoslovakia, and seized control of the Czech tank firms of CKD and Skoda. In addition, every tank already in service with the Czech army was absorbed into the Wehrmacht. Most were light tanks, similar in size and performance to the Panzer II. The Czech TNHP tank was re-designated by the Germans as the 38T. Armed with a reliable 37mm gun, it made a sizable contribution to the Panzer force. It served with the Wehrmacht in most of the early war theatres, and continued in production until 1942. By 1939, both of the heavier German tanks had completed their acceptance trials. The Panzer III and Panzer IV were officially declared standard issue on the 27th of September. The F model was the first major production version of the Panzer III. Weighing 20 tons, it carried a crew of five, and had a top road speed of 25 mph. It could reach 11 mph across country, and had a maximum range of 110 miles. Inside, the vehicle was relatively roomy when compared with its smaller predecessors. The driver and radio operator both sat inside the hull, while the commander, gunner and loader were all positioned in the turret. Visibility was extremely good, and the commander had no less than five vision slots equally spaced around the rim of the turret cup-puller. Yet in spite of its good points, the first production version had some serious shortcomings. Armour plating was far too thin, and the 37mm main gun proved unable to penetrate the hulls of contemporary enemy tanks. But the basic design was sound, and the construction methods used enabled improvements to be made without any major problems. Before long, the 37mm gun had been replaced by a more powerful 50mm weapon, and bolt-on armour had been developed for both the hull and the turret. The additional protection would make quite a difference in the forthcoming battles. The advantage was the strong armour plating. It was much better, and so you felt safer. And it made you feel braver, as you knew your chances of getting hit were a lot less. So, as I said before, I was hit three times. I can still picture it. It looked like a problem, but the tank was alright. With regard to the technical performance of the Panzer III, I would say that it was a well-constructed vehicle. Mechanically, in view of its tracks, it was not as vulnerable as some other types, because it had running belts, and if anything got caught, it would easily cut through it. Overall, the Panzer III was an unqualified success. It dominated the early tank battles, and for the first three years of war, it played a decisive part in almost every German victory. By the time production ceased in 1943, more than 5,500 had been built. Running in parallel with the Panzer III, came the introduction of Germany's standard support tank, the Panzer IV. It weighed three tonnes more than the fighting tank, and used a longer chassis in order to accommodate the larger 75mm main gun. In spite of the extra weight, it could reach the same road speed as the Panzer III, and was even slightly faster over rough ground. Eight-wheel suspension gave a comfortable ride, and the internal layout was good, with the hull being divided into three separate compartments. Periscopes were fitted for both the driver and the radio operator, and the turret could be operated either electrically or by hand. The front superstructure was made from a single piece of metal, and the thickness of the basic armour was increased from 30mm to 50mm. But the plating was still too thin to cope with heavy opposition, and during the early campaigns, Panzer IVs were unable to carry out their support roles properly. When the deficiencies were exposed, the army instigated a lengthy programme of improvements. Thicker armour was added, and after 1941, most models were fitted with the long-barrelled version of the 75mm gun. This new weapon transformed the vehicle to such an extent that it superseded the Panzer III as Germany's main fighting tank. It proved extremely reliable throughout the war, and became one of the few tanks to remain in continuous production from 1939 right through to 1945. When it was upgunned for a second time in 1943, it had the ability to take on almost any contemporary Allied tank. By the time production ceased, nearly 9,000 Panzer IVs had been built. As the medium tanks were phased into service, the number of Panzer divisions increased accordingly. By the autumn of 1939, three more had been formed, and on 1 September all six divisions took part in the invasion of Poland. Of the 3,000 German tanks involved, 98 were Panzer IIIs and 211 were Panzer IVs. The remainder of the force was made up of Panzer I's and II's, together with a number of Czech-built 38Ts. Facing them were 1,100 outdated Polish tanks of all shapes and sizes. Codenamed Operation White, the invasion began at 4.45 in the morning. Two German army groups struck simultaneously, one in the north and the other in the south. As soon as the ground attack began, the Luftwaffe launched a series of massive airstrikes against the Polish airfields. The Polish air force consisted of just a few hundred obsolete aircraft, and within a few days it had been all but demolished. On the ground, the Poles were equally ill-equipped. They were desperately lacking in mobile anti-tank guns and were completely outclassed by the speed of the Panzers. Nevertheless, they fought with astonishing bravery and even resorted to using cavalry units in an attempt to hold up the German armour. By the end of the month, it was all over. Warsaw had been completely surrounded in just 18 days, and on the 28th of September, the Polish capital was forced to surrender. The Panzer divisions had proved their worth, losing little more than 200 tanks during the entire Polish campaign. Eight months later, they were poised to repeat their success. By the spring of 1940, Hitler had 2,500 tanks at his disposal. Panzer 1s and 2s made up 40% of this force, while the heavier Panzer 3s and 4s accounted for less than 25%. Each Panzer division now included its own anti-aircraft battalion as well as its own squadron of nine reconnaissance planes. By co-operating closely with the division's tank formations, these units were to prove highly effective in the coming campaigns. Training methods had now reached a state of near perfection. The tank men were taught the advantages of teamwork and versatility, and each member of a crew was able to operate as a driver, gunner, loader, or as a radio operator. Normally, the crew would be one unit. There wasn't any difference between ranks within the unit, which was rather unusual for the German armed forces. For example, even the commander had to help with carrying the canisters of ammunition to the camp, regardless of his rank, just as the wireless operator and any other soldier had to do. The driver was the only one that didn't have to help, as he had to drive all day long and repair any damage done to the tank, but all the rest shipped in. The wireless operator organized the food. He made sandwiches and looked after all the food side of things. On 10 May, Hitler ordered the start of Operation Yellow, the invasion of France and the Low Countries. Opposing the German armour were 4,000 British and French tanks, plus a small number of Belgian and Dutch vehicles. Although the French had a number of the fairly potent Shabby tank, much of their force was equipped with inadequately armed light tanks, such as the Renault 35 and the Hotchkiss H39. Britain and France were both convinced that the Germans would attack in the north. The Maschineau Line and the thick forests of the Ardennes would surely prevent a breakthrough further south. So when Hitler struck in Holland and Belgium, the Allies moved northwards and took up a pre-planned defensive position on the Dyle Line. The German offensive opened early in the morning, with a Luftwaffe attacking airfields in Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg and France. Meanwhile, paratroops were landed at Rotterdam and The Hague, while additional airborne forces attacked Fort Eben-Emiel, the key defensive position in Belgium. By midday on 11 May, the fort had surrendered and the panzers of Army Group B had pushed deep into Holland and Belgium. While the Allies were decoyed into fighting in the north, Hitler launched the real attack further south, straight through the supposedly impenetrable Ardennes. On 13 May, von Kleist's tanks of Army Group A smashed across the River Meuse, forcing a gap between Sedan and Dinant to the north of the Maschineau Line. With the main French defensive system rendered completely useless, the Allied armies were rapidly outflanked. By 17 May, Army Group A's panzers were racing westwards across France. Three French tank divisions under the command of Charles de Gaulle counterattacked at Mont Corneille. But in spite of support from British armour, they could do little to stem the tide, and by 20 May, Guderian's tanks had reached the coast at Abbeville. Soon they began to swing to the north, and by 24 May, the Allies were encircled in a coastal pocket some 60 miles long. Faced with a hopeless situation, the British decided to withdraw to Dunkirk and evacuate as many troops as possible. Hitler's nervousness came to their aid. Worried about an overextended line, he halted the German panzers on the edge of the Arr Canal. And in a nine-day rescue operation, a third of a million Allied troops managed to escape to England. The Battle of France continued for almost another three weeks, but the result was inevitable. After a brief rest, the panzers swung south. Paris fell on 14 June, and eight days later, France surrendered. It had been a resounding victory for the panzer divisions and a triumph of German military planning. Holland had been conquered in just four days, Belgium in three weeks, and the whole of France within seven weeks. In September, Italy opened the first offensive against British forces in North Africa. The following month, they invaded Greece, but by the end of the year, they were in serious trouble in both war zones. The Greeks forced a retreat to Albania, and in December, four Italian divisions were wiped out in a British counterattack at Sidi Barad. Early in the new year, the British 7th Armoured Division took Tobruk. Within two months, they had destroyed ten Italian divisions and captured 130,000 men. When most of the British force was transferred to Greece, Hitler decided to go to Mussolini's aid. In February, the newly formed Afrika Korps were landed at Tripoli, and under the command of Erwin Rommel, they began to prepare for their first major offensive in North Africa. German forces also invaded Yugoslavia and Greece, and by the end of the month, both countries had surrendered. At 3.15am on the 22nd of June, Operation Barbarossa began, with more than 3,000 panzers spearheading the invasions of Russia. In a series of well-timed attacks, the Luftwaffe destroyed much of the Soviet air force while it was still on the ground. By July, German pilots had claimed more than 4,000 Russian aircraft, for the loss of less than 200 of their own machines. Within a few short weeks, the panzer divisions had enveloped five Russian armies and had taken several hundred thousand prisoners. But in the autumn, the Germans had begun to encounter a new threat in the form of the Soviet medium tank, the T-34. Armed with a powerful 76mm gun and with a road speed of 50km per hour, the much heavier T-34 completely outclassed the Panzer IV. As we marched into Russia, they showed us big posters of all the different types of tank, but none of the T-34. It was not there, so we did not know about it. Well, we said, we've got good protection, and that's how we went into it. We were told it would all start in six to eight weeks and to get ready for it. But we learned after the second day, after fighting the T-34 and being hit by it, that you couldn't get out of the tank in the time you had. The T-34 had a strong impact. In the face of powerful tanks like the T-34, the Wehrmacht's standard Panzer IV proved to be completely out of date. Germany reacted by speeding up the development of its own heavy battle tanks. The Panzer V Panther and the Panzer VI Tiger, but neither would be ready for at least another year. In the meantime, the divisions fighting in the east pressed on with their existing equipment. The initial three-pronged German attack was aimed at Leningrad in the north, Smolensk in the center, and Kiev in the south. Smolensk fell in August, followed by Kiev at the end of September. In three months, the Russians had been pushed back several hundred miles, and in the process they had lost vast numbers of men, tanks, and guns. German losses had also been high, especially in the Russian minefields. The tank cans that the Russians had were also dangerous. They were long things that buried in the soil. They would fire within a short range of 100, 150 to 200 meters, and they would go through everything. They would shoot upwards and blow the tops off us. So we would be driving along for ages in our tanks without a breakdown when suddenly they were just blown up. The impact was very fast and effective. If you got hit, there wasn't much you could do. It was a rather unpleasant experience. By the end of September, Hitler sensed that his ultimate objectives were at last within sight. On the last day of the month, Army Group Center began its drive on Moscow. But the German panzers had reached the pinnacle of their success, and in October 1941, the Russian weather turned against them. Torrential rain turned the roads into quagmires. As temperatures fell, the rain turned to snow, and keeping the tanks running became extremely difficult. By the end of the year, the Russians had begun to launch a series of massive counterattacks. In the vast Soviet expanse, the German supply lines became stretched to the limit. Shortage of fuel and lack of air support became decisive factors, and the thick armor of the heavy Russian tanks forced the panzers to fight at close range. If you wanted to be successful at shooting down the Russian tanks, you had to make sure that you were close enough. You had to come out of hiding. Sometimes you were camouflaged. It was best to attack head-on. And it would be difficult to shoot the enemy further than 600 to 800 meters away. It was easier to get close up from the side. We didn't bother to target the turret. We would go for the tracks. We had various types of ammunition, and it was important to choose the right one at the right time. It was not easy. As the push towards Moscow ground slowly to a halt, Hitler ordered his armies to go on the defensive. Meanwhile, the first clashes between German and British tanks had already taken place in North Africa. The situation had swayed to and fro, but after a pause of several months, Rommel launched his second major offensive in January 1942. By the end of the month, he had captured Benghazi, and after another lull in the fighting, he began a long drive towards Tobruk. At the Battle of Gazala, newly arrived American-built tanks inflicted heavy losses on the German armor. The M3 Grant's twin-gun armament came as a nasty shock and finally gave the British a weapon capable of matching the Panzer IV. Nevertheless, Rommel pressed on, and on 21st June he stormed Tobruk, taking 32,000 prisoners plus all of their equipment. Four days later, the remainder of the British Eighth Army withdrew to El Alamein, the last defensive position before Alexandria. While reserves were brought in from Egypt, morale was boosted by the appearance of a new commander, General Bernard Montgomery. On 30th August, Rommel attacked at Alam Halfa. The British were well prepared, and within 48 hours the German Panzers had bogged down in an extensive range of minefields. While Montgomery's strength continued to build, Rommel's was eroded by shortages of both fuel and supplies. By October, the British had gained overwhelming superiority in men, tanks, aircraft and guns. At 9pm on the 23rd, Montgomery opened the Battle of El Alamein with the greatest artillery barrage since World War I. The artillery fire and air bombardment took the Germans by surprise, smashing their communications and paving the way for a British armoured assault. The ensuing battle lasted for 14 days and marked the combat debut of the most prolific medium tank of all, the M4 Sherman. By 6th November, the Battle of Alamein had ended in a resounding victory for the British. Montgomery's Eighth Army had broken through the German positions and by 2nd November, Rommel was in full retreat. With the loss of 30,000 men, 400 cannon and 350 tanks, the Afrika Panzer Army was no longer an effective fighting force. By the late spring of 1942, the German armies in Russia were preparing for a new offensive against Stalingrad and the oilfields of the Caucasus. Many units began to receive the much improved F2 version of the Panzer IV. We were moved to Germany to take over the Panzer IV with the long gun. After a short period of training, our section was moved to the 4th Tank Regiment in the south to support the Caucasus campaign. This was the most interesting period of all my war missions. The landscape, as well as the battles, were not particularly difficult. The Russian defense fell back onto the Caucasus. We had problems with our tanks, which were really built to fight in Middle Europe. In these conditions, desert landscapes, it was very difficult to operate these tanks. By September, the Germans had reached the outskirts of Stalingrad. But in the face of a defensive system that was several miles deep, their advance ground to a halt. Further north, at Leningrad, the world's most powerful tank went into battle for the first time. Weighing 55 tons, the Tiger could outgun and outrange any existing Allied tank. Its armor plating was so strong, the hull was virtually impenetrable from the front. The high-velocity 88mm main gun was a truly formidable weapon, feared and respected by all Allied tank crews. Based on the original Flak 36, the tank-mounted version could penetrate 100mm of armor from well over 1,500 meters. The debut of the Tiger proved little short of disastrous. Hitler had insisted on using the new tanks at the first opportunity. But the marshy terrain and forest tracks near Leningrad forced them to drive in single file. As a result, the Russian anti-tank gunners were able to knock them out one by one. Most of the Tigers were destroyed before they could use their powerful 88mm guns with any real effect. Well, you can compare the tanks with regard to the strength of the armor plating, to the weapon, to the weight, and as a result of the so-called horsepower-weight ratio, that means how much horsepower you have per ton. There should be at least 15 horsepower per ton. Anything below that is a completely tired crow on the battlefield. The tanks of today, modern tanks in general, have 27 horsepower per ton, whereas the Tiger had only 10. The Tiger was a very limp bird on the battlefield, which, by the way, had a lot of teething problems. In legend, it was because it was a big tank. It had its weak points. The T-34 had, like the Panther, 15 horsepower per ton. That means it was normal. The Panzer IV had 10 horsepower. It was also weaker. And the Panther had also 15, but I've said that already. Then there was the ground pressure, how many kilograms for each centimeter squared, how much weight of the chain is on the ground. That is important if the tank can dare go through damp terrain or whether you get stuck somewhere or whether it can move well in wet ground. In the first, the Russians had very wide chains. A wider chain can bear more weight. So they had a very advantageous width-weight ratio. The German tanks had altogether two narrow chains, which were completely useless in swampy ground. We had made wider chains for the Tiger, with the result that it could not get through a tunnel or over a railway bridge, or the oncoming traffic had to be stopped. When they had to be transported, they had devised so-called loading chains, which had to be put on before transport by train so the chains did not stick out or get caught somewhere when they were transported by train. But that is by the way. The Tiger in turn was so heavy that the horsepower-weight ratio was unfavorable, and its pressure on the ground in relation to kilograms per centimeter squared, that is important. And then, of course, the range. The range was significantly higher for the Russian than the German tanks. The Tiger, for instance, had a driving range of 100 kilometers. Then its fuel was used up, and the Russian tanks had a range of over 600 kilometers. It ran on diesel, whereas we ran on car petrol. And on account of that, we always had weaknesses. Also with the German tanks, as regards the driving range at that time. Hitler's offensive in the Cux has dragged on into winter, and in December the Russians regained Stalingrad. In the new year, a series of massive Soviet thrusts inflicted devastating losses on the 4th and 6th Panzer Armies. Six months later, Hitler launched Operation Citadel, his last major effort in the East. Aimed at destroying Soviet forces in the vital Kursk salient, this large-scale offensive became the most decisive battle on the entire Eastern Front. During seven days of continuous fighting, a combined total of 6,500 tanks and assault guns were involved. The Battle of Kursk marked the first appearance of Germany's second heavy tank, the Panzer V Panther. Although twice the weight of the Panzer IV, it was considerably faster and had a much better level of armor protection. The advantage of the Panther was that we had a relatively strong front tank. One of the advantages of the Panther was that it had relatively strong armor plating on the front and quite a good gun, the 7.5-centimeter gun L71, which was superior to the Russian 7.62. It enabled us to shoot down heavy Russian tanks up to distances of 1,000 meters. The disadvantages with the Panther were the lack of distance it could travel because of carrying insufficient fuel supplies and also problems with the power propulsion unit were rather substantial. So that is why we suffered such high losses on the early missions, mainly through technical difficulties. The Panther was a good tank. We liked it. I think that it was the best tank around then. There were a few disadvantages due to it being designed so quickly and the lack of resources. The engine was good but was perhaps a little too weak for its size. This was the main disadvantage, and we suffered many losses because of it. A third of the Panzers were lost. During a retreat, we didn't always have time to tow damaged tanks back with us, so we had to leave them behind and blow them up. Citadel opened at 5 a.m. with more than 2,500 Panzers deployed over a 60-mile front. It was the largest tank battle in history. Within hours of advancing in the north, the 9th Panzer Army had destroyed an entire wave of T-34s and had captured the village of Butyrka. A simultaneous attack in the south breached the Soviet lines, and by the late afternoon, the Panzers had captured the key village of Cherkaskoye. But the Russians had been expecting this battle for a very long time and had turned the entire area into a veritable fortress. Concealed within the multilayered defense system were 3,000 miles of trenches, 25,000 guns and mortars, and more than 40,000 anti-tank and anti-personnel mines. As the battle progressed, both sides suffered enormous losses, and within a few days, the salient was littered with burnt-out tanks and guns. Successive German attacks were repulsed one after another until finally the Russians counterattacked at Orel. The crisis point came on 12 July with the final German assault at Prokhorovka. 900 Russian tanks defended the town against 900 Panzers. With both Russian and Germans firing at point-blank range, the carnage was appalling, and by nightfall, more than 700 tanks had been destroyed. Among them were 300 Panzers, including 70 Tigers. These heavy losses couldn't be sustained. This, combined with the Allied invasion of Sicily on 10 July, caused Hitler to call off the offensive three days later. German casualties were high. 150,000 men killed, wounded, or captured. Russia had lost 50% of its tank strength, but the Red Army's vast resources enabled them to absorb these losses far better. The Russians claimed 1,500 German tanks destroyed. These were going to be difficult to replace, whereas Russian tank production was now operating at 2,000 tanks a month, twice the rate of German production. For the rest of the war on the Eastern Front, Hitler's Panzer armies would be permanently on the defensive. The situation worsened still further with the full Allied invasion of France nine months later. By midnight on 6 June, 150,000 men had come ashore, equipped with a variety of vehicles, including mine-clearing flail tanks and bridge-laying Shermans. After a slow start, the Germans reacted by sending 10 Panzer divisions to defend the vital communications center at Caen. Two months of heavy fighting followed before the town fell to the Allies. In August, the Americans finally broke out at Saint-Globe. Sweeping round in an arc, they linked up with the Canadians and caught the 5th and 7th Panzer armies in a trap at Falaise. It was a catastrophe for the Germans. A relentless air onslaught annihilated the Panzer divisions. Out of the 500 German tanks at Falaise, only 60 managed to escape. 60,000 men were either killed or taken prisoner, and the cost to the Germans in other materials was enormous. On 25 August, French and American tanks drove into Paris amid scenes of wild jubilation. As the Allies began their long advance to the Rhine, Germany's ultimate heavy tank made its first appearance in the battle. Known as the King Tiger, it carried the thickest armour and was the heaviest and most powerfully armed tank of the entire war. Equipped with the 88mm L71, it was 24 feet long and was capable of destroying any armoured vehicle at a range of 2,000 yards. In total, nearly 500 King Tigers entered service with the German army. Used correctly, they were virtually invincible, and whenever they appeared in numbers, they completely dominated the battlefield. Their immensely strong armour made them almost invulnerable to gunfire, and a single King Tiger was quite capable of engaging and destroying several Allied tanks at the same time. At the Battle of Arnhem in September 1944, the 2nd SS Panzer Corps, with two King Tiger battalions, played the decisive role in cutting off the British 1st Airborne Division. In just nine days, they had completely crushed Montgomery's plans for shortening the war in the west. Three months later, on 16 December, Hitler launched Operation Autumn Mist, his last major attempt at halting the Allied advance. Two armies with a quarter of a million men and 1,800 tanks were used in a massive surprise counterattack through the Ardennes. The German objective was to drive an armoured wedge between the British and American armies. By forcing their way through to the Belgian coast, the panzers would retake Antwerp, sever the main routes of supply, and force the Allies to withdraw. The attack came at the weakest point of the Allied line, with the German forces outnumbering the opposing Americans by nearly three to one. As usual, the heavy tank units of the 5th and 6th Panzer Armies spearheaded the attack, using Tiger I's and King Tigers. At first, it looked as if the plan might succeed. In the foggy weather conditions, the Allies were unable to call in airstrikes, and during the first 24 hours, the 5th Panzer Army advanced 20 miles through the American lines. But on 23 December, the weather cleared, and the Allied air forces were deployed en masse. On the ground, the German tanks met increasingly stiff resistance, especially at Bastogne. If the town, with its many roads leading off in all directions, had been captured during the first few days of the offensive, German forces would have been free to attack the St. Vith defenders from the rear, and to reach the Meuse virtually unopposed. As it was, the 2nd Panzer Division skirting Bastogne to the north came close to the Meuse. But it lacked the support of units which had been diverted to capture the town, and to do with Patton's counterattack, which raised the siege on 26 December. Like a rock in the center of a raging stream, Bastogne reduced the momentum of the German assault. If it had fallen, the initial German thrust would have been deeper, and the Allied recovery made far more difficult. As the Germans began to lose momentum, the Americans counterattacked. By the end of January, the battle was over, and the Allies had reached the German border. During five weeks of ferocious fighting, neither German armies had advanced any further than 70 miles. Between them, they had suffered more than 70,000 casualties and had lost over 500 tanks. After autumn mist, the 5th and 6th Panzer Armies were so badly depleted that they could never regain their maximum strength. With the failure of the Ardennes breakthrough and the progress being made by the oncoming Red Army in the east, it was realized that the Wehrmacht would have to make every effort to increase tank production for use inside Germany. At the beginning of 1945, attacks on tank plants were again authorized. The plant of Voigtlander Maschinenfabrik A.G. Baumark located at Plauen in Saxony was producing 150 tanks monthly, approximately 25% of the total tank production of the Panzer Mark IV. In March 1945, a series of attacks on Baumark began. Three attacks that month caused a 16% loss to finished machine tools. Another attack on the 8th of April brought about almost complete shutdown of the Baumark factory. After these four attacks, 56% of the floor space dedicated to tank production was destroyed or heavily damaged. This and other attacks on the tank and motor vehicle plants in 1945 undoubtedly contributed to the disorganization and collapse of the German ground forces by making tank replacements impossible. The 5th Panzer Army was eventually pushed back across the Rhine and became encircled by the Allies in the Ruhr. Remnants of the 6th Army were transferred to the Eastern Front, but by May they were forced to surrender. When the Americans reached the River Rhine in March 1945, the 512th Battalion's Jagdtiger companies were sent into action against the bridgehead at Remagen. But it was a hopeless situation, and by the end of the month they had been withdrawn to the north. By the third week in April, most of them had surrendered, together with the rest of the German armor trapped inside the Ruhr pocket. The heyday of the Panzer was finally over.