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INTRODUCTION This document details German panzer unit organisations on the Eastern Front in 94 and 94, covering the period from Operation Barbarossa to the Stalingrad campaign. Many units have been selected for their departure from the ‘norm’ in terms of establishment and/or equipment. Unless specified, vehicles and guns have been scaled down to the usual Rapid Fire! ratio of 1 to 5. The tables follow the now well- established Rapid Fire! format, but I have omitted the points values, as players using historical units are less likely to be concerned about a precisely balanced game. The following panzer battalions and battle groups pose particular challenges to the wargamer. This can vary from getting the best out of a force of technically inferior Pz 35ts, to successfully utilising the flexibility of amphibious tauchpanzers, or commanding the first Tigers in less than ideal circumstances. Overall, this publication will provide you with interesting units to bring variety and a touch of realism to your games. CONTENTS Page Czech Tanks in Panzer Battalions 1941 -1942 3 Kampfgruppen 94 0 Panzer Units in Motorised and SS Divisions 94 15 3rd and 23rd Panzer Divisions at Kharkov 1942 7 Panzer Units at Stalingrad 0 Tiger Heavy Panzers 94 25 13th Panzer Division 1941 - 1942 6 Tauchpanzer Units Sample file 30 Early Flammpanzers 3 Early Funklenk Panzer Units 34 Miscellaneous Panzer Units 36 Vehicle and Gun Chart 39 Wargaming Ideas 40 1941: A 13th Panzer Panzer III (37mm) leads a Battalion HQ Panzer III Befehlswagen (command tank) over a newly completed Bruckengerat ‘K’ pontoon bridge. Page CZECH TANKS IN PANZER BATTALIONS 1941 - 1942 When Operation Barbarossa commenced on June nd 11TH PANZER REGIMENT 1941 the German panzerwaffe was able to field double the (22nd June 1941) number of panzer divisions it had employed against France and the Low Countries in the preceding year. 65th Battalion HQ This is of course misleading, as the rapid enlargement of Panzer 35(t) (command) (37mm), Panzer 35(t) (37mm) the panzer arm had been partially achieved by the simple expedient of splitting the original panzer regiments in half. Nevertheless, far more tanks were made available overall and this was largely achieved by fully utilising the production capabilities of the Czech armaments industry, which had been under the control of the Nazis since 938. Light Company When the panzer divisions rolled across the border on 3 x Panzer 35(t) (37mm), Panzer II (20mm) to Soviet-controlled soil, fully one quarter of the tanks employed were of Czech origin. Despite the fact that, to all intents and purposes, these Panzer 35(t) and 38(t)s were light tanks, they provided the main striking power for six Page panzer divisions, with a seventh being transferred to the Eastern Front in early 94. Czech Tanks in Panzer Battalions 1941 -1942 3 6th Panzer Division, the only German tank unit to be Light Company Kampfgruppen 94 0 3 x Panzer 35(t) (37mm), Panzer II (20mm) equipped with the Panzer 35(t), was one of three panzer Panzer Units in Motorised and SS Divisions 94 15 divisions in Panzergruppe 4. Of the other two, 8th Panzer was equipped with the Panzer 38(t) and 1st Panzer with the 3rd and 23rd Panzer Divisions at Kharkov 1942 7 Panzer III. This was the weakest of the four panzergruppen Panzer Units at Stalingrad 0 involved in the initial stages of Operation Barbarossa and the one with the most northerly objective: Leningrad. Tiger Heavy Panzers 94 25 The 35(t) was a less sophisticated machine than its later Medium Company 13th Panzer Division 1941 - 1942 6 stablemate the 38(t), but was armed with the same 37mm 2 x Panzer IV (short 75mm), Panzer II (20mm) Tauchpanzer Units 30 gun. It was also used in small numbers by the Slovak Rapid Brigade (under its Czech designation Lt vz 35) andSample equipped file Early Flammpanzers 3 the Romanian 1st Armoured Division in the form of a 35(t) variant called the R-2. Early Funklenk Panzer Units 34 Miscellaneous Panzer Units 36 Although a reasonable design for its time, the 35(t) was obsolete when compared to the latest Soviet tanks. 6th Vehicle and Gun Chart 39 Panzer crossed the border little realising that its 0 ton 1st Battalion tanks with 25mm frontal armour would soon be facing Wargaming Ideas 40 52 ton monsters, with three times their protection and As 65th Battalion devastatingly more powerful guns. 6th Panzer Division’s 11th Panzer Regiment consisted of three battalions: I, II and 3rd Battalion 65th. Using the latter as an example, they were organised as As 65th Battalion follows on the eve of the invasion: * 6th Panzer was equipped with five PzBef 35(t) command tanks and Because 6th Panzer was equipped with obsolete armour eight PzBef H/E. As command tanks are not strictly scaled down using the 1:5 ratio, either vehicle could be used to command any of it always fought in mixed combat groups. The division’s the three battalions. 6th Rifle Brigade had two regiments (4th and 114th) each with two battalions, with only one company carried 6th Panzer advanced across the border and by 3rd June in Sdkfz 251 APCs. With the 6th Motorcycle Battalion had seized the town of Rossienie and was poised to cross the Dubissa River. Operating in two battlegroups (Raus on (often referred to as ‘K-6’) this gave 5 battalions that the left and Seckendorff on the right), the division seized could be attached to the tank battalions. 1 or 2 battalions two bridgeheads, although the southerly one - captured by would be the normal support for a tank battalion, plus a elements of 1st Panzer Battalion and 114th Rifle Regiment company of AT guns. For a typical 1941 motorised rifle - was recaptured during the night. The next morning, tanks of the Soviet 2nd Tank Division’s 3rd and 4th Tank Regiments battalion organisation see page . delivered both a counter-attack and a tremendous blow to Page 3 German confidence with their heavy KV-1 and KV-IIs. As part of this counter-attack, a lone KV-II blocked the bridge leading Above: a company of 6th Panzer Division Panzer 35(t)s pass an to Group Raus’s forward positions. This well-documented abandoned KV-II after the battle against 2nd Tank Division. The 35(t) had already been out of production for 3 years by the time Barbarossa action graphically illustrated the inadequacy of the German was launched. anti-tank arsenal, with 37mm, 50mm and even 88mm guns struggling to knock out their stubborn adversary. The fact that it was used to equip a front line panzer division indicates both the desperate need for tanks and the arrogance of the commanders Further south, Group Seckendorff was reinforcedSample by the who file expected the invasion of Russia to be a re-run of France in 1940. reserve 2nd Battalion, which had been ordered to recapture the lost bridgehead. Instead, it found itself up against the x model 35(t)s and 1 x Panzer ll from the table to represent marauding Soviet ‘heavies’, which it held by forming a firing 11th Tank Regiment on October 31st). By November 30th line just east of Rossienie and disabling KVs with Panzer IV the division had no serviceable tanks at all, effectively ending 75mm fire aimed at hatches and vision slits! the 35(t)’s front line service with the German army. Only the intervention by 1st Panzer Division - outflanking The Panzer 38(t), which equipped 7th, 8th, 12th, 19th and the Soviet units to the north - saved 6th Panzer from 20th Panzer Divisions during Operation Barbarossa, was devastation. Ultimately however, the Soviet tanks’ lack of available in far greater numbers and soldiered on to serve ammunition and fuel rendered their position untenable. with a number of units (including 22nd Panzer Division) during much of 94, before its relegation to reconnaissance Despite these obvious shortcomings, 6th Panzer Division and security duties. This agile and reliable tank was in its had no option but to struggle on with its inadequate main element when surging across the steppe and making the battle tanks. It is interesting to note that the Slovak Rapid deep thrusts characteristic of the summer battles. However, Brigade decided its own Lt vz35s were unfit for battle after it shared the Panzer 35(t)s limitations of thin armour and just one major action - at Lipovec - and that was against poor armament and in tank v tank encounters suffered badly Soviet artillery rather than tanks. at the hands of the new Soviet mediums and heavies. After successfully advancing to the outskirts of Leningrad, 12th Panzer Division was attached to Panzergruppe 3, whose 6th Panzer was transferred to Hoth’s 3rd Panzer Army for four panzer divisions were all equipped with the Panzer Operation Typhoon - the drive on Moscow. The rigours of 38(t). When Operation Barbarossa began the 12th had combat and the deteriorating state of the Russian roads three battalions, each of which was organised as follows: speeded up the process of attrition. By 3st October the Tank warfare on the Eastern Front took a tremendous total tank force of the entire division amounted to virtually the same strength as 65th Battalion on 22nd June (deduct 2 Page 4 By the beginning of July, the operational order of battle for a 29TH PANZER REGIMENT, 12th Panzer Division ‘typical’ 12th Panzer tank battalion scales down as follows: (22nd June 1941) Battalion 29TH PANZER REGIMENT, 12th Panzer Division (1st July 1941) HQ Panzer 38(t) (command) (37mm), Panzer I (MGs) Battalion HQ Panzer 38(t) (command) (37mm), Panzer I (MGs) Light Company 3 x Panzer 38(t) (37mm), Panzer I (MGs) Light Company 3 x Panzer 38(t) (37mm) Light Company 3 x Panzer 38(t) (37mm), Panzer II (20mm) Light Company 3 x Panzer 38(t) (37mm), Panzer II (20mm) Medium Company 2 x Panzer IV (short 75mm), Panzer II (20mm) Medium Company Panzer IV (short 75mm) Sample file * 12th Panzer, as a newly formed division, was allocated 40 Panzer Is to make up for a shortage of Panzer lls.

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