Panzer

Panzer is a German term meaning armor or armored vehicle. In military use it designates armored fighting vehicles, especially tanks, and the formations that operate them, such as Panzer divisions. Officially, historical German tanks carried the designation Panzerkampfwagen, abbreviated PzKpfw I–VI.

In the interwar period and during World War II, Germany developed a family of tracked vehicles for fast, mobile warfare. Early examples like the Panzer I and II were used for training and reconnaissance; later models such as the Panzer III and IV formed the core of combat forces. The Blitzkrieg doctrine emphasized rapid, coordinated attacks in which armor spearheaded offensives.

By the mid-war era, heavier tanks entered service: the Panther (Panzer V) and the Tiger I and Tiger II (King Tiger). Production, logistics and fuel constraints often limited effectiveness on extended fronts. Armored divisions combined tanks with motorized infantry, artillery and reconnaissance to sustain breakthroughs.

Notable Panzer models include the Panzer I–IV, the Panther (Panzer V), Tiger I (PzKpfw VI Ausf. E), Tiger II (Königstiger), and the Maus prototype. After World War II, the term Panzer remained a general label for tanks in German usage and in English-language histories as a reference to German armored vehicles of the war.

In modern German, Panzer continues to denote tanks and armored units within contemporary forces, with main battle tanks such as the Leopard 2 forming the backbone of the Panzertruppen.