Tank Group

Tank Group

 

(Panzergruppe), a strategic formation in the ground forces of fascist Germany in 1940–41, during World War II (1939–45). Tank groups were first created as temporary formations during the French campaign of 1940 (the von Kleist, Hoth, and Guderian tank groups). By the onset of the fascist German invasion of the USSR, four organic tank groups had been formed. Each group had two to four corps (in all, the groups had two to five tank, three to four motorized, and two to six infantry divisions) and included 600 to 1,000 and more tanks. The First and Second tank groups were reorganized as tank armies (Panzerarmeen) in October 1941, and the Third and Fourth tank groups, in January 1942.