German Army Panzer Brigades. Western and Eastern Fronts 1944-1945.

By Dennis Oliver.

In July 1944, with the Eastern Front crumbling and the first cracks appearing in the Normandy defences, Hitler ordered the creation of a new type of unit based on the ad-hoc Kampfgruppen which the Germans used so successfully throughout the war. Hastily assembled and short-lived these independent Panzer brigades nevertheless served on both fronts in some of the fiercest fighting of the conflict. The real striking power of the initial units would a battalion equipped with the Pzkpfw V Panther, perhaps the most effective armoured vehicle produced by Germany during the Second World War.

In Dennis Oliver's latest volume in the Tank Craft series he uses archive photos and extensively researched colour illustrations to examine the Panther battalions of the Panzer brigades that fought to hold back the Allied advance during the last months of 1944.