DML Military 6111 PanZer Grenadiers 1:35

Panzer Lehr Division (German: Panzer-Lehr Division) was formed in January 1944 in France in Luneville. The unit was formed on the basis of the cadres of armored schools: Panzertruppenschule II and Panzertruppenschule I from Krampnitz and Bergen. It is assumed that the unit, as one of the few in the Wehrmacht, was fully mechanized, and both of its armored grenadier regiments were equipped with armored personnel carriers. The division was used in combat for the first time in repelling the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944, and also fought at the Battle of Falaise in August of the same year. She managed to get out of the encirclement, but in the course of this battle in Normandy suffered heavy losses - mainly as a result of air attacks. After rebuilding the personnel, the unit took part in the offensive in the Ardennes at the turn of 1944-1945. It is worth adding that one of its regiments of armored divisions (130th Panzer Lehr Regiment) in the winter of 1944 entered the Eastern Front and fought in January 1945 in the Battle of Budapest. In the period of February-March 1945, the Panzer Lehr Panzer Division fought on the Western Front against units of the British 2nd Army. In April 1945 she is encircled and surrendered to American troops.

Panzergrenadier is a German term for a formation of panzer grenadiers, i.e. infantry units trained to fight in close cooperation with their own tanks. This term was officially used in 1942, when infantry divisions were renamed grenadier divisions and motorized infantry divisions into panzer grenadier divisions. It is worth adding that in the years 1937-1942, the Schützen Regiment was used to describe the infantry regiments serving in armored units. Theoretically, the basic equipment of armored grenadier divisions was to be armored half-tracked transporters, especially Sd.Kfz.251, but due to insufficient production, these infantry were often transported by trucks. As a standard, an armored grenadier division consisted of three infantry regiments, two battalions in each regiment and numerous support units, including anti-tank, anti-aircraft, sapper and communication units. Self-propelled guns, such as the StuG III, were often used in these formations. It is worth adding that the armored grenadier divisions were formed not only in the Wehrmacht, but also in the Waffen SS - for example the Totenkopf Division or the Hohenstaufen Division.