Initially, the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler unit was a unit of about 120 people of the German dictator's bodyguard, which was formed in March 1933 and was commanded by Joseph "Sepp" Dietrich. The unit quickly grew to a unit of about 800 people, and the admission criteria were very strict. Not only were the physical abilities of the candidates guided, but absurd criteria such as "racial purity" were applied at the time, and the genealogy of candidates was checked not infrequently up to several generations back! At the outbreak of World War II, the unit was already a motorized regiment and fought in the September campaign (1939), and later also in Belgium and France in 1940. In 1940, the unit was expanded to the size of a brigade, and in 1941 it was sent to the campaign in the Balkans, where it fought in Greece, among others. From June 1941, the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler unit took part in Operation Barbarossa. In the summer of 1942, she was transferred to France and renamed the Panzer Grenadier Division. From the beginning of 1943, the division fought on the Eastern Front, in the territory of Ukraine, and in the summer of the same year it took part in the battles on the Kursk Arch. For a short time (in 1943) it was transferred to Italy, and at the end of 1943 it returned to the Eastern Front again, as an armored division. At the beginning of the following year (1944), the division was sent to Belgium, where its manpower and machinery were rebuilt. From June 1944, it fought with the Western Allies in Normandy, suffering heavy losses in the course of these fights. As a result, it was withdrawn to Germany and rebuilt again - in December 1944 the unit took part in the offensive in the Ardennes, but in January 1945 it was transferred to Hungary. However, it was decimated there, and in April of the same year its survivors forced their way west to surrender to the Allied forces. The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler unit was considered the most elite among the Waffen SS divisions and often proved its high combat value. However, it should be remembered that its soldiers committed many war crimes during World War II, including murdering prisoners (to mention the crime in Taganrog or Malmeda) or civilians. Many soldiers and officers of this unit were put on trial (after 1945) - often sentenced to death.
The first tanks in the German army appeared at the end of World War I - these were the A7V machines. After the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, the German armed forces were forbidden to develop armored weapons, but the German side did not honor these restrictions and secretly developed armored weapons. However, after Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, this development became fully official, and in 1935 the 1st Armored Division was formed. In the period 1935-1939, further divisions were formed, and their main equipment was the Pz.Kpfw cars: I, II, III and IV. A single armored division at that time was composed of a tank brigade divided into two armored regiments, a motorized infantry brigade and support units, among others: reconnaissance, artillery, anti-aircraft and sappers. It consisted of about 300 tanks in full time. It is also worth adding that the German armored forces (German: Panzerwaffe) were trained and prepared to implement the doctrine of lightning war, and not - as in many armies of the time - to support infantry activities. Therefore, emphasis was put in training "pancerniaków" on the interchangeability of functions, independence in decision-making by officers and non-commissioned officers and the best technical mastery of the tanks owned. All this resulted in great successes of German armored weapons in Poland in 1939, but especially in Western Europe in 1940. Also in the course of the fighting in North Africa - especially in the period 1941-1942 - the German armored forces turned out to be a very difficult opponent. Before the invasion of the USSR, the number of German armored divisions almost doubled, but the number of tanks in these units decreased to about 150-200 vehicles. Also in the course of the fighting on the Eastern Front - especially in 1941-1942 - the German armored forces were superior in training and organization to their Soviet opponent. However, contact with such vehicles as the T-34 or KW-1 forced the introduction of the Pz.Kpfw V and VI tanks to the line in 1942 and 1943. Growing losses on the Eastern Front, as well as lost battles - at Stalingrad or Kursk - made the German Panzerwaffe weaken. Its structure included heavy tank battalions (with 3 tank companies), and in 1943, armored grenadier divisions were established. There was also an increasingly clear advantage of the Soviet side, and from 1944 - the need to simultaneously fight the Soviet troops in the east and the Allies in the west. It is also assumed that it was then (in the years 1944-1945) that the training of the German armored forces was weaker than in the previous period and did not constitute such a significant advantage on the German side than before. The last large-scale operations of the German Panzerwaffe were the offensives in the Ardennes (1944-1945) and in Hungary (1945).
