As we have seen, during the Second World War the German Army utilised large numbers of captured tanks; the trend had already been established after the Polish campaign. The German Armed Forces now captured and confiscated a far more significant haul of armoured fighting vehicles, many of which were pressed into service by the Wehrmacht, Waffen-SS, Luftwaffe and Police units. These Beute Panzerkampfwagen (captured Panzers) were gathered at special collection points, where they were examined for any potential benefits to the new owners. If possible, useful tanks were returned to the factories where they had been built and repaired, modified and painted in German colours and markings.
As of October 1940 the German Army Office requested that, if possible, two examples of every captured vehicle were to be provided for evaluation at the Kummersdorf (Motor Vehicle Test Centre of the Army Weapons Office’s Test Section) and Berka (tank school) facilities. Eventually, after all tests had been concluded, they were moved to the Tank Museum of the Army Vehicle Office in Stettin-Altdamm (now Szczecin). These tests determined the combat value of various tanks and provided information on their general characteristics, along with shooting tests that were summarised in firing tables. In the desperate days of March 1945, the High Command of the Army Group Vistula authorised the captured tanks from the museum to be used in the defence of Stettin. Some of the foreign captured tanks were put in the active service with special captured tank units (formed from May 1940), others were allocated to Panzer or Infantry Divisions in various roles, such as reconnaissance. Some units, for example Panzer Abteilung 216 in the Channel Islands and the 7th SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division ‘Prinz Eugen’ in the Balkans were totally equipped with captured equipment.
According to original German captured tank inventories as of 10th April 1945, there were still 424 captured tanks in German service, 71 on the Eastern Front, 172 in Italy, 74 in the Balkans and 107 in Norway and Denmark: of these 310 were Operational. In general, the most common practice was the conversion of foreign tanks into various weapon carriers. Some tanks were also converted into other supplementary vehicles, such as artillery tractors. Foreign tanks were mainly used for training purposes, while some were used for internal policing duties in occupied territories (Polizei-Panzerkampfwagen). Field modifications were very common and totally non-standard. The most common modification to tanks was the replacement of the original cupola top with split hatch covers and the installation of radio equipment.
In order to identify and classify captured and foreign equipment. Foreign Equipment Listing (D.50) series - Kennblaetter Fremdengerat - was published. It consisted of 14 volumes (updated during the course of war) and captured motor vehicles were listed in the twelfth volume (D.50/12). All vehicles were divided into seven numerical block categories:
200 for armoured cars
300 for half-tracked (semi-tracked) vehicles
400 for armoured half-tracked (semi-tracked) vehicles
600 for fully-tracked artillery tractors
630 for armoured artillery tractors
700 for tanks (including British armoured carriers)
800 for gun carriers and self-propelled guns
In addition, letters followed numbers. Letters were used to recognise the previous user (not producer) of a certain piece of the equipment. For example Soviet T-34 was designated as Panzerkampfwagen T-34 747(r).
(a) amerikanisch - American
(b) belgisch - Belgium
(c) englisch - English and Canadian
(d) französisch - French
(h) hollandisch - Dutch
(i) italienisch - Italian
(j) jugoslawisch - Yugoslavian
(o) osterreichisch - Austrian
(p) polnisch - Polish
(r) russisch - Russian
(t) tschechisch - Czechoslovakian
A column of Panzer II tanks halts for a well-earned rest during the Balkan campaign. The movement of armoured formations by road was an extremely complex logistical undertaking.