In early 1941 there was a further significant but ominous development. Hitler sought to rapidly expand the number of Panzer Divisions from the existing ten to a new level of 20. However, there was clearly insufficient manufacturing capacity to create the new machines, or the time to recruit and train the hundreds of thousands of men who would be needed. With a typical rash flourish Hitler solved the problem at a stroke by reducing the number of regiments in a Panzer Division from two to one. He then used the extra regiments to form the tank elements of ten new Panzer Divisions. Although this exercise effectively doubled the number of Divisions in a short space of time it did so by reducing the tank strength of the Divisions from the 1940 level of over three hundred machines, to the new 1941 level of around one hundred and fifty. This dramatic reduction in fighting strength was to have dire consequences later in the war when breakdowns and casualties would frequently mean that a Panzer Division which could field 80 machines was in good shape.
An artist’s impression from the pages of Signal magazine illustrating the difficulties of moving vehicles under combat conditions. In this evocative image, a Sturmegeschze of the late war variety is being used to pull another machine out of trouble under fire.