Panzergrenadier
An Panzergrenadier is a soldier in Germany, Austria and Switzerland who fights in an infantry mounted manner using an armored personnel carrier or dismounted . Panzergrenadiere accompany the own battle tank of the Armored Corps and fight in operations related forces (formerly combined arms combat ) up and dismounted enemy infantry as well as by anti-tank hand weapons and armored vehicles. In the German and Austrian armies , the Panzergrenadierruppe is a separate branch of the army; in the Swiss Army, they form part of the armored forces.
History of the branch of service
The word grenadier originally describes the infantryman specially trained in throwing hand grenades . Dragoons were the forerunners of mounted and thus mobile infantry . During the Second World War , the infantry units in the armored divisions and armored infantry divisions of the Wehrmacht were first referred to as armored infantry . The establishment of armored infantry units goes back to Heinz Guderian , who played a key role in the conception of operational armored units. The concept envisaged tank units which, with the necessary support, would be combined in a large unit. This included pioneers , tank artillery , repair and mechanized (tank grenadiers) and motorized (grenadiers) as infantry. The armored infantry should the armored personnel carriers , an armored vehicle, guide the up and dismounted combat.
At the beginning of the war, the Panzergrenadierverbände under the designation Schützen or Kavalleriechützen were divided into regiments, assigned to the tank divisions and light divisions , and motorized with trucks. In the early days, the infantry operating in close association with the battle tanks were the motorcyclists who were made mobile by the armament situation with sidecar motorcycles , and who are considered to be the actual forerunners of the tank grenadiers.
After the attack on Poland , the light divisions were reclassified into armored divisions, so that all infantry units were now designated as riflemen . On July 5, 1942, these were then renamed Panzergrenadiers , regardless of whether they had armored vehicles. In fact, due to the armaments situation, only about 25% of the armored infantry had their own Sd.Kfz armored personnel carriers during the war . 251 , which was able to transport a complete armored infantry group in strength 10 + 1. The armored personnel carrier Sd.Kfz. 250 for the transport of 6 soldiers were mainly used in the divisional reconnaissance battalions and motorcyclist units, later the fusilier battalions. As the only major unit of the Wehrmacht , the Panzer-Lehr-Division was a fully armored major unit .
In 1943 meadow green was specified as the weapon color . However, some units of the Wehrmacht kept the white of the infantry or the yellow of the cavalry for reasons of tradition .
Panzer grenadiers in the Bundeswehr
The Panzergrenadierruppe is a class of service in the army of the Bundeswehr . The German armored infantry troop is one of the army's combat troops and, together with the armored troop, forms the armored group of armored troops. The main weapon system of the armored infantry troops (currently) is the Marder armored personnel carrier . From 2010 onwards, they proved their worth in a real combat mission for the first time in the Bundeswehr's Afghanistan mission. The planned system change to the Puma infantry fighting vehicle is currently taking place by 2025 .
Panzer Grenadiers in the Austrian Armed Forces
In the Austrian Armed Forces , Panzergrenadiers are a separate weapon . The main weapon system of the armored forces is the Ulan infantry fighting vehicle . The armor color of the Panzer Grenadiers (and the armored forces in general) in the Austrian Armed Forces is black.
Panzer Grenadiers in the Swiss Army
In the Swiss Army , the Panzergrenadiers (abbreviation Pz Gren; French name grenadiers de chars; gren char ) form part of the armored forces. Each of the six tank battalions has two armored infantry companies, each equipped with 14 armored personnel carriers CV 9030 , divided into 3 combat platoons and one command platoon. Their weapon color is yellow, the beret color is black.
Motorized riflemen in the National People's Army
In the National People's Army (NVA) of the GDR the designation Panzergrenadier did not exist. Soldiers fighting in a similar way were called motorized riflemen . The corresponding units were equipped with armored personnel carriers SPW-60 , SPW-70 , the armored personnel carrier BMP-1 and only one motorized rifle regiment with the BMP-2 . Their gun color was white.
Panzer Grenadiers in other armies
The designation Panzergrenadier or the Panzergrenadierruppe is particularly common in German-speaking countries. In many other armies they are mechanized infantry of this type of service.
literature
- Klaus Christian Richter (Ed.): Panzer Grenadiers. A branch of service in the mirror of its history. 2. revised and additional edition, Munster 2006, ISBN 3-00-014858-2 .
- Horst Riemann: German Panzer Grenadiers. Verlag ES Mittler & Sohn, Herford 1989, ISBN 3-8132-0326-3 .
- F. von Senger and Etterlin: The Panzer Grenadiers. JF Lehmanns Verlag, Munich 1961.
- Karsten Jahn: The history of the Panzergrenadiers up to 1945. In: Der Panzergrenadier 0/3. Friends of the PzGrenTrp e. V., Munster 1996/98.
- Chris Bishop, Jorge Rosado: Panzergrenadierdivisionen of the German Wehrmacht 1939-1945. German first edition (of the English original edition) Verlag VDM, Zweibrücken 2008.
- Reinhard Scholzen : The infantry of the Bundeswehr. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-613-03293-4 .
- Marcel Bohnert & Andy Neumann: Panzergrenadiers in combat in Afghanistan , in: Freundeskreis der Panzergrenadierruppe (ed.): Panzergrenadiers. A genre of troops through the ages, Munster et al. 2016, ISBN 3-933802-35-0 , p. 42ff.
- André Deinhardt: Panzergrenadiers - a class of troops in the Cold War 1960 to 1970. Security Policy and Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Germany, Vol. 11, Munich: Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag 2012, ISBN 978-3-486-70464-8 .
Web links
- Literature on the subject of Panzergrenadier in the catalog of the German National Library