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).
The Maybach HL120 is a German carburettor internal combustion engine from the interwar period and World War II. Maybach Motorenbau GmbH, established in 1909, was responsible for the design and production of this engine. The Maybach HL120 was a 12-cylinder power unit with a capacity of 11.88 liters, in which the cylinders were arranged in the V-shape. The maximum power that this engine was able to generate was 300-320 hp. The engine was able to run at up to 3,000 revolutions per minute. It was a water-cooled gasoline unit. The Maybach HL120 was produced in two versions: TR and TRM. The first of these versions was characterized by the so-called dry sump. The letters TR were in this case an abbreviation of " Trockensumpfschmierung ”. However, the TRM version also had the so-called dry sump, but also had an electric ignition based on a magneto (German Schnapper-Magnetzündung). The Maybach HL120 was installed in many German armored vehicles from the Second World War, including Panzer III Ausf. EN, Panzer IV Ausf. BJ, but also the StuG self-propelled guns. III and IV, as well as in the Hummel and Elefant wagons.