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| German tank man Panzer Lehr Division |
The Panzer Lehr Division, commonly known as Panzer Lehr, was a German armored division during World War II, one of the most elite units in the entire German Wehrmacht. It was formed in 1943 from various units of elite training and demonstration troops (Lehr = "teach") stationed in Germany, to provide additional armored strength for resisting the anticipated Allied invasion of western Europe. Its great weakness was that it concentrated the cream of Germany's tank commanders/instructors in a single unit. Due to its elite status it was lavishly equipped in comparison to the ordinary Panzer divisions, though on several occasions it fought almost to destruction, in particular during Operation Cobra.
Panzer Lehr is occasionally referred to as the 130 Panzer Lehr Division, since a number of its constituent units were numbered 130, and in most other Panzer divisions those units were numbered to match the division's number.