The Armored Forces Newsletter (July 1943)

Nachrichtenblatt der Panzertruppen Nr. 1

German Tank (Mark II) (US War Department)

In July of 1943, Colonel General Heinz Guderian, then serving as Inspector General of Armored Troops, introduced the first issue of the Armored Forces Newsletter [Nachrichtenblatt der Panzertruppen] with the following words:

The Leader has entrusted me with the organization and training of the Armored Forces.

In this war, the Armored Forces play a decisive role. Each member of our proud service, from the highest officer to the youngest private, must be convinced of this fact.

The magnitude of this mission requires the mobilization of all of our resources and the participation of every individual.

We wish to begin our work with the same offensive spirit that has always motivated our arm and full confidence in our final victory.

Long live the Leader!

The next article in the issue laid out the “Meaning and Purpose of the Armored Forces Newsletter.”

1. Informing of all armored units about the perspective and opinions of the Inspector General [of Armored Troops].

2. Rapid sharing of evaluated lessons-learned reports.

3. [Providing] suggestions for training that have yet to be incorporated into manuals and pamphlets or expand upon [such publications].

4. Informing all units of new enemy weapons and fighting methods.

5. [Providing] news about enemy armored forces.

Doing this requires the active cooperation of everyone. It requires that all units continually send lessons-learned and after-action reports to the Inspector General of Armored Troops. (Units at the front [should send these to] the Field Army Department, training units to the the Inspector of Armored Troops.)¹

To be continued …

Source: A typescript of the first issue of the Nachrichtenblatt der Panzertruppen can be found on the website of the German Federal Archive. Printed copies of subsequent issues are available at Sturmpanzer.com.

Note: The authors of many of the articles that appeared in the Armored Troops Newsletter crafted sentences that lacked certain words, most of which were verbs. They did this, I presume, because they assumed that readers would be able to infer the full meaning of the statements. For the sake of readability, I have supplied translations for the words that ought to have been included. (You can identify words and phrases of this sort by the brackets that surround them.)

For Further Reading:

Links to translations from the Armored Troops Newsletter can be found on the aggregator of the same name.

Armored Forces Newsletter

1. The Inspector of Armored Troops [Inspekteur der Panzertruppen] and the chief of the Field Army Department [Abteilung Feldheer] were the two principal subordinates of the General Inspector of Armored Troops [Generalinspekteur der Panzertruppen].