Throughout the Second World War the German armaments industry produced a stream of many innovative designs in armoured fighting vehicles. These ranged from highly advanced self-propelled guns, to tanks and armoured personnel carriers. However, despite all their manufacturing skills, the German war machine could not keep pace with demand and was in danger of running out of steam as the army found itself increasingly short of armoured vehicles as the war dragged on. Things were going against them due to Allied air attacks which disrupted output and delivery to the Front as the rail network was destroyed. In addition to this there were the incredibly large losses of tanks on the Russian front in the wake of such engagements as Kursk which was fought between 5 and 13 July in 1943. At this one engagement the German army sustained the loss of almost 3,000 tanks and nearly 200 self-propelled guns. It was becoming clear tanks could not be replaced at the same rate at which they were being lost, which, in turn, meant that a reserve force could not be built.
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