1941! Situation seemed to be favorable for Germany. Western Europe was defeated and largely conquered The "fortress England," however, held out. After "Operation Seelöwe" had to be dropped, Hitler turned towards new aims. In late 1940 the German general staff evaluated its own inventory of armored vehicles. Since "super heavy" British and American tanks were expected to appear on the battle field in the near future, this evaluation brought only poor results. Neither the Panzer III nor the Panzer IV seemed equal to this scenario. Ironically, the army intelligence (Fremde Heere Ost) was unaware of the most modern Soviet tanks like the KV and T-34 at this time. However, after confronting them, the German "medium" tanks were obsolete over night Stop gap solutions (SP guns) had to be developed in emergency programs. Only the high degree of training and a generally superior tactical leadership prevented the total collapse of the eastern front in the winter of 1941/42.
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