The
13th Panzer Division was originally created in 1934 under the cover name
Infanterieführer IV; it was unveiled as the
13th Infantry Division in 1935 when the creation of the
Wehrmacht was announced. In 1937 it was motorized and subsequently renamed as the
13th Motorized Infantry Division and participated in the
campaigns against Poland (1939) and western Europe (1940). Following the
Fall of France in June 1940, the division was reorganized as the
13th Panzer Division. It participated in Operation
Barbarossa (the invasion of the USSR) in 1941 and the advance on the
Caucasus in 1942. The division suffered heavy losses in the withdrawal of 1943 and subsequent defensive actions in the south up to 1944. It was partially refitted in
Hungary, where it was encircled and destroyed by
Allied forces in the winter of 1944-1945; fighting occurred primarily in
Budapest. The formation was re-created as
Panzer Division ''Feldherrnhalle 2'' in the spring of 1945, before surrendering in
Austria at the end of the war.