Panzergrenadier
Panzergrenadier (abbreviated Pzg.) is a German term for motorized or mechanized infantry, as introduced during World War II. "Grenadier" is a traditional term for heavy or elite infantry units, and was revived in Germany for various types of infantry during WWII, presumably as a morale building honorific. "Panzer" indicates "armor", but during WWII the term Panzergrenadier was in some cases applied to infantry mounted on ordinary trucks, as well as to infantry equipped with custom built half-tracked armored carriers. Conversely, not all motorized or mechanized infantry was labeled Panzergrenadier; for example, the late war parachute infantry units equipped with trucks were still designated as "Fallschirmjäger". The term Panzergrenadier was applied equally to mechanized infantry formations (e.g, a Pzg. regiment), to the mechanized infantry components of combined arms formations (e.g., a Pzg. battalion within a Panzer division), and to a class of mechanized divisions known as Panzergrenadier Divisions. Most of the Heer Pzg. divisions evolved via upgrades from ordinary infantry divisions, first to Motorized Infantry divisions and then to Pzg. divisions, retaining their numerical designation within the series for infantry divisions throughout the process. This included the 3rd, 10th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 18th, 20th, 25th, and 29th divisions. Others, such as the Grossdeutschland division, were built up over the course of the war by repeatedly augmenting the size of an elite regiment or battalion. The Waffen SS also created several Pzg. divisions by the same methods, or by creating new divisions from scratch later in the war. A number of Pzg. divisions in both the Heer and Waffen SS were upgraded to Panzer divisions as the war progressed. The Pzg. divisions were organized as combined arms formations, usually with six battalions of truck-mounted infantry organized into either two or three regiments, a battalion of tanks, and an ordinary division's complement of artillery, reconnaissance units, combat engineers, anti-tank and anti-aircraft artillery, and so forth. All these support elements would also be mechanized in a Pzg. division, though most of the artillery, anti-tank, and anti-aircraft elements were equipped with weapons towed by trucks rather than the relatively rare armored and self-propelled models. In practice the Pzg. divisions were often equipped with heavy assault guns rather than tanks, due to a chronic shortage of tanks throughout the German armed forces. A few elite units, on the other hand, might have the tanks plus a battalion of heavy assault guns for their anti-tank element, and armored carriers for some of their infantry battalions as well. On paper a Panzergrenadier division had one fewer tank battalion than a Panzer division, but two more infantry battalions, and thus was almost as strong as a Panzer division, especially on the defensive.
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