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Description

Backstory:

After the Invasion of Poland and the conquest of France, Germany realised that the cavalry forces they commanded were too outdated for a war which was increasingly going to be fought by mechanised and armoured troops. Therefore, the 1st, 3rd and 4th cavalry divisions, the last and only cavalry left in the Wehrmacht according to propaganda, were converted into tank divisions. Within the 4th cavalry division was the 5th cavalry regiment August von Mackensen, the most well-known cavalryman having served in the Prussian, imperial and Wehrmacht armies. This regiment especially was given special treatment during the conversion, with its members being allowed to wear the death’s head along their army insignia.

  However, after the Reich invaded Africa, it realised that the heavier tanks had trouble crossing the vast wastes and deserts. The light tanks however did phenomenal with their fast engines and adaptable suspensions. Thus, the Leichte Divisionen, who were mechanised troops in smaller formations supported by light tanks, were converted into Kavallerie Divisionen. But this time the cavalry wouldn’t consist of horses, rather they would be made up of light tanks, mechanised panzer grenadiers, light tank destroyers, light self-propelled anti-air and light self-propelled artillery pieces. The goal of these divisions was of course to overrun enemy positions and to form a fast mobile response team to drive the Allies out of Africa.

  These new cavalry divisions were renamed to the former, but this time the 5th cavalry regiment did not bear the name of von Mackensen. Their main tank was the Pz. II Ausf. L “Luchs”, a light reconnaissance tank with an 2cm autocannon. Whilst not necessarily capable of fighting tank to tank, that wasn’t its objective. It was armoured enough to withstand small arms fire or anti-tank guns, and its speed allowed it to outflank dug-in enemies. In case of an enemy tank being sighted, the capable Marder II tank would dispatch of it with its 7.5 cm PaK cannon. For artillery purposes the cavalry had the Wespe tank with a 10.5 cm howitzer cannon. The light self-propelled anti-air tank was the Flakpanzer I, although a very light and outdated tank by all means, it was still very capable in shooting planes out of the sky. The mechanised infantry accompanying them were of course seated within the Sd.Kfz.251 “Hanomag”, sometimes supported by halftrack tank destroyers, anti-air and mortar vehicles.

  These were capable light divisions who would later on be reinforced by the newly designed Leopard tank with its anti-air, tank destroyer and artillery variants. The patron of all these operations was Maximilian von Weichs, an old cavalry general who understood to keep the cavalry tradition alive it had to modernise, and that modernisation had to be armoured and mobile. He had in fact held command of the 1st Panzer Division for a time before his promotion to Generaloberst in 1940. His vision for the Panzerkavallerie was one of blitzkrieg where it shouldn’t be possible, he wanted them to be capable, for example, of blitzing the deserts of Africa, the wastes of Russia and many other difficult terrains. In this mission he largely succeeded since the newly-fitted cavalry divisions were superior to the failed Leichte Divisionen or light divisions, who were supposed to initially support Rommel’s Afrikakorps. Von Weichs would remain the patron of the armoured cavalry until his death in 1954, after which the 1st Pz.Kav.-Regiment was nicknamed “von Weichs”.

Disclaimer: I do not support any of the views these people might have had, this is just for creative purposes and alt-history curiosity!

Description

Backstory:

After the Invasion of Poland and the conquest of France, Germany realised that the cavalry forces they commanded were too outdated for a war which was increasingly going to be fought by mechanised and armoured troops. Therefore, the 1st, 3rd and 4th cavalry divisions, the last and only cavalry left in the Wehrmacht according to propaganda, were converted into tank divisions. Within the 4th cavalry division was the 5th cavalry regiment August von Mackensen, the most well-known cavalryman having served in the Prussian, imperial and Wehrmacht armies. This regiment especially was given special treatment during the conversion, with its members being allowed to wear the death’s head along their army insignia.

  However, after the Reich invaded Africa, it realised that the heavier tanks had trouble crossing the vast wastes and deserts. The light tanks however did phenomenal with their fast engines and adaptable suspensions. Thus, the Leichte Divisionen, who were mechanised troops in smaller formations supported by light tanks, were converted into Kavallerie Divisionen. But this time the cavalry wouldn’t consist of horses, rather they would be made up of light tanks, mechanised panzer grenadiers, light tank destroyers, light self-propelled anti-air and light self-propelled artillery pieces. The goal of these divisions was of course to overrun enemy positions and to form a fast mobile response team to drive the Allies out of Africa.

  These new cavalry divisions were renamed to the former, but this time the 5th cavalry regiment did not bear the name of von Mackensen. Their main tank was the Pz. II Ausf. L “Luchs”, a light reconnaissance tank with an 2cm autocannon. Whilst not necessarily capable of fighting tank to tank, that wasn’t its objective. It was armoured enough to withstand small arms fire or anti-tank guns, and its speed allowed it to outflank dug-in enemies. In case of an enemy tank being sighted, the capable Marder II tank would dispatch of it with its 7.5 cm PaK cannon. For artillery purposes the cavalry had the Wespe tank with a 10.5 cm howitzer cannon. The light self-propelled anti-air tank was the Flakpanzer I, although a very light and outdated tank by all means, it was still very capable in shooting planes out of the sky. The mechanised infantry accompanying them were of course seated within the Sd.Kfz.251 “Hanomag”, sometimes supported by halftrack tank destroyers, anti-air and mortar vehicles.

  These were capable light divisions who would later on be reinforced by the newly designed Leopard tank with its anti-air, tank destroyer and artillery variants. The patron of all these operations was Maximilian von Weichs, an old cavalry general who understood to keep the cavalry tradition alive it had to modernise, and that modernisation had to be armoured and mobile. He had in fact held command of the 1st Panzer Division for a time before his promotion to Generaloberst in 1940. His vision for the Panzerkavallerie was one of blitzkrieg where it shouldn’t be possible, he wanted them to be capable, for example, of blitzing the deserts of Africa, the wastes of Russia and many other difficult terrains. In this mission he largely succeeded since the newly-fitted cavalry divisions were superior to the failed Leichte Divisionen or light divisions, who were supposed to initially support Rommel’s Afrikakorps. Von Weichs would remain the patron of the armoured cavalry until his death in 1954, after which the 1st Pz.Kav.-Regiment was nicknamed “von Weichs”.

Disclaimer: I do not support any of the views these people might have had, this is just for creative purposes and alt-history curiosity!