1944-45 - War's End
By 1 January 1944 the German army had crystallized its ideas on panzer design with the result that the Geman tank producing plants were scheduled for rapid expansion of production of three types of tanks, the Mark IV, the Panther, and the Tiger, three types of assault guns built on the chassis as these tanks, an assault gun built on a Mark III chassis, and a decreasing number of self-propelled guns. Production of the Mark I, II and III tanks as well as many miscellaneous types had been abandoned. Production was scheduled to reach a temporary peak of 1,842 in July 1944, decline the next several months and reach a final peak of 1,958 in December 1944. This would represent an increase of 83 percent over January's production. The major expansion in panzer production after July 1944 was to be in the two Czech plants of Bohmisch-Mahrisch Maschinenfabrik and Skoda. These plants were to build up production of the Jagd 38, an assault gun based on the old Czech 38 t.
The invasion of Normandy in June 1944, coupled with the Russian offensive in the east, marked the beginning of the final stage of the war. In five months after D-Day, 10,000 panzer vehicles were destroyed in battle or abandoned in retreats, largely in France and across Poland. Losses prior to June, although high, had been exceeded by production which in the first five months aggregated 7,300 units, so that the total number in the hands of the army had increased from 11,000 on 1 January to 14,000 on 1 June. Thereafter, despite further increase in production, the total stock of panzer vehicles declined to 12,000 by 1 November. This decline occured precisely at the time when more equipment than ever was needed in the front lines.
There was neither plant abandonement nor new construction in 1944 in the tank plants. Three new plants , however, did get into production, Demag and Deutsche Eisenwerke, in the first months of 1944 and MBA in the last of 1944; but in very small volume. Actual production figures are not available for these plants, but the planned production for December was 163 Mark III tanks for Deutsche Eisenwerke, 30 Panthers for Demag and 10 Panthers for MBA.
The Speer Ministry in June 1943 established a system of priority order numbers which goverened the procurement of raw material by the German factories. All orders for production were given numbers, depending on their importance, which placed them in one of five priority groups. Practically all orders for important army production, including tanks, received numbers within Group I, which was the top priority group.
A new system was decreed in July 1944 which differed from the old one, chiefly in that two new priority groups had been added, at the top "Z" and "O". Such items as V-weapons, gasoline, jet planes, and development work fell in these groups. Tanks continued to be in Priority Group I.
In January 1945, a so-called "Critical Program" was issued. Under this program 13 types of armaments, mostly infantry weapons, were to have priority over all other production. Tanks were not only included in this list, but were moved to almost the top priority position. Orders for the most important tank models, for example the Panther, were assigned "Z" priority numbers and the others received "O" priority numbers.
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