The 10th Panzer Division was formed in Prague in March 1939, and served in the Army Group North reserve during the invasion of Poland of the same year.

The division participated in the Battle of France in 1940, including the Siege of Calais, and in Operation Barbarossa attached to Army Group Center in 1941.

After taking heavy casualties on the Eastern Front it was sent back to France for rehabilitation and to serve as a strategic reserve against potential Allied invasion.

It caused severe losses to the "green" US Army in some of their first encounters with the Germans under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel at the Battle of Kasserine Pass (1943).

[4] From there, the division pushed Allied forces from the ports in the Flanders region, before engaged in mopping-up operations in western areas of France after the French surrender.

[6] In March 1941, the division was recalled to Germany, and moved to the border with the Soviet Union in June of that year in preparation for Operation Barbarossa.

[6] Once the Allies landed in North Africa, the 10th Panzer Division was placed on occupation duty in Vichy France, and rushed to the African Theater in late 1942 as soon as transport became available.

[11] Several Wehrmacht officers who had served in the 10th Panzer Division were active in the German resistance against Adolf Hitler and were imprisoned or executed after their unsuccessful attempt to assassinate him in the 20 July Plot of 1944: