Formed in France in late 1941, the division spent its entire combat history on the Eastern Front.

[1] In March 1942, the division went to the Eastern Front near Kharkov as a subdivision of the German Sixth Army.

At the end of its first year on the Eastern Front the 23rd Panzer Division had lost 90 percent of its tanks.

[4] The 23rd Panzer Division was part of the German defence and retreat in the southern Ukraine, frequently being moved between crisis points.

[5][3] After being sent to Poland in mid-1944, the division returned to the southern sector during the collapse of the German frontline in Romania.