Most Marder Is were built on the base of the Tracteur Blindé 37L (Lorraine), a French artillery tractor/armoured personnel carrier of which the Germans had acquired more than 300 units after the Fall of France in 1940.

From the early stages of Operation Barbarossa the Wehrmacht became aware that their ability to combat some of the Soviet tanks was inadequate.

In addition, the standard towed anti-tank gun of the Wehrmacht, the 37 mm 3.7 cm Pak 36, was both difficult to get into position quickly and lacked the ability to penetrate the heavy sloped armour of the new Soviet tanks.

Due to the weight and space constraints of the small chassis, the Marder series were not fully armoured.

This was done by Baukommando Becker, an organization in occupied France converting French armoured fighting vehicles for internal security use.

The shielding provided the crew with protection from blast and small arms fire, but was not intended to stop armour piercing rounds.

The Marder Is initially served in infantry divisions on the Eastern Front and met with good success.

The first Lorraine-based Marder I vehicles were sent to the Eastern Front in 1942 to serve in the Panzerjäger (tank destroyer) units of infantry divisions.

This is a list of Infantry Divisions operating on the Eastern Front known to have used Marder Is and the estimated time frame they were used[citation needed] "On 14 August 1942, ... Gen.Qu.

mounted on Lorraine Schlepper chassis were completed with a modified superstructure (similar in design and purpose to the 38t Grille sIG 33, with an additional 12 built for and used by the 2 PzGren Regts of 21 Pz.

[3] "An additional 64 sFH13 (after the first 30 built in June 42 and shipped to Rommel) were mounted on Lorraine-Schlepper chassis at Wa A Paris in July and August 1942.