Pictures of the Neubaufahrzeuge were displayed with different turret models and orientations to fool allied spies; American and Soviet agents independently reported that the Germans had two new heavy tanks, the Panzer V and VI.

[5] Though these tanks were never placed in production, they provided a propaganda tool for Nazi Germany, for example being shown at the International Automobile Exposition in Berlin in 1939.

Only one tank actually made it to the front; it was immediately put in action with the German force advancing up the Gudbrand Valley with other elements of Panzer Abteilung z.b.V.

[6] The Neubaufahrzeuge first saw combat against British and Norwegian positions on April 22, near the hill Balberg at the far south end of the Gudbrand Valley, 7 km north of Lillehammer.

According to contemporary German sources, three NbFz were attached to the 1st Panzer Army and destroyed in battle with Soviet BT-7 tanks in present-day Ukraine in June 1941.

The last known surviving Neubaufahrzeug was used by a Lehr instruction unit in late 1944 as a target for training the Volkssturm in the use of the Panzerschreck (Raketenpanzerbüchse 54) and other anti-tank weapons.

[citation needed] All that survives of these tanks is a small number of running gear parts, preserved in the Gudbrandsdal Krigsminnesamling (Gudbrand Valley War Memorial collection), at Kvam in Norway.