1st Armoured Division (Germany)

1. Panzerdivision — 1. PzDiv — XX
1st Armoured Division insignia
Active	1956–present
Country	Germany
Branch	Army
Type	Division
Role	Conventional warfare, peacekeeping
Size	18,000 soldiers (+3000 dutch soldiers from 2019)
Part of	German Army
Garrison/HQ	Oldenburg (Oldenburg)
Nickname(s)	The first one Die Erste
Motto(s)	Roughly: Go! Let's tackle it! Man drup - man to! (Low German)
Anniversaries	July 1st 1956
Engagements	Kosovo War War in Afghanistan
Commanders
Current commander	Generalmajor Markus Laubenthal
Notable commanders	General Henning von Ondarza, COMAFCENT 1991–1994 General Helge Hansen, COMAFCENT 1994–1996 General Wolf-Dieter Langheld, COMJFC-B 2010–2012

The 1st Panzer Division (German: "1. Panzerdivision", short: "1. PzDiv") is an armoured division of the German Army. It also bears the designation Intervention Force Division (Division Eingreifkräfte). Its staff is based at Hanover. In the course of the current reorganisation of the Bundeswehr it will become the backbone of Germany's newly formed intervention forces which will have a manpower of 35,000 soldiers in total. This division is equipped and trained for high intensity combat operations against militarily organized enemies as well as peacekeeping missions. The majority of all German troops assigned to EU-Battlegroups and Nato Response Forces will come from this division. It also represents Germany's permanent contribution to the binational I. German/Dutch Corps.

The 43rd Mechanized Brigade of the Royal Netherlands Army is being integrated into the 1st Panzer Division, and will be operational from 2019.

This division was formed on July 1, 1956, the day of the official inauguration of the Bundeswehr. It was the first fully operational unit of the new German Army. At first referred to as 1st Grenadier Division, it was reorganized in the 1980s and made fully armoured in 1981. During this period it was part of I Corps of the Bundeswehr Heer, in turn part of NATO's Northern Army Group, Allied Forces Central Europe.

1st Panzer Division has deployed to the Balkans, Afghanistan and to several peacekeeping operations. Troops of this division were also deployed to the support of civilian agencies during large natural disasters such as the Hamburg Floods of 1962, disastrous wild fires in Northern Germany in the 1970s and the 2002 Floods in Eastern Germany.