Early German tanks were no different from any of the other major nations. Panzer tanks were initially equipped with the machine gun armed Panzer Mk. I and these were supported by slightly bigger Panzer Mk. II mounting a 20mm canon. By 1939 they had a couple of medium tanks which mounted 37mm (Panzer Mk. III) and 75mm low velocity guns (Panzer Mk. IV). The German army also included Czech designs which were taken over after the annexation of Czechoslovakia. The chassis of all these German tanks were used to create self-propelled guns and support vehicles.
By 1942 larger vehicles were being developed and in 1943 the Tiger I tank and Panther tank were beginning to take their toll of allied tanks. The last main battle tank to see production was the Tiger II and this first saw action in mid-1944 and took part in the final battles of the war.
The Germans also produced a large array of self-propelled guns, many of these were built on the chassis of obsolete tanks ranging from German models to captured vehicles.