Tank commanders of 1st Company/schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 102: Fey, Egger, Glagow.

1./s. SS-Pz.Abt. 102

TIGER I

Panzerjäger 7.5cm PaK40/1 auf Geschutzwagen Lorraine Schlepper(f), Sd Kfz 135

The Marder I was the first Panzerjäger of the Marder series. The Marder series of self-propelled anti-tank guns began development in late 1941 to increase the mobility of 7.5cm PaK 40 anti-tank guns by mounting them on a
tracked chassis. The need arose in the summer of 1941 with the appearance of new Soviet tanks like the T-34 and the heavy KV-1 and KV-2.

The Marder I was developed in May 1942 and carried the 7.5cm PaK 40 anti-tank gun on the captured French Tracteur Blinde 37L (Lorraine). This French artillery mover/armoured personnel carrier was captured by the
Germans in 1940, with more than 300 seeing their way into German arsenals. The original crew compartment superstructure was removed and the gun placed on top of the chassis. Around this a new open-topped compartment was built to give the gun and crew some protection from small arms fire. 	
	
Between July and August 1942, 170 Marder I panzerjägers were built on the Lorraine chassis.
 
The Marder I vehicles were sent to the Eastern Front in 1942 to serve in the Panzerjäger (tank-hunter) units of infantry divisions.
 
Divisions on the Eastern Front who used Marder I panzerjägers: 

• 31. Infanteriedivision, Panzerjägerabteilung 31, August 1942 to December 1943
• 35. Infanteriedivision, Panzerjägerabteilung 35, September 1942 to December 1943 
• 36. Infanteriedivision, Panzerjägerabteilung 38, October 1942 to June 1943
• 72. Infanteriedivision, Panzerjägerabteilung 72, September 1942 to December 1943 
• 206. Infanteriedivision, 1. Panzerjägerkompanie/ Schnelleabteilung 206, January to December 1943
• 256. Infanteriedivision, 5. Kompanie/Panzer Schnelleabteilung 256, November 42 to- April 1944	
In Tunisia the 334. Infanteriedivision used the Marder I from January to May 1943. 
 
In Normandy it was used by the 716. Panzerjägerabteilung of the 716. Infanteriedivision who fielded ten Marder I self-propelled 7.5cm PaK40 guns. On D-Day (6 June 1944) the tank-hunters were positioned near Biéville.