The 1st Panzer Army was an armored formation of the German Wehrmacht that existed from 16 November 1940 to 8 May 1945, taking part in the fighting against the Soviet Union during World War II for much of its existence. In the summer of 1944, the army retreated into Slovakia on the orders of commander Gotthard Heinrici, and it would surrender to the Allied Powers on the orders of Walther Nehring.