The 2nd Panzer Division was an armored division of the German Wehrmacht that was active from 15 October 1935 to 8 May 1945. The division was one of the three original tank divisions of the Heer, and it was deployed to Austria after the Anschluss before taking part in the invasion of Poland and the Battle of France during World War II. From 1940 to 1941, it occupied Poland, and it fought in the Balkans campaign and Operation Barbarossa in 1941, fighting at the Battle of Moscow and the Battle of Kursk. In 1944, the division was sent back to France for rehabilitation, but it was instead nearly destroyed in the Falaise Gap during Operation Overlord. The division was rebuilt and fought at the Battle of the Bulge and in the defense of the Rhine, and its last battle was at Fulda in April 1945. On 7 May 1945, the divisional units surrendered to the US Army in Saxony and northwestern Czechoslovakia.