The 3rd Panzer Division was an armored division of the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany that was active from 15 October 1935 to 8 May 1945. The division was one of the three original panzer divisions established by Germany in 1935, and it took part in the annexation of Austria in the Anschluss. The division took part in the 1939 invasion of Poland at the start of World War II, being the most numerically-powerful division, with a strength of 391 tanks. In 1940, the division took part in the Battle of Belgium. After the Greco-Italian War broke out, plans to deploy the division to North Africa were cancelled. The division took part in Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941, fighting at the First Battle of Kiev, the Battle of Moscow, and other battles with the Soviet Red Army. The division participated in Case Blue, and it suffered heavy casualties in the fighting around Mozdok. The division escaped by crossing the frozen Sea of Azov near Rostov, and the division later fought at the Battle of Kursk. The division remained on the Eastern Front for the rest of the war, fighting in the Ukraine, Romania, Poland, and Hungary. The division surrendered to the US Army in Styria, Austria in May 1945, and the majority of the division's soldiers were released from captivity by July 1945.