The 5th Panzer Division was a panzer division of the German Wehrmacht that was active from 15 November 1938 to 8 May 1945 during World War II. The division was formed in Oppeln (now Opole, Poland) in 1938 from Silesian and Sudeten Germans, and the division took part in the 1939 invasion of Poland, the invasions of France and Belgium in 1940, the invasions of Yugoslavia and Greece in the spring of 1941, Operation Barbarossa in the summer of 1941, the Battle of Kursk in 1943, and the defensive battles in Courland, Poland, and East Prussia from 1944 to 1945. The division was evacuated from the Samland peninsula to Germany, where it surrendered to the Western Allies on 8 May 1945.