: It spearheaded the encirclement battles at Minsk and Gomel, pushing rapidly through Belarus and into Russia.
The division's 1941 campaign began with the invasion of the Soviet Union as part of Panzer Group 2 under Heinz Guderian.
: In late 1944, the division was pushed into Lithuania and eventually trapped in the Courland Peninsula along with the rest of Army Group North. 4 Panzer Division 1941-1945
: During the massive Soviet summer offensive of 1944, the 4th Panzer Division was one of the few units to successfully counter-attack, briefly halting the Soviet advance near Warsaw at the Battle of Radzymin.
: In October 1941, the division encountered the Soviet T-34 tank near Mtsensk. The superior Soviet armor and firepower "savaged" the division's lighter Panzer IVs, forcing a temporary halt and a reorganization of the remaining tanks into a single brigade. : It spearheaded the encirclement battles at Minsk
Following the disaster at Moscow, the 4th Panzer Division was partially rebuilt and spent much of 1942 in a series of grueling skirmishes near Orel.
The division's history is also marked by documented war crimes, particularly during the earlier campaigns in Poland and the Soviet Union. These included the Śladów massacre in 1939, where 252 prisoners of war and 106 civilians were executed, as well as instances of using civilians as human shields. : During the massive Soviet summer offensive of
: While some elements were evacuated by sea to West Prussia in early 1945 to continue the defense of Germany, the majority of the unit remained in Courland. The division finally surrendered to the Red Army on May 8, 1945. War Crimes and Legacy
