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The Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler was the first major unit of the Waffen-SS and received Armored vehicles as early as 1940, deploying them in the Balkans (1941) and during Operation Barbarossa. Reorganized as a Panzer division in 1942, it was equipped with Panzer IIIs, IVs, and Tiger Is, fighting at Kharkov and Kursk. Transferred to Italy in 1943 to disarm the Italian army, it later returned to the Eastern Front, where it received Panther tanks. After fierce battles, it was moved to Belgium (1944) to counter the Allied landings, fighting in Normandy and the Falaise Pocket. It took part in the Ardennes Offensive with Kampfgruppe Peiper and, in 1945, fought in the final battles in Hungary before retreating to Austria.