Why did German armoured offensives depend heavily on fuel and supply convoys?

German armoured offensives relied heavily on fuel and supply convoys because mechanized warfare required massive quantities of material to sustain rapid movement, a demand that far exceeded the capacity of traditional horse-drawn transport. While German armoured divisions achieved unprecedented mobility and striking power, the Wehrmacht suffered from a chronic shortage of motor transport and rolling stock throughout World War II.1

To maintain momentum, these forces required a constant flow of fuel and ammunition, often necessitating complex logistics. For instance, in the invasion of the Soviet Union, the organic transport of armoured spearheads had to backtrack over their own routes to retrieve fuel from prepositioned dumps. In the North African desert, the Afrika Korps faced extreme logistical strain, where the fuel required to transport supplies over long distances consumed up to half of all imported fuel. Ultimately, the inability to move these supplies quickly enough to support fast-moving units often caused offensives to stall, highlighting the critical, often vulnerable, dependence of mechanized forces on their supply lines.1