The most decorated generals of the Wehrmacht never got their grasp on this badge, even if their achievements were enormous. No, this badge was meant for the crewmen, those who gave their life for their country. Some of them never saw the end of the war, but some others did.
Otto Carius, per example, is one of the most decorated Panzer ace, having destroyed more than 150 enemy tanks, and most surprinsigly, a flying enemy plane. This particular enemy plane was “annoying” the gunner of the tank, Heinz Kramer, shooting its armor with its machine gun. As the sound of bullets hitting the armor was annoying more and more Mr Kramer, he asked permission to shoot down the plane, and after a first missed shot, shot down the plane. Probably the best tank shot ever. Carius lived until 2015 in Germany and was the last Panzer ace alive.
The most famous Panzer ace, Michael Wittmann, was also awarded with the highest class of the Badge. He was known to have destroyed at least 150+ tanks and more than 130 enemy canons (of any caliber). Unfortunately for him, he ultimately died in Normandy during Operation Overlord in his beloved Tiger. Nonetheless, his legend grew after the war when all of his achievements were discovered.
These folks are some of the most famous recipients of the Panzer Badge, but it would be wrong to forget about the 34,000 others that got the Badge in the different classes with around 22,000 getting the silver one.
There was definitely a lot of recipients during World War II but what is somehow “strange”, is that the Badge is still being given to members of Germany’s land Army, the Heer. If you are a badge “fanatic”, you can try to get one from the Internet but beware of forgeries, as some of them look very close to the original one.