User:Wendell/WWII references
Normady OOB
[edit]http://web.telia.com/~u18313395/normandy/gerob/gerob.html
Kursk OOB
III (03) Panzerkorps:
228 StuG.Abt. 503 s.Pz.Abt. (Tiger) 99 (Lw) Flak-Regt. 153 (Lw) Flak-Regt. 6 Pz.Div. 7 Pz.Div. 19 Pz.Div. 168 Inf.Div.
XXXXVII (47) Panzerkorps:
245 StuG.Abt. 904 StuG.Abt. 21 Pz.Bde. + 505 s.Pz.Abt. (Tiger) 6 Inf.Div. 20 Pz.Div. 9 Pz.Div. 2 Pz.Div.
TIGER I Late production w/Zimmerit; #311 sPzAbt 505 Eastern Front 1944; UML Exclusive Limited Edition. EXTREMELY RARE
[edit]schwere Panzer Abteilungen (sPzAbt) 505. Heavy Tank Battalion 505th was the last independent battalion created with the old organization of 20 Tigers and 25 PzKpfw III. It had been formed in February 1943 and received all its tanks in February – March of that year. At the end of April it was sent to Heeres Gruppe Mitte on Eastern Front where it was upgraded to the new sPzAbt organization and received additional 11 Tiger tanks from the ordnance depot in mid June. The battalion took part in OPERATION Zitadelle / The Battle of Kursk – German Summer Offensive 1943, which was the last German major offensive operation on The Eastern Front. The battalion was attached to Feldmarschall Model’s 9th Army. By the beginning of the offensive it had 31 Tiger tanks but in July the 3rd Kompanie, which was formed in April and supplied in June joined the battalion. During the Kursk offensive the battalion lost 10 Tigers. After Kursk the battalion was transferred to the Smolensk area and later to the Orsha area. On July 7, 1944 it was ordered from Eastern Front to rest and refit. By September it was equipped with new King Tiger tanks. Later the battalion was used with 24th and 25th Panzer Divisions against the Russian offensive into East Prussia, Narev bridgeheads and fought in East Prussia until the end.
This fact is evidenced by the following excerpt from the Experience Report of the Tiger Abteilung 506, dated 15 January 1944: "During long term operations, which stretched over 12 days, time for care and maintenance of the Tigers was too short and losses were correspondingly high. On 2 January 1944, the Abteilung went into action with 13 Panzers. Not a single Tiger was still operational on the evening of 14 January. The last two Tigers had driven a distance of about 340 kilometers. Without being given any time for care and servicing, most of them managed to cover 250 kilometers" (JENTZ, Thomas L.; Germany's TIGER Tanks - Tiger I and II: Combat Tactics; op. cit.).
While the Germans stayed close to their original production schedule for the Tiger, it is interesting to note that, for example, during Operation Zitadelle (the Kursk Offensive - July 1943) there were a total of only 133 Tigers available at the start of the offensive - 45 serving with sPzAbt.503, 13 with 13 Kp.SSPzRgt1 (LSSAH), 14 with 8.Kp.SSPzRgt2 (Das Reich), 15 with s.Kp.SSPzRgt3 (Totenkopf), 15 with 13.Kp.PzRgtGD (Großdeutschland), and finally 31 with sPzAbt.505. A total of 19 Tigers arrived as replacements during Operation Zitadelle: 5 for 13.Kp.SSPzRgt1 (LSSAH), and 14 for sPzAbt. 505. From 5 July to 20 July 1943, 13 Tigers were lost (total writeoffs): 4 by sPzAbt.503, 1 by 13.Kp.SSPzRgt1 (LSSAH), 1 by 8.Kp.SSPzRgt2 (Das Reich), 1 by s.Kp.SSPzRgt3 (Totenkopf), and 6 by sPzAbt.505 (JENTZ, Thomas L.; Germany's TIGER Tanks - Tiger I and II: Combat Tactics; op. cit.).
unkown
[edit]In 1940 there were 10 Panzerdivisionen, each with around 400 tanks (most light panzer I, II, 35(t) and 38(t); very few were medium panzer III and IV because the slow mobilization of the German industry): each Panzerdivison could count upon two armored regiments (2 battalions each), two motorized infantry regiments (3 infantry battalions each), an artillery regiment (with around 48 guns) plus several other attached units such as the armored recon battalion, an engineer battalion, kampfstaffel (HQ combat unit), an anti-aircraft/ anti-tank battalion wich comprised some lethal 88mm gun batteries and services units. Some divisions (such as Rommel's 7th "ghost" Panzerdivision) had only one panzer regiment but with 3 battalions, most equipped with panzer 35(t) and 38(t). For the west campaign these divisions were mostly grouped in three Panzerkorps, under von Kleist, Guderian and Hoth orders. This last two got seven armored divisions to achieve the breakthrough in the Ardennes.
After the French campaign organics table were reduced to increase the number of Panzerdivisionen leaving only one panzer regiment with two or three battalions, each with two light tanks companies and one medium tanks company. After the rapid balkanic campaign, 19 panzerdivisionen were ready for Operation Barbarossa while two other, the famous 15th and 21st Panzerdivisionen formed the Deautsche Afrika Korps (DAK). During the following years the number of tanks in Panzerdivionen continued to decrease due to both lack of replacements for continuisly fighting units and battle field experiences: new anti-tank weapons such as bazookas did the tank's life more dangerous and ferocious Russian tactics often consisted in separating panzers from following infantry. In the meanwhile the quantity of armored support for infantry divisions was increasead by forming assault guns' brigades.
For 1944 the standard Panzerdivision organics was taken to 2 tank battalion (one with PzKpfw IV and the other equipped with Panthers), for a total of around 100-120 tanks plus an assault gun battalion, artillery regiment (with some tracked battery), one panzergrenadier regiment on 3 battalions or two regiments on 2 battalions each (1 halftracked, 2 motorized and one foot) and each regiment having other arms units attached such artillery and anti-tanks. SS units had an infantry regiment on two or three tanks for around 160-180 tanks, the assault gun battalion, two infantry regiments on three battalions each (2 halftracked, the others motorized), artillery regiment on 3 battalion and often had a nebelwerfer battalion .
King Tigers were issued to schwere Panzer Abteilungen (heavy tank battalions) of both the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS. The majority went to Wehrmacht units, while some 150 were assigned to the Waffen SS. The first Tigers II tanks reached schwere Panzer Abteilungen of both Wehrmacht and Waffen SS as early as February 1944. The first five production King Tigers were issued to Panzer Lehr Division (Panzer Kompanie Funklenk 316) but were not used in combat. The first time the Tiger II saw action was in May 1944 near Minsk, followed by another action (of schwere Panzer Abteilung 501 commanded by Oberstleutnant von Legat) in July 1944 at Sandomierz in Poland. Only two companies of schwere Panzer Abteilung 503 commanded by Hauptmann Fromme, equipped with Tiger II tanks (with Porsche turrets), were committed to the fighting in Normandy, where their mechanical problems and Allied fighter-bombers as well naval gunfire proved fatal and, by the end of August 1944, all were lost. Tiger II tanks of schwere Panzer Abteilung 506 commanded by Major Lange, saw combat during the "Market Garden" operation in Holland in September of 1944. King Tigers also took part in the Ardennes Offensive, serving with schwere SS Panzer Abteilung 501 (Kampfgruppe Peiper). On the Eastern Front, Tiger II tanks took part in the fighting in Hungary and in central Poland in 1944 and 1945. The Tiger II saw combat on both Western and Eastern Fronts, where it proved to be a superb weapon and worthy opponent when operated by an experienced crew and properly maintained. A small number of King Tigers also defended Berlin in April and May of 1945. A Tiger II from schwere Panzer Abteilung 503 was also the last German tank to be destroyed in the war. It was blown up by its crew in Austria on May 10, 1945.
The units that recieved the Tiger IIs were heavy tank battalions of both the SS and Heer. The SS didn't recieve more than their fair share of the Tiger IIs, as it will appear from the table below. The maximum number of vehicles in a battalion was 45, separated in 3 companies of 14 Tiger IIs each, plus 3 command vehicles.
Delivery totals schwere Heeres Panzer-Abteilungen 319 schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilungen 124 Other units 30