The battalion took part in the heavy fighting in the Battle of Kursk in July 1943, before being attached to the tank regiment Bäke.
It was originally intended for use in North Africa, but the events of the year led to its being assigned to Army Group South in Russia, where the German withdrawal from Stalingrad had to be covered. The first German heavy tank battalion with Tiger II (King Tigers) on the Eastern Front in November 1944.This heavy tank battalion was already formed from spring 1942. The commanders were Captain Arthur Wollschläger from November 1942 to February 1943, Major Richter from February to July 1943, Captain Erich Schmidt in July and August, Captain Lange from August to October 1943, Major Willi Jähde from October 1943 to March 1944, Major Schwander from April to August 1944 and Captain von Foerstner. Until the final surrender to the Red Army on May 9, 1945, only this heavy tank battalion alone had destroyed about 2,000 Soviet armored vehicles. In early 1945 the unit was re-equipped with Tiger II and renamed sPz.Abt.511. At the end of 1944 it fought in the defense around Memel and Königsberg. The battalion remained with Army Group North in the northern section of the Eastern Front until the great Soviet summer offensive of 1944, when it had to retreat to Kurland. This allowed the Soviets to capture several nearly intact vehicles and uncover their secrets before the heavy tank was even delivered in any appreciable force. Some of them were only lost because their track drives could be damaged by enemy infantry. The Tiger tanks were used without accompanying infantry in unsuitable terrain in the attack, allowing the Russians to fire on the more sensitive flanks. On personal order of Hitler they were deployed off Leningrad in a dubious operation, many still suffering from technical problems or got stuck in the swampy terrain. Some tanks of this unit were the first Tigers, which were used on the Eastern Front.
E of tank detachment 502 in combat in the northern sector of the Eastern Front (early summer 1944).The sPz.Abt.502 (short for ‘Schwere Panzer-Abteilung 502’) was established in August 1942. The commanders of the battalion were Major Erich Löwe from September to December 1943, Lieutenant Colonel von Legat from January to August 1944 and Major Saemisch from August 1944 to February 1945. Finally, the new battalion was disbanded in February 1945. In practice, however, this was hardly more than a renaming, as the battalion remained under the previous commander at the same front section. In December 1944 the sPz.Abt.501 (short for ‘Schwere Panzer-Abteilung 501’) was disbanded and used to establish the new sPz.Abt.424, which was subordinated to the XXIV Panzer corps. Afterwards it fought in the defense during the retreat of the German armies through Poland, where it was involved in particularly heavy fighting near Radom and Kleice. In July 1944 the battalion was re-equipped with the even more powerful King Tiger tank.
WW2 TANK BATTLES ON YOUTUBE FULL
However, the battalion was replenished with the help of other companies that had remained in Europe and were now carrying out occupation duties in France.Īfter the battalion had regained its full strength, it was sent to the Eastern Front and was immediately involved in defensive battles near Vitebsk and Gorodok. The units sent to North Africa were forced to capitulate in May 1943 together with Army Group Africa. The company’s Tiger tanks saw action at Tebourba and Hamra, and in February 1943 in the Kasserine Pass area. Heavy Tiger battalions of the German army Schwere Panzer-Abteilung 501ĭuring the attack on Medjez, Tiger tanks are used for the first time in Africa.The heavy armored battalion 501 was set up in 1942 and a complete company of the unit was shipped to Tunisia in November 1942, where it was to be used against the Allies who had landed during Operation Torch in French Northwest Africa. These higher staffs could then decide which of their front sections most likely needed this effective support, and so they were always moved from one important section to the next. But in general the Tiger tanks were formed in ‘Schwere Panzer Abteilungen’ (equal to ‘Heavy Tank Battalions’ ‘Abteilung’ literally means detachment), which were subordinated as reserves to the corps, army or even army group staffs.