Tiger II    page 3


The Tiger II was like the Tiger I assigned to special heavy tank battalions (schwere Panzer abteilungen-sPzAbt). These were to be held at army or corps levels and assigned as needed to reinforce other units during a campaign. sPzAbt. 501 (later redesignated sPzAbt. 424) received the Tiger II in the summer of 1944, sPzAbt. 502 (redesignated as sPzAbt. 511) received some Tiger IIs in 1945, but there were not enough to equip the whole unit. sPzAbt. 504 received some Tiger IIs in late 1944 in the Vienna area. 
sPzAbt. 501 was one of the first units to see action with the Tiger II in August 1944. Equipped with 45 Tigers they had to counter-attack the Russian bridgehead at Baranow. During the 45km drive from Kielce to the front most Tigers got mechanical problems, resulting in only 8 Tigers reaching their destination that day. After some successful fights they drove into an anti-tank gun screen, and lost some Tigers when stowed ammunition in the turret went off after a hit on the turret. From that moment no ammunition was carried in the turret, reducing the available shells with 64. 
Tiger II with Henschel turret, some vehicles have ambush scheme
Hidden for Allied planes
Tigers of sPzAbt. 503 in autumn 1944
Hidden Tigers with Porsche turret in France 1944
One of the other battalions which saw action with the Tiger II was the sPzAbt. 503. In mid-1944, sPzAbt. 503 was in France in preparation for the expected Allied landings. The battalion staff and 1st company had been equipped with Tiger IIs (the other 2 companies retained the Tiger I). They fought through the Normandy campaign, and were completely re-equipped with 45 new Tiger IIs in September 1944. The battalion was then transferred to Hungary and were committed to the defence of Budapest. In January 1945, sPzAbt. 503 was renamed sPzAbt. Feldherrnhalle and attached to PzGren.Div. FHH. This division was eventually destroyed in the defence of Budapest. Out of 50.000 German troops trapped in the city, only a few hundred were able to escape. 
sPzAbt. 505 had been equipped with the Tiger II in September 1944, which carried a stenciled emblem on the turret sides showing a knight mounted on a charging horse. They fought in East Prussia, initially against the Narev bridgeheads in the 1944 Russian offensive, until the end of the war. sPzAbt. 506 received 45 Tiger IIs in August 1944, and took part in the German defence against the Allied offensive Operation Market Garden and the defence of Aachen. It was the only Heer Tiger battalion to take part in the Ardennes offensive. 

Budapest January 1945
 Spare track links were a standard feature on the turret
Tiger II with ambush scheme
The Waffen SS formed three Tiger battalions: sSSPzAbt. 101, sSSPzAbt. 102 and sSSPzAbt. 103 (later redesignated as 501, 502 and 503, respectively). sSSPzAbt. 101/501 was re-equipped with Tiger IIs in September 1944, and supported the advance of Peiper's Kampfgruppe during the Ardennes offensive. After the retreat they were sent to Hungary. sSSPzAbt. 102/502 received 31 Tiger IIs and fought against the Russians during their offensive aimed at Berlin. sSSPzAbt. 103/503 was sent to the East in January 1945 and ended the war fighting in the area around Danzig-Gotenhafen in East-Prussia and Berlin. 
One of the bloodiest episodes at the end of WWII was the cauldron of Halbe, April 1945. Early April 1945 sSSPzAbt. 502 was translocated to the area Diedersdorf-Litzen in preparation for the expected Russian main offensive against Berlin, which started on April 16th, 1945. Although the 9th German Army could hold the Oder-front near Frankfurt am Oder, they were bypassed and encircled by the spearheads of the 1st Ukrain and 1st White-Russian front. Being under attack from three sides, the last five Tiger IIs of sSSPzAbt. 502 were used to spearhead a desperate breakout at Halbe on April 27th. Followed by tens of thousands of soldiers and refugees, the column moved through woods and villages, being sitting ducks for the waiting Russians on both flanks. The Tigers were able to establish a breakthrough despite heavy fire from Russian artillery, T-34s and anti-tank guns. The last two Tigers of were lost on the first of May, when the decimated Kampfgruppe reached the 12th Army. By that time up to 60.000 Germans were killed, both soldiers and refugees. 

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