1. PzKpfw V Panther ausf G. 1.Kompanie, Panzer-Regiment 9. Attached to 25.Panzer-Division, this regiment ended the war in western Czechoslovakia, where much of its equipment was captured by US Army units. Many, if not all, the vehicles of Panzer-Regiment 9 could be identified by the unit insignia (3) created in honour of the regiment's commander, Oberstleutnant Eberhard Zahn, whose name in English translates to tusk or tooth.
Above and right: That at least some of the regiment's tanks also carried the division's colorful unit marking (2) is confirmed by a photograph of a much battered Panther ausf A (4), which was marked with both badges.
5. Sturmgeschütz IV. Unit unidentified. Photographed in central Germany at the end of the war, this vehicle has the pivoting hull Schürzen that were more commonly seen on Sturmgeschütz III assault guns at this time. Almost identical arrangements, including the curved lower edge of the Schürzen, could be seen on Sturmgeschütz IV assault guns on both fronts in 1945, suggesting that this was a new design introduced by Krupp, which manufactured all these vehicles, and not a field modification. Interestingly, the factory-applied camouflage of these assault guns seems to incorporate a fourth, lighter colour. In March 1945, II. Abteilung, Panzer-Regiment 3 of 2.Panzer-Division was the only unit on the Western Front to report any of these assault guns as combat ready.
4.01. Supporting the infantry of 560.Volksgrenadier-Division during the initial phase of the Ardennes offensive, the assault guns of 244.Sturmgeschütz-Brigade forced a crossing under fire of the Our River near Welchenhausen on the Belgian-German border where this vehicle was photographed. Completely destroyed in the battles on the Eastern front in July 1944, the brigade was rebuilt in Holland in October despite just seven of these vehicles being on hand in December and even the loss of one would have been sorely felt. Several features identify this as a late production vehicle, including the side opening loader's hatch to accommodate the Rundumsfeuer remotely controlled machine gun, the travel lock for the main gun introduced in June 1944 and the complete lack of Zimmerit, which was dropped from production in the following September.
4.02. Photographed in Clervaux, in the north-east corner of Luxembourg, this badly damaged Sturmgeschütz III is one of the six assault guns of II.Abteilung, Panzer-Regiment 3 of 2.Panzer-Division which attacked the town from the south on the morning of December 17, 1944. Supported by infantry from one of the division's Panzergrenadier battalions, the assault guns ran head on into five Sherman tanks of the US 707th Tank Battalion. In the ensuing battle, two German vehicles were knocked out and the Americans lost three Shermans. The burning hulks blocked the road, effectively halting any further German advance from this direction.
4.03. Just twenty of these vehicles were built as conversions based on the Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer with the main gun replaced with a flamethrower and all served with Panzer-Kompanie (Flamm) 352 and Panzer-Kompanie (Flamm) 353 during the Ardennes Offensive in December 1944. The vehicle shown here is probably from the former. Both companies took part in Operation Nordwind in January 1945 after which the surviving vehicles were formed into a single company.
4.04. Captured near Gros-Réderching during the battles for Metz, this Flammpanzer 38(t) is one of the vehicles of Panzer-Kompanie (Flamm) 353 that supported the units of 17.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division. Both this company and Panzer-Kompanie (Flamm) 352 were attached to 1.Armee during this time.
4.05. A Pzkpfw V Panther ausf G of Panzer-Regiment 33, 9.Panzer-Division photographed in Humain on December 28, 1944 following the successful attempt by US 2nd Armored Division to retake the town. The division had taken over this section of the line just two days previously and suffered badly in the intense artillery barrage which preceded the attack and the ten hour battle that followed. A small number 80 is just visible on the turret side forward of the Balkenkreuz and this may indicate the commander of 8.Kompanie Oberleutnant Hugo Crisandt. This company was formed exclusively from members of 1.Kompanie, Panzer-Abteilung 2105 when that battalion was disbanded in October 1944. This vehicle is also depicted in the colored illustration section on page 100.
4.06. Panzer-Brigade 150 was formed specifically for the Ardennes Offensive and equipped with either captured US Army vehicles or German tanks and assault guns which were modified and painted to resemble Allied vehicles. The Sturmgeschütz III shown here was abandoned after the brigade's unsuccessful attack on Malmedy on December 21, 1944. All were painted in an olive green shade, probably RAL 6003 Olivgrün, and marked with large white stars and US vehicle codes, although the latter included the letters XY which would identify them to German military police units.
4.07. Photographed in the town of Hotton, 20 kilometers north-west of Houffalize in Belgium on December 26, 1944, this Panther ausf G of I Abteilung, Panzer Regiment 16 of 116.Panzer-Division and a Pzkpfw IV ausf J from 6.Kompanie of the division’s II Abteilung were part of Kampfgruppe Bayer, which attempted to capture the town on the previous Thursday. The extended mantlet of the main gun on the Panther, often referred to as a chin, was introduced into production from September 1944. The small contrasting dots of color incorporated into the camouflage scheme are just visible on the turret and quite clear on the hull Schürzen.
4.08. Although this Bergepanzer III recovery vehicle was photographed in company with tanks of 9.Panzer-Division, there is no record of that formation having any of these vehicles on hand. These vehicles were usually allocated to companies or battalions equipped with the Sturmgeschütz III assault gun and one possible candidate is Panzerjäger-Abteilung 228 of 116.Panzer-Division, which was operating in the same area at the end of December 1944 and had a single Bergepanzer III on hand.
4.09. This Panther ausf G of 4.Kompanie, SS-Panzer-Regiment 2 is almost certainly one of the tanks disabled on the morning of December 24, 1944, when Hauptscharführer Franz Frausscher led four Panthers of his platoon in an attack towards Manhay from Grandmènil, approximately 12 kilometers north of Houffalize, in Belgium. The tank pictured here was overturned by a US Army Bulldozer in an effort to clear the road. This tank has the self-cleaning rear idler and raised housing for the crew compartment heater, indicating that it was assembled some time after October 1944.
4.10. On Christmas Day 1944, a Kampfgruppe made up from elements of the Führer-Grenadier-Brigade attacked US Army positions in front of the village of Heiderscheid, north-west of Diekirch in central Luxembourg, and were caught in the open field shown here. The Sturmgeschütz III is from the brigade's III. Abteilung, which had thirteen of these vehicles on hand and the half track is an SdKfz 251/17 equipped with a 20mm cannon, not visible here, fitted into the small turret above the driver's position. Very few of these vehicles were produced and just over 130 were delivered between October 1944 and February 1945. The number 21 is visible on the open rear access door of the halftrack and what may be a O is just discernible on the hull side above the center stowage locker.
4.11. This Sturmgeschütz III is another of the vehicles of III.Abteilung, Führer-Grenadier-Brigade, which attacked Heiderscheid on December 25, 1944. This is a late production vehicle as evidenced by the hole in the upper left corner of the gun mantlet for a coaxial machine gun that was fitted from October 1944. Although the well known Topfblende cast gun mantlet, often referred to today as the Saukopf, was incorporated into production from November 1943, there is some evidence that the firm of MIAG continued to install the welded version shown here until the end of the war.
4.12. Knocked out during the defense of Heiderscheid in central Luxembourg, this Panther ausf G was one of the thirty-seven tanks on hand with III.Abteilung, Führer-Grenadier-Brigade at the start of the Ardennes Offensive. The Panthers of the brigade supported 79.Volksgrenadier-Division here from December 22, 1944 and suffered heavily. The only markings visible are the Balkenkreuz on the hull side at the front and the vehicle's chassis number, or Fahrgestellnummer, on the glacis.
4.13. The caption of the US Signal Corps photograph provides little information about this Sturmgeschütz III, other than that it was pho
tographed in the Ardennes. The tactical marking on the hull front, however, may provide a clue as to which unit this vehicle belonged. The rhomboid denotes a Panzer unit while the small number 12 identifies the company. Of all the armored units under the command of Oberbefehlshaber West in December 1944, only III.Abteilung of the Führer-Grenadier-Brigade contained a twelfth company and the battalion was in fact reinforced with a number of Sturmgeschütz III assault guns in late November or early December, eighteen of which were combat ready when the offensive began.
4.14. Photographed just 3 kilometers from St Vith, as the sign in the background clearly indicates, this Sturmgeschütz III ausf G may be from Panzerjäger-Abteilung 673 of the Führer-Begleit-Brigade. During the Ardennes offensive this unit was operating near the village Hünnigen, a village to the north of St Vith and incorrectly identified as of Hummange in the official caption, and had five combat ready assault guns on hand.
4.15. A Tiger II of 2.Kompanie, schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 501 photographed outside the town of La Gleize, just 8 kilometers to the west of Malmedy on the road to Stoumont, on December 24, 1944. Commanded by Unterscharführer Eduard Stadler, this tank was one of over 100 vehicles abandoned in this area by Kampfgruppe Peiper when the Germans were forced to retreat on foot. Another 2.Kompanie Tiger, numbered 213 and commanded during the battle by Obersturmführer Helmut Dollinger, is today on permanent display at the December 44 Historical Museum in La Gleize. This vehicle is also depicted in the colored illustration section on page 103.
4.16. A Pzkpfw IV ausf H, identified by the small muffler on the left hand side of the hull rear plate, photographed in Belgium in late 1944. Other images which seem to depict tanks disabled along this same stretch of road suggest that this vehicle may be from 6.Kompanie, SS-Panzer-Regiment 1 and the location may be somewhere near Wirtzfeld, 10 kilometers from Malmedy in Belgium. Commanded by Obersturmführer Werner Sternebeck, this company had been detached from the regiment's II.Abteilung and formed the armored spearhead of Kampfgruppe Peiper in the opening stages of the Ardennes Offensive.
4.17. This Tiger II of 3.Kompanie, schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 501 was disabled outside the village of Garonne near Engelsdorf on Christmas Day 1944. This photograph was taken almost two weeks later when it was apparently safe for civilians to return to the area. As they had been in Normandy, the tanks of this battalion were marked in different styles and colors for the headquarters and three companies and examples are shown in the illustration section. This vehicle is also depicted in the colored illustration section on page 103.
4.18. An Sdkfz 251/7 engineer halftrack destroyed at Amblève in December 1944. This vehicle was probably allocated to SS-Panzerpionier-Bataillon 1 under the command of Obersturmführer Franz Sievers and attached to Kampfgruppe Peiper. The American soldier is examining the bellows used to inflate the one of the rubber dinghies carried by these specialist halftracks.
4.19. The vehicle closest to the camera is a Panther ausf G of 3.Kompanie, SS-Panzer-Regiment 12 photographed in the streets of Krinkelt on December 18, 1944. When the Ardennes offensive began these tanks were part of Kampfgruppe Kuhlmann, which consisted of the Panthers of I.Abteilung, SS-Panzer-Regiment 12, the armored infantry of III.Abteilung, SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 26 supported by the Jagdpanzer IV/70, and Jagdpanther tank destroyers of schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung 560. The Panthers were, however, detached to aid Kampfgruppe Muller in the capture of the twin villages of Krinkelt-Rocherath. Many of the tanks destroyed in the close confines of the town were victims of bazooka teams.
4.20. Photographed on the road south of Krinkelt, towards Kanlenberg, this Panther ausf G of 1.Kompanie, SS-Panzer-Regiment 12 may be one of the company's tanks that survived the savage fighting in the town as evidenced by the considerable amount of rubble on the rear deck. The company number 126 is clearly visible on the turret side.
4.21. Abandoned at La Gleize, east of Stoumont, this Panther ausf G of 2.Kompanie, SS-Panzer-Regiment 1 was commanded Hauptscharführer Heinz Knappich. The tank's company number of 221 is visible in at least one other photograph of this vehicle. Incredibly this tank was hit at least eight times, at close range, by a US 90mm anti-aircraft gun as it entered the town, but was only disabled and Hauptscharführer Knappich and the entire crew managing to escape. Just twenty-four of these Panthers, all built by MAN during September 1944, were fitted with steel road wheels seen here.
4.22. Two panther ausf G tanks of SS-Panzer-Regiment 1 attached to Kampfgruppe Peiper abandoned after the fighting in the Ardennes. The tank in the foreground is painted in the so-called ambush camouflage scheme sometimes referred to as the Dot Pattern, where large fields of color were covered with small dots of a contrasting shade. Examples are shown in the illustration section. This factory-applied scheme was indicative of vehicles manufactured by Daimler-Benz, as was the placement of the Balkenkreuz on the hull side. Just visible behind the gun mantlet is what appears to be a small number 301 painted in black although the battalion's 3.Kompanie was not present at the time.
4.23. This Panther ausf G was knocked out on December 18, 1944 as it left Cheneux, south of Stoumont, and approached the railway bridge across the Amblève river less than 500 meters to the south of the village. Although badly damaged, the remains of the so-called disc camouflage is clearly visible on the turret as is the tank's company number depicted in black with a white outline. In the original image it is possible to see that the number 131 has also been painted behind the gun mantlet. At least one other tank of this company, number 124, was painted in the same style of camouflage.
4.24. Although the identification of this Tiger II as a tank of 1.Kompanie, schwere Panzer-Abteilung 506 is beyond question, the location has been the subject of some debate, variously described as Villers-la-Bonne-Eau, Lutramange or Moinet. I believe that this may be one of two Tigers the battalion lost on January 13, 1945 in a fight with tanks of the US 6th Armored Division as described by Schneider. This is not the town of Moinet, which is much further to the north and closer to Oberwampach in Luxembourg, but rather the Moinet farm just off the road from Villers-la-Bonne-Eau to Lutramange. In the original print, a number 1 is visible to the left of the Balkenkreuz on the turret side and this is in keeping with the system used by this battalion.
4.25. This late production Pzkpfw V Panther ausf G of I Abteilung, Panzer Regiment 33 of 9.Panzer-Division was photographed between Clervaux and Hosingen in northern Luxembourg near the German border, probably in January 1945. Photographs of other tanks of this regiment’s third company taken at the same time confirm that it was common practice to repeat the tank’s number on the turret rear. This tank has the later style gun mantlet with the extension along the lower edge introduced into production from September 1944.
4.26. This Pzkpfw IV ausf J of I.Abteilung, Panzer-Regiment 33 from 9.Panzer-Divison may have been another of the regiment's tanks that were lost in near Langlire, north-east of Houffalize, in early January 1945. This tank is also depicted in the illustration section, where the distinctive unit insignia adopted by this battalion is shown in detail. This vehicle is also depicted in the colored illustration section on page 102.
4.27. Said to have been knocked out during the fighting for the village of Langlire, north-east of Houffalize, on January 13, 1945, this Panther ausf G is most often associated with Panzer-Regiment 33 of 9.Panzer-Division. However, that regiment's Panthers were all allocated to II.Abteilung, making the turret number highly unlikely. I believe that this tank is almost certainly from 116.Panzer-Division, whose I.Abteilung, Panzer-Regiment 24 took part in the battles conducted in this area while 9.Panzer-Division was operating much further to the north. The camouflage scheme is an example of the factory-applied patterns that came into use from August 1944. The example shown here is indicative of vehicles manufactured by either MAN or Daimler-Benz.
4.28. Photographed near the village of Marcourt, north-west of Houffalize, in early January 1945, this Sdkfz 251/1 halftrack has been fitted with a captured .50 caliber machine gun. Thi
s vehicle may have been operated by one of the Panzergrenadier battalions of 116.Panzer-Division.
4.29. Photographed in the area north of Houffalize in Belgium on January 13, 1945, this Pzkpfw IV is one of the tanks of Panzer-Abteilung 115 from 15.Panzergrenadier-Division. This division had been stationed in Italy as late as June 1944 and after being transferred to the Western front had spent much of November fighting around the city of Aachen. For the Ardennes Offensive, the Panzer battalion was reinforced with thirty Sturmgeschütz III assault guns. A somewhat reconstructed version of this vehicle, as it may have appeared before it was badly damaged and covered by snow, is included in the illustration section. This vehicle is also depicted in the colored illustration section on page 105.
4.30. A Flakpanzer IV Möbelwagen photographed near the town of Hosingen in northern Luxembourg in early 1945. Both 2.Panzer-Division and Panzer-Lehr-Division were involved in the fighting in this area and both had four of these vehicles on hand on when the Ardennes Offensive began on December 16, 1944. Although these vehicles were rushed into production as a stop gap, they served in the anti-aircraft platoons of all the Panzer divisions on the Western Front with 240 built on the chassis of damaged Pzkpfw IV tanks.
4.31. This Panther ausf G of I.Abteilung, Panzer-Regiment 130 of Panzer-Lehr-Division was disabled near the village of Buissonville, north of Rochefort, in the fighting which took place there in late December 1944. These tanks supported Kampfgruppe von Fallois, made up principally of the division's reconnaissance battalion commanded by Major Gerd von Fallois, and were stalled just short of the village by tanks of US 2nd Armored Division. Although the battalion's tanks were usually marked with a company number on the turret sides, this vehicle is devoid of any markings other than the Balkenkreuz on the rear stowage box and hull side behind the tool rack, the latter a possible identifying feature of Panthers manufactured by Daimler-Benz.
Death Ride of the Panzers Page 14