Death Ride of the Panzers
Page 16
This battle group was commanded by Oberst Erhard Grosan and was made up of two Tigers, a single Panther, and two assault guns from the Panzertruppenschule Bergen with supporting infantry including sailors from the 2.Marine-Division. Oberst Grosan had been seriously wounded earlier in the war, losing a leg, and had been appointed acting commander of the Bergen tank school when he returned to duty. On April 11, Grosan’s Kampfgruppe attacked British positions at Engehausen near Buchholz, managing to halt an enemy advance. On the following day, Franzen’s Tiger arrived and was immediately used in an attack on the Aller bridgehead near Essel. Grosan’s men were able to destroy two of the new British Comet tanks and several other vehicles before withdrawing to the cover of a nearby forest. On April 14, as the Kampfgruppe was moving south from Ostenholz, an armor-piercing round from a Comet slammed into the side of Franzen’s Tiger as it drove along a creek bed from a range of just 60 meters. Although the tank was completely destroyed, Franzen and the crew managed to escape.
The remainder of Grosan’s Kampfgruppe moved on to Ahlften, where they attacked British positions on the Halburger Strasse north of Soltau, between Bremen and Lüneburg. Withdrawing to the south through Bassel, one of the remaining Tigers ran out of fuel and Grosan ordered the crew to remain at the approach to the town to form a static defense position. Three days later, on April 17, British attempts to outflank Soltau were repulsed by this lone Tiger. On the following day, the remaining serviceable Tiger of Kampfgruppe Grosan managed to halt the forward elements of the British 7th Armored Division at Bispingen, 15 kilometers further to the north. At the same time, the tanks of Kampfgruppe Benningsen from Panzer-Division Clausewitz were able to drive the British from their positions around Wittingen, in the area east of Hanover, although they could not keep the enemy out of Ülzen and Lüneburg further to the north. On April 19, the British renewed their attacks around Wittingen but were forced to withdraw when a single Tiger of Kampfgruppe Benningsen from Panzer-Division Clausewitz was able to halt the advance of a complete tank regiment. Major von Benningsen’s tanks fought throughout the day but lost contact with the other units of the division once darkness fell. They moved towards the forest near Ehra-Lessien, north of Wolfsburg, and managed to inadvertently outflank and almost annihilate an American blocking force. The next day was spent preparing an attack on the last remaining bridge across the Weser-Elbe canal near Fallersleben, and in the early hours of April 21 the road between Gifhorn and Brome was secured. In the morning gloom, the German tanks were able to mingle with an American transport column undetected until they reached the canal, where an anti-tank gun position suddenly opened fire and destroyed the lead tank. Benningsen’s tanks returned fire and raced forward. They captured the bridge and moved forward to Ehmen, in the process passing a full company of American tanks that were too busy refueling to attempt to stop the Panzers4 Reaching the safety of the Elm Mountains, without any fuel and little ammunition, Benningsen decided to disband the Kampfgruppe and ordered the men try to destroy their tanks and make their escape as best they could. The last tank of Panzer-Division Clausewitz, the Tiger that had stayed at Wittingen, continued to defend its position, holding up the British advance again on May 1 until it was simply overwhelmed.
Impressive as these local victories were, they could not alter the strategic situation. While Grosan and Benningsen’s battle groups were fighting until they no longer had the means to do so, Schweinfurt and Nuremberg had fallen to the allies. In the north Bremen was taken and in the south the Danube had been crossed. On April 25, American soldiers were able to meet Soviet units on the Elbe River at Torgau, southwest of Berlin. On the day the last tank of Panzer-Division Clausewitz was battling a British armored regiment outside Wittingen, the remnants of General Walter Wenck’s 12.Armee, which Hitler had earlier ordered to relieve Berlin, was surrendering to the Americans. In less than a week, units of US 3rd Army were fighting in Czechoslovakia. On Monday, May 7, Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht chief of staff, signed Germany’s unconditional surrender. All units of the Wehrmacht were to cease operations at 1 minute after midnight on the next day.
Although the war in Europe was over, one final duty remained for the Panzertruppen. On May 11, 1945, British authorities in the port city of Kiel formed a security unit composed of German prisoners of war, referred to as I.Abteiling, Feldjäger-Regiment 1. The battalion’s personnel were drawn almost exclusively from Panzer-Regiment 35 and were armed with German army rifles and pistols. The officers and men were permitted to wear their insignia and decorations provided that any Swastikas or National Socialist references were removed. Overseen by the Feldjägerkommando, these men did not formally surrender their weapons until June 23, 1946 and must have been some of the last members of the Wehrmacht under arms.
PANZER-REGIMENT, APRIL 1945
On March 25, 1945, Oberkommando des Heeres, the high command of the army, ordered that all Panzer and Panzergrenadier divisions were to be re-organized in accordance with an instruction titled “Gliederung der Panzer-Division 45.” Each division was to contain a single Panzer battalion made up of two companies of PzKpfw V Panther and two companies of PzKpfw IV tanks. Each company contained three platoons of three tanks, with a single tank allocated to the company headquarters. This new order called for the Panzer-Abteilung to be combined with a Panzergrenadier-Bataillon under a regimental headquarters to form a Gemischte, or mixed, Panzer-Regiment. In addition to the twenty Panthers on hand with the companies of the Panzer-Abteilung, the battalion staff and regimental headquarters were both allocated two PzKpfw V Panther tanks. The single exception to this order was 232.Panzer-Division, which was to retain its unique establishment. These mixed units should not be confused with the Panzer-Sturmgeschütz battalions, which were formed from mid-1943 and sometimes referred to as Gemischte Panzer-Abteilungen. Those divisions unable to comply with the March 1945 order, due to a lack of personnel or equipment, were to be reorganized as Kampfgruppe Panzer-Division 45, the structure of which was similar to the full division with a much reduced infantry and artillery component. Detailed instructions in the form of Kriegstärkenachweisung were issued on April 1, 1945, and all formations were to report their progress by the beginning of May. Detailed records from this period are fragmentary at best; however, it is known that of the divisions serving in the west, 116.Panzer-Division formed a Kampfgruppe from the remaining elements of the division, comprising a Panzer-Kompanie with fourteen Panthers and a platoon of four Sturmtiger 38cm self-propelled guns. The remaining tanks and personnel of 2.Panzer-Division were reorganized as a Kampfgruppe Panzer-Division after absorbing Panzer-Division Thüringen, which was actually a brigade-sized formation made up of training and replacement units. The reorganization of 9.Panzer-Division was somewhat unique in that the first battalion of the Panzer regiment was made up of two companies of PzKpfw V Panthers with a single PzKpfw IV company, while the second battalion was equipped with a mixture of Sturmgeschütz III, Jagdpanzer 38, and Panzer IV/70(V) tank destroyers scavenged from the remnants of various units.
PANZERS IN THE WEST, MARCH-APRIL 1945
Accurate records from this period are scarce and this chart was compiled from several sources, including personal accounts. As with the other charts in this book, the armored vehicles allocated to the Panzerjäger battalions of Grenadier, Volksgrenadier, and other infantry formations are not included. During this period, the Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer tank destroyer was the most numerous armored vehicle at the front, with 256 reported on hand in the last three months of the war. Many of these vehicles were allocated to newly raised infantry formations, such as the RAD and Marine-Infanterie divisions. By the end of 1944, all the independent Panzer brigades, with the exception of Panzer-Brigade 106 Feldherrnhalle, had been disbanded with their personnel and material absorbed by rebuilt Panzer and Panzergrenadier divisions. The Tiger (P) of Panzer-Kompanie Kummersdorf was one of only two completed Porsche prototypes and although immobile, could still fire its gun. The tank was suppo
rted by a Volkssturm unit in the defense of the Wehrmacht's weapons testing facility at Kummersdorf. Kampgruppe Wiking refers to the 150 men from SS-Panzer-Regiment 5, under the command of Hauptsturmf, hrer Nicolussi-Leck, who had been sent to Germany to pick up new tanks in early April 1945. After some searching, they took control of seven Jagdpanthers from the MNH factory at Hannover-Laatzen. Nicolussi-Leck's Kampfgruppe spent the next weeks fighting against American armored units in the area between Celle and Wolfsburg until April 16, when they surrendered. This was the only unit of the SS-Wiking division to fight on the Western Front.
PANZER-DIVISION CLAUSEWITZ, APRIL 1945
Typical of the ad-hoc formations created in the last months of the conflict, Panzer-Division Clausewitz was ordered into existence on Wednesday April 4, 1945, barely five weeks before the end of the war, with the stipulation that the division was to be ready for operations by the following Sunday. Panzer-Division Clausewitz was originally to be formed from elements of a Panzer replacement and training unit and the anti-tank battalion from Panzergrenadier-Division Grossdeutschland and elements of 325.Infanterie-Division. However, the infantry units were heavily engaged at the front and could not be spared. Panzerjäger-Abteilung Grossdeutschland had lost all its new Panzer IV/70(V) tank destroyers in East Prussia and had to be refitted with Sturmgeschütz III assault guns before the battalion could join the division. On April 6, new orders were issued stating that Panzer-Division Clausewitz would be organized from remnants of various units. These would eventually include Panzer-Division Holstein (which had been largely destroyed in the fighting for Kolberg), parts of 233.Reserve-Panzer-Division, and the tanks of the Schiess-Schule Putlos, the German army's tank gunnery school. Although the new division lacked transport and a full complement of armored vehicles, many of its personnel were combat veterans or instructors and the division's commander, Generalleutnant Martin Unrein, was a highly experienced and competent officer who had led 14.Panzer-Division in Russia and, briefly, the III.(germanisches) SS-Panzerkorps. The division's original complement of armored infantry was provided by Panzergrenadier-Ersatz und Ausbildungs-Regiment Feldherrnhalle, a training and replacement unit consisting of three battalions and totalling 3,321 men. Although strong in numbers of personnel, the regiment had no transport for its Panzergrenadier companies, which were in effect ordinary infantry units. Soon after joining the division, the regiment was reduced from three to two battalions. The surplus personnel formed a second regiment and the two formations were then referred to as Feldherrnhalle 1 and Feldherrnhalle 2. This is first noted in a report of April 12, 1945. Confusingly, reports for April 17 and April 28 both show Feldherrnhalle 1 as having three battalions, the latter report referring to “III/Panzergrenadier Ers u Aus Regt Feldherrnhalle.” Attached to the division on April 6, 1945, Panzergrenadier-Regiment 42 was formed from the remnants of 233.Panzer-Division. This unit also lacked most of its authorized motor transport, with just the Panzerjäger Kompanie having its full complement.
5.01. Captured after the fighting for Ostheim north of Colmar on January 31,1945 by US 75th Infantry Division, which had been attached to the French First Army for the capture of Neuf-Brisach near Colmar, this Hotchkiss H-39 light tank or Panzerkampfwagen 39-H 735 (f) must have been a rare sight by this time.
5.02. Photographed in Clervaux on January 25, 1945 this Panther ausf G of 3.Kompanie, Panzer-Regiment 2 was abandoned by its crew due to a mechanical failure. In early 1945, most of the Panthers of this battalion were November 1944 production models identified by the self-cleaning rear idler, raised housing for the crew compartment heater, and the Flammvernichcter exhaust mufflers. The company number of 301 is visible on the turret side.
5.03. Abandoned in the streets of the small town of Mittlewihr, just north of Colmar in France, this Panzer IV/70(A) was knocked out when 7.Kompanie, Panzer Regiment 2, which had been attached to Panzer-Brigade 106 Feldherrnhalle, attempted to take the town in December 1944. The fighting here continued well into January 1945 and damaged the town so completely that it was never rebuilt. Parts of a medieval church and a wall at the entry of the village are all that remain today.
5.04. Although no identifying markings are visible on either of these Sturmgeschütz III assault guns except the Balkenkreuz on the rear of the nearest vehicle, both Panzerjäger-Abteilung 38 of 2.Panzer-Division and Panzerjäger-Abteilung 212 of 212. Volks-Grenadier-Division were both involved in the fighting for Wallendorf on the Luxembourg-German border, where this photograph was taken, and both were equipped with a number of these vehicles. Note the pattern impressed into the Zimmerit on the nearest assault gun indicative of vehicles manufactured by the firm of Alkett at their Berlin plant.
5.05. Photographed in February 1945 after the surrender of the German units defending the area around Castle Rath at Düren, south-west of Cologne, this Sturmgeschütz III assault gun has a stylized mouth and eyes painted onto the Topfblende gun mantlet. Neither the US Army or OKW situation maps for this period show any units equipped with these vehicles in the area, although it is possible that Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 1363 of 363.Volksgrenadier-Division, equipped with Hetzer tank destroyers, may have had a small number of Sturmgeschütz III from another unit temporarily attached.
5.06. A Tiger I of Panzer-Kompanie Hummel photographed in Elsdorf in February 1945 shortly after the company was detached from schwere Panzer-Abteilung 506. German sources insist that this tank was caught in the debris of the house in the background as it reversed during a fire fight with Pershing tanks of US 3rd Armored Division, while American accounts state it was hit and disabled by a Pershing. This vehicle, number 201, is also show in the illustration section on page 138.
5.07. Abandoned in one of the open fields around Hargarten, some 25 kilometers north of Bitburg, this Panzerjäger V Jagdpanther of schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung 654 is one of a number the battalion lost here. Commanded by Major Karl-Heinz Noak, this formation was under the direct control of Heeresgruppe G during the Nordwind operation and suffered heavy casualties. By February 1945, the battalion had been reduced to just six serviceable tank destroyers.
5.08. Photographed in March 1945, this Jagdtiger is one of two vehicles of schwere-Panzerjäger-Abteilung 653 that were abandoned by their crews near Morsbronn-les-Bains after both suffered mechanical failures. In his authoritative history of the battalion, author Karlheinz Münch states that this vehicle's commander, Feldwebel Heinz Telgmann, destroyed this Jagdtiger with a demolition charge. Although badly damaged, the vehicle's company number and Balkenkreuz insignia are still visible on the side of the fighting compartment and photographs of other Jagdtigers of this battalion suggest that the numbers all the company numbers were painted in solid black.
5.09. The official caption of this image states that these soldiers of the US 4th Cavalry Group were photographed in Flesch on March 2, 1945 taking cover behind this abandoned German tank. The correct location, however, is almost certainly Frechen just outside Cologne, which was, according to the published US 12th Army Group situation map, right on the front line on that date. Both the US Army and OKW situation maps for early March 1945 confirm German dispositions in the area and this Panther ausf A is probably from Panzer Regiment 33 of 9.Panzer-Division.
5.10. Disabled near the fortress town of Bitche, some 40 kilometers south-east of Saarbrücken in early March 1945, this Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer tank destroyer may be from Panzerjäger-Abteilung(mot) 1316 of 16.Volks-Grenadier-Division, the only unit close to the town at that time equipped with these vehicles. The style of factory-applied camouflage is an identifying feature of the Hetzers manufactured by the Bömisch-Märische Maschinenfabrik (BMM) in occupied Czechoslovakia. Just visible to the left of the gun mantlet is a matte black rectangle, which was painted onto the hull from October 1944 in an effort to decoy enemy gunners away from the prominent drivers visor and vision block.
5.11. This Pzkpfw V Panther ausf G was photographed in the town of Kelberg, approximately 30 kilometers west of Koblenz on March 11, 1945, shortly
after the town was captured by units of the US 11th Armored Division. According to the American account, Kelberg was defended by six German tanks including at least one Tiger II. In early March, 5.Panzerarmee was retreating through this area and it is likely that this Panther belonged to either 2.Panzer-Division or 9.Panzer-Division. The only unit on the Western Front equipped with the Tiger II at this time, schwere Panzer-Abteilung 506, was fighting much further to the north.
5.12. The Jagdpanther G2 depicted here of 1.Kompanie, schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung 654 took part in the fighting around the village of Ginsterhahn, south of Cologne in the Ruhr pocket, in March 1945, when the company was attached to Kampfgruppe Paffrath. Commanded by Oberleutnant Waldemar Paffrath, this battle group consisted of the first and fourth companies of schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung 654, the latter made up of the surviving Nashorn 88mm self-propelled anti-tank guns of 1.Kompanie, schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung 525, and elements of 11.Panzer-Division.
5.13. Photographed in Dörgerstrasse in the town of Osterode am Harz, north-east of Kassel in Germany, on April 12, 1945 this Tiger II was allocated to schwere Panzer-Abteilung 507 and may be one of the tanks of the battalion's 3.Kompanie, which was attached to SS-Panzer Brigade Westfalen between March 30 and April 11, 1945. In his exhaustive works on the Tiger battalions, Wolfgang Schneider states that this vehicle had broken down outside the Gasthof, visible in the background, due to track damage and was abandoned there. However, in the following days the tank was photographed from several angles and in all photos the tracks appear intact. The official caption suggests that this vehicle was knocked out by a 90mm round and towed into the town by the battalion's Werkstatt-Kompanie and a point of impact can be discerned on the turret side just behind the spare tracks. This vehicle is also depicted in the colored illustration section on page 146.