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. 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. Call for thrift with the Tiger tank (‘Tank thief’)īut 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. In the early days of their availability, they were also assigned to various elite divisions, such as Panzergrenadier-Division Grossdeutschland, Fallschirm-Panzer-Division Hermann Göring and the first three Waffen-SS divisions. The Tigers were only very expensive to produce in terms of materials and manpower, so they were treated with care. Heavy Tiger battalions of the German army.
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