Schwere Panzer Abteilung 505 (by Angel Iñigo)

This is a tank battalion which reaped a lot of fame and victories. Among all combat units of its type, the battalion ranks third in effectiveness.

Created in Fallinbostel on January 29, 1943, by government order WK III Abt. Ib Mob. AZ II a Nr. 35/43 Gekados 457, select experts were taken from the 3rd and 26th panzer divisions. They were originally prepared to battle in Africa, but on February 20 an order came to reconfigure the unit to fight on the eastern front. On July 3, 1943, with Mayor Sauvant in command, the Kursk offensive provided the battalion with its trial by fire. On the first day of battle, 27 Tigers in action destroyed 42 tanks, of which 15 were KV-ls. This operation broke down the Soviet's 15th Inflintry Division and created havoc in the whole right flank of the 70th Army. All tanks of the panzer battalion were hit several times, but only 1 was ruined.

Advancing faster than expected, the combat unit was attacked on its flank on July 15, and it responded by sending 2 Tigers which repelled the attack. The German tanks remained unscathed as they demolished 32 T-34s in one hour near Werch Tagino.

On July 22, the battalion was pulled back to Iginka to engage in another defensive action. The 3rd Company began their offensive on August 4 by knocking out 14 enemy tanks while receiving no damage. On the following day, however, Tiger number 333 was burned and abandoned-but not without first destroying 15 T-34s. During the offensive, the battalion had only 9 Tigers operative (17 were undergoing mechanical repairs), but in four days it managed to annihilate 25 Soviet tanks. On September 18, when all the Tigers were combat-ready, 26 T-34s were put out of commission. The Soviets did succeed in capturing tank number 200.

This type of scenario was common wherever any of the heavy-duty tank battalions were involved, because they were manned by the best personnel from the panzer divisions. Although it is true that these military units were an investment that yielded high returns, they drained other panzer divisions of experience and left them at the mercy of circumstances. It was fairly common for Panther and Pz IV battalions to be taken apart before even firing a shot, especially towards the end of the war when chaos reigned and the arrangement of combat units depended more upon veteran commanders acting at will than upon organized government mandates.

The tank battalions, despite the slow speed of their Tigers, continued to demonstrate great flexibility. Recognition of their high regard by the Wermatch came on January 31, 1944, after seven months at the front (of which forty days were spent repositioning). The unit was officially acknowledged for having eliminated 446 tanks during that time, and Oberleutnant Knauth was awarded the Knight's Cross for destroying 68 T-34s in a single day, assisted by 2 other Tigers under his command. Days after being decorated he died in battle, and he continued to be recognized as the unit's top ace until the end of the war.

In 1944, the battalion engaged in numerous defensive battles which were highly successful relative to the losses suffered, but little by little its might waned, and in July of the same year it was hit head-on by the 1st Army of Belorussia's summer offensive. The nearly 100 smoking tanks in the area surrounding Beresowize attested to the high price paid for the victory by the attacking forces, but the German battalion was virtually destroyed.

The scant remains of the combat unit were transferred to the rear guard and the re-supply and training zone at Ohrdruf where it was completely re-equipped with new Tiger II's. On September 21, 1944, it tested its new tanks in battle; 24 smashed T-34s and JS I's and Il's were the result. The German unit lost its first 2 tanks.

On October 16 the panzer battalion ellininated 26 more Soviet tanks. This time it was pounded harder than normal though 9 Tigers were lost.

The war raged on relentlessly, and in spite of these isolated successes by the heavy-duty tank battalions, the German army began to fall apart in the east under the pressure of an army whose commanders, conscious of the tactical superiority of the Germans, determined to fight a strategic war. Despite the incessant pace of the war, this tactical superiority remained evident until the end of the conflict, and our battalion continued to batter away at the opposing forces. Between the 19th of January and the 5th of February of 1945, at a time when 13 Tiger II's and 4 Tiger I's (from the aborted s.Pz.Ab 511) were operative, the unit destroyed 116 tanks and 74 guns. 16 Tigers were lost in the same period, of which 4 were abandoned in workshops and 1 was disassembled for parts.

On February 17, western Prussia was walled off and the end of the battalion was near.

In the area around Metgethen, the first German soil to be occupied by the Red Army, there came reports of constant atrocities and massacres of the civilian population. The 505 Panzer Battalion responded in unison with the equally decimated 52nd Infantry Division in a counterattack that freed the town and created a corridor 1.5 kilometers southwest to the town of Medenav. The soldiers evacuated the area of civilians and, despite constant air attacks, resolved to keep the corridor open at all costs. Six Soviet divisions sent to the area were incredibly held at bay for six days while other parts of Prussia were freed. As a result, more than 100,000 people were able to flee by boat, and the German forces directly helped over 12,000 people get from Metgethen to the seaports.

In these last battles, the battalion lost 10 Tiger II's and all the Tiger I's. On April 6, crewmen without tanks together with mechanics, supply personnel, etc., fought as grenadiers as the last three tanks defended the Peyse peninsula.

On April 15, when gasoline and ammunition ran out, 2 of the Tigers were wrecked and abandoned, and all the crew members boarded the remaining tank and they headed towards Pillau to leave the area by boat. Soviet forces attacked as they retreated and the commander of the unit and leading ace at that time, Oberfeldwebel Mausberg (with more than 50 victories) died in the action. Only a small group of men managed to reach Pillau and escape to Germany.

The battalion achieved an grand total of more than 900 triumphs over enemy tanks and 1,000 victories against guns.

The story was found at PanzerNet

This page was created 1998-09-10
ÓMarkus Bartsch