The 503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion (; abbreviated: "s.Pz.Abt. 503") was a German heavy

Panzer {{CatAutoTOC, numerals=no Words and phrases Germanic words and phrases Words and phrases by language la:Categoria:Verba Theodisca ...

'' Abteilung'' (independent

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...

-sized unit) equipped with

Tiger I The Tiger I () was a Nazi Germany, German heavy tank of World War II that began operational duty in 1942 in North African Campaign, Africa and in the Soviet Union, usually in independent German heavy tank battalion, heavy tank battalions. It g ...

and

Panzer III The ''Panzerkampfwagen III (Pz.Kpfw. III)'', commonly known as the Panzer III, was a medium tank developed in the 1930s by Nazi Germany, Germany, and was used extensively in World War II. The official German ordnance designation was List of Sd.K ...

tanks. In 1944, it was re-equipped with the new Tiger II. The battalion saw action on the Eastern and

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

Fronts during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. As with other German heavy tank battalions, it was normally not assigned to a single corps, but shuffled around according to war circumstances. Later the battalion became part of the newly formed Panzer Corps Feldherrnhalle as the Feldherrnhalle Heavy Tank Battalion.

World War II

The unit was created on May 4, 1942. The unit consisted of 45

s on May 10, 1943. In the aftermath of the Battle of Stalingrad, the battalion was deployed to Army Group Don and arrived at the front on January 1, 1943. The battalion, along with several divisions of the 4th Panzer Army, was tasked with securing the withdrawal of

Army Group A Army Group A () was the name of three distinct army groups of the ''German Army (1935–1945), Heer'', the ground forces of the ''Wehrmacht'', during World War II. The first Army Group A, previously known as "Army Group South", was active from Oct ...

; it then retreated to Rostov. On February 11, 1943, the unit was transferred to

Kharkov Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

. It took part in the

Third Battle of Kharkov The Third Battle of Kharkov was a series of battles on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front of World War II, undertaken by Nazi Germany's Army Group South against the Soviet Red Army, around the city of Kharkov between 19 February ...

and the Operation Citadel in 1943. Four days before the start of Citadel, the battalion reported that 42 of their 45 Tiger tanks were operational. The unit lost three Tigers during the operation and five more during the subsequent retreat. In January 1944, the battalion, together with a panzer regiment and infantry units, formed Panzer Regiment Bäke. The regiment was part of the relief force, which tried to unsuccessfully break through to encircled forces in the Battle of the Korsun–Cherkassy Pocket. The battalion was then trapped in the

Kamenets-Podolsky pocket Kamianets-Podilskyi (, ; ) is a city on the Smotrych River in western Ukraine, western Ukraine, to the north-east of Chernivtsi. Formerly the administrative center of Khmelnytskyi Oblast, the city is now the administrative center of Kamianets ...

. In late April 1944, the regiment was dissolved and sent West for refitting and equipped with 45 new Tiger IIs. The Campaign in Normandy 1944 B8032

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The ope ...

, the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, the unit was transferred to the command of

5th Panzer Army 5th Panzer Army () was the name of two different German armoured formations during World War II. The first of these was formed in 1942, during the North African campaign and surrendered to the Allies at Tunis in 1943. The army was re-formed in F ...

. On the launch of Operation Goodwood, the 3rd company, which was based in Cagny, Calvados, was destroyed in the preliminary Allied bombing, with impacts powerful enough to turn a 56-ton Tiger upside down. Only one Tiger was operational at the end of the day. During the first day of Goodwood, the unit reported the loss of thirteen tanks. At the end of July, the 3rd company received new Tiger II tanks, which were subsequently destroyed in the Allied aerial attacks, with only two brought back to Germany. In October 1944, the refitted 503rd took part in the Battle of Debrecen. In early-November, the battalion provided a mobile reserve for the

6th Army (Wehrmacht) The 6th Army () was a field army of the German Army during World War II. It is widely known for its defeat by and subsequent surrender to the Red Army at the Battle of Stalingrad on 2 February 1943. It committed war crimes at Babi Yar while und ...

, re-designated as Army Group Hermann Balck. By mid-December, the German forces had been pushed back to Budapest. In January 1945, the unit took part in several failed attempts to relieve Budapest, code-named Operation Konrad. Though the 17-24 of February, the 503rd took part in one of the last successful German offensives of the war, '' Operation Südwind (G:Southwind).''

Battle of Berlin

During the Battle of Berlin, from 16 April to 2 May 1945, a Tiger II from the 503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion, bearing the turret number 314, was the last Tiger II to be destroyed in action. At the time, Tiger 314 was commanded by SS- Unterscharfüher Georg Diers. During the battle, Diers was ordered to take up a position by the Reichstag to help the SS garrison defend it from advancing Soviet troops. During the battle, Diers' Tiger was heavily damaged by Soviet T-34-85s and subsequently abandoned. Following Hitler's suicide, Diers repaired his Tiger II to operating condition and joined a German breakout attempt with other armored vehicles. While attempting to escape, the Tiger ran over a German landmine and was

disabled Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physica ...

. Diers and his crew survived, abandoning the tank for the final time. Soon after, they were captured by Soviet troops. Georg Diers was then sent to a Soviet labor camp, where he stayed until 1949 when he was finally allowed to return to Germany. During the Battle of Berlin, Tiger 314 and another Tiger II of the 503rd, Number 311, commanded by Karl Korner, claimed a total of 100 Soviet tanks and 29 artillery pieces destroyed.

Commanders

* ??? Post (May 1942 - 28 January 1943) * Erich Hoheisel (28 January 1943 – May 1943) * Clemens-Heinrich Graf von Kageneck (July 1943 – 30 January 1944) * Rolf Fromme (February 1944 – December 1944) * Nordwin von Diest-Körber (December 1944 – February 1945) * Fritt Herzig (February 1945 – May 1945)

References

Bibliography

External links