Schwere Panzer Abteilung 505 - sPzAbt 505The 505th was the last independent battalion created with the old organization of 20 Tigers and 25 PzKpfw III. Formed in February 1943, the 505th received several Tigers and the rest in March with 25 Pzkpfw IIIs. The unit was loaded on rail cars on 29/30 April 1943 and sent to Heeres Gruppe Mitte on the Eastern Front, where it was ordered to upgrade to the new organization, and received 11 Tigers that were shipped from the ordnance depot between 8 and 10 June 1943. It took part in OPERATION CITADEL as part of Feldmarschall Model's 9th Armee. At the start of the Kursk offensive on 5 July 1943, the unit had 31 Tigers and was joined on 9 July 1943 by 3.Kompanie which was formed in April and received Tigers in June. The 505th lost only four Tigers during the Kursk offensive but lost a further six by the end of July 1943.
After the Kursk offensive, sPzAbt 505 was moved to the Smolensk area. During the fall of 1944, sPzAbt 505 was equipped with new version Tiger Is, which had cast cupolas, zimmerit, and the new steel-rimmed wheels developed for the Tiger II Ausf B Koenigs Tiger.
The 505th was ordered out of the Eastern Front on 7 July 1944, to rest and refit at the troop grounds at Ohrduf. By early September, 1944, sPzAbt 505 had been equipped with new Tiger II Ausf Bs. sPzAbt 505 was used with 24th and 25th Panzer Divisions, initially against the Narev bridgeheads in the 1944 Russian offensive into East Prussia. The battalion fought in East Prussia until the end of the conflict.
Websites containing Tiger InformationTiger I and Tiger II Unit Information:http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=2160http://www.achtungpanzer.com/articles/tigertam.htmhttp://www.achtungpanzer.com/pz5.htmhttp://www-d0.fnal.gov/~turcot/Armour/tiger.htmhttp://www.homepurchaseprogram.com/504th.htmlhttp://www.ss501panzer.com/menandunit.htm
