Schwere Panzer Abteilung 504 - sPzAbt 504The 504th was the second Tiger unit to be sent to Tunisia. It was issued 25 PzKpfw III plus two Panzerbefehlswagen Tiger in January, and 18 Tigers, comprising the battalion staff, workshop company, and 1st tank company arrived in Tunisia on 12 March 1943. The 2nd company remained in Sicily. The tank company had four platoons, each with two Tiger I tanks and two Pzkpw III support tanks. All of the sPzAbt 504 Tigers were destroyed or captured. The surviving elements surrendered on 12 May 1943.
On 13 April 1943, the OKH ordered that six Tigers were to be stationed on Sicily and that until transferred to Tunisia, the 2.Kompanie/ schwere Panzer Abteilung 504 was to be attached to PzAbt 215 with a reinforced platoon of six Tigers being immediately shipped to Sicily. Altogether 17 Tigers gathered on Sicily: the original nine from 2.Kompanie of the 504th, two Tigers that had been used as replacements for the 501st in February, and the six Tigers issued in April 1943 for the 215th.
Attached to Panzer Division Herrmann Goering, the 17 Tigers under the 2.Kompanie of the 504th attacked the American landing zone on 11 July 1943, but were neutralized by naval gunfire. Within the first three days ten out of the 17 Tigers were destroyed to prevent capture and a further six Tigers were destroyed later for the same reason. The last Tiger was shipped back across the straits of Messina to Italy.
sPzAbt 504 spent the rest of the war in Italy. The battalion was rebuilt with a full three company organization, with additional personnel from PzAbt. 18. The unit trained in Germany, and when it returned to Italy, was assigned to support 17th SS PzGren. Div. Goetz Von Berlichingen. Its first action in Italy was in support of the 362nd Inf. Div. in the containment of the Allied advance up the Italian coast following the Anzio landing. sPzAbt 504 saw a great deal of action in the Italian campaign, including the Arno river campaign and the defense of northern Italy. In 1944, in the Vienna area, sPzAbt 504 was partly re-equipped with Tiger II Ausf Bs. The battalion surrendered at the end of the war, along with other German units in Italy.
Service in Afrika
Schwere Panzer Abteilung 504 (s.Pz.Abt.504) was the second Tiger Battalion to be assigned to Tunisia. (s.Pz.Abt.501 was already in Tunisia and operating against the allies.)
In February 1943 the s.Pz.Abt.504 was advised that its 1st Company would be going to Tunisia, and their Tigers were equipped for tropical duty. Because of the training time and delays in the delivery of vehicles and equipment, the ill-fated 1st Company did not begin to move until the end of February of 1943. From March 6 to April 16th the s.Pz.Abt.504 was ferried across to Tunisia on motorized lighters, with no losses in transit. Some were unloaded at Bizerta and the rest at Tunis.
25 PzKpfw III, two Panzerbefehlswagen Tigers and 18 Tigers I’s (comprising the battalion staff, workshop company, and 1st tank company together with the commander of the Battalion, Major August Seidensticker) arrived. The tank company had four platoons, each with two Tiger I tanks and two Pzkpfw III support tanks.
Upon arrival the commander of 504 learned that the 501 was without a commander and only 11 of the 501’s Tigers remained serviceable. It was therefore decided to incorporate the 501 Tigers and their remaining PzKpfw.IIIs and PzKpfw.IVs into the 504 since only 3 of the 504 Tigers were ready for action around the time of March 10th. Gen.von Arnim then ordered the merged battalion south to the Maknassy pass area in support of Kampfgruppe Lang.
On March 20 they moved west to intercept American forces attempting to break through to the sea and claimed 44 tanks of 9th Armored Division. These would be some of the last victories for the newly combined 1st Company 504 battalion.
Because of situation in Tunisia getting worse, the 2nd Company s.Pz.Abt.504 was retained in Sicily. All of the 1st Company s.Pz.Abt.504 Tigers were destroyed or captured. The First Tiger to be captured by the allies came from this unit. The surviving elements surrendered on 12 May 1943, only 60 short days from their arrival.
Websites containing Tiger InformationTiger I and Tiger II Unit Information: http://www.chsk.com/steppenwolf/tigers.htm (page off line)
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://64.26.50.215/armorsite/tigers-02.htmhttp://www.ss501panzer.com/menandunit.htm (page off line)
