1943 503rd Tiger Abt. Combats

[Miles Krogfus]

A 503 Abt. HQ document dated 10.10.1943, signed by its 1a, gives this data in a detailed report of July 5 to September 21, 1943 dealing with such things as combats, repairs, Tiger parts used . . .
Unit claimed 501 tanks shot, most T34 but also KV 1 and II, Churchill, Sherman and some SU 122 and SU 152. Claimed 388 Pak, most 76 mm. 79 artillery, most 170 mm. Shot down 1 ground attack and 6 fighter planes.
Tiger total losses were 18 including 6 to 122 and 152 mm fire, 1 to a Molotov Cocktail, 1 shot by A friendly Sturmgeschutz, 3 to artillery, 1 to a rear hull shot and then crew destroyed, 4 to shots to lower hull sides and later sent to Germany for repair, 2 resulting from technical problems. Both these were also crew destroyed to avoid their capture.
2 Offz., 1 official, 12 Uffz., 29 Mann. killed. Wounded: sent off to hospitals-- 8 Offz, 25 Uffz, 72 Mann. Treated at unit: 9 Offz., 37 Uffz.,69 Mann.

[pintere]

Very impressive. Even accounting for inflation of kill claims.

[Michael Kenny]

The crew KIA casualties per 'lost' tanks (if they are all crew) are very high. Way above average Allied tank crew losses.

[Yoozername]

Panzertruppen II gives the 10 day Operational Status from June 30, 1943 to Jan 1 1944 on pg.93. By Sep 30, they show 18 losses and no operational Tigers for the 39 still on hand. They appear to have been resupplied with additional Tigers. Perhaps a dozen around the end of August.

By Jan 1, 1944, they finally write off 21 Tigers and report 4 Tigers operational. Total losses are then 53 Total write offs. Perhaps some are back to Germany? They are basically a platoon.

Of the 45 starting Tigers at the Kursk battle, 39 are operational. By July 10th, only 22 are operational. The battalion never rises above this number again. Even though resupplied.

Can we post pages from books here? That is a photo?

[Yoozername]

http://www.alanhamby.com/unithist.shtml#503

[John Hilly]

Thanks for info and the link!

[Yoozername]

A 503 Abt. HQ document dated 10.10.1943, signed by its 1a, gives this data in a detailed report of July 5 to September 21, 1943

2 Offz., 1 official, 12 Uffz., 29 Mann. killed.
Wounded: sent off to hospitals-- 8 Offz, 25 Uffz, 72 Mann.
Treated at unit: 9 Offz., 37 Uffz.,69 Mann.

264 casualties in slightly less than 10 weeks. 44 'total write offs' and over a 100 in the hospital. That is out of 900-1000 men? Plus, most tanks are out of the fight by the end of September? A bit of a beat down. I believe the tank companies have 90 men or so? I doubt that many casualties would be tankers, so the mechanics and supply etc. would also have to have losses.

[Miles Krogfus]

Correct. The loss figures include all tank crewmen as well as men in "non-combat" positions.

[Yoozername]

Even if half the casualties were in the tanks, and I believe that to be low since the tank crews are the combat elements, it would be something like 25-30% casualties. I would like to know the number of personnel on hand on January 1, 1944.

Given the low numbers of Tigers on hand that were operational, they probably still had 'idle' crewmen that had no Tigers. From a combat power standpoint, these battalions did not have 'long legs'. In many ways, they were expensive. The investment of a thousand men, 54 specialized heavy vehicles, organic specialty mechanics and parts, ammunition, etc., and to have most not in the battle means they MUST have high kill numbers. Basically, they are claiming about 50 enemy tanks a week. With an average of maybe 20 Tigers being 'runners', each tank needs to kill 2.5 tanks per week.

The mechanics must have been going full tilt non-stop also to keep the constantly repaired vehicles going back out and receiving a like number coming back in!

[Miles Krogfus]

Of the unit's "18 totalausfallen sind 7 Tiger ausgebrannt." 4 sent to the homeland for repair, 3 destroyed by their crews so the enemy couldn't grab them, 4 repaired in the combat zone ? These last 4 could have been repaired there because of the specific damage they suffered, but 503rd mentions of them are not precise on this . . .

[Miles Krogfus]

503 Abt. I a Panzerlage am 16.7.43: (1) Einsatzbereite Pz.Kpfwg.VI (a) Im Einsatz bei 7 Panzer Division 8 (b) Am Abteilungs gefechtsstand 2 (c) Auf dem Marsch von Werkstatt zum Abt. Gefectsstand 5 (2) Kurzfristige instand zusetzende Pz.Kpfwg. VI 17 (3) Langfristige instand zusetzende Pz. Kpfwg. VI 8 (3) Totalausfalle 4 (ausgebrannt) 1 (nicht mehr instand zusetzen, wird ausgeschl.)
From 5 July to 23 July 1943: s.Pz.Abt. 503 7 Tiger Totalausfalle.
22.7.43 III Panzerkorps I c: Nachmeldung der s.Pz.Abt. 503 am 21.7: 29 Panzer Masse T34,13 Pak. 22.7: 21 T34 und Mark IV, 4 Geschutze, 7 Pak. Damit erhoht sich das Gesamtergebnis an Beute in der Zeit vom 5.7 - 22.7.43 auf: 405 Panzer, 105 Geschutze, 451 Pak. More shot Pak listed here than the later report quoted in my original post, but the data comes from 2 different HQ. Also loss and shot figures often were revised at later dates.

[Jan-Hendrik]

Most of KIA/ WIA happened when crew members were outside their tanks

Jan-Hendrik