Minor Axis Nation Tank Ace?

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Alex Yeliseenko
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Minor Axis Nation Tank Ace?

#1

Post by Alex Yeliseenko » 11 Jun 2006, 17:09

Hi

Continuation of questions on tank ace of the Axis....

I search for the information on the Hungarian, Slovak, Italian, Croatian tank aces.

Regards

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CB1
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Captain vitéz Ervin Tarczay

#2

Post by CB1 » 14 Jun 2006, 16:00

Hi,

This comes from: http://www.bevetes.hu/cikkek/karrier/vi ... czai_ervin

- Born 5OCT19 in Pécs, Hungary
- Graduated from Ludovika as Lt. on 20AUG41
- Served with 23th Frontier Guard Btn in Marosvásárhely (Tirgu Mures, Romania) from 1SEP41
- Transferred to armored troop course in Esztergom on 3AUG41
- Served with 1st Btn 3rd Armored Reg in Cegléd from 1JAN43
- Deployed to Galicia with 2nd Coy 1st Btn 3rd Reg 2nd ArmDiv on 4APR44, South of Strij, near Bolehiv and Dolina. He was riding a Turán-75 tank.

The Hungarian units were holding a 60-70 km wide sector. On 17APR 2ArmDiv and 2 reinforced battalions of 2MtnBde were ordered to launch a strike from Solotwina towards Nadvorna, Delatyn and Kolomea. Nadvorna and Delatyn were taken on 18APR but the Hungarian units met stiffening resistance (dug-in Soviet infantry supported by tanks). 19-23APR44 assault on Kolomea remained ineffective. German reinforcements (73PzGrdReg of 19PzDiv and seven Tigers of 503PzBtn) arrived at Nadvorna 18-30APR. Further assaults 26-27APR and 2MAY were still ineffective.

Between 17APR and 3MAY 2ArmDiv lost 18 tanks and 4 Nimród AT/AA SPGs due to hostile fire, a further 9 immobilized tanks were blown up by their crews. A further 88 armored vehicles were disabled, 6 of them permanently and 7 of them were left behind. During this period Hungaro-German forces knocked out 48 Soviet tanks (3ArmReg claimed 27 of these). 2ArmDiv was pulled back to Nadvorna. Walter Model ordered on 4MAY to equip 2ArmDiv with German tanks. Local units gave 12 Pz. IV-Hs, 10 StuG. III-Gs and 10 Tiger-Es in Nadvorna 6-14MAY.

Tarczay was commanding 2nd Coy with the remaining seven Turán-75s in the last week of APR. His unit and the 1st Coy under Capt. János Vedress fought especially good so they gave their remaining Turáns over to 2Btn and the Tigers were distributed among themselves. The other two Coys of 1Btn got the Pz. IVs and the StuGs. They were trained by the German crews. In the second week of JUL44 the freshly trained Tiger crews "sat" for their "exams": they were supporting 24InfDiv and knocked out 3-4 T-34s, a number of AT guns, bunkers and an ammo dump.

On 13JUL 1UkrFrt launched an offensive towards Lvov and Sandomierz. On 23JUL 1st Hungarian Army broke and began withdrawal towards the Carpathians. 2ArmDiv was deployed near Stanislau. A Tiger group managed to reach Cziczow, North of Stanislau but could not reach Jessupol. Hungarian lines between Stanislau and Nadvorna were breached at Ottynia on 24JUL. 1Btn under the command of Capt. Miklós Mátyássy was ordered to plug the gap. They met the soviet force near Czuczylow but to no avail. Tigers were ordered to act as rearguard. Withdrawal of 24-29JUL took place on the Czuczylow-Grabevjec-Horohodina-Saturnia-Rosulna-Kraszna-Rozniatow-Dolina route. 2ArmDiv fought well (e.g. two Tigers securing Hill 514 near Saturnia knocked out 14 Soviet tanks in 30 minutes) but suffered heavy losses (seven of the ten Tigers were lost due to hostile fire, breakdown and lack of trailers). After severe casualties were incurred in rearguard action near Rosulna and Rozniatow, 2ArmDiv was withdrawn to Huszt for reorganization. On 9AUG44 the division had 14 Toldi light tanks, 40 Turán-40, 14 Turán-75, 1 Pz. III-M and 9 Pz. IV-H medium tanks and a StuG. III-G. The remaining 3 Tiger-Es were damaged and required repair so Tarczay’s unit was left without tanks.

During the summer of 1944 Germans agreed to rearm Hungarian armored units with German vehicles. Five Panthers and twenty Pz. IVs were transferred to the Carpathians. Tarczay’s 2nd Coy got the Panthers.

After Romania switched sides Hungarian forces were ordered to take the passes of the Southern Carpathians. Tarczay’s Coy took the route Nagysármás-Mezõzáh-Mezõtóhát and reached Marosludas on the evening of 5SEP after knocking down token resistance at Nagysármás. On 15SEP his Panthers were leading an assault East of Torda (Turda, Romania). His Coy was separated from the rest of the Btn, had no supporting infantry and was receiving artillery and AT fire but kept pressing on and destroyed 2 enemy infantry Coys and 3 AT guns. The next day his Coy outflanked the advancing Soviet tanks and forced them to withdraw (Tarczay’s Panther knocked out one tank). During the afternoon Tarczay took his Panther forward and knocked out 2 tanks and an AT gun to secure the left flank of the Btn. On 22SEP East of Torda the two battle-worthy Panthers outflanked an enemy thrust and destroyed an infantry Btn. In the afternoon they repeated this feat and Tarczay knocked out two T-34s and an AT-gun. His Panther was disabled too but he immediately mounted another one. On 24SEP 1st and 2nd Btns had 17 battle-worthy tanks altogether: 2 Panthers, 6 Pz. IVs and 9 Turáns. Tanks were withdrawn to Hill 348 near Nagy Ördöngõs to act as reserve. The next day the number of Panthers went up to 5 and 3 Tigers arrived.
On 26SEP the number of active Panthers went down to 2 again as the 2ArmDiv had to launch a counterstrike to push the assaulting soviet forces out of the Hungarian lines. Between 15SEP and 6OCT Tarczay’s Panthers knocked out 11 tanks, 17 AT-guns, 20 MG-nests and a Katyusha near Torda.

2ArmDiv was redeployed to the Tisza River. On 25OCT South of Tiszapolgár Tarczay’s Coy overran an AT battery, destroying three guns and capturing another three. Meanwhile two T-34s outflanked them. Tarczay let them close and knocked them out. His Panthers scored an additional 5 tanks (total 16) and an SPG during 6-25OCT. It was noted that during the firefight Tarczay stood in the open hatch of the turret. On 27OCT 2ArmDiv had 11 battle-worthy Pz. IVs out of 22 plus 3 Panthers. On 30OCT the enemy surrounded his HQ South of Tiszapolgár but led his Coy out and destroyed an infantry Btn. Tarczay’s Panther took a direct hit but was not disabled and smashed the AT-gun under its tracks. Moreover, his vehicle bumped into a Soviet artillery battery and thoroughly obliterated it.

Late NOV44 2ArmDiv received reinforcements near Párkány (Sturovo, Slovakia) and later was ordered to block the Soviet advance in front of Ipolyság. The town fell on 14DEC. 2ArmDiv acted as rearguard again; on 21DEC they had two battle-worthy Panthers and two Pz. IVs. After that 2ArmDiv was subordinated to the “Szent László” Division and fought along the Garam (Gran) River until early JAN45. Tarczay was not present: on 1JAN45 he was promoted Captain and ordered with 40 men to Galánta (Galanta, Slovakia) to take delivery of 27 Pz. IVs and 2 Panthers on behalf of the Btn. The delivery took place on 8JAN and 1Btn was deployed near Bodajk. On 16JAN it had 27 battle-worthy Pz. IVs out of 32 and 1 of the 2 Panthers. The unit participated in the fights around Székesfehérvár and Zámoly. The number of battle-worthy Pz. IVs went down from 26 (20JAN) to 16 (24FEB). They had an additional Panther. In the meantime, Tarczay took leave to marry his bride, was knighted (hence vitéz) on 15MAR45.

On 16MAR 3UkrFrt launched an offensive in the Transdanubia region towards Vienna and took Csákberény. Tarczay arrived back from holiday on 17MAR and joined his unit in Söréd. He got a Pz. IV. Four Pz. IVs under his command took positions along the road from Söréd to Csákberény but the Soviet infantry surrounded the town by evening and dug in 300 meters from the outskirts. Hungarian and German tanks ran low on ammo. On 18MAR some 20 Soviet tanks (mainly Shermans) arrived to support the assault. Two tanks advanced towards the town along the road from the East. Three Pz. IVs were sent out to intercept them. Tarczay was in one of them. They knocked out the Soviet tanks at around 10:00 a.m. Later they destroyed trucks, horsecarts, mortars and an infantry Coy. At 13:45 an order came to withdraw to Söréd. Tarczay’s tank became disabled and had to be abandoned.

The defenders tried to break out North-West towards Bodajk but the armored vehicles got bogged down in muddy plough-land West of Söréd. Crews blew up their vehicles and continued on foot. Tarczay was also walking and running until he was wounded on his knee. There was no bandage available so two of his comrades supported him further until he passed out from the loss of blood. Then he was abandoned and probably bled to death.

Bye,
Krisz


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Alex Yeliseenko
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#3

Post by Alex Yeliseenko » 14 Jun 2006, 17:40

Hello Krisz!

Thanks. I waited for it. I thought that nice Hungary had aces. You have proved it to me.

Best regards!

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PanzerKing
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#4

Post by PanzerKing » 14 Jun 2006, 23:35

Great stpry up until the very end. 8O

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Benoit Douville
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#5

Post by Benoit Douville » 04 Jul 2006, 03:25

How about Croatian Tank Ace? I am sure some performed well on the Eastern Front, is there a list somewhere?

Regards

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Allen Milcic
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#6

Post by Allen Milcic » 05 Jul 2006, 20:08

Benoit Douville wrote:How about Croatian Tank Ace? I am sure some performed well on the Eastern Front, is there a list somewhere?

Regards
Hi Benoit:

The Croatian Legion units on the Eastern Front were not equipped with armour of any kind. There was a reinforced infantry regiment, a bomber and a fighter squadron, a flak division, a small naval detachment, and an airforce infantry company. All were Wehrmacht units composed of volunteers from the NDH.

Best regards,
Allen/

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wintersoldier23
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#7

Post by wintersoldier23 » 14 Jul 2006, 02:53

Allen Milcic wrote:
Benoit Douville wrote:How about Croatian Tank Ace? I am sure some performed well on the Eastern Front, is there a list somewhere?

Regards
Hi Benoit:

The Croatian Legion units on the Eastern Front were not equipped with armour of any kind. There was a reinforced infantry regiment, a bomber and a fighter squadron, a flak division, a small naval detachment, and an airforce infantry company. All were Wehrmacht units composed of volunteers from the NDH.

Best regards,
Allen/
Allen, I'm aware of the 269 Inf Reg in Stalingrad but were there other units on the eastern front? Did they have the option of wearing German insignia or Croatian when fighting on the the Eastern Front?

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wintersoldier23
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#8

Post by wintersoldier23 » 14 Jul 2006, 02:56

Allen Milcic wrote:
Benoit Douville wrote:How about Croatian Tank Ace? I am sure some performed well on the Eastern Front, is there a list somewhere?

Regards
Hi Benoit:

The Croatian Legion units on the Eastern Front were not equipped with armour of any kind. There was a reinforced infantry regiment, a bomber and a fighter squadron, a flak division, a small naval detachment, and an airforce infantry company. All were Wehrmacht units composed of volunteers from the NDH.

Best regards,
Allen/
Why did of all places did the infantry get assigned to Stalingrad? Did Ante Pavlic have something to do with this?

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Alex Yeliseenko
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#9

Post by Alex Yeliseenko » 14 Jul 2006, 06:52

Allen, I'm aware of the 269 Inf Reg in Stalingrad but were there other units on the eastern front? Did they have the option of wearing German insignia or Croatian when fighting on the the Eastern Front?
Croatian had on Eastern front:

369 "strengthened" infantry regiment
Light (Italian-Croatian) transport brigade - 1100 soldier, 70 sergeants, 45 officers
The Croatian air legion
The Croatian sea legion

-----------------------------------------

From the book " the Crusade against Russia ". The collection of clauses. Moscow.2005.

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Alex Yeliseenko
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#10

Post by Alex Yeliseenko » 14 Jul 2006, 07:06

wintersoldier23 wrote:
Allen Milcic wrote:
Benoit Douville wrote:How about Croatian Tank Ace? I am sure some performed well on the Eastern Front, is there a list somewhere?

Regards
Hi Benoit:

The Croatian Legion units on the Eastern Front were not equipped with armour of any kind. There was a reinforced infantry regiment, a bomber and a fighter squadron, a flak division, a small naval detachment, and an airforce infantry company. All were Wehrmacht units composed of volunteers from the NDH.

Best regards,
Allen/
Allen, I'm aware of the 269 Inf Reg in Stalingrad but were there other units on the eastern front? Did they have the option of wearing German insignia or Croatian when fighting on the the Eastern Front?
Croatian carried the German military form with the Croatian distinction (sahovnica). But some officers carried the Croatian form.

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Alex Yeliseenko
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#11

Post by Alex Yeliseenko » 14 Jul 2006, 07:07

Allen Milcic wrote:
Benoit Douville wrote:How about Croatian Tank Ace? I am sure some performed well on the Eastern Front, is there a list somewhere?

Regards
Hi Benoit:

The Croatian Legion units on the Eastern Front were not equipped with armour of any kind. There was a reinforced infantry regiment, a bomber and a fighter squadron, a flak division, a small naval detachment, and an airforce infantry company. All were Wehrmacht units composed of volunteers from the NDH.

Best regards,
Allen/
Short time under Stalingrade croatian used captured Soviet tank Matilda. I saw such photo. But about fighting use of the tank I do not know.

Best regards

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Allen Milcic
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#12

Post by Allen Milcic » 14 Jul 2006, 19:10

wintersoldier23 wrote:Allen, I'm aware of the 269 Inf Reg in Stalingrad but were there other units on the eastern front? Did they have the option of wearing German insignia or Croatian when fighting on the the Eastern Front?
Hi wintersoldier23:

The following units of the Wehrmacht consisted of volunteers from the wartime Croatian puppet state and served on the Eastern Front:

- 369th Reinforced Infantry Regiment
- Croatian Airforce Legion
- Croatian Naval Legion
- A company of Luftwaffe infantrymen
- The short-lived Croatian Flak Legion

Mostly German uniforms were worn, though occassionaly Croatian uniforms with German helmets. German insignia with the addition of the Croatian chessboard shield (seen on the left and, alternately, on the right arm).

The 369th fought in Stalingrad as it was part of the 100th Jaeger Division. Pavelic had no influence on this decision.

Croatians also had the Light Mobile Brigade, part of the Italian contingent on the Eastern Front.

Best regards,
Allen/

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Csaba Becze
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#13

Post by Csaba Becze » 01 Aug 2006, 16:33

Alex, you started many Hungarian Armour topics, I can still offer you my forthcoming book, you will find the answers on that material.

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