Heavy Panzer Division 507

heavy tank division 507
active	September 1943 to May 12, 1945 (four days after surrender)
Country	German Empire
Armed forces	Wehrmacht
Armed forces	army
Branch of service	tank
Type	Panzer Division
structure	Headquarters company 1. – 3. Company workshop company
Second World War	Eastern Front 1943–1945, Western Front 1945
insignia
Identification symbol

The heavy tank division 507 was an independent tank unit of the Wehrmacht in World War II , whose main armament was initially the Tiger I and later, in addition to a few Jagdpanthers , the Tiger II .

structure

• Rod
• Headquarters company (three tanks)
  • News train
  • armored reconnaissance platoon (SPW)
  • Reconnaissance train
  • Pioneer train
  • Anti-aircraft platoon
• 1st to 3rd tank company (14 tanks each)
  • Company squad (two tanks each)
  • 1st to 3rd platoon (four tanks each)
  • medical corps
  • Automotive repair group
  • Battalion I
  • Battleship II
  • Baggage train
• Workshop company
  • 1st and 2nd workshop train
  • Mountain train
  • Arms mastery
  • Radio mastery
  • Spare part group

Commanders

• September 1943 to August 1944: Major Erich Schmidt
• August 1944 to May 1945: Captain Fritz Schöck

history

The department was set up on May 7, 1943, initially from I./Panzer-Regiment 3, which, however, was equipped with Panthers on June 30, 1943 and continued to be used as I./Panzer-Regiment 3. The final line-up was reached on September 23, 1943 from I./Panzer-Regiment 4 of the 13th Panzer Division. Major Erich Schmidt became the commander. The association badge - a stylized white blacksmith on a black shield - was designed in his honor. Between December 23, 1943 and February 25, 1944, Tiger was assigned to the unit . By March 1944, the department received six more Tigers over the target strength of 45. The additional six Tigers were distributed to the respective company command groups of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd companies and were given the turret numbers 102, 103, 202, 203, 302 and 303.

The department was relocated to the Eastern Front in the area east of Lviv on March 15 and took part in the fighting there from March 23.

Strength message	03/15/1944	24.03.	29.03.	30.03.	04/04	04/07	04/11	04/14	April 15	04/30	08.05.	07.06.	30.06.	07.07.	08.07.	07/20	07/28	07/30	08.08.	08/22	05.10.	11/27	06.12.	January 16, 1945	January 18	01/21	01/30	02.02.	08.02.	02/13
Losses / transfers		−2	−1	−1	−1	+6	−1	+6	−1	−1	−8	−1	+2	−1	−2	−7	+6	−1	+12	−13	−1	+10	+1	−2	−2	−19	−22	−3	−1	−1
Actual strength	51	49	48	47	46	52	51	57	56	55	47	46	48	47	45	38	44	43	55	42	41	51	52	50	48	29	7th	4th	3	2

On March 9, 1945, the department in Sennelager was reorganized. In the course of March the 2nd Company was equipped with 6 Tigers II and 3 Jagdpanthern , the 3rd Company 15 Tigers II . The 1st company received no tanks.

Strength message	March 22, 1945	March 31	04/02	04/03	05.04.	06.04.	04/07	April 8th	04/09
Losses / transfers	+17	−3	−5	−1	−3	−1	−1	−1	−3
Actual strength	21st	18th	13	12	9	8th	7th	6th	3

On 16./17. In April 1945 the department was moved to the Milowitz military training area and equipped with various tanks (e.g. Ostwind ). Ten Hetzer tank destroyers were taken over on May 6, 1945 . The department ended the fighting on May 12, 1945 and was handed over to the Soviets in Rosenthal near the Königssaal .

particularities

In contrast to other heavy tank divisions, the turret numbers were made up of digits of different sizes. The first digit (company) was almost the same height as the tower, while the second and third digits were only about 60% as tall. Another characteristic of this department are another five to six chain links on each side of the tower, which were additionally welded on to improve protection. On tanks that had these additional chain links, the turret numbers were painted on them. The three tanks of the headquarters company were identified by the letters A, B and C, which were also as tall as the height of the tower. The association badge was on the top left of the rear armor.

Special missions

Special company "Brody" - spring 1944

In the town of Brody in Galicia, which was encircled by the Soviets, there were around eight hundred soldiers, some seriously wounded, in the spring of 1944, who could not be evacuated in time during the fighting in retreat. Several attempts at relief by the SS Panzer Divisions “Hohenstaufen” and “Frundsberg” had already failed. With the support of Heavy Panzer Division 507, a new attempt should now be made.

The 12.5 kilometer long road from Podhorce to Brody was chosen as the transport route . This seemed to be free of enemies, but was mined. Experience has shown that mine barriers were often secured by enemy forces. The convoy to rescue the wounded consisted of about 80 trucks accompanied by a company of pioneers , as well as a few armored personnel carriers with tank grenadiers and paramedics . Five tigers were to be in the lead, a sixth the rear.

Since there were initially no volunteers for this dangerous undertaking, Major Schmidt designated the experienced platoon leader Oberleutnant Max Wirsching of the 2nd Company as the company's leader. Thereupon volunteers from his platoon and other platoons of the 2nd Company reported to participate in the company.

The company started after dusk. One after the other five of the six tigers fell out due to mine damage. The command tank under Sergeant Hugo Arnold was the first to fail . After the pioneers had cleared the mine barrier, the journey continued. Wirsching saw a light about three hundred meters away, in the direction of which he had explosive ammunition fired. The following Tiger crews followed suit. The target, apparently a barn, soon caught fire. The resulting firelight made it possible to identify a number of other targets and to combat them effectively. After the journey continued, Wirsching's Tiger also fell out due to mine damage. Wirsching then switched to the following Tiger with his radio operator. This process was repeated three more times, so that Wirsching had to change to the last remaining, sixth Tiger. This was moved from the end of the column to the front. Although the company would have been doomed to failure by another mine damage, Wirsching decided not to abort for various reasons: Firstly, he wanted to rescue the eight hundred seriously injured people, and secondly, under the circumstances, the column could not have turned around easily. The column finally reached Brody without further losses and was able to rescue the injured.

The successful company was mentioned in the Wehrmacht report.

Knight's Cross bearer

Knight's Cross bearer	Date of award
Major Erich Schmidt	06/09/1944
Captain Fritz Schöck	09/05/1944
Fahnenjunker Sergeant Rudolf Gebhardt	09/30/1944
First Lieutenant Maximilian Wirsching	02/07/1945
Sergeant Edmund Ratajczak	02/10/1945
First Lieutenant Wolfgang Koltermann	03/11/1945

Conclusion

Heavy Panzer Division 507 destroyed around 600 Allied tanks in just 500 days of existence, while it lost 104 Tiger tanks itself, 55% of which were destroyed by the Division itself. 41% were lost in combat and 4% due to other causes.

Books

• Helmut Schneider (Editor), The Combat History of heavy tanks department 507 , JJ Fedorowicz Publishing, Inc. 2003, ISBN 0-921991-75-4 (English).
• Wolfgang Scheider, Tiger im Combat I , JJ Fedorowicz Publishing, Inc., 2000, ISBN 978-3935107-01-3 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Wolfgang Scheider, p. 353
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Wolfgang Scheider, p. 11.
3. ↑ Wolfgang Scheider, p. 353ff
4. ↑ Wolfgang Scheider, p. 359
5. ↑ Wolfgang Scheider, p. 359f
6. ↑ Wolfgang Scheider, p. 360
7. ↑ Helmut Scheider, p. 58 ff.
8. ↑ ^{a b} Wolfgang Scheider, p. 361.