Hi all,
I'm pretty new to the forums here and am currently working on a DML Late Panther A build and was wanting to make this project as historically accurate as I could for a change. I've read about Bake in the Panzer Aces volume by Franz Kurowski and he seems to have a very interesting history. I have also played his list in Flames of War and had great fun with it.
Can anyone tell me if he ever commanded a Panther A? I assumed most of his fighting in the east was would have been done in a Panther D? I know he was involved in Wacht Am Rheine against Patton's 3rd army.. perhaps that was a Panther A?
Lastly, Can anyone clarify what unit he was actually in and what markings were typical of this unit? Was he always a part of the 6th Panzer Division when his unit was dubbed 'swchere panzer regiment bake'?
Its easy to find facts about engagements and acheivements his units made but when it comes to placing him to actual units and the equipment they used proves to be a challenge. Any help here would be much appreciated. Thanks guys!,
Steve

Hi Steve,
Not sure if this is of help? But here's a video of Pz.Reg. Bäke showing some of the Panthers.
I don't know about the all the Panthers? But the one's here look like 'early A's' :

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675071079_German-tanks_enemy-planes_damaged-Soviet-tanks_Soviet-prisoners-of-war

About the units making up Pz.Reg. Bäke, I had these notes in my files;
Can't recall source, sorry:

"Schwere Panzer Regiment Bake consisted of Panzer Regiment 11 (Of 6th Panzer Division, Bake's normal command),
II/Panzer Regiment 23 (of 23rd Panzer Division, equipped with Panthers) and sPzAbt 503, with Tigers."

and..

"Schweres Panzer Regiment Bake was a special unit put together for the relief attempt on the Cherkassy pocket.
It comprised 46 Panthers from II/Pz.Rgt.23 and 34 Tigers from Schw.Pz.Abt.503..."

Grant.

There are a couple of books that print this photo and state the Tiger's commander here is Bäke:



Well, it seems extremely unlikely. The Tiger's physical features indicate that it was built in October 1943. s.Pz.Abt 503 did not get new Tigers until January.

In the known photos of the Tigers of Panzer Regiment Bäke , we see one Command Tiger that would be a natural choice for him:



if he ever did use a Tiger, which I just don't know.

David

Another Pz.Reg Bäke pic from TIIF site that does show a Panter A Late:



Might that be Bäke himself stood in front of it?

Grant.

Thanks for all the info, guys!
Grant, that video site is amazing! Very useful for reference pics!
The more Im thinking about it now the more I realize if I want to capture a vehicle from Bake's command, it would most likely be a white wash for winter ops. This seems to be when the unit was created and fought (i.e. Korsun Pocket, etc). I had my heart set on a full camo Panther when I went about this build. Looks like Bake did fight in Normandy but a lot that fighting was done during the Ardenne campaign which was in the winter as well. I might end up letting a decal set dictate what unit it belongs to. Echelon has a few great looking sets of decals for panthers in Italy and Normandy. May end up going with one of them. I also bought 2 Alpine figs for it and theyre Heer so Ive got a pretty narrowed down list of what its going to be.
I did end up getting a nice DML late tiger kit w zimmerit for Xmas. This might end up making a more appropriate vehicle for Bake’s Rgt. We’ll see. Thanks again for the info, all.

Panzer Regiment Bake: Form from two panzer battalions - 1st Panzer Battalion, 23 Panzer Division (Panther) and the 503 Tiger Battalion. The HQ for the Panzer Regiment came from the 6 Panzer Division's panzer regimental HQ, the 11th Panzer Regiment. Bake was in charge of the 11th Panzer Regiment and was ordered to form this ad-hoc heavy panzer regiment. The 6 Panzer Division had only one panzer battalion (Panzer IV) assigned to it as its other panzer battalion was in Germany converting to Panthers.

A regimental HQ section staff may have had some Panzer IIIk command tanks and half-tracks for command vehicles. Sometimes the panzer regiment HQ section would not have any tanks.

After his ad-hoc heavy panzer regiment was disbanded in Apr/May 1944, Bake was ordered to Baden Germany to help organize the 106 Panzer Brigade Feldherrnhalle. This unit later engaged the 90th Infantry Division of Patton's 3rd Army in early September, 1944 and was shot up badly. Bake did not fight in Normandy or the Ardennes offensive. Bake stayed with the remaider of his brigade and moved on the help organize the Feldherrnhalle Corps.

Steve, you could do a Panther g (early) from Bake's 106 Panzer Brigade that would have full camoflague colors. The tank would have zimmerit on it.

Hope some of this information helps you in your tank modeling.

I'm afraid he never had a Late Tiger under his command.

David

Hey guys, Thought my original post could do for a bump here..
My Late Panther A has gone from being an eastern front kitty to an Italian. Reason for this is I happened upon a nice set of decals by Echelon. This set is for panthers from 1Abt/Pz Rgt. 4 from the 26th Pz Division. Upon getting the decals in the mail I realized they were all for early As!!! DOH!!! Whatever.. the amount of research Ive put into this means Im going w this set regardless. My question to all: were there ANY Late Panther As in the 26th Pz Division in Italy anywhere at any time? I thought ive read of there being panther Gs in Italy so youd think there would be As? Just the fact that this build could be semi-historically accurate would give me peace of mind Any help here would be appreciated. thanks, all!!
Steve

Resurrecting an old thread. I'd like to do a Tiger from Bake's group. There is a picture thread of some vehicles here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130556552@N02/albums/72157688838551046

I'm just starting to figure this out and see that there's a lot to know about Tigers.

Any of the vehicles in that album would be fine, but I am a little partial to the befehlstiger.

I have no idea which kit to get. I'd like to do one of the Tamiya ones just for simplicity of putting it together, but I don't know whether any of the Tiger kits are close, or would need a lot of updates.

Any input is welcomed.

There are "Mid production Tigers" from Rye Field, Tamiya and Dragon and all of them build the correct version of Tiger.

However, this original release from Dragon, which is no longer manufactured as far as I know, is the only one with decals for Panzer Regiment Bake - and it has plenty of them.

Original Dragon

It also happens to have slightly better detail than the other two. Disclaimer: I worked on its development.

As for the Befehlstiger, nobody but Dragon seem to make a fully accurate Befehlstiger kit. Ten years ago they released a kit to build the tank "I" in that photo:

Mid Command Tiger

but that was a limited-run kit. I don't know offhand which of their current kits, if any, would built what you want.

David

Thanks, David. I'll look for those. I imagine I will stencil on the markings though. I've not had good success with decals over zimmerit.