Hi all,

Just a general question. Towards the end of the war, did the SS Totenkopf Pzr Div use King Tigers ? by this, I mean were they equipped with King Tigers and were they manned by Totenkopf crews. if its a yes, does any one have links to doc's or pics ? I have found some vague references to it, but nothing confirmed ?? and am I right in that the heavy tanks only would form Company strength, not a full Battalion/Regiment ?

I was a member here before, and am always watching/reading from the side ...... but like a dumb ass I forgot my login and old password so had to re register Doh

John,

Probably not the answer you wanted but no. Tigers, is both Tiger I and Tiger I, were organized into independent heavy tank battalions or Schwere Panzer Abteilung (sch. Pz. Abt.). An excellent source are the books “Tigers in Combat” I and I by Wolfgang Schneider.

Hope that helps.

BMC

Moved to this forum since I think that the chances of a detailed answer are better here / Robin

BMC,

Thanks for the info, I was pretty sure they didnt get equipped with Tiger B's, and just kept Tiger 1's up to the end of the war. I think some of the confusion is how so many units got mixed and attached to other units in the defence of Berlin and then the breakouts and then the push down towards Austria.(It does beg the question though, just why didnt they get re-equipped with Tiger B's when you consider the amount of heavy engagements they went through against the Soviets)

Robin, thanks for the redirect.

cheers, John

s.SS.Pz.Abt. 103 "Totenkopf" were equipped with 33 Tiger II and sent to the East in Jan.1945. They fought in the Danzig Pocket and then north of Berlin.

Hi David,
Thanks for the info, this is where i was getting confused: I was under the impression that 103 Schwere SS-Pzr-Abt was made up from another SS Div/unit and not Totenkopf ? and that the heavy tanks from 9./3. SS-Panzer-Regiment Totenkopf remained Tiger 1's until the end of the war and they were never integrated into any of the Schwere SS-Pzr-Abt ?

I was just reading some history of the actual Totenkopf divsion actions. They fought in Hungary with IV SS panzer Corps and eventually with II SS panzer corps at the end of the war. The war ended with their unit in the area of Vienna.

Based on what I read. They only had Tiger I's, panthers and Panzer IV's. They did have heavy tank battalion 509 with its Tiger II's attached to them during operations in Hungary ie. Operation Konrad etc. but not constituted as part of the unit. Near the end of the war in Vienna the unit's author states they did pick up 1 Tiger II. " It was a rebuilt tank with a Porsche turret. It had a new two-piece gun mantlet, new tracks for the eighteen-tooth front sprocket, and track guards. On the thirteenth, the Tiger II was returned to service and joined Tonges’s Tiger." Tonge commanded one of the last few Tiger I's of the division.

A bit later in the Vienna area, the divsions's panzer regiment 3 was formed as part of a Kampf Gruppe Neff and Kampf Gruppe Langanke from SS Panzer regiment 2 (Das Riech) which had some Tiger II's.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Dave, all info is good lol .. I have seen lots of images with Totenkopf personnel next to Tiger B's in Hungary with the caption that they are Totenkopf Tigers but was always a bit sceptical. And as you pointed out, the bits you read when they break out and reform with other units, its the attached units that have the B's. The only pics I have seen from towards the end of the war show them with Tiger 1, Panther and Pzr IV's. The reason I was trying to find out was I was pondering doing a Panther II, King Tiger or E100, but in a hypothetical scenario of a continued war going into 1946/47 with the added twist of a pact being formed between Germany and the UK/USA. Oh how the crazy mind works LOL

Sounds good. The rebuilt Tiger II they acquired with a Porsche turret would make an interesting dio alongside a Tiger I.