12/30/07

Controversy surrounds the questions of how many Tiger II tanks s. SS-Pz.Abt. 501 actually fielded for the Ardennes Offensive, and what those tanks looked like.  The following discussion is provided for the benefit of military modelers and others interested in the Tiger tanks themselves, as well as the men who fought in them.  The conclusions about the appearance of the tanks are based on an extensive study of wartime and post-war photographs and films, and surviving documents which describe German armor camouflage practices and directives.  I feel that these are the only bases for definite conclusions, as the participants’ memories of what their tanks looked like often differ from photographic evidence.  Veterans’ memories of what happened to them in their tanks are often vivid and absolutely reliable, but it is unreasonable to expect an armor crewman to remember exactly what a particular tank looked like which he perhaps only rode in for a month, out of the several tanks in which he spent time over sixty years ago. 

Strength of s. SS-Pz.Abt. 501 in December 1944

s. SS-Pz.Abt. 501 at full strength would have had 45 Tiger II tanks.  German Army Ordnance Depot records show the following deliveries of Tiger II tanks to s. SS-Pz.Abt. 501:

 6 tanks produced in Oct 44, delivered 17-18 Oct

 8 tanks produced in Oct 44, delivered 11 Nov

20 tanks produced in Nov 44, delivered 26 Nov - 3 Dec

In addition, in order to bring the battalion up to full strength before the Ardennes Offensive, 11 Königstigers which were produced in September 1944 and originally delivered to Army s. Pz.Abt. 509 were recalled and issued to s. SS-Pz.Abt. 501 in the first week of December.  The unit thus had its full complement of 45 Tiger tanks. (1)

How many of these tanks actually took part in the offensive is debatable.  Veterans say that some of them never left the assembly area due to maintenance problems.  Individual tanks positively documented by photographs or memoirs as having participated in the Ardennes Offensive total 21.  We may conclude that no more than 30-35 Tigers started out on the attack as an organized unit, but as we have seen many of these soon dropped out and the others became separated and fought as small groups or individual tanks.  Apparently only 11 of the Tigers crossed to the north bank of the Ambleve, and only six of those reached the area of La Gleize with Kampfgruppe Peiper (tanks 204, 211, 213, 334, a tank with unknown turret number but probably from the 3. Kompanie, and another tank with no turret number but probably from the 1. Kompanie). 

How many tanks did s. SS-Pz.Abt. 501 lose with Kampfgruppe Peiper?  If you follow American unit reports, the battalion lost more tanks than it started with!  The after action reports of the 823rd Tank Destroyer Battalion and Company A of the 825th Tank Destroyer Battalion alone claim 20-22 “Tigers” or “Mk VI” tanks destroyed around Stavelot from 18 to 21 December.  (2)  Post-war battle accounts and a detailed study of photographs taken in 1945 show a total of 13 total combat losses from 18 to 25 December 1944:

008 – abandoned on the road between Stavelot and Trois Ponts 25 December.

105 – knocked out in Stavelot 18 December.

133 – abandoned near Petit Spai 24 December.

204 – abandoned in La Gleize 24 December.

211 – knocked out in La Gleize 22 December.

213 – knocked out in La Gleize 22 December.

222 – knocked out in Stavelot 20 December.

304 - abandoned, location and date unknown

312 – abandoned or knocked out (maybe after 25 December)

332 – captured at Coo-Biester 25 December.

334 – abandoned near La Gleize 24 December.

Unknown turret number but may have been 3. Kompanie – abandoned at bend in road south of La Gleize 24 December.

No turret number but probably 1. Kompanie (may have been 104) – abandoned in La Gleize 24 December.

Headquarters Tanks of s. SS-Pz.Abt. 501

The battalion headquarters staff element should have had three Tiger tanks: those of the commander, his adjutant, and the signals officer.  The prescribed turret numbering system for the three staff tanks of a heavy tank battalion was 001, 002, and 003. (3)  The SS heavy tank battalions used a different numbering system, which placed the battalion commander in Nr. 007, the adjutant in Nr. 008, and the signals officer in Nr. 009.  Several photographs support this conclusion.  SS-Hauptsturmführer Michael Wittmann was killed in Tiger I Nr. 007 while commanding s. SS-Pz.Abt. 101 in Normandy in August 1944.  007 was evidently the battalion commander’s tank, and Wittmann was acting battalion commander at the time.  A film taken by SS-Kriegsberichter (SS war reporters) in the German town of Tondorf, probably on 16 December as s. SS-Pz.Abt. 501 moved from its assembly area to join Kampfgruppe Peiper, apparently shows two tanks with 00_ turret numbers.  One is shown from the front and left side and has a large letter “G” painted on its glacis plate.  This tank has sometimes been described or pictured as Nr. 003.  Close examination of film stills and photos of the tank after it was abandoned clearly show the last digit as “8.”  This 008 is not the same as another 00_ tank seen in the Tondorf film.  The film shows the officer tank commander and the top of the turret side as the latter tank drives by; only the top half of the turret number can be seen.  Close examination shows that the camouflage pattern painted on this tank to the left of and above the turret numbers differs from that on Nr. 008; this is probably tank Nr. 009 of the signals officer. (4)  The battalion commander’s tank, 007, does not appear in any films or photos.  One veteran stated that it was left behind in the assembly area and that von Westernhagen rode in a wheeled vehicle. (5)

Tanks 008 and 009 from the SS-Kriegsberichter film taken at Tondorf, with a comparison showing the differences between the camouflage paint patterns.  (US National Archives at College Park, RG 242 National Archives Collection of Foreign Records Seized, 242-MID-3136)

Appearance of the Tiger II Tanks

The tanks of s. SS-Pz.Abt. 501 which appear in photographs presented a surprisingly uniform appearance during the Ardennes Offensive.  This is a result of two factors.  All 45 of the tanks were probably manufactured within a three month period, and most were manufactured after the Henschel factory began applying a standard camouflage scheme.  Most German tanks from 1943 left the factory with a dark yellow exterior paint (German paint code RAL 7028) over a red oxide primer.  Tanks were generally camouflaged by units in the field using patterns of olive green (RAL 6003) and red brown (RAL 8017). 

In the summer of 1944 the Germans began using a camouflage scheme of irregular patterns of dark yellow, olive green and red brown with small contrasting dots of the same colors applied over the background patches.  An August 1944 order directed that this pattern be applied at the factory prior to issue.  (6)  The Germans designated this scheme as the “light and shadow” pattern, but it is generally referred to today as the “ambush” scheme.  While no documentation has come to light prescribing the pattern of this scheme, photographic evidence shows that the factory painters applied a standard pattern to many of the tanks.  It would seem more efficient to apply the camouflage paint by spraygun, but most of the s. SS-Pz.Abt. 501 tanks appear to have been painted by brush, as evidenced by the hard edges of the paint schemes seen in photographs.

Another order dated 31 October 1944 directed tank factories to cease applying a base coat of dark yellow.  The standard camouflage scheme was to be applied in dark yellow, red brown, and olive green over the red oxide primer.  In practice there were sometimes patches of primer left showing.  In mid September 1944 the Henschel factory ceased applying zimmerit paste to tanks, and apparently none of the s. SS-Pz.Abt. 501 Tigers in the Ardennes had zimmerit.

Units were still responsible for applying tactical markings after they received their camouflaged tanks.  s. SS-Pz.Abt. 501 used what had become the standard Waffen-SS tank numbering system, at least at company level.  All tanks had three-digit numbers, painted centered on both sides of the turret.  In a platoon the first digit signified the company to which the tank belonged, the second digit was the platoon, and the last digit was the individual tank’s number.  For example, Tiger Nr. 332 was the second tank in the 3. Zug (platoon) of the 3. Kompanie.  The company commanders rode in the “5” tanks (105, 205, and 305).  Company headquarters tanks (often used as a reserve tank) were numbered 104, 204, and 304.

Many German units used red turret numbers outlined in white.  However, s. SS-Pz.Abt. 501 perhaps used different color turret numbers for each company.  When tank 332 arrived at Aberdeen Proving Ground in 1945 it had medium blue turret numbers outlined in yellow, confirmed by color film footage taken in the summer of 1945.  Wartime photographs of tanks 304, 312 and 334 appear to show turret numbers painted in the same shade.  Interpretation of paint colors in black and white photographs from World War II can be problematical, based on light conditions when the photographs were taken, quality and type of film, quality of the camera, etc., but the shades of the 304, 312 and 334 numbers appear very similar to 332 and unlike other turret numbers.  However, an eyewitness account from a citizen of La Gleize stated that the turret numbers of 334 when it was knocked out were red. (7) The visible turret numbers on the other tanks appear to be darker shades, outlined in a lighter shade.  These could be red outlined in white, although another eyewitness account from La Gleize says that 213 had black numbers outlined in white.  (8) The battalion headquarters tanks (008 and 009) had larger numbers, apparently a dark shade (red?) outlined in white.  With the lack of color photographic evidence other than for 332 and no remaining unit records, the only reasonable conclusions are that the companies of s. SS-Pz.Abt. 501 probably used different color turret numbers, and those of the 3. Kompanie were blue outlined in yellow.

With the exception of one tank (the one left in the Chemin Vieille-Voie in La Gleize; probably 104), none of those photographed from the side had the German Balkenkreuz (national cross) painted on and clearly showing.  However, a photo of 222 taken in Stavelot some time after the war appears to show a Balkenkreuz on the left turret side in a position that was underneath the tactical number; this was probably an earlier marking that was revealed after 222’s turret number faded with time.  The only other marking painted on by the unit was the tactical symbol of 1. SS-Panzerkorps, two crossed keys in a shield with a wreath of oakleaves below.  This symbol, painted in a light shade (probably white) appears on the upper right glacis plate on Nr. 204 and another 2. Kompanie tank shown in the Tondorf film.  The latter tank is not Nr. 204; the camouflage pattern is slightly different on the glacis plate.  204 also had this tactical symbol on the upper right of the rear plate.

Tiger tank in the Chemin Vielle-Voie in La Gleize, showing the Balkenkreuz.  Although it had no tactical number painted on, this was probably tank 104.  (December 1944 Museum, La Gleize)

The tank in the upper and lower right photos does not have the same paint pattern on the glacis plate as 204; it is a different 2. Kompanie tank.  (Upper left - US National Archives at College Park, Signal Corps Collection; upper right, lower left, and lower right - US National Archives at College Park, RG 242 National Archives Collection of Foreign Records Seized, 242-MID-3136)

222 in Stavelot, with the Balkenkreuz showing on the turret side where the tactical number has faded away under the effects of weather.  (M. Courtejoie, Stavelot) 

Many of the tanks of s. SS-Pz.Abt. 501 which appear in period photographs or films appear to have been painted to a standard camouflage pattern.  While not identical, the paint patterns which can be seen on tanks 008, 009, “104,” 105, 204, 213, another 2. Kompanie tank in the Tondorf film, and 304 are close enough to lend credence to this idea.  At least two of the tanks were not painted to this pattern.  Nr. 222 shows in a closeup in the Tondorf film and several photos, during and after the battle.  It was painted with the “light and shadow” camouflage dots, but the pattern differs from the other tanks.  The paint scheme was also apparently applied by spray.  222 had a Balkenkreuz applied to the left turret side before the tactical number was painted on.  It’s possible that 222 was one of the 11 Tigers produced in September 1944 and originally issued to s. Pz.Abt. 509, but diverted to s. SS-Pz. Abt. 501.

Nr. 332 was definitely not painted to the same pattern as some of the battalion’s other tanks.  See here for more information on 332.

Go on to a listing and photos of the Tiger tanks documented in the Ardennes Offensive

Notes

(1) Thomas L. Jentz, Germany’s Tiger Tanks: Tiger I & II: Combat Tactics (Atglen, Pa.: Schiffer Publishing Ltd.), 168.

(2)  National Archives Building, Washington, DC: After Action Report, Company “A” 825th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 17-31 December 1944 pp. 4-5; and After Battle Report No. VII, 823rd Tank Destroyer Battalion, 1-31 December 1944, dated 3 January 1945 page 2.

(3) Wolfgang Schneider, Der Koenigstiger 2. Band (Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas Verlag, 1988), 27.

(4) National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD; Motion Picture, Sound and Video Unit.  “Die Deutsche Wochenschau #2 1945,” 242-MID-3136 (from RG 242 National Archives Collection of Foreign Records Seized), Tondorf film.  This film has usually been described as taken on 12 or 13 December 1944 as s. SS-Pz.Abt. 501 moved into its assembly area near Tondorf.  I believe that the film was taken on the afternoon of 16 December after the battalion left the assembly area and moved toward Blankenheim to form the rear element of Kampfgruppe Peiper.  All of the movements into assembly areas were done during darkness, and this film was shot in daylight.  If the tanks in the film were moving toward their assembly area they were driving in the wrong direction; their assembly area was in the woods northwest of Tondorf, and in the film the tanks are leaving Tondorf and turning southwest onto the road to Blankenheim.  The tanks in the film seem prepared for combat; machine-guns are mounted on the cupola rings for antiaircraft defense.  Some of the tanks have their main gun muzzle covers in place, but they are at this point still some 30 kilometers from the front.  It’s also unlikely that the SS war reporters would be filming a highly secret move such as that into the assembly area before the attack.  On the other hand, several teams of war reporters filmed many units in the initial days of the offensive for propaganda purposes.  The Tondorf sequence was shown to the German people on 4 January 1945 as part of a newsreel (Die Deutsche Wochenschau, German Weekly Show) covering the offensive.  The film was seized in Germany by Americans at the end of the war.

(5) Werner Wendt, letter to author, 6 November 1995.

(6) Jentz, Thomas L., Hilary Doyle and Peter Sarson, Kingtiger Heavy Tank 1942-1945. Osprey Military New Vanguard Book no. 1. (London: Reed Consumer Books, Ltd., 1997).

(7) Benno Deckers, interview by author in La Gleize, 15 June 2005.

(8) ibid.

All text copyright 2005-2008 Gregory A. Walden. All rights reserved; material from this website may only be republished with the author’s permission.