Stranger things have happened.... Panzer II of Sturmpanzer Abt. 216 passes by a Tiger of 3rd Co, sPzAbt 508 and an SdKfz 9 of the recovery company, Nettuno sector, Italy, March, 1944.
Sturmpanzer Abteilung 216 was unique from other Sturmpanzer units in that it was allocated 5 Pz.Kpfw. II’s. It is suspected that recon and observation might have been their task.
Records show that on March 1st the battalion had five Panzer II’s, four ready and one under repair. On April 1st there was one ready and three under repair. On the July 1st document no Panzer II’s are shown; but in the weapons section of the report a 2cm KwK 36 was still on the books. This is likely correct because the records from August through April 1945 indicate that a single Panzer II was ready for action. There are some photos that suggest that the remaining Panzer II was assigned to the maintenance company, as they show maintenance personal operating it in several photographs. If that was in fact the case, it might explain how a Panzer II survived to almost the end of the war, while four others had been lost between March and July.
The Waffenmeister in the turret of a Pz.Kpfw. IIC, presumably from the 216th Sturmpanzer battalion.