- Member since
December 2002
- From: Reno, NV
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Posted by espins1
on Friday, November 2, 2007 11:41 AM
Kerscher and Carius apparently kicked a lot of butt! Albert Kerscher:
Albert Kerscher was best known for his actions at Malinava where along with Otto Carius the two Tiger Is attacked a Russian advance tank group. Since there was only one main street the two decided that only their tanks would attack keeping six Tigers in reserve. During the attack Kerscher noticed two T-34s beginning to rotate their turrets so he fired destroying both. During the twenty-minute encounter Kerscher and Carius managed to destroy seventeen T-34s and JS-1s. Kerscher scored 100+ kills, ranked twelfth in the tank ace list and was awarded the Knight's Cross 10/23/1944. From what I've been able to gather so far, Kerscher's Tiger was in fact #213, and was an early Tiger without Zimmerit. Here is some more cool stuff on Kerscher: Albert Kerscher recieved the Ritterkreuz as a Feldwebel and Pz.Kdt. from 1.Pz.Kp./s.Pz.Abt. 502 on 23.10.44. On 5.4.45 his unit was redesignated as s.Pz.Abt. 511. Ritterkreuzeträger Kerscher was still a Feldwebel and commanded a Tiger VIE, one of the very few still in action by that time.
Preparations for the defenive stand at Norgau were made in the night of 12.4.45. 4 Tiger would take place in the defence of the Prussian town;
- Kampfgruppe Kerscher (Fw. A. Kersher and Obergefreiter Rink) consisted of 2 Tiger positioned on the higher grounds at Norgau, with Rink in a position where he could provide fire support for Kerscher, as well as watch his back.
- Kampfgruppe Baresch; Cosisted of Unteroffizier Baresch, his Tiger and one other unidentified Tiger. He took up positions on the other side of the road, to cover Kerscher's flank.
The Russian attack came in the early hours of 13.4.45. Artillery shells came raining down by the dozens, but the Tiger were not damaged. When the barrage lifted, the commanders noticed an wave of Russian tanks coming their way. A Russian tank brigade with a large variety of armour seemed to be their composition. When the mass of tanks started rolling downhill across the slopes, Kerscher gove a 'Feur frei' order. The Russian tanks were now only 500 - 800 m away, and the two German tank crews opened up on the enemy. They did not have to wait long for the results, within minutes some 20 Russians tanks were destroyed and burning, or disabled. The smoke and damaged vehicles took away the line of sight for the Russian tanks behind the first wave.
Among the Russian tanks were models of the new SU-100, who should provide fire cover for the battle tanks. Since they did not posses a swivelling tower, they drove back and forth frantically searching for the German defensive positions. When the last Russian tanks came driving down from the slope, they spotted the German position. Kerscher's gunner, Schmidt, realized what the SU-100's were up to and took them under fire. Despite the fact that the Panzergranaten could not penetrate the SU's frontal armour from the current range, they fled from the battle theatre.
Baresch's Tiger was suffering from a defect Kampfwagenkanone, forcing him to withdraw. Before leaving, however, he turned over his remaining ammunition to Kerscher. Kerscher decided to change positions, and he drove to a small slope, from where he took out another Russian tank. After that, he drove back to the village, where he suddenly bumped into a stalled Russian tank colonne. Only the town square seperated Kerscher's Tiger from the enemy tanks. Schmidt swung the cannon to the right, and started counting the number of Russian tanks; it were fifteen of them. The first shot destroyed the last enemy tank in the column. Immediatly other shots followed, all of them penetrated the armour from this short distance. When Russian soldiers appeared, Kerscher ordered to pull back. Towards the evening, a Major came to Kerscher's Tiger, who told him that the enemy was making a new attack. Kerscher speeded to the battle scene and destroyed 5 enemy vehicles immediatly. But again, SU-100's also participated in the attack. Kerscher drove with Weigand, another Tiger-Kommandant, into the left flank of the 12 assaulting SU-100's. Weigand opened up first, then Kerscher joined in and with the sunset, all 12 SU-100's were burning brightly.
In the morning of 14.4.45, Kerscher realised that he had to pull back several kilometers to rejoin his own men. However, he wanted to execute one more daring assault on Norgau, which was falling into Russian hands by now. He rolled forwards behind the cover of man-high bushes, reaching the first houses. The driver drove upwards a small slope, and Schmidt pointed the Kanone right into the former German ditches, pakced with Russian soldiers. Numerous high-explosive rounds where fired into the Russian infantry positions, and the enemy was obliterated.
Enemy artillery came hailing down immediatly afterwards, and Kerscher's Tiger raced back to his own lines, where an Infantry battalion from Großdeutschland was preparing to counterattack. |
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