- Member since
July 2003
- From: On my kitchen counter top somewhere in central North Carolina.
|
 folks, 
Here's some late night weekend reading for 'ya....
 I've finally taken the time from other activities to bring this bit of doodle up to date.
 Hope 'yall enjoy it.
 Probably gonn'a need yer glasses too.
(pictures after all the dialogue)
The text below is taken from "The Wehrmacht Weapons Testing Grounds at Kummersdorf" by Wolfgang Fleischer P178, 179.
1. Detail taken from Tigers in Combat II Stackpole Books P335.
2. And more text added from the web even more detailed than the book.
By the spring of 1945 Germany had become a battleground. At the Wehrmacht weapons testing grounds at Kummersdorf the various test departments began evacuating important materials and documents and burning the rest. At the beginning of March 1945 the Kummersdorf Panzer Battalion was formed from elements of the Technischen Versuchs Kompanie “Technical Test Company” it had a mixed complement of vehicles. On the 14 March 1945, part of the panzer battalion Kummersdorf was absorbed into I./Panzer-Regiment 29 which was part of the newly formed Panzer-Division “Müncheberg” a division which itself was formed on the 5th of March 1945.
“Müncheberg”  Panzer-Division
An OKH order dated 18 April 1945 shows that the Kummersdorf Abteilung and the 1/29 Panzer Regiment were organized into an ad-hoc regiment. The Kummersdorf or 1st battalion had a staff, a staff company, a Tiger Company (formerly 3/Kummersdorf Panzer Battalion), a Panther company, a mixed Panzer company, and a supply company.
The Inspector-General of Armoured Forces mentioned the formation of Kummersdorf panzer company (new unit, formed out of the logistics battalion at Kummersdorf) during the course of a meeting of a briefing at Führer Headquarters on 31 March 1945. It was organized into three tank platoons (partially mobile), one armoured reconnaissance platoon (not mobile). The vehicles were taken from those kept on hand for test purposes. They included a Panzer VI Tiger II (Sd.Kfz. 182), a Jagdtiger, two American Sherman tanks, an Italian P 40(i) tank, and several B IV heavy explosive charge carriers armed with machine guns. (one Tiger II, one Jagdtiger, four Panthers, two Panzer N, one Panzer III, one Nashorn, one Hummel, two Sherman’s, and one immobile Porsche Tiger 8.8-centimeter L/71 main gun )
According to a priority telex message dated 4 April 1945, at least part of the panzer company was supposed to be transferred into the Dresden area. (A report on the 19 April 1945 stated the Kummersdorf panzer company was on the march to Luchau. A final report dated 21 April 1945 stated the battalion staff and the company had been attached to Kampfgruppe MÖWS) The non-mobile elements of Kummersdorf panzer company, including a Tiger tank with the Porsche turret {Porsche Tiger 8.8-centimeter L/71 main gun} saw action at the end of April in the fighting south east of the proving ground.
Another tank unit was formed at Kummersdorf using the civilian drivers, including Behnisch, (my personal question..... Günter Behnisch - a submarine commander?) whose name appears several times. According to a note dated 21 April 1945, this unit was supposed to go into action south of Zossen as part of Kampfgruppe Kaether. With a total of 42 vehicles, including at least one Panzer V Panther, it set out in the direction of Baruth. Troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front advancing from Golssen had to be held up. A battle developed near Baruth in which the makeshift tank unit was completely wiped out.
(Baruth is approximately 7 kilometers from the village of Horstwalde, the following text must be dated on or about the 21st April 1945)
At Kummersdorf, the battle commander of Kummersdorf put together a Volkssturm unit from the remaining men. It saw action on the road to Horstwalde. A damaged Tiger was hauled out of the garages of the Verskraft to bolster its strength. There was a brief exchange of fire with red army troops during which a T34 was knocked out. Fighting was also recorded in the area of the army workers settlement, where 88-mm anti-aircraft guns destroyed another tank. Members of the Volkssturm wielding Panzerfaust anti-tank weapons destroyed several Russian tanks on the road from Scönefled to Gottow. (Approximately 3km East of Horstwalde village) The defensive ring around Kummersdorf, which had been broken in several places, disintegrated. It seems that one of the Porsche Type-180 vehicles may have been in operation since a Porsche Tiger with an 8.8cm L/71 gun is listed as part of the Panzer Kompanie Kummersdorf on March 1945. Virtually all operational Tiger II tanks, and prototypes issued for research and training were thrown into the fray at the end of the war.
Conclusion:
It’s clear from the text above that the Technischen Versuchs Kompanie “Technical Test Company” left their immobile tank behind when they were ordered south. The tank is referred to as a “Tiger tank with a Porsche turret” and “Porsche Tiger 8.8-centimeter L/70 main gun” To me this could well be nothing more than an early Tiger II with a Porsche turret. But you never know and just because there are no pictures of the tank at Kummersdorf and no photographs taken in or around Horstwalde by the Russians does not rule out that it could have been a VK4502. People have pointed out to me in the past that if the Tiger which fought there was indeed a VK4502 then it would have surely drawn the interest of a Russian Army photographer...
Using the assumption that this prototype tank was relegated to training purposes at Kummersdorf and (as mentioned before) could have been lost in the final defense of that area. Reports say that it was used somewhere south of Zossen as part of a Kampfgrup Kaether in the last days of the war.
As most of you probably know, the turrets used for the Tiger II production run (although referred to as Porsche and Henschel) were both in fact built by Krupp. Remember (mentioned earlier) that the VK 45.02 sported the initial version specifically made for this vehicle.
BUT to this day no Russian Army photographs of the knocked out VK4501 command tank have ever surfaced. This one off rare tank lost in 1944 surely would have been photographed even if it was just a wreck. It’s very likely that once engaged the single tank defending Horstwalde would have been destroyed, if the tank had been wrecked then perhaps the remains may well have been over looked by the Russians just like the VK4501, especially when you consider that the Maus V1 prototype and a blown up VK4502 were lying just a few kilometers away.
As a grim reminder of war........
A German Officer noted:
The dead are lying all over the bridge, and the wounded, with no one to pick them up. Civilians are trying to cross; they are shot down in rows. Our last armored cars are forcing their way across the bridge over and through piles of twisted human bodies. The bridge is flooded with blood. The terrible slaughter would not end. The rear guard falls apart. The command crumbles. Our losses are heavy.
Two last divisions did make it across the bridge.
The same officer made a final entry on May 4, 1945.
Behind us, Berlin in flames. Russian tanks all around us, and the incessant clatter of machine guns. We meet columns of refugees drifting about lost. They weep and ask for help. We are at the end ourselves. The unit breaks up. We try to go on in small groups.
The Muncheberg division broke up on May 4th, and its men tried to make their way to the west to surrender to the British and Americans. Only a few made good their escape, however, most fell into Russian captivity. After that disintegration (the last large formal body of public administration near Berlin) German control ceased to exist.
I've portrayed this subject in Panzer gray because of the lack of paint supplies (a training tank wouldn't really need the late war repaint as seriously as a forward unit) and I have placed it on an obscure road south of Zossen.
Good view of the shell ejector port and bolts that I added. Playin' with the periscopes....
A lott'a mud, dust and foot traffic here.  Considering there were no hull entrances for the driver and radio operator, I'm thinking the turret would get pretty dirty. This Tiger is...........    "♪ Lookin' for mud in all the right places♩"
 About ready to go..... 
a bit of dirt and surface mudulation ..........   Grit and grime from nearby explosions........ Tracks and wheels - with a nice helping of mud.   Moving forward, "The Phantom Tiger " will begin with the next build update.
Meanwhile, I'll be out of touch here for the next few days doing other stuff that I need to get done.
|