509th heavy tank battalion (Germany)

The schwere-Panzer-Abteilung 509 (abbreviated "sPzAbt 509") was a German heavy panzer abteilung equipped with Tiger I and later Tiger II "Königstiger" tanks. The 509th saw action on the Eastern Front during the Second World War. As with other German Heavy Panzer Detachments, it was never assigned to a single corps; but shuffled around according to war circumstances.

History

The 509th was formed in early September 1943, taking most of its personnel from Panzer-Regiment 204 of the 22.Panzer-Division. The detachment was initially issued with forty-five Tiger Is.

The detachment was committed to action in Ukraine as a part of Army Group South. Reaching the Front in October 1943, the 509th saw action near Kirovograd and Krivoi Rog, falling back as a part of the overall withdrawal of the front. In early November, the third company was detached and assigned to the 2.SS-Panzer-Division "Das Reich".

In early 1944, the 509th was involved in the Second Battle of Kiev and was heavily engaged in fighting for the city. After the defeat at Kiev, the detachment saw action at Pavlova during the withdrawal. In March, the 509th was subordinated to gepanzerte Gruppe "Bäke", a brigade sized armoured "fire brigade" formation under "Oberst der Reserve" Dr.med.dent. Franz Bäke. In late May, the exhausted and severely depleted 509th was pulled back for refitting. After receiving a full complement of Tiger 1s, the detachment was sent back to the front on 1 June 1944.

On 22 June 1944, the Soviets launched Operation Bagration, and the 509th, attached to Army Group Centre, was in the line of advance. The 509th saw heavy fighting at Novosselki, Shitomir and Chelmik. On 8 September 1944, the detachment lost sixteen Tigers in under 24 hours near Kielce, Poland.

In late September the remnants of the detachment were pulled back to Senneläger to be rebuilt and equipped with the state-of-the-art Tiger II ausf Bs. Due to severe interruptions in the production, Henschel was unable to deliver the new panzers until December 1944. After it had received forty-five new Tiger IIs, the detachment was sent to join "SS-Obergruppenführer" Herbert Otto Gille's IV.SS-Panzerkorps, which was preparing an attempt to relieve the encircled garrison of Budapest. The operation, codenamed "Konrad III", was launched on 18 January 1945. The 509th had to change its attack plans once the assault was in progress after a major bridge over the Vali River collapsed.

The horrible conditions coupled with a ferocious Soviet defence and a solid "Pakfront" resulted in the failure of Konrad III. During the operation, the 509th had lost forty of its forty five Tiger IIs, however many were able to be repaired and put back into action relatively quickly, with only ten being total losses. On 15 February 1945, the battalion was mentioned in an army report as having destroyed 203 Soviet tanks, 145 Soviet guns and 5 Soviet aircraft with the total loss of 10 Tiger IIs in the period from 18 January 1945 to 8 February 1945.

The 509th was transferred to III.Panzerkorps, where it took part in the fighting supporting Operation Frühlingserwachen in March, and falling back towards Vienna. It took part in the Battle of Vienna in April, before making a breakout towards the American lines. On 8 May 1945, the 509th destroyed its remaining nine Tiger IIs and the next day surrendered to the Americans near Linz.

Commanders

* Hauptmann von Lüttichau (? Aug 1943 - ? Nov 1943)
* Major Gierka (? Nov 1943 - ? Feb 1944)
* Hauptmann Radtke (? Feb 1944 - ? Mar 1944)
* Hauptmann Burmester (? Mar 1944 - ? Feb 1945)
* Hauptmann Dr.König (? Feb 1945 - ? May 1945)

Orders of battle

October 1943 - Ukraine

December 1943, Ukraine (Army Group South)

* Abteilung Stab Zug (3x Tiger I ausf E, 6x SdKfz 250)
* 1./sPzAbt 509 (14x Tiger I ausf E)
* 2./sPzAbt 509 (14x Tiger I ausf E)
* 3./sPzAbt 509 (14x Tiger I ausf E) - subordinated to 2.SS-Panzer-Division

January 1945 - Konrad III

* Abteilung Stab Zug (3x Tiger II ausf B, 6x SdKfz 250)
* 1./sPzAbt 509 (14x Tiger II ausf B)
* 2./sPzAbt 509 (14x Tiger II ausf B)
* 3./sPzAbt 509 (14x Tiger II ausf B)

External links

* [http://www.alanhamby.com/tiger.html Unit history of sPzAbt 509 and all other Tiger units at the Tiger I Information Center]