The most interesting fact about the battle is that First Panzer Army, while comprised of some 200,000+ men overall, had only 35 operational tanks amongst its ten panzer and panzer grenadier divisions when it started its retreat. By April 9th, it was down to only 24 operational tanks! For instance, the 16th Panzer had only 11 operational tanks, while the 6th Panzer had 4 tanks and the 19th Panzer had none. Attrition took its toll among the non-divisional units as well. The 509th Heavy Tank Battalion (attached to 6th Panzer) had 12 Tiger and 8 Panther tanks in late March. The attack upon Gorodok had destroyed 34 T-34 tanks, while 4 Tigers were lost. By April 2nd, the battalion had two Tigers remaining, that's all. Yet, during the course of its westward movement the battalion had destroyed 102 Soviet tanks and 68 antitank guns. By mid-April, the army had suffered 2,300 killed, 3,500 missing and 8,300 wounded. But waiting in the wings were some 100 armored vehicles of various types, 150 artillery pieces, 90 anti-tank guns, 40,000 troops, 2,000 trucks and 10,000 horses with which to rebuild the depleted army. A phenomenon had happened and it was on the German side. Kesselschlacht March-April 1944 Introduction and Background Terrain and Weather The Deception The Battle Begins Breakout Aftermath The Face of Battle All Daily Situation Maps (monstrously slow: 1.646Mb!) Back to Table of Contents -- Against the Odds vol. 1 no. 3 Back to Against the Odds List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by LPS. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com * Buy this back issue or subscribe to Against the Odds direct from LPS.