The specialized heavy antitank vehicles that the Germans fielded late in the war have always been a source of interest to wargamers. For a while it seemed that's all the Germans had, to judge by wargaming scenarios. Command Decision players, however have always displayed a good deal more interest in historical scenarios with an accurate mix of vehicles and correct organizations. Since we've never published organizations for these specialized units, however, they haven't seen much use in games. This article is meant to rectify that. I. DEPLOYMENT The table below shows every independent panzerjaeger battalion employed by the German Army from 1944 through the end of the war. Each entry shows the equipment of the battalion and its theater of operations for that particular period. For example, the entry for the 560th Battalion indicates that in early 1944 it had been assigned to the East Front, and was equipped with Nashorns. By the second half of the year it was re-equipped with Jagdpanthers, and remained on the East Front. In early 1945 it was transferred to the West, still equipped with Jagdpanthers. BATT ID DEPLOYMENT TABLE Early 44 Late 44 Early 45 88 Nshrn E Nshrn E Nshrn E 93 Nshrn E Nshrn E Nshrn W 463 Towed N Towed N Towed N 512 - - JgdT E/W 519 Nshrn E JgdP W JgdP W 525 Nshrn I JgdP I JgdP I 559 Mrdr E JgdP W JgdP W 560 Nshrn E JgdP E JgdP W 561 T 75 E T 75 E T 75 E 563 T 75 E T 75 E T 75 E 564 T 75 1 T 75 1 T 75 1 616 Mrdr E Htzr E Htzr E 653 Ferd I JgdT I JgdT W 654 JgdP E JgdP W JgdP W 655 Nshrn E JgdP E JgdP W 661 T 88 E T 88 E T 88 E 662 T 88 E T 88 E T 88 E 663 T 88 E T 88 E T 88 E 664 T 88 E T 88 E T 88 E 665 T 88 E T 88 E T 88 E 666 T 88 E T 88 E T 88 E 667 T 88 E T 88 E T 88 E 668 T 88 W T 88 W T 88 W NOTES 1. Types: Nshr = Nashorn, Mrdr = Marder II/III, Hrtz = Hertzer, Jgdp = Jagdpanther, JgdT = Jagd Tiger, Ferd = Fredinand, T 75 = towed 75 AT Gun, T 88 = towed 88 AT Gun, Towed = mixed 50mm and 75mm AT Guns 2. Theater of Operations: N = Norway, I = Italy, W = West, E = East II. ORGANIZATION OF TOWED PANZERJAEGER BATTALIONS HEADQUARTERS 1 Command Stand 1 Kubelwagen 1 Medium Ammunition Truck with trailer 3 BATTERIES, each with 1 Command Stand 1 Kubelwagon 2 Towed Guns 2 Gun Crew Stands (DS) 2 Medium Trucks NOTES 1. Towed guns were either 75L46 AT Guns or 88L71 AT Guns. The 463rd Battalion in Norway was equipped with a mixture of 75L46 and 50L60 AT Guns. 2. Maultiers or RSO's were often substituted for medium trucks, especially in the east. Most of the 88L71s were tractor drawn. III. ORGANIZATION OF SELF PROPELLED BATTALIONS On paper, the organization was to have been as follows: BATTALION HEADQUARTERS 1 Command Stand 1 Kubelwagon 1 Recovery Vehicle 3 COMPANIES, each with: 1 Command Panzerjaeger 2 Panzerjaegers NOTES 1. NASHORNS: A total of 345 Nashorns were produced in 1943, and an additional 128 in 1944. The bulk of the Nashorn production went to equip six heavy self propelled battalions, all but one of which were assigned to the East. These battalions began forming in the late fall/winter of 1943, and were at the front by early 1944. The bulk of these battalions were equipped with JagdPanthers in mid and late 1944. 2. JAGDPANTHERS: A total of 230 Jagdpanthers were produced by the end of 1944, and were distributed among 7 battalions. Although this averages 35 vehicles per battalion, actual strength in the field per battalion was less than 20 vehicles as new production tended to replace losses in the existing units rather than go exclusively to the formation of new battalions. To flesh out the battalions as a result, its actual organization in the was one company of Jagdpanthers, and two companies of Jagdpanzer IVs. 1944 JAGDPANTHER BATTALION BATTALION HEADQUARTERS 1 Command Stand 1 SdKfz 250/1 1 Staff Radio SdKfz 251/1 1 Recovery Vehicle 1 COMPANY with 1 Command JagdPanther 2 JagdPanthers 2 COMPANIES, each with; 1 Command Jagdpanzer IV 2 Jagdpanzer IV's 3. JAGDPANZER VI "FERDINAND/ELEFANT": A total of 90 Jagdpanzer VI "Ferdinands" were produced, all in the first half of 1943. All of these were committed to combat at Kursk in the summer of that year, organized as the 656th Jagppanzer Regiment, consisting of two battalions, the 653rd Jagdpanzer Battalion which had the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Batteries, and the 654th Jagdpanzer Battalion with the 4th, 5th, and 6th Batteries. For CD, the following organization would be used: 656th JAGDPANZER REGIMENT REGIMENTAL HEADQUARTERS 1 Command Srand 1 SdKfz 250/1 1 Staff Radio SdKfz 251/1 1 Motorcycle Recon Stand 653rd JAGDPANZER BATTALION, with BATTALION HEADQUARTERS 1 Command Stand 1 SdKfz 250/1 1 Recovery Vehicle 1 Medium Ammunition Truck with Trailer (3 Tons) BATTERIES 1, 23 3, each with; 1 Command JgdPz VI 2 JgdPz VI 654th BATTALION: (as above with companies 4, 5, 6. The regiment suffered severe losses in battle and was afterwards withdrawn to Germany for refitting. At that time all of the surviving Ferdinands were fitted with a bow machine gun (and renamed Elefants) and assigned to the 653rd Battalion, which was sent to Italy in early 1944. In September the 1st Company was destroyed, and was never reformed. Although in late 1944 the battalion was officially converted to a JagdTiger Battalion, it kept its remaining Elefants till early 1945 when the remaining vehicles were placed in the 2nd Company, which was detached from the battalion and officially designated as the 614th Heavy Jagdpanzer Company. It served with the battalion during the Ardennes Battles In late 44/early 45. 4. JAGDTIGERS: A total of 48 JagdTigers were produced and issued to units in the latter half of 1944, being sent to the 512th, and the 653rd Battalions. The 653rd was re-equipped with the JagdTigers in Italy, and transferred north to serve in the Ardennes Campaign. As the 1st Company had been destroyed and not reformed, and the 2nd Company retained its Elefants, it appears that the 3rd Company was issued the JagdTigers. The Battalion was stalled west of the Our River, with the result that only one platoon from the 2nd Company (Elefants) was engaged in the actual battles. (The platoon was attached to the 5th Parachute Division, and fought on the southern flank, serving in the operations of the 5th about Bastogne.) The battalions organization for this operations was as follows: 653rd JAGDTIGER BATTALION with BATTALION HEADQUARTERS 1 Command Stand 1 SdKfz 250/1 1 Recovery Vehicle 2 Medium Ammunition Trucks with Trailer (3 Tons) 1 Wirblewind COMPANY #2 (later 614th Heavy Panzerjaeger Company) 1 Command JgdPz VI 1 JgdPz VI COMPANY #3 1 Command JagdTiger 1 JagdTiger The 512th JagdTiger Battalion was formed in the late fall of 1944 with two companies (totaling 20 JagdTigers) which fought as separate units on the Western Front during 1945, with both units surrendering in the Ruhr Pocket. The companies were known as "Company Carius" and "Company Ernst" after their commanders. Company Ernst was reinforced with a platoon of StuG IIIG, as well as a platoon of self propelled 37mm AA. (Probably either Mobelwagon or Ostwind.) The organization of the 512th Battalion would be: 512th JAGDTIGER BATTALION, with BATTALION HEADQUARTERS 1 Command Stand 1 SdKfz 250/1 1 Recovery Vehicle 2 Medium Ammunition Trucks with Trailer (3 Tons) 1 Wirblewind COMPANY "CARIUS" 1 Command JagdTiger 1 JagdTiger COMPANY "ERNST" 1 Command JagdTiger 1 JagdTiger 1 StuG IIIG 1 Ostwind or Mobelwagon The 512th was reorganized on February 11, 1945 from surviving personnel of the 454th Tiger Battalion. The unit was nominally assigned to the XXIV Panzer Corps in the East, but it is probable that it never actually left the Wehrmacht Heavy Armor School at Paderborn, Germany. It is doubtful that it ever mustered more than a single company, and it was lost during the attack on Paderborn in 1945. GAMING NOTES It should be noted that for gaming purposes no historical scenario will ever involve more than a single company/battery (2 model JagdTigers), and that they will probably never make it to the East. "What if" Scenarios are, of course, always possible. Back to Table of Contents -- Command Post Newsletter #3 To Command Post Quarterly List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1990 by Greg Novak. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com