There was only one real dark cloud on the horizon. Despite all the warning signs of the forthcoming invasion, the OKW issued orders for the Division to give up its "Panther" battalion to the Eastern Front, and this instruction provides us with convenient excuse to consider the organization and equipment of the Panzer-Lehr-Regiment 130 during the first days of the Invasion, and of course, how this is reflected in the Division's appearance in Omaha.

The organization was to be that of a standard Panzer-Regiment within the Table of Organization and Equipment of the "Panzer- Division 43"; this having been introduced officially the year before on 24 Sep 1943. This called for the establishment of two Panzer-Abteilungen, each consisting of 4 Kompanien, each of which deployed 22 tanks. One Abteilung was to be equipped with Panzer IV (75mm), and the other with Panzer V "Panther"; and generally speaking, it was the I.Abteilung in each case which proved to be the "Panther" battalion, while the II.Abteilung was equipped with the Panzer IV. In the case of the Panzer-LehrRegiment there were difficulties in raising the "Panther" battalion. When those troops of the Panzer-Lehr-Regiment initially left their barracks in Fallingbostel to transfer to northeastern France to form the Panzer-LehrDivision, it was only those who were fit for active service who went. The troops and equipment available were sufficient only to form the Regimental headquarters and the II.Abteilung, that is a single battalion deploying Panzer IVs. Left behind in Germany was an Activation Staff, the Aufstellungsstab Lehrtruppe, and it was this unit which later formed the basis for the I./Panzer-Lehr-Regiment 130.

Incidentally, the Abteilung saw its first combat action with the Panzer-Brigade 113, which it had joined during August 1944, only to be badly mauled during the course of a few days fighting around Luneville in September 1944. After being refitted in Grafenwohr, it was sent for a brief spell to Hungary where it came under the AOK 6 and suffered further heavy casualties. It was transferred back again to Grafenwohr for another refit, before finally joining its parent division in the Xanten area on 18 Feb 1945.

In the meantime, the Panzer-Lehr-Division had no organic "Panther" battalion. The decision was taken instead to attach to it the I./ Panzer-Regiment 6 from the 3. Panzer- Division. This battalion had originally been withdrawn from the Eastern Front during the summer of 1943, without either its weapons or equipment. It had been resting and refitting in reserve in the Kamenskoye-Dnepropetrovsk area with the rest of the Division, when orders arrived for it to transfer back to its home station in Neuruppin northwest of Berlin. In September of the same year, it had moved to France where it began equipping and training as a "Panther" battalion on the Manoeuvre Area at Mailly-le-Camp south of Chalons-sur-Marne.

The training was scheduled to last until February 1944, and it was just after the completion of this training in March 1944 that the I./Panzer-Regiment 6 was attached to the Panzer-Lehr-Division; just in time to participate in the occupation of Hungary. It moved to Bruck an der Leitha in Austria prior to moving into Hungary itself, where, after "Margarethe" had been completed, the Abteilung continued with further training exercises in Budakeszi, Varpalota and Veszprem along with the rest of the Division. The I./Panzer-Regiment 6 also accompanied the Panzer-Lehr-Division back to France during the early days of May 1944, where it spent the rest of the month preparing for the forthcoming Invasion. However, as we have already seen, orders arrived at the very last moment for the Abteilung to transfer back to the Eastern Front, and by 5 June the first trains were already into Germany and approaching Magdeburg southwest of Berlin; the last were still in Paris completing their loading.

The transfer had robbed the Division of its strongest attack force on the very eve of the Invasion. The events of 6 Jun forced the OKW to reconsider of course, and the Abteilung returned westwards, called back from its uncompleted rail journey, but it would not arrive until 9 Jun, and would not see action until the day after that. The Panzer-Lehr-Division would possess no Panzer V "Panthers" for the first four days of the Invasion. Those of you who have enjoyed launching German armored counterattacks under the "what if" variant of Scenario 9 will need to reconsider both your troops and your options. And there is more to come.

The same scenario in Omaha allows for a couple or so platoons of not only "Panthers", but also Jagdtigers and "King Tigers". I am afraid that you will have to resign yourselves to leaving these to gather dust in your counter trays, too, unless you wish to indulge in compounding the "what if' nature of the scenario. I will deal first with the 10 "King Tigers". Their inclusion in the game derives from a report submitted by the Panzer-Lehr-Division on 1 May 1944, that is, when it was still stationed in Hungary following the completion of Operation "Margarethe". At that time the Panzer-Lehr-Division 130 still deployed the Funklenkkompanie 316 (Radio-controlled Company 316), and it is this unit which accounted for the inclusion of Tiger IIs in the report. The Kompanie deployed the Ladungstrager B IV (Sd.Kfz.301) (the B IV radio- controlled demolition vehicle), along with various other types of armored fighting vehicles as its "lead" tanks.

It was as these "lead" tanks that the Kompanie received its first five Tiger IIs during April 1944, while stationed in Bruck an der Leitha southeast of Vienna. The Kompanie had not been used in the occupation of Hungary, and remained behind in Austria until the Division returned to France. As we have already seen, it was early May 1944 when the whole of the Panzer-Lehr-Division transferred to the Chartres-Le Mans-Orleans area southwest of Paris, and following the move the Funklenkkompanie 316 was stationed in Chateaudun.

Shortly after the transfer however the Tiger IIs began to develop technical faults and it was decided to transfer them back to Germany as quickly as could be arranged so that they would not fall into Allied hands. The transport situation however meant that they could not be moved, and in the event the Tiger IIs remained in Chateaudun where they were later destroyed by their crews. So, despite being included in the return made by the Division on 1 May 1944, they never reached Normandy, and indeed they never saw action of any kind. Those few vehicles were the only "Tiger" tanks of any description which the Panzer-Lehr-Division ever deployed; they were to receive no more.

And now for the 12 Jagdtigers. Again the inclusion of these vehicles stems from the 1 May 1944 report, but here at least there may have been a "clerical error" of sorts. The vehicles could possibly have been recorded as Panzerjager VI rather than Panzerjager IV, in other words the I and the V had been accidentally transposed, but the standard German nomenclature for the Jagdtiger was just that, the "Jagdtiger"; and it was not normally referred to as the Panzerjager VI. It is feasible of course that the mistake crept in elsewhere and at a later date. And then there is a problem with the dates. I may be mistaken, but I do not believe that the Western Allies encountered Jagdtigers as early as June 1944. Whatever the possibilities though, the fact remains that the "Zustandsbericht" submitted by the Panzer-Lehr- Division on 1 June 1944 records that there were no Jagdtigers in the Division at that date.

There was however a total of 40 Jagdpanzer IVs (Sd.Kfz.162), otherwise known as the Panzerjager 39. Not unnaturally, these belonged to the Panzergager-Lehr-Abteilung 130, a unit whose organization had long been in the balance. It was originally planned to have 3 companies; the first equipped with Jagdpanzer IVs, the second with "Jagdpanthers", and the third with King Tigers. But it was not to be, and the Abteilung received its first 31 Jagdpanzer IVs during March 1944, one of the first units in the Wehrmacht to do so. The vehicles were delivered too early though, and were SO full of teething troubles that the Division was obliged to report them as nonoperational. There problems obliged the Abteilung to improvise its organisation, and by May 1944 it deployed three mixed companies, each with 9 or 10 Jagdpanzer IVs and four towed 75mm anti-tank guns.

By 1 June 1944 the Panzer-Lehr-Division deployed the following armor: 97 x Panzer IV (in the II./Panzer-Lehr-Regiment 130); 86 x Panzer V (in the I./Panzer-Regiment 6), and 40 x Jagdpanzer IV (in the Panzerjager-Lehr-Abteilung 130). As has been shown though, for the first critical days of the Invasion, from 6 to 8 June, the 86 "Panthers" were loaded upon trains somewhere between Paris and Berlin, unable to assist their adopted Division. If you wish to try a "what if" scenario which is more historically accurate in that it was an actual feasible, you will need to leave the "Panthers", "King Tigers", and Jagdtigers in the box, and settle instead for the more sobering mix of Panzer IVs, Jagdpanzer IVs and towed 75mm anti-tank guns.

[Ed. Note: A complete replacement Panzer Lehr based on Mr. Barratt's work will be included in the variant/errata counlersheet we will be issuing at the end of the year. If you are on our mailing list, you'll get one free of charge. If not, you won't.]

More Panzer Lehr

Activation and Formation
First Operations, Hungary and Eastern Front
Back to the Western Front
Organization of PzLehr Regt. 130