German Heavy Panzer Detachment

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German Heavy Panzer Detachments/Battalions (German: schwere-Panzer-Abteilung), were battalion-sized World War II tank units, equipped with Tiger I and Tiger II heavy tanks. Originally intended to fight on the offensive during breakthrough operations, the German late-war realities showed them better used and much more capable of fighting in a defensive posture by providing heavy fire support and counterattacking enemy armored breakthroughs. These panzer detachments were considered elite units.

1 Formation
- 1.1 Heer units
- 1.2 Waffen-SS units
2 References
3 Books

[edit] Formation

Early formation units experimented to find the correct combination of heavy Tiger tanks supported by either medium Panzer III tanks or scout elements. Later formations had a standard organization of 45 Tiger Tanks, composed of 3 companies of 14 Tigers each, plus 3 command vehicles. Maintenance troubles and the mechanical unreliability of the Tigers posed a continuous problem, so often the units would field a smaller number of combat-ready tanks.

The limited number of these heavy tanks, plus their specialized role in either offensive or defensive missions, meant they were rarely permanently assigned to a single division or corps; but shuffled around according to war circumstances.

By the end of the war, the following heavy panzer detachments had been created. Early units were re-built several times by the end of the war.

[edit] Heer units

501st Heavy Panzer Detachment
502nd Heavy Panzer Detachment
503rd Heavy Panzer Detachment
504th Heavy Panzer Detachment
505th Heavy Panzer Detachment
506th Heavy Panzer Detachment
507th Heavy Panzer Detachment
508th Heavy Panzer Detachment
509th Heavy Panzer Detachment
3rd Battalion, Panzer Regiment Grossdeutschland
- exception to the permanent assignment