Inspector of Panzer Troops Colonel-General Heinz Guderian visits the 507th Heavy Tank Battalion.

Officers of the 507th.

The 507th was formed on  September 23, 1943, from personnel taken from I Abt./Pz.Rgt. 4 of 13th Pz. Div.. It was organized in the usual fashion: a battalion HQ staff company, 3 tank companies, and a workshop company, plus supply and support detachments, and equipped with 45 Tigers between  December 23, 1943 and  February 25, 1943. Transferred to the Eastern Front in March 1944, the 507th received seven replacement Tigers before the end of the month and a further 12 in April, eight in July, six in August, ten in November and one final tiger in December 1944. Over-strength at 55, the 507th met the Russian winter offensive on the Tarnapol River above Vitebk and around Narev, on  January 14, 1945, and by February 1, 1945 had only seven Tigers left, none of which operational.

On  February 6, 1945, the 507th was ordered to return to Senneläger, to refit with the Tiger II. The unit received 21 Tiger II Ausf Bs: four on  March 9, 1945, 11 on  March 22, 1945, and the last six on March 31. The front came to the sPzAbt 507, deployed in the defense of the local area.

Tiger sHPz Abt 507

The 507th did indeed receive Tiger IIs but they only got 21 all up – less than half the standard complement of 45 for a full strength Tiger Battalion. But they also received a mixed bag of other vehicles including 3 Jagdpanthers then some Panzer IVs and even 10 Hetzers near the end.

According to Schneider in “Tigers in Combat 1″, they got their first 4 Tiger II’s on March 9, 1945 with 17 more arriving on March 22, 1945.

11 of these 17 were new, while 3 each were ex s.Pz.Abt.510 and 511. Though, oddly this total of 21 doesn’t tally with the 18 shown in the loss table and their organisational chart on p.372 & 374 of ” Tigers in Combat 1″ – maybe 3 were kept as trainers??

Organisation appears to be:
1.Kp. = formed on paper but not issued any tanks
2.Kp. = 6 Tiger II’s & 3 Jagdpanther’s
3.Kp. = 12 Tiger II’s

From the few photos, they appear to wear no zimmerit, have heavy 3 colour schemes, with some having the late style front fenders with the reinforcing strip along it, and the bell-shaped mantlet.

They operated around Hamborn and Dörenhagen on March 31, 1945, slowly being whittled down till the last remnants of the Battalion, running Hetzers by this stage, surrendered very late to the American forces on May 12 in Rosenthal (and were promptly turned over to the Soviets…).

The battle actions of sPzAbt 507 in 1945 are well covered in “Chronik 507″ put out by the Veteran Association the 507th:

Organization-
sPzAbt 507 (Major Schock)
1.Kp./507-no Panzers*
2.Kp./507-(Oblt. Wirsching?**)-6 Tiger II + 3 Jagdpanthers.
3.Kp./507-(Hptm. Koltermann)-15 Tiger II
*-the reason that 1.Kp had no Panzer is because it took 3 weeks to get to Padeborn.
**-It’s unclear who commanded the Kp. as Wirsching took over the 1./sHPzJgAbt 653 in March 1945, it is mentioned that Lt. Pfeuffer took over at some point.

General Rose encounter

On March 30, 1945, the 3.Kp./507 sets up a trap for Task Force Welborn (3rd US Armoured Division)in the area East of Kirchborchen. Major Schock at about 18:00h warns the Kp. of an enemy armoured column approaching from the Kp’s rear. The Stab, 1.Zug and 3.Zug leave in order to prepare a trap. 2.Zug is ordered to maintain contact with the enemy. At 19:00h the 1.Zug and 3.Zug wreak havoc on Task Force Welborn firing at anything that moves and later assemble on the road and wait for the 2.Zug. The 2.Zug arrives at 22:45h, and had their encounter with General Rose on their way when he accidentally ran into the retreating Zug, and one of the Tiger II Commanders shouted orders to drop the General’s weapon. General Rose had been yelling at the Panzer Commander and reached for his pistol, thus the Commander shot General Rose and his driver. Shortly after this incident, US troops kill about 100 German POWs, that were captured recently, in retaliation.

On April 11, 1945, the last two Tigers of the 507th are in Osterode, one receives engine damage, and US troops catch up with it and capture the crew, and promptly execute them shortly afterwards.
I don’t know if the US troops handed over the 507th to the Soviet in retaliation to the General Rose incident or just because the 507th had been fighting the Soviets in the last 1 1/2 weeks. The histories of Panzer units and in particular heavy Panzer units are littered with such situations of split usage, e.g. sPz Abt 507 fought both on the east and west fronts simultaneously.