Elefants in Italy. deployment question

[Panzer_M 2.0]

The US Army captured it's Elefant at Anzio reportedly..What unit did they capture it from? What was the Jagdpanzer unit's history for the rest of the campaign/war?

Says the last Elefants were used at Zossen/Battle for Berlin..Was this the same unit that fought at Anzio?

Is there a good history for the Elefants deployment post-kursk(Ferdis).

working on a 1/35 kit at the moment, and thinking of doing a small Diorama..but not sure where to have the Elefant

[John Kettler]

Panzer_M 2.0,

Here's a look at the German OOB for Italy at various

dates. I think that you're looking for sPj Abt. 653, but am not absolutely certain.

http://members.aol.com/Custermen85/Units/GermanOrg.htm

According to this, part of that unit did indeed fight in Italy using Ferdinands, then was reequipped with Jagdtigers.

http://www.amazon.com/Combat-History-German-Heavy-Anti-Tank/dp/0811732428/ref=pd_sim_b_5/104-1911894-3708725

Here's further detail, taken from that and another source. See particularly the paragraph right below the November '43 chart. The main site is full of great German unit history and TO&E stuff.

11 of the great beasts formed 1. Kompanie, attached to 216 Sturmpanzer Abt., which operated in support of sPzAbt. 508 (Tiger I) at Anzio. Two went semiglub in the Pontine Marshes, and more were lost during a later retreat. Only the survivors of that retreat made it back to Germany on 6 August '44 for rework into Elefants.

http://sturmvogel.orbat.com/653.html

Regards,

John Kettler

[JasonC]

Sturmvogel is as usual the best source.

The amazon pages says of Jadgtigers that they had a range of 13 miles - whatever that is supposed to mean. Firing indirect as artillery I guess.

Two things stand out in Jason Long's account - the huge number of other soft vehicles needed for these heavy AFV formations - 150 to 175 soft skins or light armor for 30 or so AFVs. Obviously the softs try to stay out of action. Also obviously, they are perfectly vulnerable to general HE firepower, arty and air.

Second, the tiny lifetime of these formations as full sized units - one battle of a few weeks at most and more frequently only the first few days of that. From then on, they are all step reduced, with at best a company running, and frequently twice reduced, with only a platoon sized unit of runners and the balance of a company in short term repair.

Clearly nothing of great tactical importance can be expected from such tiny numbers and such operating conditions.