mchlstrt Posted May 16, 2002 Share Posted May 16, 2002 I believe the 512th & 653th Schwere Panzerjaeger Abteilungen were the two units that fielded JagdTigers, although a few might have gone to an SS unit. Does anyone have info on unit organization, markings, that sort of thing? Thanks Strt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soddball Posted May 16, 2002 Share Posted May 16, 2002 As an aside - the Jagdtiger carried a 128mm gun. I'm reading Antony Beevor's new book about Berlin, and he's talking about 128mm Flak guns. Is that the same gun that the Jagdtiger carried? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSword Posted May 16, 2002 Share Posted May 16, 2002 mchlstrt, Yes 653 fielded Jagdtigers vs. the allieds in the Alsace/Lorraine Campaigns. The 653 was an experienced heavy tankhunter unit (used Elefants since 1943 with great success). There's a very detailed book about the actions of 653th (I'm in the office so i don't remember the title and author, but will provide the info later). At first 653th was planned to take part in the Bulge, but that did not materialize. After that they fought (under direct supervision by Hitler) on the western side of the rhine in defense and counterattack battles in the alsace-campaign in Feb./March 1945 quite succesfully. The 512th didn't like the Jagdtigers they were equipped with Tiger I E before and were unacustomed to the handling and way of fighting with a superheavy assault gun, so they had much more breakdowns and were not very succesful. Greets Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattias Posted May 16, 2002 Share Posted May 16, 2002 Soddball Though there might have been some (or a lot, Krupp made both) cross breeding going on they were not the same gun. The 128mm Flak was designed in 1936 and the Pak in 1944. It was the 81/1 version of the latter that was intended for mounting in armoured vehicles such as Maus and the Jagdtiger. M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchlstrt Posted May 17, 2002 Author Share Posted May 17, 2002 Just a bump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herr Oberst Posted May 17, 2002 Share Posted May 17, 2002 Combat History of Schwere Panzerjager Abteilung 653, Karlheinz Munch ISBN 0-921991-37-1 Schwere Panzerjager-Abteilung 653 - July 1943 Equipped with Ferdinands (Sdkfz 184) St. 1. 101 102 111 112 113 114 121 122 123 124 131 132 133 134 2. 201 202 211 212 213 214 221 222 223 224 231 232 233 234 3. 301 302 311 312 313 314 321 322 323 324 331 332 333 334 +3 in vehicle reserve (if I read correctly) Total 100 chassis produced (15001-15100), #'s 91-100 for training and evals. Shipped from factory (Nibelungen Works in St.Valentin, Austria) with sand colored primer and national marking. First company marking was a large white square (looks to be about 2 feet wide and 18 inches tall) in the upper right superstructure in the rear. Unit number was black outline numerals on the left rear just below the midline horizontally, and on the sides about 2/3 of he ways back from the leading edge of the superstructure. Second company marking was red square on the rear with white border. Third company I can't tell, but haven't gone through all the photo pages. Later markings did away with the large colored square markings and moved to smaller unit ingignia that was placed in the lower left corner of the rear superstructure IIRC. Eastern front camo was sand, olive green and reddish brown. With more time I can probably find most any info you are interested in as the book is pretty comprehensive (the photos are all B&W though). [ May 17, 2002, 09:21 AM: Message edited by: Herr Oberst ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herr Oberst Posted May 17, 2002 Share Posted May 17, 2002 bump for mchlstrt... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSword Posted May 17, 2002 Share Posted May 17, 2002 mchlstrt, The name of the book is "Jagdtiger the most powerful armoured fighting vehicle of World War II" (Well it's gun surely was..) by Andrew Devey ISBN: 0-7643-0751-7 (Dewey built a 150 pound 1:12 Scale model with fully functional gun). It covers the 653 th fully in it's time with Jagdtigers in 1944/45. The 512 th is also covered but in a more compressed way plus some other small units using Jagdtigers. A very detailed book indeed with everything your heart desires ! Greets Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreas Posted May 18, 2002 Share Posted May 18, 2002 And if you really want to know how ridiculous the vehicle looked IRL, go to Bovington. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchlstrt Posted May 18, 2002 Author Share Posted May 18, 2002 Thanks for the info! I'm doing the BTS JT ("I'll darken this up a little & it'll look better. while I'm at it I'll..." cut to 6 months later) & I thought I'd try to put at least semi-historical markings on it. All I've found on the 'net are white outline black #s on the side (sigh) that are all from the 3rd coy (331, 332 etc) of unnamed units. I'm in NY so I've got a fighting chance of finding one of these books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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