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End of the War for
s.Pz.Jg.Abt. 653
Schwere Panzerjäger Abteilung 653 (Heavy
Tankhunter Battalion 653) was a late-war unit of Jagdtiger (Hunting Tiger) heavy tank
destroyers (the unit had been armed with the Ferdinand/Elefant tank destroyer on
the Russian Front). These huge 70-ton vehicles with 12.8cm main guns were very difficult for
American tanks to knock out, and their large caliber guns allowed them to take on the
enemy far beyond his own range. However, the Jagdtiger was heavy and cumbersome, suffered
from mechanical breakdowns, and was never fielded in sufficient numbers to be very
effective. Schwere Panzerjäger Abteilung 653 fought the advancing U.S. Army in March and
April 1945 in the area south of Mannheim, from Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, past Speyer,
to Heidelberg, and then retreated to southern Bavaria toward Austria. While few of their vehicles were knocked out by enemy action, several broke
down, or had to be abandoned and blown up by their crews.
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Two 3.Kp. Jagdtigers were
abandoned on Landauer Strasse in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse. The vehicles are shown here
being examined by American soldiers from the 10th Armored Division, on 23 March
1945. (U.S. National Archives, Army Signal Corps Collection,
RG111SC) |
This modern comparison has been
pulled back a little, to show the building across the street (in the left foreground),
which is the building seen in the next set of photos. (MapQuest
Map Link) |
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Jagdtiger 331 was left in the
middle of the street, while Jagdtiger 323 was parked in a courtyard opposite. Both
vehicles had been abandoned due to damage to their final drives, probably as a result of a battle
in Neustadt on 22 March in which the 3.Kp. destroyed several U.S. tanks.
(U.S. National Archives, Army Signal Corps Collection, RG111SC-231625,
courtesy Digital
History Archive) |
The 1945 photo was shot from the
second story of the building across the street; this modern view was shot from ground
level (the building appears to be some sort of "house of ill repute," and no-one
answered my knocks at the door). Jagdtiger 323 was parked in the immediate foreground of
this photo. |
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Jagdtiger 331 had suffered shot
damage to the gun mantlet - a chunk was gouged out of the lower right hand side.
Several other shots had struck the hull front slope, without penetrating.
(U.S. National Archives, Army Signal Corps Collection, RG111SC) |
This modern view again shows the
building on the left of the curve. |
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Jagdtiger 331 was shipped to the
U.S. for testing at Aberdeen Proving Ground, and is now in storage at Fort
Benning, Georgia, awaiting the opening of the National Armor and Cavalry
Museum there. The close-up shows the gun mantlet
damage. Before abandoning the vehicle, the crew drained the recoil system
and fired a final main gun round, jamming the gun out of battery. (author's
photos) |
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On 30 March 1945 a group of 1.Kp.
Jagdtigers fought an American armored unit in Schwetzingen, near Heidelberg. Jagdtiger 131
was knocked out in the downtown area at about 200 meters range by a Sherman tank. (Schwetzingen
Stadtarchiv) |
Little has changed, save for
post-war reconstruction.
This scene is at the intersection of Heidelberger Strasse
and Mannheimer Strasse. (MapQuest
Map Link) |
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The gunner Uffz. Klein was killed
by machinegun fire while abandoning the vehicle, and the radio operator died later of
burns. The driver was thrown out of his hatch and the vehicle ran into a house. (Schwetzingen
Stadtarchiv) |
The Jagdtiger ran into the
building to the
right center of this photo. |
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The impact of the gun tube with
the building pushed the gun out of battery and damaged the gun mount. The
vehicle and building caught fire, resulting in severe damage to the
building. (Schwetzingen
Stadtarchiv) |
This modern view appears not to
match, because the upper floors of the building are missing in the 1945 view, having
burned out in the resulting fire from the Jagdtiger. |
Click here
to see then-and-now views of a wartime Wehrmacht parade in Schwetzingen.
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This Jagdtiger was
photographed by my father, U.S. Army Air Forces Lt. Delbert R. Walden, most likely in
spring 1946. The vehicle had been destroyed when abandoned by its crew.
For several years the location of these photos was unknown to me, but the
research of Ulrich Mössner has established that this vehicle was
destroyed by s.Pz.Jg.Abt. 653 on the outskirts of the village of
Etterschlag, west of Munich, most likely on 28 or 29 April 1945. The
photos below show corresponding modern views (the buildings are post-war -
the vehicle sat where the tall grass appears). (collection of G.R. and G.A. Walden; all rights reserved)
(MapQuest
Map Link)
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