SS-Untersturmfuehrer Warnecke and Hahn drove four Hunting Tigers on through Amstetten and Purgstall into the area of Schreibbs. After all the machine guns, radios and other pieces of equipment were installed and a few driving exercises carried out, all six Hunting Tigers moved into Panzergruppe Peiper's operational area. SS-Untersturmfuehrer Waldemar Warnecke, responsible for getting ammunition for these tank destroyers, was able to take delivery of sufficient rounds and stow them inside the Hunting TIger. The tank destroyers were not yet operational, so that the crews themselves had to lend a hand. There were six Hunting Tigers at the Hermann Goering Works there which, however, were not provided with the 12.8cm but the 8.8cm gun.
To pick up the Hunting Tigers, veteran crews from schwere SS-Panzerabteilung 501 were pulled out of infantry action and sent by truck in the final days of April through Amstetten to St. This oversized tank destroyer, with 20cm of frontal armor and its mighty 12.8cm gun, was practically invincible. During this period the latest version of the Tiger II, the Jagdtiger ("Hunting Tiger"), was issued to the Leibstandarte's Panzer regiment.
0 kommentar(er)
