Porsche Tiger I, sPzJgAbt 653

[Gaffken]

Guys,

I'm a novice at researching individual vehicle histories, so I was wondering if anyone out there might be able to point me to (or have) any details on the combat history or service record of the sole Porsche-chassied Tiger I belonging to sPzJgAbt 653, turret number 003 on the Eastern Front in '44.

I hear it was supposedly a command tank, so I was just wondering if it inevitably saw any action...

Thanks much,

Gaffken

[pchwastiak]

Gaffken

Combat history of SPzJgAbt 653 shows several pictures of the Porsche tiger. According to the book the tank was lost during the big retreats from Russia. They also had a berg panther with a panzer 4 turret welded in position and a T34 with a quad 20 mm in a revolving turret.

Regards
Peter

[Gaffken]

Peter,

Many thanks! That's great info. I've seen pics of the 'upgunned' Bergpanther and modified T-34 before, but had no idea that sPzJgAbt 653 was in possession of both types of these unique platforms. Kind of makes me wonder if the Soviets managed to salvage any of the three and whether they might be sitting in a Russian warehouse somewhere...they would be great to see.

Cheers again,

Gaffken

[SurvivingPanzer]

Gaffken

Combat history of SPzJgAbt 653 shows several pictures of the Porsche tiger. According to the book the tank was lost during the big retreats from Russia. They also had a berg panther with a panzer 4 turret welded in position and a T34 with a quad 20 mm in a revolving turret.

Regards
Peter

Do you have pics of either of these?

[Gaffken]

Photos of the Bergpanther are pretty hard to come by, but a good pic of the T-34 Flakpanzer can be found at:

http://www.achtungpanzer.com/t34.htm