information please about 3 pz regt. 4

[odin007]

hello i would like to have some information about the 3 PZ. REGT. 4. I have a panzer jacket with a stamp inside : Name : EBNER of the 3 PZ regt. 4.

if you will can help me to have the history of the 3 pz regt. 4 and if it's possible to find the soldat EBNER ?

Thanks very much for your help. best regards.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[panzermania]

Hi Odin,

Look at this link, a nice start IMO:

http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/...menter/PR4.htm

Best regards

Valentin

[hucks216]

There are just under 700 Ebner's listed on the Volksbund so it will be very difficult to tie it in with just the surname, and he may well of survived the war.
Pz Rgt 4 was part of the 2nd Panzer Division before it was transferred to the 13th Pz Division in September 1940 when that unit formed, and I Btl of Pz Rgt 4 (which 3 Kompanie was a part of) went on to form schwere Panzer Abt 507 in late 1943.

[hucks216]

I have found this information that you may find interesting for s.Pz.Abt 507 - notice the last name on the list...

The following German veterans were assigned to the 507th Battalion on 23 September 1943 and were sent to the Russian front in March of 1944. After being credited with over 600 Russian tank "kills," they were returned to Sennelager on 6 February 1945 to be refitted with Tiger IIs. Note those with the Ritterkreuz (Knight's Cross) decoration.
Major Fritz Shoeck, Ritterkreuz, Battalion CO, August 1944- May 1945
Hauptman Hannes Steinborn, Supply Officer
Hauptman Wolfgang Koltermann, Ritterkreuz,, CO 3rd Kompanie
Hauptman Maximillian Wirsching, Ritterkreuz, CO 2nd Kompanie
Hauptman Hannes Steinborn, Tank Commander
Lieutenant Wolf-Dietrich Jaehn, Hqs, Tank Commander
Lieutenant Heinrich Jahn, Tank Commander
Lt. Eckart, Tank Commander
Lt. Georg Reinhard, Tank Commander
Lt. Peter Heesch, Tank Commander
Lt. Woerner, Tank Commander
Lt. Exler, Tank Commander
Lt. Foerster, Tank Commander
Lt. Gustav Stadler, Tank Commander
Lt. Helmut Kuessner, Tank Commander
Lt. Berhold, Tank Commander
Lt. Bernard Pfeuffer, Tank Commander, Platoon Leader, 2nd Kompanie
Lt. Eychmuller, Tank Commander
Lt. Krahling, Supply Officer
Oberfeldwebel Fritz Breitfeld, Tank Commander
Oberfeldwebel H. Dietz, Tank Commander, Platoon Leader
Oberfeldwebel Edmund Ratajczak, Ritterkreuz, Tank Commander
Oberfeldwebel Zinke Tank Commander
Stabsfeldwebel Voss, Tank Commander
Feldwebel Willi Wolf, Tank Commander
Feldwebel Fritz Ebner, Tank Commander
After ambushing Task Force Welborn, with disastrous results for the 3rd Armored Division, the 507th Battalion CO, Major Fritz Shoeck, gave orders to withdraw to the area near Dorenhagen. It is believed that it was Koltermann's 3rd Zug (Platoon) 3rd Kompanie with orders to deploy and withdraw to Dorenhagen who confronted General Rose on the road. Attempting to escape eminent capture, Rose's jeep had passed two Tiger tanks going in the opposite direction in the dark on a narrow road when the third tank blocked his jeep. General Rose dismounted, surrendered and became a POW.

Source (and more details)...
http://www.2ndarmoredhellonwheels.co..._entry_27.html

There is a book dedicated to s.Pz.Abt 507...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Combat-Histo...=2JPQXO8NT1QT4

[hucks216]

I have also found out that Feldwebel Friedrich Ebner of 2./Pz.Abt. 507 won the Honour Roll Clasp on 25th Feb 1945.

Source: http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=2166

2./s.Pz.Abt 507 were equipped at various times with the Tiger, King Tiger & Jagdpanther.

[hucks216]

And in one of the links above, is this extract...

Tank #203 was commanded by Feldwebel Fritz Ebner. Tank number #204 was commanded by Feldwebel Willi Wolf with Richtschtze (gunner) Jodl, Faher (driver) Helmet Gunther, and Funker (radio) Hans Prager. In action the next day, 31 March 1945, near Altenbeken, 3 of the 507th Tiger tanks were knocked out in an ambush; Ebner, Ertl and Schurig were killed; Voss was injured and hospitalized; Hupfl was wounded and sent to a hospital at Bad Driburg and was captured there.

And here s a picture of Tiger #203 - taken from Tigers In Combat I by Wolfgang Schneider (ISBN: 978-0-8117-3171-3)

[odin007]

hello, thanks very much for your identifications. my pz jacket was bought in germany there were 10 years ago. the jacket was used in the civil perhaphs by EBNER ? Because 2 pockets were placed outside the jacket.

best regards.

[hucks216]

I can't say anything about the jacket as that isn't my area but I'd say that it wasn't used by Ebner post war as I think the Ebner on the jacket is the same Ebner that was killed on 31st March 1945 with 2./s.Pz.Abt 507 as all the details tie in. I have a large grouping to a panzer soldier who was also a member of 3./Pz.Rgt 4 and then went on to command a Tiger in 2./s.Pz.Abt 507 so it looks like they would of transferred over at roughly the same time, and Fritz Schoeck was a tank commander in 3./Pz.Rgt 4 and went on to command 2./s.Pz.Abt 507 and the Abteilung itself so it looks they all transferred over en-masse from 3./Pz.Rgt 4.

[Oliver Neubert]

Interesting artifact.

These photos shows the spot were the three Tigers were destroyed on 31. March. The left picture is most likely the position of the tank of Lt. Pfeuffer, when it was knocked out. The road to the right is leading to the castle, which was the headquarter of Task Force Welborn. As Pfeuffers tank was blocking the road the tanks of Wilhelm Voss and Ebner were trapped and only the forth Tiger commanded by Feldwebel Wolf was able to escape.

The german book "Krieg in der Heimat" has the gruesome details about the recovery of the dead six month later by their comrad Sebastian Huepf.


This did not happen near Altenbecken, as written in the 2nd AD link. but only 500m away from the spot, were General Rose had been killed a few hours earlier.