Big Anti-Tank Feline

 The Jagdpanther is one of the most famous German tank destroyers of WW2. Even though it was built on the chassis of the medium Panther tank, it's classified as a heavy tank destroyer. Many consider it the best German tank destroyer. The Jagdpanther combined good mobility, high protection, a powerful gun, and it had defensive armament, which is important for a tank destroyer. However, its influence is often overestimated. The vehicle was only available in large numbers by late 1944 and arrived on the Eastern Front only in January of 1945. The way these tank destroyers were used was often different from the original intention and this impacted its usefulness. Finally, the vehicle was far from the most reliable.

Captured German Tanks in the Red Army

According to Maksim Kolomiyets, this was the inventory of German tanks in the Red Army on June 16th, 1945:

• 1st Belorussian Front: 39 Panthers (26 need repairs), 11 PzIVs (all need repairs), 2 PzIIIs (all need repairs), 9 Jagdpanthers (7 need repairs), 74 StuGs (59 need repairs). Total: 135 vehicles, 103 need repairs.
• 2nd Belorussian Front: 3 Tigers (all need repairs), 2 PzIVs (all need repairs), 12 PzIIIs (11 need repairs), one PzI, one PzII (needs repairs), one Jagdpanther (needs repairs), 12 StuGs (all need repairs), 255 APCs (44 need repairs, 211 cannot be repaired).
• 1st Ukrainian Front: 11 Tigers (1 needs repairs, 5 cannot be repaired), 27 Panthers (17 need repairs, 10 cannot be repaired), 47 PzIVs (15 need repairs, 14 cannot be repaired), 52 PzIIIs (34 need repairs, 9 cannot be repaired), one PzI, 17 PzIIs (8 need repairs, 8 cannot be repaired), 118 StuGs (93 need repairs, 5 cannot be repaired), 45 other SPGs, 62 APCs (34 need repairs, 23 cannot be repaired). Total: 317 tanks and 62 APCs.
• 2nd Ukrainian Front: 27 Tigers (24 need repairs, 3 cannot be repaired), 122 Panthers (27 need repairs, 86 cannot be repaired), 79 PzIVs (10 need repairs, 53 cannot be repaired), 49 PzIIIs (11 need repairs, 25 cannot be repaired), one PzI, 23 PzIIs (2 need repairs, 19 cannot be repaired), 30 150 mm SPGs (12 need repairs, 13 cannot be repaired), 2 105 mm SPGs (need repairs), 4 Jagdpanthers (need repairs), 158 StuGs (38 need repairs, 64 cannot be repaired), 81 other SPGs, 485 APCs (374 need repairs, 111 cannot be repaired). Total: 575 tanks and 485 APCs.
• 3rd Ukrainian Front: 36 Tigers, 84 Panthers, 3 PzIVs, 6 150 mm SPGs, one Jagdpanther, 28 StuGs. Total: 319 tanks and SPGs (data is incomplete).
• Courland group: 15 Tigers (8 need repairs), 35 Panthers (25 need repairs, 4 cannot be repaired), 41 PzIVs (15 need repairs), 12 PzIIIs (8 need repairs, 1 cannot be repaired), one PzI, 2 PzIIs (need repairs), 18 150 mm SPGs (17 need repairs), 19 105 mm SPGs (15 need repair), 9 StuGs (need repairs), 323 other SPGs, 279 APCs (113 need repairs). Total: 474 tanks and SPGs, 279 APCs.

There is no data for other fronts, but an estimated 3000 armoured vehicles were captured, 1851 tanks and SPGs and 1081 APCs.

Via mihalchuk-1974

Cheating at Statistics 11: Bix and his Tricks

I will be the first to admit that I'm very unfair on Tiger battalions when it comes to challenging kill claims, mostly because of how easy it is. However, today let's pick on a different target, a tank ace named Hermann Bix, specifically his brief period of time fighting in a Jagdpanther in 1945. The book Jagdpanther vs. SU-100: Eastern Front describes many of his alleged feats in the region, but only one has a date associated with it: he knocked out 16 tanks on February 25th, 1945 "near Stargard in Pomerania". However, you all know what we think of claims around these parts, so let's take a closer look.

"Pomerania" and "1945" are enough to get a sense of where the action was happening. Here is a fragment of the map of the creatively named "East Pomerania and Silesia Offensive, February 8th to April 4th 1945", showing off the northern action. Stargard Szczeciński appears on the map as Штаргард (Shtargard), outlined with a yellow rectangle, in the path of the 61st Army.

Let's take a look at what the 61st Army was doing on this day.

"Forces of the Army reinforced fortifications on the line from the previous day, performed reconnaissance and had shootouts with the enemy. Forces on the left flank regrouped, replacing elements of the 2nd Guards Tank Army."

Oh, what's this? I wonder what happened to all of their tanks. Perhaps the records of the 2nd GTA will tell us more.

"On February 25th, elements of the 2nd GTA transferred their positions to elements of the 61st Army, motorized infantry was marching to new locations, the other part was fighting over Piritz."

Let's dig a little deeper into the situation. The book claims that Bix destroyed 4 "American Lend-Lease tanks". The only Lend-Lease tanks around at the time were the Shermans of the 1st Mechanized Corps so, let's check up on them too.

"Acting under directive #00346/OP from the 1st Baltic Front HQ issued on February 23rd, 1945, the 1st Mechanized Corps of the 2nd Guards Tank Army was transferred under the operative subordination to the 47th Army as of 6:00 on February 25th, 1945, and was concentrated in the regions of Kerkov, Linde, (particularly) Rufen."

That's it. No glorious battle, nothing, just concentration in reserve. Naturally, no tanks are recorded in the "losses" section for that day. The next day, the tanks remain in the forest, with the HQ established at Kerkov. 

It would appear that the tanks Bix claimed to have destroyed indeed disappeared, but he had nothing to do with it. Perhaps the presence follows by the absence of tanks was good enough for his commanders to record these kills, perhaps they were desperate to write down some victories and didn't particularly care. Either way, that's another reason why blindly trusting unverified claims is a good way to make a fool of yourself.