Cheating at Statistics: Machinations at Malinovo

The engagement of Otto Carius vs the "1st Tank Brigade Joseph Stalin" is pretty well known. It's already been established that there was no such brigade, no Hero of the USSR major, and the tanks destroyed at the village have been identified by serial number (there were only 5 IS-2s, not 17 like Carius claims). However, the battle that happened next was even more grandiose: the destruction of 28 tanks and a supply convoy! Tigers in Combat describes it rather laconically:

22 July 1944: ... . Subsequently, the Kampfgruppe moves to a position 10 kilometers east of Krivani in order to defeat the rest of the enemy brigade. When the enemy brigade's main body approaches without any reconnaissance, it is ambushed; 28 tanks destroyed.

Carius gives a much more colourful description.

"After we had finished off all the vehicles, there wasn't a Russian to be seen. They had slunk away into the fields, if they hadn't been surprised on their tanks. The entire column of vehicles was burning. Some of the trucks were overturned.

One truck drove into another. And not a single one could escape. By the time the Russians knew where the shooting was coming from, everything had already been knocked out - a really horribly beautiful sight!

Twenty-eight tanks were in front of us, burning and smoldering. With each passing moment, a fuel tank exploded; the ammunition rattled and ripped the turrets apart. We had done a great job. I was firmly convinced that we had given Ivan something to think about. It would certainly suffice to guarantee us a few peaceful nights."

Cheating at Statistics: SU Strike at Balaton

One of the easiest way to find an event ripe for a Cheating at Statistics segment is to look for a fairly frequently occurring scenario. German tanks (usually Tigers) achieve some kind of fantastic victory over a numerically superior enemy force. Then, despite their crushing victory, they immediately withdraw. Such a scenario occurs on March 13th, 1945, during the Battle of Lake Balaton.

"13 March 1945: Attack to the east with Kampfgruppe Bradel between Velenczefurdo and Tukrospuszta. The attack hits 24 dug-in ISU-152s covering a minefield. All 16 Tigers receive severe battle damage (3 total losses). After clearing some passages through the minefield, 2 Tigers seize the strongpoint, knocking out all the assault guns.

Total tanks: 32

14 March 1945: The battalion is pulled out of the line."

In addition to the usual suspect, there is another hint: 24 ISU-152s is a lot of SPGs. A heavy SPG regiment consists of only 21 ISU-152s, 5 per battery and then one commander's vehicle. 24 of these SPGs knocked out means that there would have to be something worth defending with two SPG regiments. This is a battle too big to pass up.

Cheating at Statistics: Claims at Klepenino

A common excuse for German inflation of claims is that the battlefield is left to their enemy, so there is no possible way to count how many enemy tanks were lost. However, even on the defensive, the Germans seem to manage to greatly overestimate the damage dealt to the enemy. According to the the 1972 edition of the Deutsches Soldatenjahrbuch, the 561st Tank Destroyer Battalion destroyed 34 Soviet tanks, "nearly all heavy and super-heavy" during their defense of Klepenino between January 29th and February 8th of 1942. Let's take a look at what was happening in the area and what these "super-heavy tanks" really were.

Cheating at Statistics: Coverup at Kovyagi

If there's one trend with SS armour units, it's that their successes seem to be accompanied by sudden and unpredictable failures. Whenever a unit fails to take an objective or is pushed off their lines, it always seems to be accompanied by fantastical achievements that just happened to not have altered the course of battle at all. Let's examine one of these scenarios. As it happens, Forczyk has done all the hard work for me in Red Steamroller.

"On 11 August, Katukov fought his way across the Merchyk River despite desperate efforts by Totenkopf’s Panzergrenadiers to stop him. Then he sent the lead elements of 6 TC and 3 MC south to Kovyagi, which was a station on the Polatva-Kharkov rail line. Getman’s tankers, with some attached sapper squads, succeeded in blowing up several sections of rail track. Priess committed Edwin Meiderdress’ I.SS-Panzer-Regiment 3 to counter-attack Polkovnik Vladimir M. Gorelov’s 1st Guards Tank Brigade, which had just stormed its way into Kovyagi. The result was another vicious meeting engagement and this one went very badly for Totenkopf; one company commander was killed in his tank and two others were badly wounded. However, Meiderdress had better luck against the 22nd Tank Brigade, which only had seven tanks left and its commander, Major Aleksei A. Laptev, was killed in action. Altogether, Totenkopf knocked out 18 Soviet tanks in its counter-attack."

Seems believable, even a little humble for an SS unit to claim only 18 tanks in such a high profile engagement. However, even this is unlikely. August 11th was quite far into the offensive portion of the Battle of Kursk, and leading Soviet brigades were quite exhausted by that time. Let's see how many Soviet tanks were there to face the Germans.

Cheating at Statistics 21: Fudging Franz

Like the Tiger, the Ferdinand is a weapon that often has some rather incredible kill ratios attributed to it. Personally, I've seen numbers as high as 50:1, but those tend to not be accompanied by any specific references. However, one battle is frequently cited as proof of the Ferdinand's supremacy: the battle near Nikopol, where the tank destroyer's performance was allegedly quite impressive. From The Combat History of German Heavy Anti-Tank Unit 653 in World War II:

"The first defensive fighting at the bridgehead began on 20 November 1943. The villages of Maryevka (20 November 1943) and Katerinovka (23 November 1943) where particularly critical areas in the German defensive line. The Ferdinande had tremendous success during the engagement at Koschasovka/Miropol from 26-27 November 1943. They destroyed 54 Russian tanks: 21 by Leutnant Franz Kretschmer and his crew."

On one hand, a defensive battle is one where the Ferdinand's tough front armour and long range gun would excel. On the other hand, lack of ground taken by the German forces meant that they had no way to count the knocked out enemy tanks, making it a perfect scenario for some classic overclaim.

Cheating at Statistics 20: British Edition

The strange fact is that many people these days take German claims for gospel truth is made even stranger by the fact that skepticism was much more rampant 75 years ago.

National Defense RG 24 C-2 vol. 12305 3/REPORTS/2

To put the German claims in perspective, Soviet forces in Kerch numbered 249,800 men at their peak. According to Isayev's research, their actual losses in the spring fighting were 162,282 men, 4,646 guns and mortars, and 196 tanks. It's highly unlikely that the stragglers that continued fighting after the collapse of the front  managed to dig up thousands of tanks out of thin air. If these kind of claims aren't "greatly inflated", then I am greatly looking forward to seeing what the British thought was excessive overclaim. 

Cheating at Statistics 20: Precision at Pechenegi

The alleged long-range supremacy of German weapons is a common trope in popular history. The dreaded "Flak 88" sets up on a hill and fires at hordes of incoming T-34s or Shermans, racking up a large amount of kills despite being hard to hide and having limited range in practice. I already picked apart claims of these guns excelling at 3500 meters, but Forczyk brings even more impressive claims by the SS-men for us.

"...the rest of Koptsov's 15th Tank Corps reached Pechenegi on 4 February and was shocked to find that elements of the SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Liebstandarte Adolf Hitler (LSSAH) were already defending the heights on the far side of the Northern Donets.

...

The Germans emplaced a few 8.8cm Flak guns on the heights and they were able to engage Koptsov's tanks at distances up to 6,000 meters and succeeded in setting nine tanks on fire."

Nine tanks knocked out at ten times the recommended engagement range? Sounds fishy. Let's take a closer look at what was happening at the banks of the Donets on that day. 

Cheating at Statistics 19: Time Travelling Tigers

One of the first uses of the IS-85 tank was in the Korsun Pocket. The 13th Guards Heavy Tank Regiment, equipped with brand new IS-85s, was sent to block Kampfgruppe Bake (an unusual formation equipped with both Tiger and Panther tanks) from breaking through to the pocket. Forczyk describes this engagement as not particularly favourable to the IS tanks.

"These heavy tanks were committed into action on 15 February and unwisely attacked Kampfgruppe Bake instead of sitting on the defense; the Panthers and Tigers knocked virtually all of them out. Following this incident, the GABTU resolved to upgrade the new IS-series heavy tanks to the 122 mm gun."

Oof, that's quite a mistake for a book published in 2015. The decree titled "On IS tanks" authorized the production of an IS tank armed with a 122 mm gun in September of 1943. By February 15th, these tanks were not only in production, but had already reached the front lines.

However, there's something else fishy in play here. This unit that was destroyed by Tigers and Panthers mysteriously pops up on the very next page to wreak havoc on Kampfgruppe Bake and Frank's attempts to break through to the encircled men. Let's take a look at what actually happened.

Cheating at Statistics 18: Volosovo Vanishing

Following some very generous evaluations of their performance, the s.Pz.Abt. 502 continued backing up before the advance of the Red Army. Just a few days later, on January 28th, 1944, an epic battle erupted near the village of Volosovo:

"28 January 1944: Volosovo is reached. Tiger III (Feldwebel Hermann) is approached by 27 T-34s. With only 3 armor-piercing and 9 high-explosive rounds remaining, he destroys 7 T-34s. Several alerted Tigers knock out 8 more T-34s. Ammunition is running out. 9 more T-34s are knocked out at dawn."

A scenario fit for an action movie! It seems everything is lost. but victory is snatched from the jaws of defeat and 24 of the attacking 27 T-34s are knocked out! However, just to be safe, let's make sure that the battle actually happened.

Cheating at Statistics 17: Leaving Leningrad

In early 1944, the German forces around Leningrad weren't doing so well. The blockade around Leningrad had ruptured, Sinyavino heights were lost, and Army Group North was beginning to slink back westward. Introduction of the hyped up Tiger tank failed to make a difference here. Now these Tigers, namely s.Pz.Abt 502, were holding back the Red Army while the rest of the Germans escaped. Forczyk describes the situation: "The remaining Tigers of the s.Pz.Abt.502 assisted the AOK 18 in its withdrawal by turning to ambush the Soviet spearheads; on 25 January they claimed 41 Soviet tanks destroyed at Voyskovitskiy, 5 km southwest of Gatchina."

Anyone who's been keeping up with this long running series will have recognized the perfect storm: the Tiger crews know for a fact that the battlefield will remain in Soviet hands and that their claims will not be checked. There was also incentive to make up for the Tiger tank's rather dismal performance on the Leningrad front. Let's take a look at just what happened at Voyskovitsy on January 25th.

Cheating at Statistics 16: Back in the MiusSR

I explored the overclaim of German tank forces at the Mius Front previously, but Nipe's book is a gift that keeps on giving. For instance, the depiction he gets from German sources of the attack on July 22nd against Kalinovka hits every trope in the book: "swarms" and "waves" of Red Army forces, "deadly 88s" (Nipe goes on for an entire paragraph about using the Flak 36 to destroy T-34s from 3000-3500 meters, while actual anti-tank manuals instructed German artillerymen that it took 2-3 shots to hit a T-34 at 500-600 meters). The artistic description of the attack goes on for quite some time until we get to the part we care about: "The losses were ignored, until, in less than an hour, 130 burning or immobilized T-34s dotted the landscape in front of the high ground".

Well, if you dream, dream big. 130 tanks out of the 140 Nipe claims the Soviet attacked with! Seeing as how a Soviet mechanized corps consists of only 117 tanks (69 of them T-34s), that's an enormous loss delivered on just one day. Let's take it all the way to the top and see what the Southern Front has to say about such an enormous setback.

"Losses of our forces on July 22nd, 1943

• Men:
• Killed: 216
• Wounded: 919
• Missing: 8
• Horses
• Killed and wounded: 8
• Materiel
• Guns: 3
• Tanks: 5
• Planes: 22

Losses in tanks over 6 days of fighting from July 17th to July 22nd, 1943: 180 tanks in total. Of those 96 were lost irreparably (4 KV, 65 T-34, 25 T-70, 2 T-60)."

So much for 130 burning and immobilized T-34s. Not only is this figure leaps and bounds higher than actual Soviet losses, it's extremely unlikely that 72% of losses from almost a week of fighting would come from just an hour long engagement. When you consider 30-40 tanks from the 4th Guards Mechanized Corps that were allegedly knocked out the day before and the 78 tanks claimed on July 17th, this figure becomes less and less believable.

Cheating at Statistics 15: Machinations at Mius

Long time readers of my "Cheating at Statistics" series have no doubt noticed a certain trend with the kill claims of SS units: they are as humble as they are specific. Page after page tells you great tales with "dozens" of destroyed enemy tanks and "hundreds" of dead enemy soldiers in the great battle for "somewhere over there". George M. Nipe Jr's Decision in the Ukraine is proudly based on German sources (almost exclusively so, as he doesn't seem to be aware that any other kind exists), and therefore repeats the same tired old tropes: lots of enemy casualties, human waves, piles of corpses, but very few specifics. One of the few is contained in the description of a Soviet attack at hill 213.9 on July 18th during the battle for the Mius-Front.

"Columns of greasy black smoke from burning T-34 and T-70 tanks marked the limit of Soviet progress on the center ridge. At the end of the day, of the seventy-eight tanks that the army claimed had been knocked out, many were destroyed in front of the training area rallying point."

The rest of the paragraph is more vagueness about significant losses and piles of bodies, but we have the number: 78 tanks. Let's see who they came from.

There's hill 213.9 in the middle of the map, with the 5th Shock Army coming up from behind the Mius river to make a significant dent in the German defenses, going right over top of it on July 18th. The solid red line with a thinner dotted red line shows the Red Army's positions by the end of the day. Let's see what the army's tanks were up to.

"Losses of the army (less 221st Rifle Division) consist of: up to 600 men killed and up to 1750 men wounded. Knocked out: 4 cannons, 4 mortars, 20 machineguns, 4 cars. Lost on July 17th and July 18th: 47 tanks, of those 11 KV, 21 T-34, 3 T-70, 12 T-60. Out of all tanks lost, 8 burned, 3 need capital repairs, 7 need medium repairs, the rest (29) need light repairs."

Luckily, there is also a list of losses for July 17th alone: 8 KVs, 11 T-34s, 2 T-60s, and 2 T-70s, which means the tanks lost on July 18th alone were:

• 3 KVs
• 10 T-34s
• 10 T-60s
• 1 T-70

for a total of 24 tanks, less than a third of what the Germans claimed they knocked out. The missing KVs and T-60s in German records also warrant a mention, but considering that Nipe brings up such phantoms as SU-152s on T-34 chassis and Soviet 172 mm guns, I wouldn't look at German tank identification abilities too closely.

Cheating at Statistics 14: Deception at Danzig

I already touched on the 503rd SS Heavy Tank Battalion's questionable claims, but it seems that his battalion ran into some IS-2s before Korner's alleged actions, or at least claimed that they did. Let's take a look at these claims. Achtungpanzer (the website, not the book) paints an impressive picture:

"During the combat in Gdansk (Oliwa and Wrzeszcz districts) and Sopot, SS-Untersturmführer Karl Brommann (commander of the 1st Company) destroyed 65 tanks and self-propelled guns along with 44 artillery pieces and 15 vehicles (including some T-34s from 1st Polish Tank Brigade "Heroes of the Westerplatte"). Following his outstanding score, Brommann was awarded with Knights Cross."

Schneider's Tigers in Combat II gives some more details of these actions:

"26 March 1945: Several attacks are repelled, and six Josef Stalin tanks are knocked out. One Josef Stalin, which was captured by Sturmgeschuetz-Brigade 190, is put under German command; when it becomes non-operational, it is finally sunk in the harbor."

Oliwa and the nearby suburb of Sopot are mentioned, pinning the location of the regiment pretty precisely. There is nothing about the total tank claims here, but at least we get some specifics: seven total lost IS-2 tanks on March 26th. Let's take a look at who these tanks could have belonged to.

Cheating at Statistics: Across the Front Lines

 As my "Cheating at Statistics" series grows more and more popular, I read more and more complaints that surely it must have been those sneaky Russians lying in their own documents, for the noble German soldiers could not have been wrong! However, Joachim Peiper's recollection of events seems to discredit that idea.

"The one who quietly and bravely did his duty caused no comment and in his seclusion remained the fool. The one however, who did a lot of hollering, making an elephant out of every attacking mouse was officially commended and on top of it received quick aid in cases of emergency. Untrue reporting is an innermost disease of any army and must always lead to a false estimate of the situation and to wrong conclusions.

In the course of time the command realized that of many front line reports, 50% should be disregarded. Since however this procedure had no bearing on the actual situation, many a small honest commander was expected to do tasks which were sheer madness and which had to shake the confidence in his superior. At first the orders wore followed, ­later on one was satisfied with the telephone report of fictitious combat accounts."

The entire article, which is available here, is a very interesting read. While full of typical "Asiatic hordes" nonsense, it begrudgingly accepts that the Red Army was effective in both attack and defense and that the tactics and weapons it used were quite effective.

Cheating at Statistics 12: Overclaim at Oboyan

In a previous article, we saw some SS Tigers make quite a kill claim.

"12 July 1943: Fierce Soviet tank attacks from the direction of Jamki, Prochorovka and Petrovka (on both sides of Kalinin) are pushed back. The II./SS-Panzer-Regiment "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" and the Tiger company knock out 163 enemy tanks. One Tiger is knocked out; nine Tigers undergo repair.

Total tanks: 12."

Since the words "SS", "Tiger" and "kill claim" immediately set off a siren, let's take a look at how the 1st Tank Army, the unit defending Oboyan direction, handled such a crushing blow.

"According to orders from the Front Commander, the 1st Tank Army regrouped, starting on the afternoon of July 11th and ending on the night of July 12th.

The 5th Guards Stalingrad Tank Corps concentrated at 2nd Novoselovka with the goals of advancing towards Shepelevka and Luhanino.

The 10th Tank Corps, transferring its defenses to the 204th Infantry Division, took up positions along the western outskirts of Novenkoye with the goal of advancing towards Berezovka and Syrtsevo.

The 6th Tank Corps remained in place to allow for the 5th Guards Stalingrad and 10th Tank Corps to deploy, as well as to prevent penetration of the enemy in the north-west direction.

The 204th and 309th Infantry Divisions, 3rd Mechanized Corps, and 31st Tank Corps remained in place to prevent the enemy from penetrating to the north, and to begin advancing with the 5th and 10th Tank Corps in the event that the enemy retreats south.

At 9:00 on July 12th, the army began its offensive."
Tank Front

What we have here is a very common picture: the attack of the famed and fawned over Tiger fails, and the battlefield is in Soviet hands. Many kill claims (unverifiable, as the Germans cannot inspect the battlefield after) are made, and tanks lost in the attack are registered as "undergoing repairs", while still on Soviet territory. By July 15th, as the company is going though a "planned retreat" south, these tanks are already forgotten.

Let's look at the two attacking tank units that would have faced off with the SS tanks on July 12th, namely the 10th Tank Corps and 5th Guards Tank Corps.

10th Tank Corps:

"As a result of battles from July 12th to July 14th, our corps destroyed:

• Tanks: 123
• Soldiers and officers: up to 2500
• Vehicles: 132
• Guns: 19
• Aircraft: 5

Our losses for this period:

• Killed: 175
• Wounded: 144
• Tanks burned up or knocked out: 23"

I don't have the documents for the 5th Guards Tank Corps, but it's not particularly difficult to estimate the likelihood that the German kill claims are correct. The Corps was formed from three tank brigades and one motorized infantry brigade. Based on the time of the formation of the tank brigades, they would have followed cadre #010/270: 53 tanks (32 T-34s, 21 T-70s). The motorized infantry was armed only with armoured cars and unarmoured vehicles. Assuming that all 23 of the 10th TC's tanks were knocked out on July 12th, that still leaves 140 tanks unaccounted for compared to the 153 available tanks in the 5th Guards TC, assuming they started the battle at full capacity. Since the Battle of Kursk started a while ago, they almost certainly didn't. The neighbouring 2nd Tank Corps was down to 85 tanks

 Since the advance of the unit continued until July 15th after which it was reassigned to the 6th Guards Army and fought further, one can safely assume that they had a lot more than 13 tanks left over after the battle on July 12th, especially as documents of the Voronezh Front do not mention any particular difficulty faced by the 5th Guards at this time. As usual, impressive SS kill claims turn out to be nothing but fiction.

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.

Aw, Shucks

In a recent interview at Tank and AFV News, famous tank historian Steven Zaloga mentioned something that's been a bit of a hobby of mine:

"In spite of all the stuff that’s been written about the German side, the stuff that’s out there is not very good. A lot of what’s out there on Tiger tanks is very one sided. There are some very good Russian websites that are pointing out all the errors in those Tiger histories, you know German accounts will say “Oh Tiger regiment such and such went this Russian tank unit and destroyed 57 vehicles.” And then the Russians go and look at the unit histories from the Russian side and find that the incident either didn't occur at all or the German tank claims were grossly exaggerated. "

At the time I thought that "very good Russian websites" certainly referred to battlefield.ru or iremember.ru, armor.kiev.ua or one of the other Russian tank history "giants". However, the author of Tank and AFV News recently got a copy of Armored Champion and you'll never guess who's in it.

I must say, I never expected to be next to Thomas Jentz on any list, but here I am.

Battle for the Kharkov Railroad

"Name: Parshin, Viktor Stepanovich
Rank: Lieutenant
Position, unit: Platoon commander in the 2nd Tank Battalion in the 32nd Tank Brigade
is nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union

1. Year of birth: 1921
2. Nationality: Russian
3. In the Red Army since: 1939
4. Party affiliation: VLKSM member
5. Participation in battle: Patriotic War: Western Front from July 1st, 1941 to September 10th, 1941 in the 115th Tank Regiment, 55nd Tank Division. Voronezh front, 32nd Tank Brigade since July 20th, 1943.
6. Wounds or concussions: none
7. Prior awards: none
8. Recruited by: Kozel recruitment office, Smolensk oblast.

Brief and specific description of personal heroism or merit: in offensive battles from August 3rd, 1943, Lieutenant Parshin showed himself to be a strong willed, decisive, brave, and tactically clever officer that shows initiative. 

On August 12th, 1943, in battles for the Kharkov-Sumy, the Germans moved forward significant forces to capture a strategic object at Pavlovo. Comrade Parshin was ordered to die before he let the enemy take it. Comrade Parshin heroically fulfilled his Motherland's orders. Furious at their failure, the fascists throw 14 Tiger tanks and 6 PzIV tanks into battle. Comrade Parshin carefully observed the enemy movements. With precise fire, he burned up three enemy tanks, but the tanks kept moving forward and crossing the railroad embankment. Lieutenant Parshin, risking his life in his T-34, left his ambush and engaged the group of Tiger tanks.

At high speed, Parshin's tank drove at the Tigers, closing in to 50-100 meters and destroying them one after another. Comrade Parshin destroyed another PzIV and three Tiger tanks. The remaining German tanks, frightened by the menacing Soviet tank, fled in all directions, getting stuck on obstacles, where they were destroyed by other tanks.

For selfless service to the Motherland and heroism displayed during the destruction of 4 PzIV tanks, 3 Tiger tanks and, and up to a company of submachinegunners, Viktor Stepanovich Parshin is worthy of the highest government award: the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Commander of the 2nd Tank Battalion, Guards Captain Vakulenko"

CAMD RF 33-793756-36

Quite a story! Deflecting an attack of 14 Tigers with only a platoon of T-34s is quite a feat, definitely worthy of high praise. However, let's see what the German records say, just to be thorough.

"11 August 1943: Assembly of the battalion in Feskij (13 Tigers).
12 August 1943: The battalion is attached to SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Division "Das Reich"
and moves to the Maximowka railway station. In the late afternoon, the Gawrischi railway
station is captured; a defensive position is established. March order back to Powlowo at
2300 hours."

13 Tigers, not 14, but the big difference is that the Germans report success in taking the station, while the Soviets report success in defending it. This isn't the first time I've seen such an incident, and the fact that the Germans report retreat at the end of the day suggests that once again, the lifespan of that defensive position was rather brief.

It's difficult to validate the kill claims in this battle. The German diary is quite vague. The battalion keeps reporting 13 functional Tigers over the next few days, but the total count of 37 vehicles suggests that they had plenty of damaged ones to refill with.

However, the battle raged on, and just a week later, a formidable battle takes place:

"18-19 August 1943: Attack with 8 Tigers on Hill 228.1 northeast of Maximowka with SS-Panzer-Abteilung 5 of SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Division "Wiking"; 47 T-34s, 2 IS-122s and, 3
antitank guns destroyed. 9 Tigers operational."

Wow! With only 8 Tigers, 49 tanks and 3 guns are destroyed! Except, as most of my readers probably realized, the IS-122 (otherwise known as IS-2) has not yet passed trials at this point, let alone entered production and seen any battlefield. But all is not lost, let's see where the rest of the tanks came from, the T-34s. It's easy enough to figure out where they came from, as the 32nd Tank Brigade was assigned to the 5th Guards Tank Army at the time. The 5th GTA wasn't doing so well at the time. As Petr Bukeyhanov writes in his book Offensive. Operation Kutuzov. Operation Polkovodets Rumyantsev. July-August 1943, "...between August 3rd and August 10th, the 5th Guards Tank Army took heavy losses and was significantly weakened ... only 106 vehicles were available to defend the 15 kilometer front at Aleksandrovka-Pavlovo-Maksimovka". It is difficult to believe that the weakened unit, which, according to Bukeyhanov, "remained the main force of the Soviet defense in the Bogodukhov direction" could lose just under half of all of its tanks in a single day to the Tigers alone and continue fighting here until the retreat of the Tiger battalion on August 22nd. The Soviet observation that "by August 18th the Germans ceased active operations in the Bogodukhov direction and went on the defensive" also casts doubt that the SS-men managed to fight such a victorious battle.

Cheating at Statistics 10: Liars at Lisow

There is a Russian saying, "fear has large eyes", meaning that when you are already afraid, everything you see becomes even more fearsome. MS-1s become T-34s, BT-7s become T-34s, T-26es become KVs. During the Vistula-Oder Offensive, a similar event happened. First, the German version of events, from Schneider's Tigers in Combat:

"13 January 1945: New direction of attack is Lisow.
...
The battalion is ambushed by Josef Stalin tanks and hidden antitank guns in Lisow and is almost completely destroyed. The battalion commander's tank is also knocked out. The desperately fighting Tigers destroy 50-60 enemy tanks on that day."

At least three whole regiments of IS-2 tanks plus a hidden battery of AT guns! That is definitely a fearsome force required to completely destroy a battalion of Tiger IIs. However, seeing as how this is part 10 in this series of articles, it's a bit premature to take these figures as gospel truth. Let's take a look at Aleksei Isayev's lecture on the Vistula-Oder Offensive. He covers this episode starting at 21:10.

"Isayev: ...there was an episode where a heavy tank battalion armed with King Tigers attacked at Lisow. They were stopped by a tank brigade with T-34-85s. Practically all T-34 tanks by the start of the Vistula-Oder operation were armed with 85 mm guns and could face German heavy tanks almost as equals. There was a paradoxical situation where the Germans thought they were fighting IS tanks, Joseph Stalin, and destroyed 50 IS tanks, and the Soviet tank brigade, Fomichev's brigade, thought they were fighting not heavy tanks, but normal Panthers. In the after action reports...

Varshavchik: So one side overclaimed and the other underclaimed?

Isayev: Yes, it turns out that the Germans, who performed poorly, as their heavy tank battalion was destroyed, they overclaimed, told a tale of 50 destroyed IS tanks, but in reality they destroyed maybe 20-30 T-34-85s. The Soviet side, having destroyed a fresh heavy tank battalion, just wrote "some Panthers attacked us, we shot them up, we kept driving further.""

A Soviet tank brigade in 1945 consisted of 65 T-34-85 tanks. As far as the artillery battery the Germans envisioned, a brigade only carried 4 45 mm guns and 6 82 mm mortars, hardly a powerful adversary for Tiger tanks. The fresh German battalion (the diary lists its numbers at 51 operational tanks on December 21st, and does not list any losses until January 13th) was destroyed by a T-34-85 unit with a negligible numerical advantage that did not even realize what they were fighting.

Cheating at Statistics 9: Art Imitates Life

Continuing the theme of investigating the battles specified in "Directive of the Military Council of the 1st Ukrainian Front on the use of IS-2 and ISU-152 regiments in combat", here is another engagement, this time between Tigers of s.Pz.Abt 509 and Soviet IS-2s from 72nd GTTP and ISU-152s from 399 GTSAP.

Schneider's records of this battle favour the German side:

"19 April 1944: 18 Tigers support the attack on Isakow, but they erroneously attack to the south in the direction of Podwerbce. Belatedly, some tanks close in on Isakow, preventing enemy forces from escaping to the south. In conjunction with the 101. Jager-Division, which is attacking from the east, the enemy forces are totally destroyed by the Tigers."

When records of both sides are compared, I have often found that "totally destroyed" forces tend to not notice their total destruction at the hands of Tiger battalions, and continue pushing on. In those cases, the Tiger unit tends to clear out of the area of operations, usually with heavy losses. 

"20 April 1944: The battalion gathers in the area of Buczacz (3 of 29 Tigers operational) and is transported to Kolomea. It remains there as a field-army reserve and a training unit for Hungarian crews on the Tiger tank."

Thought so. Let's see how much "total destruction" 15 lost Tigers achieved. The Germans are attacking southwards from Buchach (the previously recorded location in the diary), so it's very possible that they took a slightly wrong heading and ended up in the neighbouring Podverbtsy. Unfortunately for them, heavy Soviet guns were waiting north of Gerasimov.

"The 72nd Guards Heavy Tank Regiment was assigned to the 11th Guards Tank Corps, and was tasked to fire from an ambush. in a second echelon, 1.5-2 km from the front line. It took up positions in houses north of Gerasimov.

...the enemy penetrated our defenses at Podvertse and Zhivachuv. IS-122 tanks opened fire from a distance of 1.5 kilometers. As a result, 6 tanks were knocked out and 3 burned, 6 of which were Tigers."

"399th GTSAP was assigned to 11th Guards Tank Corps, and by 7 am set up in the ranks of 27th Motorized Infantry Brigade, with the objective of not letting the enemy break through Navziska and Gerasimuv from Zhivachuv.

...after an artillery barrage, 7 enemy tanks attacked the motorized infantry. The batteries opened fire from 1400-1500 meters. First shots ignited several enemy tanks. The rest advanced and tried to hit from the flank, despite fire from the SPGs.  On the left flank, 10 enemy tanks started flanking the batteries. In order to liquidate the menace, a reserve battery was deployed, which knocked out three tanks with one volley. The rest of the tanks withdrew.

The regiment fought for 7 hours, deflecting tanks and infantry. As a result, the enemy attack failed, and they were stopped at the road between Zhivachuv and Navziska. Total enemy losses: 13 tanks (6 burned and 7 knocked out) and up to 100 soldiers and officers."

So we have 18 Tigers that attacked southwards. The Soviets claimed 6 Tigers knocked out in the initial attack, "several" knocked out by SPGs an hour later when 7 tanks attacked, and three more knocked out when 10 tanks attacked their flank.  This makes a total of 9 Tigers, and 4 other unidentified tanks (perhaps also Tigers, the diary doesn't mention cooperation with any other unit). The Germans go from 18 Tigers supporting the attack to 3 Tigers during their withdrawal the next day. A claim of 13 Tigers is entirely reasonable in this engagement, with two more Tigers that could have been knocked out by other means or bogged down somewhere.

The German claims in this engagement remind me of a certain Star Trek episode. The first thing that came to mind was "You look, er, quite well for a man who's been... utterly destroyed, Mr. Spock."