Quote:
Originally Posted by Arralen
Looking through the possible units/formations for the first "tank destroyers", I found the "SdKfz 8 FlaK 18" (unit #484), available from 2/40 - and wondered where, how and by which unit is was deployed.
If I throw together the info from both threads, it appears to me that the "SdKfz 8 FlaK 18" was exactly used by one company, during a limited time span ...
|
There was probably 10 vehicles made and while it is true that it was only used by one company, it seems that the company operated this vehicle from 1939 and well into the summer of 1942, possibly all the way to january 1943. Three years of service, much of it in combat, is a surprising longivity for weapon made in such a limited numbers!
There is an error in the page you quoted:
http://panzerjaeger-info.fuehr-online.de/html/WH2.html
The vehicles were inititally issued to 1.kp/PzJgAbt 8 as stated, but the company served with 1. Panzerdivision in May 1940. They played an important part in the divisions advance through Belgium, as it bogged down in front of the village Bodange, stopped by a mere company of Belgian chasseurs. The problem was that the vanguard of the division, the motorcycle and recce troops, did not have weapons sufficiently heavy to deal with the stone buildings in the village. So from noon until about six o'clock in the evening, the division was stuck, until the self-propelled 8,8cm started to knock holes in the buildings, dealing with the Belgian heavy weapons. After about an hour of house-to-house combat, the road was finally cleared.
The company was re-designated PzJgKp 601, but it was not assigned to PzJgAbt. 521 in June 1942 as stated. It became the 3.kp/PzAbt 559. By January 1943, the battalion was equipped with Marders and towed 7,5cm guns, so assumingly, the selfpropelled 8,8cm guns had been destroyed or worn out by that time.
There are records of one vehicle being lost in France in May 1940 in a friendly fire incident (bombed by Stukas). Another picture dated 1941 shows a destroyed vehicle in Russia. According to Niehorster, the company was down to four vehicles in June 1942.
The status for the vehicles appears to have been:
10 produced in 1938-39
6 issued to 1.kp/8. PzJgAbt
1 lost in France in May 1940
2 or more lost in Russia prior to June 1942 (one pictured in 1941)
1 issued to 3. kp/559. PzJgAbt in 1942(?) from a proving ground in Germany
June 1942 the company has 4 vehicles left
By January 1943, all seems to have been lost
Quote:
|
And what are those SP guns mentioned? 47mm might be JgdPz I, but what are 50mm, 128mm and 105mm supposed to be?
|
The 47mm are likely Czech anti-tank guns mounted on Panzer I or Renault R35. The 128mm are likely the two 12,8cm selfpropelled guns built on the Henschel VK3001 prototype chassis. The 105mm guns are likely two 10,5cm K18 guns mounted on modified Panzer IV chassis in 1941. The 50mm could be the two 5cm anti-tank gun mounted on a Panzer II chassis delivered early in 1942.
cbo