What exactly were the heavy Panzer battalions?

Question

In particular their roles in the operation compared with Tigers, Panthers and Panzer IV etc.

Answer 1

Late war (1944 onwards) German Pz divisions had two battalions of medium tanks. Half of their tanks were usually Panthers, and half Mk IV’s. The number of tanks per battalion and division varied considerably (SS Pz had more tanks than Wehrmacht Pz), but the types used were normally the same.

Heavier tanks (Tiger I and Tiger II) were not normally incorporated into the Pz divisions. A few divisions (such as Grossdeutschland and Panzer Lehr) received allotments of Tigers, but most Tigers were held back, separately, in Battalion-size (“schwerer Panzer Abteilungen” – sPzAbt) units. After some experimentation, and on the advice of Guderian, the paper-strength size of a heavy Pz battalion was fixed at 45 Tigers.

Eventually, 11 of these heavy Pz battalions were created under army (Heer) control, and 3 more under Waffen-SS control. The heavy Pz battalions were kept under the control of an Army (or occasionally a Corps) HQ. There were a number of reasons for this: -

[1] The Germans did not have enough Tigers to parcel them out to every Pz division. Total production only amounted to approx. 1,350 Tiger I and 487 Tiger II. Compare this to: over 6,000 Panthers; over 6,500 Pz IV. Tigers were very expensive to produce (twice the cost of any other German tank) and the manufacturing process took much more time.

[2] When working properly and deployed to best advantage, Tigers were undoubtedly the best WW2 tanks at killing enemy tanks. But Tigers were not perfect: -

• They were more complicated and less mechanically reliable than Panthers or Pz IV’s. They broke down very frequently.

• They were so heavy that many river bridges could not support their weight (and they also had to be cautious about pushing into buildings that might have cellars or basements, because they might fall through!).

• Their great weight (and breadth) also made them difficult to transport long distances. Driving a tank for hundreds of miles along roads just wears it out prematurely: tanks should be transported between distant battlefields. Tigers were too big for any road-transporter, so they had to be carried via rail. But Tigers were even too big to be simply carried by rail without first making elaborate adjustments.

• They were less maneuverable than medium tanks.

These factors meant that Tigers were best used where they could pick their battlefield and not venture into unknown territory. In other words, they were best used to either anchor a defensive line, with their flanks secured; or in limited distance counter-attacks. Fighting in these conditions maximized their great strengths, but minimized their failings.

But Pz divisions had to be able to fight offensively as well as defensively. For this dual role, the more reliable and nimble Panthers and Pz IV’s were better suited than the Tigers.

So the answer was to keep the precious heavy Tiger battalions separate from the Pz divisions, and let Army or Corps HQ decide when and where to feed them into battle.

Answer 2

this where the independent battalions equipped whit mostly the tiger and later on the konings tiger . They where dedicated to a certain regiment or division by the the higher command ( army or corps ) this was done depending on certain condition like the enemy was treating to break through the front or in a certain sector the German army was planning a counterattack.
The idea of the heavy battalions was to create a break true battalion but at the time that the heavy tanks did appear the time off great offensives for the German army was almost over so they where mostly used in a defensive role
Some division owed there proper heavy battalion like gross deutsland and some waffen SS unit's
The system of heavy battalions was also used by the panzer hunting battalions ( panzer jager units ) they where equipped whit the jagdpanther , the jagdtiger ( armed with a massive 12.8 cm gun) and the elephant / Ferdinand ( build on the chassis of the Porsche variant of the tiger ) they where like the panzer units independent and where along the needs attached to certain units

Answer 3

The Werhmact formed independent heavy tank battalions when the first Tiger I and Tiger IIs were introduced, rather than putting them into existing Panzer divisions (with some exceptions, eg, Grossdeutchland Division). btw, the avatar i'm currently using happens to be from the 501st Heavy Tank Battalion/

Answer 4

Mostly Nazi infantry units.
They were known for there armor, tanks, and artillery, which they could hope to quickly overrun and out shoot the enemy.