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Currently reading "Duty Before Self", which is the history of the 781st Tank Battalion that was attached to the 100th Infantry Division during the fighting. Couple interesting tidbits:

Their HQ Co. had 3 Shermans mounting Calliopes, which were used extensively for bombarding the town.

The four tanks mentioned in the counterattack were Tigers.

German armor was from the 667th Assault Gun Battalion and the 17th Panzer Grenadier Division.

The entire town was basically rubbled, from a December bombing raid by 300 Lancaster bombers and the resulting firestorm.

Three DD Shermans attempted to cross the river, but all of them bogged when trying to exit the river due to the mud and steep banks.
 

Doug Kirk

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Yep. Currently reading "War in the Ruins". Got a couple scenario ideas bouncing around in my head based on the action around Heilbronn. I have never designed a scenario, but perhaps that will change.
 

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Currently reading "Duty Before Self", which is the history of the 781st Tank Battalion that was attached to the 100th Infantry Division during the fighting. Couple interesting tidbits:

Their HQ Co. had 3 Shermans mounting Calliopes, which were used extensively for bombarding the town.

The four tanks mentioned in the counterattack were Tigers.

German armor was from the 667th Assault Gun Battalion and the 17th Panzer Grenadier Division.

The entire town was basically rubbled, from a December bombing raid by 300 Lancaster bombers and the resulting firestorm.

Three DD Shermans attempted to cross the river, but all of them bogged when trying to exit the river due to the mud and steep banks.
Tigers? Funny how Tigers were everywhere. It seems to most allied soldiers they faced Tigers but Tigers were generally only issued to elite units or in their own separate heavy battalions and used as fire brigades. Out of curiosity I looked up the 17th and its OOB.

It doesn't appear it ever had Tigers, in fact being a scratch unit it appears it never had tanks per se going back to Normandy but had assault guns attached to it then and did so through the end of the war.

Fleischer/Eiermann, Das letzte Jahr der Waffen-SS

March 1945
SS-Pz.Abt. 17 = 3 Kpn. zu je 17 Stu.Gesch. IV
SS-Pz.Jäg.Abt. 17 = 2 Kpn. zu je 11 Jagd-Pz. IV und 1 Kp. 7,5 cm Pak (mot.Z.)
 

Paul M. Weir

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Ignoring the PzGr divisions that were really over strength Pz Div (eg GD, 1SS LSSAH, 2SS DR, etc) a PzGr division officially contained a single Panzer Abteilung. The composition varied by year and available equipment.

'41 - 2 Lt. Co. with 17 Pz III, 5 Pz II, 1 Med. Co. with 10-17 Pz IV (often 14), 5 Pz II and a HQ with 2 Pz III Cmd, 1 Pz III and 5 Pz II.
'42 - 3 Lt. Co. with 17 Pz III, 1 Med. Co. with 14-17 Pz IV (usually 14) and a HQ with 2 Pz III Cmd, 1 Pz III and 5 Pz II. Some still had 5 Pz II in each Lt. and Med. Co.
'43 - As '42 OR 4 Co. with 14-17 Pz IV and a HQ with 2 Pz IV Cmd, 1 Pz IV and a recon Pln. of 3-5 Pz IV OR 3 Co. of 10/14/17 StuG and a HQ of 1/3/3 StuG.
'44+ - As '43 but no Pz III in OoB and much more often StuG.

StuG could be StuG III or StuG IV. StuG IV usually were used to replace Pz IV in Pz/PzGr divisions and few, if any, ended up in independent StuG Abt. as far as I know.

Companies:
10 Pz: HQ with 2 Pz, 2 Pln. with 4 Pz and Recon Pln. with 5 Pz II.
10 StuG/JgPz: HQ with 1 StuG/JgPz and 3 Pln. with 3 StuG/JgPz.
11 StuG/JgPz/Pz: HQ with 2 StuG/JgPz/Pz and 3 Pln. with 3 StuG/JgPz/Pz.
14 StuG/Pz: HQ with 2 StuG/Pz and 3 Pln. with 4 StuG/Pz.
17 StuG/Pz: HQ with 2 StuG/Pz and 3 Pln. with 5 StuG/Pz.
22 StuG/Pz: HQ with 2 StuG/Pz and 4 Pln. with 5 StuG/Pz.

Independent StuG Abt. usually had a HQ of 1 StuG and 3 Co. with 10 StuG but from 44+ a very few had a HQ of 3 StuG and 3 Co. with 14 StuG. Some independent StuG Abt. later renamed to Brigades without and any change in size. Later some had a lorried escort infantry company added.

From late '44 you might see StuG in the 2nd Pz Abt. (usually the Pz IV Abt.) of Pz Div, not just a PzGr Div's Pz Abt. 2 Examples below:
1) Regt: 3 Panther in HQ and often 3-5 Pz IV in Recon Pln. 1 Abt: 3-8 Panther in HQ and Recon Pln and 4 Co. of 14-22 Panther. 2 Abt: 3-8 Pz IV in HQ and Recon Pln and 2 Co. of 14-22 Pz IV and 2 Co. of 14-22 StuG.
2) Regt: 3 Panther in HQ and often 3-5 Pz IV in Recon Pln. 1 Abt: 3-8 Panther in HQ and Recon Pln and 2 Co. of 14-22 Panther and 2 Co. of 14-22 Pz IV. 2 Abt: 1/3/3 StuG in HQ and 3 Co. of 10/14/22 StuG.

17 was the commonest for Pz and 14 for StuG.
22 vehicle Co. were fairly rare but did occur.
Similarly a StuG equipped Pz Abt. usually only had 3 Co. but could have 4 Co.
Regt./Abt. HQ had 3 Pz and might or might not have a Recon Pln. of 3-5 Pz.

All the above just roughly outline the official TO&Es. Lots and lots to choose from :)! You will have to look at individual units to get the total strength, but once you have that, the above might give you indication of how they were organised internally.

The '45 Pz and PzGr divisions were practically identical. They contained a Pz Regt. with a Pz Abt. and an PzGr Abt. (gePz) mounted in halftracks. The '45 Pz Abt. had a HQ of 2/3 Panther, 2 Co. of 11 Panthers, 2 Co. of 11 Pz IV and a PzJg Co. of 11 Pz IV/70 aka JgPz IV with L/70 gun. There were also 1 or usually 2 lorry/bicycle PzGr Regts with 2-3 PzGr Battalions and a PzArt Regt.
 

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Tigers? Funny how Tigers were everywhere. It seems to most allied soldiers they faced Tigers but Tigers were generally only issued to elite units or in their own separate heavy battalions and used as fire brigades. Out of curiosity I looked up the 17th and its OOB.

It doesn't appear it ever had Tigers, in fact being a scratch unit it appears it never had tanks per se going back to Normandy but had assault guns attached to it then and did so through the end of the war.

Fleischer/Eiermann, Das letzte Jahr der Waffen-SS

March 1945
SS-Pz.Abt. 17 = 3 Kpn. zu je 17 Stu.Gesch. IV
SS-Pz.Jäg.Abt. 17 = 2 Kpn. zu je 11 Jagd-Pz. IV und 1 Kp. 7,5 cm Pak (mot.Z.)
I was thinking the same thing. Probably not Tigers but possibly Pz IV which at fast glance can resemble a Tiger I. I would think by this point most units having Tigers were brought back for the defense of Berlin.
 

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The Germans used to put dummy fittings on their Tigers so they resembled Pz IVs. Tigers are under-reported in histories.

JR
 

Cult.44

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The Germans used to put dummy fittings on their Tigers so they resembled Pz IVs. Tigers are under-reported in histories.

JR
This is the first time I've seen it said that Tigers were underreported. I remember reading AARs from the U.S. 17th Cavalry Squadron about action against the 11th Panzer in southern France. Every enemy tank they encountered was a "Mark VI" But there were no Tigers in southern France at the time.
 

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The Germans used to put dummy fittings on their Tigers so they resembled Pz IVs. Tigers are under-reported in histories.

JR
Especially the fake-armor they welded on was working exceptionally fine. When Germans are doing something, they usually do it very scrupulously.

von Marwitz
 

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I was thinking the same thing. Probably not Tigers but possibly Pz IV which at fast glance can resemble a Tiger I. I would think by this point most units having Tigers were brought back for the defense of Berlin.
It doesn't even appear the German units in this action even had PzIV's. Most likely a case where 'tiger' became the catch all description for an AFV.

and you might think that they would and wasn't that the root of the big blow up between Hitler and Guderian. Most Tigers (and German tank strength) were not sent to Berlin (the oder line which had one single TigerII equipped battalion) or to the Pomeranian flanking offensive which is what Guderian wanted but only had one sent there (attached to the 11th Nordland) but of course Hitler won that pissing contest and most were earmarked for the 6th SS Panzer Army in Hungary and that Lake Balaton offensive in early 1945.
 

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Would this battle justify some sort of HASL*?
Based on a skim reading, it looks like this battle took place over a wide area and not confined to a small HASL-sized area. Still, it looks like it has some unique terrain (lots of Rubble), factories, etc.. and some pretty intense fighting over a few days.

*maybe a HASL utilizing several existing geoboards, along with a few new 'HASL geoboards'**
** HASL geoboard - one that connects with other geoboards but which has a big blob of historically accurate terrain on it.
 

Major Issues

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Tigers? Funny how Tigers were everywhere. It seems to most allied soldiers they faced Tigers but Tigers were generally only issued to elite units or in their own separate heavy battalions and used as fire brigades. Out of curiosity I looked up the 17th and its OOB.

It doesn't appear it ever had Tigers, in fact being a scratch unit it appears it never had tanks per se going back to Normandy but had assault guns attached to it then and did so through the end of the war.

Fleischer/Eiermann, Das letzte Jahr der Waffen-SS

March 1945
SS-Pz.Abt. 17 = 3 Kpn. zu je 17 Stu.Gesch. IV
SS-Pz.Jäg.Abt. 17 = 2 Kpn. zu je 11 Jagd-Pz. IV und 1 Kp. 7,5 cm Pak (mot.Z.)
I believe that you are correct. I am just reporting what the book said. They appeared to have engaged just infantry, before any US armor was across the river.

Book does say that "at least 10 SPs and 5 tanks were active in the area..." There doesn't seem to have been much tank vs. tank action, though. On the 11th, a platoon engaged 3 Mk. IVs in Biberach. Two were driven off and one was destroyed by artillery fire. Only one US tank was lost to an SP gun during the whole Heilbronn battle. Two were lost to PFs, one to a mine, one to a "bazooka" (presumably a PSK), and one to artillery fire. Total battalion losses were given as 3 M3s and 2 M5s for the month. Presumably the one that hit the mine was recoverable.

Not sure that there is enough here for a historical module. A scenario should have extensive rubble, pillboxes, Cellar rules, and high SANs to simulate all the artillery shells that were flying around from both sides. Little kids would point out German strongpoints in exchange for Hershey bars, but would also point out Americans to German artillery spotters. So E2.4 would be a good SSR to add.

What would YOU do for a Klondike bar???
 

hoxson1

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There is one scenario based in Heilbronn - "Resignation Supermen" J179 in Journal 11. elements of 398th Inf Regt w two M36 GMCs
 
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