A kampfgruppe from the 1/schwere Panzerjager Abteilung 653 under Oberleutnant Werner Haberband had success at Schifferstadt. Two American halftracks were swept completely off the road with one 12.8-centimeter round from the Jagdtiger of Oberfeldwebel Gustav Koss.
Un informe del comandante del batallón Rudolf Grillenberger, Febrero de 1945:
Training Status:
Training status for the 1st and 3rd Companies can be considered very good. Both companies have combat experience from the Russian Campaign, and some from the Italian Campaign. Even though combat experience with the Jagdtiger is still very limited, both companies have complete trust in the equipment.
The 2nd company has been reconstituted and arrived here on 23 January 1945. The cadre also consists of older, experienced soldiers. Classroom and technical training has been completed and is considered good.
...
Exceptional Problems:
In addition to the battalion's fragmentation mentioned above, with particular emphasis upon the fact that communication with these elements sometimes takes up to a week -there is also the problem of incredibly weak maintenance units.
In the combat areas we are lacking:
1) The entire maintenance Company, including the necessary lifting and recovering equipment.
2)Supply elements.
Maintenace squads and expedient measures were used during recovery and supply operations. Since this is the first time in combat for Jagdtigers, the recurring problem of damage in steering, transmission, final drives and main guns are even more disadvabtegous because of the above situation. Repairs are delayed, which weakens the trust the soldiers have in the usually outstanding vehicles. Vehicle drivers become anxious at the slightest problem, because expedient measures and exchanging parts in only a temporary measure, but not the solution to the problem. Pag (282-283).
Memorando escrito el 25 de Diciembrre de 1945 (pag 274):
Combat: Slow rate of fire (separate projectile and propellant casing. It is necessary to return to zero degree elevation after each round fired to unload the spent casing). This makes it necessary to employ a large number of Jagdtiger in an attack.
Strengths: Main gun has penetration power at 3500 meters. Attack dependent upon solid terrain terrain and good visibility. Mechanical losses at about 40%, therefore deploy only as a consolidated unit or defensive power will be too weak during enemy counterattacks.
Es interesante ver como las unidades blindadas mantuvieron hasta el final un gran número de tripulaciones veteranas mientras que la infanteria se desangró. En cuanto al Jagdtiger, era un vehículo muy fragil, y la idea de meter el 128mm no era muy incorrecta. Sorprende que la cadencia sea baja ya que contaba con 2 cargadores, pero claro, si hay que mover el cañón a 0°.
En los entrenamientos ocurre una anecdota esperpéntica. Cuando las tripulaciones llegan a la fábrica en Austria a recibir el entrenamiento se dan cuenta que nadie les puede enseñar correctamente porque allí se producía el modelo con suspensión Porsche, cuando la unidad tiene que utilizar el Henschel. Y los empleados de la fábrica son bastante críticos con el Henschel...
Saludos.
P.S A ver si la gente se anima a poner más extractos o comentarios de libros.
