Schwere Panzer-Abteilung 507 was formed in late 1943 using cadre provided from Panzer-Regiment 4 of the 13. Panzer-Division. In early 1944, it was sent to the Eastern Front, where it successfully participated in a number of defensive efforts as a mobile “fire brigade.” In early 1945, it was sent to Paderborn for reconstitution. There it was being refitted with the Tiger II, when it was hastily attached to SS-Panzer-Brigade “Westfalen” for the defense of the Paderborn area. Equipped with a wide variety of fighting vehicles, including the Jagdpanther and the Jagdtiger, it successfully engaged American forces of the 3rd Armored Division southwest of Paderborn, before it was pulled further back to the east. One of the few combat losses of US general officers during World War II — Major General Rose, the commanding general of the 3rd Armored Division — was in an engagement with the battalion.
After losing the remainder of its tanks to combat activity or their forced transfer to SS forces, the battalion moved to Czechoslovakia, where it was again issued combat vehicles, including the Hetzer tank destroyer, where it spent the final days of the war trying to surrender to Western Allies. In the end, the battalion was handed over to Russian forces, where many of its members spent long years in Russian captivity.
This account of the battalion was written primarily by former members of the unit and features almost all first-hand accounts. In addition, numerous appendices amplifying much of the material have been provided. These include an extensive chronology of the battalion and additional background material on the “parent” formation of schwere Panzer-Abteilung 507 — Panzer-Regiment 4 — including the late-war history of elements of the regiment in both Hungary and Italy.
