The Royal Opponent
What goes well for a Russian, is deadly for a German
the Russian proverb
On August 10th, 1944, after crossing the Vistula river, elements of the 1st Ukrainian Front broke the
enemy defense lines South-east of the Polish town of Sandomierz, and after throw back parts of 4th
Tank Army, significantly expanded their bridgehead. In an attempt to retake the lost territory on the west
side of the Vistula river, the Germans immediately transferred five divisions (including one panzer
division), from the Army Group "South Ukraine," five infantry divisions from Germany, three infantry
divisions from Hungary, and six brigades of assault guns to the Sandomierz area. Preparing for the
German counterattack, the Soviet High Command decided to regroup its troops. Preparations for
defense started with laying large minefields.
Burning King Tigers at the edge of the Ogledów.
Morning August 13, 1944.
On August 11th, units of the 6th Guards Tank
Corps (GTC) of the 3rd Guards Tank Army
(GTA), took defensive positions on the
On
outskirts of the towns of Szyldów and
9th,
Ogledów which were taken earlier that day.
battalio
The bridgehead at that time resembled an
arrived
irregular semicircle abutted against the Vistula
Poland
River,in the centre, while the 52nd Guards
disemb
The King Tiger being knocked out by the tankers Tank Brigade (GTBr) closed the left flank.
at Ko
of the 6th Guards Tank Corps. Take a look at the Sandy soil made it difficult to dig the tanks in
railway
holes in the side of the tank.
to their full height because the sides of the
station
trenches kept collapsing. The same sandy soil caused problems for the Germans as well. Many times
Kielce.
Soviet troops observed Panthers swerving in the sand, and while their drivers struggled to control their
Accord
vehicles, they exposed their thinner side armor to the Soviet guns. During the skirmishes near Szyldów
the
and Ogledów, this led to severe losses of Panthers (on August 11th, 1944 alone, the 53rd GTBr
half o
destroyed eight German tanks).On August 12th, the commander of the 53rd GTBr, Colonel V. S.
tanks
Arkhipov, with his Chief of Staff, C. I. Kirilkin, came to the conclusion that the Germans would not
Tankers of the 53rd Guards Tank Brigade
Panthe
continue their direct attack across the open sandy fields, and that they would try to outflank the brigade. investigating the King Tiger they've knocked out. and
They therefore reinforced their force's flanks.
remain
were Panzer IV's. It was later revealed that the PoWs' story ab
Panthers was not true. Probably they tried to conceal the arriv
secret weapon to the front. The "Panthers" were actually new Kin
tanks.
Ten of the King Tigers broke-down during the short three-kilometre
from the disembarkation point to the headquarters of the 16th T
Chmielnik. On August 11th, after losing two days to repairs and rethe battalion moved two kilometres further and reached Sz
Breakdowns continued, and at the end of the day, only eleven
twenty King Tigers were intact and ready to commence the att
Staszów.
It is worth mentioning that the Russian 6th GTC did not have sig
numerical superiority. Ready for the German assault were nine Tfrom the 53rd GTBr, and nine T-34-76's and ten T-34-85's from th
GTBr. The 51st GTBr, positioned to the north, had eleven T-34-7
four T-34-85's. At Staszów there were eleven IS-2 heavy tanks, a
IS-85 heavy tank from the 71st Independent Guards Heavy
Regiment.
At midnight on August 13th, a
growing noise of tank engines
was heard coming from the
German side. Before dawn, the
commander of the 53rd GTBn
returned from the headquarters
to his tank, which was employed
as an observation post between
the tanks of the 1st Tank
Battalion, which were hidden
between low sand dunes. In the
front and on the right side of the
Soviet positions, there was a
valley with a road to Staszów.
On the left hand side, there was
a field with stacks of hay, where
Ivushkin's
tanks
were
camouflaged. Near the entry of
the valley stood Lieutenant A. P.
Oskin's "thirty-four" (T-34). A.
Stetzenko was the driver, A.
Guards Lieutenant A. P. Oskin
Merkhaidarov was the gunner,
A. Grushin was the radio operator, and A. Khalychev was the loader.
Colonel Arkhipov and Ivushkin hid the tank in the haystacks, and ordered
Oskin to hold his fire until given a special order.
The Poles are meeting the Oskin's tank in
Ogledów. August 1944.
During the day (August
Korobov's 2nd TBn
German tanks west of Hill
At the end of the day, th
Brigade
took
sou
defensive positions 300
east of Ogledów, in readi
move towards Szyldów.
o'clock in the evening, tw
The next morning was covered in mist, which obstructed the view. From
from the 3rd TBn, suppo
the observation point of the 53rd GTBr commander, neither the village of
the company of the mech
Ogledów, nor the valley, nor the tanks hidden in the haystacks were
infantry, assaulted the
visible. The morning silence was broken by a growing hum of tank
and by eight o'clock
engines, and soon the incoming noise of tanks' tracks was heard. From
morning, they succeed
the sky, one could hear Junkers planes approaching Staszów. German
clearing it of the enemy. T
artillery began to fire. The rounds passed high above the brigade's
TBn
then
took
de
forward line. Enemy reconnaissance neither located the brigade's front
positions on the edge
line, nor spotted the ambush positions.
village. German tanks,
had been withdrawn after
On August 13th, at 07:00 a.m. under the cover of the mist, the Germans
attacks, were captured
started to advance on the unnamed hill with eleven King Tigers and a few
village. It was then that
armored personnel carriers with infantry.
discovered that the b
Guards Senior Lieutenant V. A.
Ivushkin's voice was heard on the radio: "The tanks are gone. I can't see
tanks in the morning battl
Udalov
them, but I can hear them. They are moving through the valley."
not Panthers. However,
was not enough time to identify the tanks, and the first reports stat
This is how the commander of the 53rd GTBr described the battle:
there were three Panthers captured. The 2nd TBn, the 2nd
"An enormous tank crawled from within the valley. It was jerkilyCompany of the 71st IGHTR, and the 289th Rifle Regiment,
moving toward Zaraz at 09:00 a.m. King Tigers which were pos
climbing up and swerving on the sand. From the left flank, Majorwest of Ogledów, blocked the attacking infantry with gunfire. A pla
Korobov
exclaimed
on
the
radio:IS-2 tanks, led by Lieutenant Klimienkov, advanced and joined
They're
coming!battle. Soon one of the German tanks was on fire, and another o
I
replied:knocked out. The infantry, without opposition, then moved in to Og
Be
patient!
Open
fire
from
400
metres
only!where tanks of the 3rd TBn were already eliminating the rem
Behind the first tank, the second beast came from the valley, and soonGermans.
the third
ambush
-
tank
appeared.
Fire?
The
first
-
had
already
he
passed
Ivyshkin'sMeanwhile, seven King Tigers attacked the Soviet positions fro
position.272.1. Waiting in an ambush near Mokre, Guards Lieutenant Ud
asked.
his IS-2 tank (with number 98, and fitted with the D-25 cannon) let the
German tanks to approach to a distance of 700-800 metres and started
firing. After a few hits, the first tank was set on fire, and the second tank
was knocked out. The German tanks shifted into reverse. Udalov drove
towards the enemy and fired again from the edge of the forest. With one
more tank burning, the Germans retreated. Soon, the King Tigers
attacked again, this time towards Poniki, where Guards Lieutenant
Beliakov's IS-2 was set up in an ambush position. He commenced fire at
a distance of 1000 metres, and after the third round, had set fire to an
enemy tank. The Germans realized the grave situation, and retreated
again.
During the three days of continuous fighting on August 11th, 12th, and
13th, 1944, in the Staszów and Szyldów area the 6th GTC destroyed and
captured 24 enemy tanks, thirteen of which were the newly introduced
King Tigers.
"From the 9th to 19th of August 1944, the 52nd
GTBr took seven PoWs and eliminated 225 soldiers
and officers, destroyed one machine gun, captured
three cannons, destroyed six tanks, ten trucks,
and two other vehicles."
The King Tiger #234 being stuck and abandoned
by the Germans intact at the Ogledów.
Besides the following was listed in the Corps' reports on the PoWs and war prizes:
From August 1st to 29th, 1944, the 53rd GTBr eliminated 8 enemy officers, 37 NCOs, 153 soldiers, took
6 King's Tigers and 2 NCOs as PoWs, destroyed one aircraft,12 tanks, 29 howitzers, 130 rifles, 7 submachine guns, 20 machine-guns, 4 mortars and 2 field cannons. It is worth mentioning that this was
achieved by the units of the 6th GTC without loss of a single tank. It is worth mentioning that this was
achieved by units of the 6th GTC, without the loss of a single tank.
Enemy losses were later confirmed by Reconnaissance Report #39, issued by the staff of the 6th GTC
at 7:00 p.m. on August 16th:
"On August 16th, in the Zaraz area, a PoW from the 501st Heavy Tank
Battalion was taken. He stated that the 501st Independent Heavy Tank
Battalion, which was formed in Germany, received forty new tanks and
consisted of twenty King Tigers and twenty Panzer IV's. The battalion
arrived in the Chmielnik area two weeks ago. At present, there are no
more than 26 tanks with the 501st, the remaining tanks were burned
and destroyed. The PoW saw Tiger tanks of another unit, although he
did not know the unit's name."
The IS-2 tank of the Lieutentant Udalov, who
scored three King Tigers.
According to the 53rd GTBr's commander's memoirs:
"Who made the 'kills' and how many, is a difficult question; as tank
crews from two battalions (I. M. Mazurin's and A. G. Korobov's), as
well as two artillery regiments (the 185th Hovitzer Regiment and the
1645th Light Artillery Regiment), and two regiments of self propelled
guns (the 1893rd and the 385th) fired at the Germans. Ground attack
aircraft contributed as well. Oskin's crew set three tanks on fire,
and destroyed one. Aleksander Petrovich Oskin was awarded the title of
Hero of the Soviet Union, and Abubaker Merkhaidarov was awarded the
Order of Lenin. The other members of the crew also received awards."
After the battle, the commander of the 2nd TBn, Korobov, reported that "about twenty heavy tanks
attacked the area between my battalion and the 51st GTBr." Where were the remaining King Tigers? The
The King Tiger #502 abandoned intact at the
Ogledów.
The in
of the
can
judged
fact th
Soviet
used
all of
shells.
Komar
and
Dzhap
togethe
scored
Tigers
Panthe
Krainev had six "kills:"
The r
behind
Sando
King
fiasco
cleverl
Unfortunately, in their memoirs, neither commander mentioned the exact
prepar
number of German tanks destroyed. According to the recent book
Soviet
"Germany's Tiger Tanks: Tiger I & II: Combat Tactics" by Thomas Jentz,
defens
a week after the battle, on August 21st, 1944, the 501st sPzAbt had
and,
twelve intact King Tigers, another 27 required repairs, and six were lost.
a dou
Jentz's figures are doubtful. On the battlefields near Ogledów, Mokre, and
Soviet soldiers investigating the just captured
high le
King Tiger #502, on the side there is an
Szyldów, twelve King Tiger tanks were left behind. From the archive
profess
inscription "Captured 13-8-44 2nd B-N 52 T-Br" m of
records currently available, it appears that the 501st Battalion was routed,
and three tanks with turret numbers 102, 502, and 234, were captured
tank
intact.
The Germans failed due to faulty planning and tactics, and part
because of the direction of the attack for the 70-tonne King Tige
Tank number 502 was found standing in theneed to put the newly designed, but still incomplete "wonder-weapo
yard near a house in Ogledów village. It is not action, resulted in these errors.
clear why the crew abandoned the tank.
According to a few western historians, tank number 502 originally h
Ogledów village was taken during a lightning
number 002, repainted later by the Russians. This claim is difficu
attack by Soviet tanks, and the German crew
seriously. On the one hand, the number of the tank is of no impo
must have abandoned the tank and run away.
on the other hand, the numbers carried by 501st Battalion tanks
A sufficient amount of fuel and ammunition
retrieved from German archives and verified, and it can be show
was in the tank, and according to the records
there was no tank number 002.
found on the tank, it had run only 444
kilometres. When attempting to start up the
engine, it started immediately.
"While engaged in combat with the enemy, our tank
troops eliminated fourteen tanks, more than fifty
soldiers, and most importantly, stopped the enemy
counterattack."
The King Tiger #502 abandoned at the Ogledów.
Tanks #102 and #502 were commander's
tanks, which had additional communications
equipment. You can read more about their
history here.
The Germans analysed their defeat, and von Legat lost his command.
The "Battle Call" newspaper of the 6th GTK, described the fighting at the Sandomierz bridgehead as
follows:
"After first encountering our superior tanks, the Germans created
their clumsy monsters: the Tigers, Panthers, and Ferdinands. These
tanks are inferior to ours. It was proven during recent battles, where
the path of the German retreat was filled with the remnants of Tiger
tanks and their other weaponry. The recently-introduced King Tiger
tanks did not frighten our soldiers. During the first encounter, our
tank crews and artillerymen proved the absolute superiority of our
weaponry against the so-called secret weapon of the Germans. Our
valiant tank crews under the command of Oskin, Udalov, and Potekha,
destroyed a few King Tigers each. The battle results of the SovietGerman front indicate the obvious edge that Soviet tanks have on
German tanks. Ours have better cannons, better ground-crossing
capability, and better maneuverability."
Sadly, such blatant propaganda simply discredited the true victory of the Soviet tankers.