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The most famous German self-propelled gun of the Second World War period, “Ferdinand,” owes its appearance, on the one hand, to the intrigues around the heavy tank \/K 4501 (P), and on the other, to the appearance of the 88-mm anti-tank gun Pak 43. Tank \/K 4501 (P) - simply put, the "Tiger" designed by Dr. Porsche - was shown to Hitler on April 20, 1942, at the same time as its competitor VK 4501 (H) - the "Tiger" from Henschel. According to Hitler, both cars had to be put into mass production, which was strongly opposed by the Armament Directorate, whose employees could not stand the Fuhrer’s obstinate favorite, Dr. Porsche.

The tests did not reveal obvious advantages of one vehicle over the other, but Porsche was more ready for the production of the Tiger - by June 6, 1942, the first 16 VK 4501 (P) tanks were ready for delivery to the troops, for which the assembly of turrets was being completed at Krupp . The Henschel company could deliver only one vehicle by this date, and that without a turret. The first battalion, equipped with Porsche Tigers, was supposed to be formed by August 1942 and sent to Stalingrad, but suddenly the Armament Directorate stopped all work on the tank for a month.

The managers took advantage of Hitler's instructions to create an assault gun based on the Pz.IV and VK 4501 tanks, armed with the latest 88-mm Pak 43/2 anti-tank gun with a barrel length of 71 calibers. With the input of the Armament Directorate, it was decided to convert all 92 VK 4501 (P) chassis ready and being assembled in the workshops of the Nibelungenwerke plant into assault guns.

In September 1942, work began. The design was carried out by Porsche together with designers from the Berlin Alkett plant. Since the armored cabin was to be located in the rear part, the chassis layout had to be changed, placing the engines and generators in the middle of the hull. Initially, it was planned to assemble the new self-propelled guns in Berlin, but this had to be abandoned due to difficulties associated with transportation by rail, and due to the reluctance to suspend the production of StuG III assault guns, the main product of the Alkett plant. As a result, the assembly of the self-propelled guns, which received the official designation 8.8 cm Pak 43/2 Sfl L/71 Panzerjäger Tiger(P) Sd.Kfz. 184 and the name Ferdinand (assigned personally by Hitler in February 1943 as a sign of respect for Dr. Ferdinand Porsche), was produced at the Nibelungenwerke plant.

The front 100-mm hull plates of the Tiger(P) tank were also reinforced with 100-mm armor plates, secured to the hull with bolts with a bullet-resistant head. Thus, the frontal armor of the hull was increased to 200 mm. The frontal sheet of the cabin had a similar thickness. The thickness of the side and stern sheets reached 80 mm (according to other sources, 85 mm). The armor plates of the cabin were joined “in a tenon” and reinforced with dowels, and then scalded. The cabin was attached to the hull with brackets and bolts with a bullet-resistant head.

In the front part of the hull there were seats for the driver and radio operator. Behind them, in the center of the car, two 12-cylinder carburetor V-shaped liquid-cooled Maybach HL 120TRM engines with a power of 265 hp were installed parallel to each other. (at 2600 rpm) each. The engines rotated the rotors of two Siemens Typ aGV generators, which, in turn, supplied electricity to two Siemens D1495aAC traction motors with a power of 230 kW each, installed in the rear of the vehicle under the fighting compartment. The torque from the electric motors was transmitted to the aft drive wheels using electromechanical final drives. In emergency mode or in the event of combat damage to one of the power supply branches, provision was made for its duplication.

The undercarriage of the Ferdinand, applied to one side, consisted of six road wheels with internal shock absorption, interlocked in pairs into three bogies with an original, very complex, but highly efficient Porsche suspension scheme with longitudinal torsion bars, tested on the experimental VK 3001 (P) chassis. The drive wheel had removable ring gears with 19 teeth each. The guide wheel also had toothed rims, which eliminated idle rewinding of the tracks.

Each caterpillar consisted of 109 tracks with a width of 640 mm.

In the wheelhouse, in the trunnions of a special machine, an 88-mm Pak 43/2 cannon (in the self-propelled version - StuK 43) with a barrel length of 71 calibers, developed on the basis of the Flak 41 anti-aircraft gun, was installed. The horizontal pointing angle did not exceed a sector of 28°. Elevation angle +14°, declination -8°. Weight of the gun is 2200 kg. The embrasure in the front sheet of the cabin was covered with a massive cast pear-shaped mask connected to the machine. However, the design of the mask was not very successful and did not provide complete protection from bullet lead splashes and small fragments that penetrated into the body through the cracks between the mask and the frontal sheet. Therefore, armor shields were strengthened on the masks of most of the Ferdinands. The gun's ammunition included 50 unitary shots placed on the walls of the cabin. In the aft part of the cabin there was a round hatch intended for dismantling the gun.

According to German data, a PzGr 39/43 armor-piercing projectile weighing 10.16 kg and an initial speed of 1000 m/s penetrated 165 mm armor at a distance of 1000 m (at an impact angle of 90°), and a PzGr 40/43 sub-caliber projectile weighing 7.5 kg and an initial speed of 1130 m/s - 193 mm, which ensured the “Ferdinand” unconditional defeat of any of the then existing tanks.

Assembly of the first vehicle began on February 16, and the last, the ninetieth Ferdinand, left the factory floor on May 8, 1943. In April, the first production vehicle was tested at the Kummersdorf proving ground.

The Ferdinands received their baptism of fire during Operation Citadel as part of the 656th tank destroyer regiment, which included the 653rd and 654th divisions (schwere Panzerjäger Abteilung - sPz.Jäger Abt.). By the beginning of the battle, the first had 45, and the second - 44 Ferdinands. Both divisions were operationally subordinate to the 41st Tank Corps and took part in heavy battles on the northern front of the Kursk Bulge in the area of ​​Ponyri station (654th division) and the village of Teploye (653rd division).

The 654th Division suffered especially heavy losses, mainly in minefields. 21 Ferdinands remained on the battlefield. German equipment knocked out and destroyed in the area of ​​the Ponyri station was examined on July 15, 1943 by representatives of the GAU and the NIBT Test Site of the Red Army. Most of the Ferdinands were in a minefield filled with land mines from captured large-caliber shells and aerial bombs. More than half of the cars had damage to the chassis; torn tracks, destroyed road wheels, etc. In five Ferdinands, damage to the chassis was caused by hits from shells of 76 mm caliber or more. Two German self-propelled guns had their gun barrels shot through by shells and bullets from anti-tank rifles. One vehicle was destroyed by a direct hit from an aerial bomb, and another by a 203-mm howitzer shell hitting the roof of the cabin.

Only one self-propelled gun of this type, which was fired from different directions by seven T-34 tanks and a battery of 76-mm guns, had a hole in the side, in the area of ​​the drive wheel. Another Ferdinand, which had no damage to the hull or chassis, was set on fire by a Molotov cocktail thrown by our infantrymen.

The only worthy opponent of heavy German self-propelled guns was the Soviet SU-152. The SU-152 regiment fired on the attacking Ferdinands of the 653rd division on July 8, 1943, knocking out four enemy vehicles. In total, in July - August 1943, the Germans lost 39 Ferdinands. The last trophies went to the Red Army on the approaches to Orel - several damaged assault guns prepared for evacuation were captured at the railway station.

The first battles of the Ferdinands on the Kursk Bulge were, in essence, the last where these self-propelled guns were used in large quantities. From a tactical point of view, their use left much to be desired. Designed to destroy Soviet medium and heavy tanks at long ranges, they were used as a forward "armor shield", blindly ramming engineering obstacles and anti-tank defenses, incurring heavy losses in the process. At the same time, the moral effect of the appearance of largely invulnerable German self-propelled guns on the Soviet-German front was very great. “Ferdinandomania” and “Ferdinandophobia” appeared. Judging by the memoirs, there was not a fighter in the Red Army who did not knock out or, in extreme cases, did not participate in the battle with the Ferdinands. They crawled towards our positions on all fronts, starting in 1943 (and sometimes even earlier) until the end of the war. The number of “knocked out” Ferdinands is approaching several thousand. This phenomenon can be explained by the fact that the majority of the Red Army soldiers were poorly versed in all sorts of “marders”, “bisons” and “nashorns” and called any German self-propelled gun “Ferdinand”, which indicates how great its “popularity” was among our soldiers. Well, besides, for the damaged Ferdinand they gave an order without any hesitation.

(the caterpillar chain is not shown):

1 - 88 mm gun; 2 - armor shield on the mask; 3 - periscope sight; 4 - commander's cupola; 5 - fan; 6 - hatch of the periscope observation device; 7 - placement of 88-mm rounds on the wall of the fighting compartment; 8 - electric motor; 9 - drive wheel; 10 - suspension trolley; 11 - engine; 12 - generator; 13 - gunner's seat; 14 - driver’s seat; 15 - guide wheel; 16 - forward machine gun

After the inglorious completion of Operation Citadel, the remaining Ferdinands in service were transferred to Zhitomir and Dnepropetrovsk, where their ongoing repairs and replacement of guns began, caused by the strong heat of the barrels. At the end of August, the personnel of the 654th division were sent to France for reorganization and rearmament. At the same time, he transferred his self-propelled guns to the 653rd division, which in October - November took part in defensive battles in the area of ​​​​Nikopol and Dnepropetrovsk. In December, the division left the front line and was sent to Austria.

During the period from July 5 (the beginning of Operation Citadel) to November 5, 1943, the Ferdinands of the 656th regiment knocked out 582 Soviet tanks, 344 anti-tank guns, 133 guns, 103 anti-tank guns, three aircraft, three armored vehicles and three self-propelled guns*.

In the period from January to March 1944, the Nibelungenwerke plant modernized the 47 Ferdinands remaining by that time. A ball mount for the MG 34 machine gun was mounted in the frontal armor of the hull on the right. A commander’s cupola, borrowed from the StuG 40 assault gun, appeared on the roof of the cabin. The shield on the gun barrel was turned “back to front” for better fastening, and the self-propelled guns that had it were also equipped with shields. didn't have. Ammunition was increased to 55 rounds. The name of the car was changed to Elefant (elephant). However, until the end of the war, the self-propelled gun was more often called by the familiar name “Ferdinand”.

At the end of February 1944, the 1st Company of the 653rd Division was sent to Italy, where it took part in the battles of Anzio, and in May - June 1944 - near Rome. At the end of June, the company, which had two serviceable Elefants left, was transferred to Austria.

In April 1944, the 653rd division, consisting of two companies, was sent to the Eastern Front, to the Ternopil area. There, during the fighting, the division lost 14 vehicles, but 11 of them were repaired and put back into service. In July, the division, already retreating through Poland, had 33 serviceable self-propelled guns. However, on July 18, the 653rd Division, without reconnaissance or preparation, was thrown into battle to the rescue of the 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen, and within a day the number of combat vehicles in its ranks was more than halved. Soviet troops very successfully used their heavy self-propelled guns and 57-mm anti-tank guns against the “elephants”. Some of the German vehicles were only damaged and could have been restored, but due to the impossibility of evacuation, they were blown up or set on fire by their own crews. The remnants of the division - 12 combat-ready vehicles - were taken to Krakow on August 3. In October 1944, Jagdtiger self-propelled guns began to arrive in the division, and the remaining “elephants” in service were consolidated into the 614th heavy anti-tank company.

Until the beginning of 1945, the company was in the reserve of the 4th Tank Army, and on February 25 it was transferred to the Wünsdorf area to strengthen anti-tank defense. At the end of April, the “elephants” fought their last battles in Wünsdorf and Zossen as part of the so-called Ritter group (Captain Ritter was the commander of the 614th battery).

In surrounded Berlin, the last two Elephant self-propelled guns were knocked out in the area of ​​Karl-August Square and the Church of the Holy Trinity.

Two self-propelled guns of this type have survived to this day. The Museum of Armored Weapons and Equipment in Kubinka displays the Ferdinand, captured by the Red Army during the Battle of Kursk, and the Museum of the Aberdeen Proving Ground in the USA displays the Elephant, which was given to the Americans in Italy, near Anzio.

TACTICAL AND TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SAU "FERDINAND"

Combat weight, t……………………….65

Crew, people……………………………6

Overall dimensions, mm:

length…………………………….8140

width…………………………….3380

height……………………………..2970

ground clearance……………………………..480

Armor thickness, mm:

forehead of the hull and deckhouse………….200

side and stern………………………..80

roof………………………………….30

bottom………………………………….20

Maximum speed, km/h:

along the highway…………………………..20

by area………………………..11

Power reserve, km:

on the highway……………………………150

by area………………………..90

Obstacles to be overcome:

elevation angle, degrees………………..22

ditch width, m………………………2.64

wall height, m………………..0.78

ford depth, m………………….1

Support length

surface, mm………………..4175

Specific pressure, kg/cm 2 ……..1.23

Specific power, hp/t….about 8

M. BARYATINSKY

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"In the third week of August 1942, Hitler gave the order to stop the serial production of the VK450-1 (P) tank chassis and at the same time ordered the development of a heavy self-propelled artillery mount in the hull of the Porsche Tiger tank - schwere Panzer Selbstfahrlafette Tiger. Soon the design work work was suspended once again - mounting a heavy field gun on the chassis of a heavy tank seemed unnecessarily expensive in purely financial terms. Large-caliber guns usually occupied firing positions far enough from the front line, and therefore powerful armoring of a self-propelled gun armed with such a gun simply lost its meaning.

Design work was resumed after a certain period, but now a heavy tank destroyer was being designed, armed with a powerful anti-aircraft gun of the Flak-41 type. The use of a tank chassis to create a tank destroyer was more in line with reality than the design of a well-armored large-caliber self-propelled artillery mount. Such vehicles could cover the flanks of tank units with fire in the offensive, and successfully fight enemy armored vehicles from pre-planned “ambush” positions in defense.

In both cases, the heavy tank destroyer was not required to make rapid throws over rough terrain, which Professor Porsche's chassis was physically incapable of. At the same time, powerful armor expanded the range of use of tank destroyers, allowing them to operate even from open firing positions from which the use of light tank destroyers was not possible. At that time, the German armed forces did not have any castle destroyers other than light ones built on the chassis of Pz.Kpfw tanks. I. Pz.Kpfw. II. Pz.Kpfw. 38(t).

Video: useful lecture by Yuri Bakhurin about the Ferdinand self-propelled guns

The crews of these tank destroyers had virtually no protection from enemy fire other than a gun shield. The armament of light tank destroyers left much to be desired. Even self-propelled guns of the Marder series, armed with anti-tank 75 mm Rak-40 cannons and captured Soviet field guns of 76.2 mm caliber, penetrated the frontal armor of heavy tanks only from extremely short distances. The number of fully armored SluG III assault guns was not enough, and the 75 mm short-barreled guns of these self-propelled guns were not suitable for fighting serious tanks.

On September 22, Armaments Minister Alberz Speer officially ordered the Porsche team to design the Sturmgeschutz Tiger 8.8 cm L/71. In the depths of the Nibelungenwerke, the project received the code “type 130”. Variant of the Rak-43 anti-tank gun. intended for self-propelled guns received the designation “8.8 cm Pak-43/2 Sf L/71” - an 88-mm anti-tank gun of the 1943 model, 2 modifications with a barrel length of 71 mm for a self-propelled artillery mount. Even before the construction of the prototype, the self-propelled gun changed its designation to “8.8 cm Pak-43/2 Sll L/71 Panzerjager Tiger (P) Sd.Kfz. 184". Then so many more renames followed that it’s time to ask the question: “What’s your name... now?” The name “Ferdinand” stuck. It is interesting that the name “Ferdinand” appeared in an official document only on January 8, 1944, and the heavy self-propelled gun received its first official name only on May 1, 1944 - “Elephant”, by analogy with the heavy self-propelled artillery mount on the Pz.Sfl chassis. III/IV "Nashorn". The rhinoceros and the elephant are both African animals.

"Ferdinand" was born

The Type 130 self-propelled gun was designed in close cooperation with the Berlin company Alkett, which had extensive experience in designing self-propelled artillery units. The drawings of the original project of the Type 130 self-propelled gun were signed on November 30, 1942. but two weeks earlier, WaPuf-6, the tank department of the Wehrmacht Armament Directorate, approved the conversion of 90 Porsche Tiger tank chassis into self-propelled guns. The conversion included numerous changes to the design and layout of the chassis.

Layout of self-propelled guns and reservation scheme "Elephant/Ferdinand"

The fighting compartment was moved to the rear of the hull, the engine compartment to the middle of the hull. The re-arrangement of the vehicle was associated with the need to maintain the balance of the vehicle due to the placement in the stern of a heavy fixed wheelhouse with unprecedented armor - 200 mm front and 80 mm sides. The cabin was placed in the stern because of its long length. 7 m gun barrel. This arrangement made it possible to maintain a more or less acceptable overall length of the vehicle - the barrel almost did not protrude beyond the body.

Differences between "Ferdinand" and "Elephant".

The Elefant had a forward-facing machine gun mount, covered with additional padded armor. The jack and wooden stand for it were moved to the stern. The front fender liners are reinforced with steel profiles. The mounts for the spare tracks have been removed from the front fender liners. The headlights have been removed. A sun visor is installed above the driver's viewing instruments. A commander's cupola is mounted on the roof of the cabin, similar to the commander's cupola of the StuG III assault gun. There are gutters welded on the front wall of the cabin to drain rainwater. The Elefant has a tool box in the stern. The rear fender liners are reinforced with steel profiles. The sledgehammer was moved to the aft leaf of the cabin. Instead of handrails, fastenings for spare tracks were made on the left side of the aft deckhouse.

The factory crew of the new, not yet painted, self-propelled gun FgStNr, 150 096, just pulled out of the Nibelungenwerke factory workshop, sunny May morning 1943. The chassis number is neatly written in white paint on the front of the hull. On the front part of the cabin there is a chalk inscription “Fahrbar” (for mileage) in Gothic font. The latest production run included only four Ferdinand tank destroyers.

Even before the signing of the entire set of working drawings for the self-propelled gun in December 1942, the Nibelungenwerke company subsidized the Eisenwerke Oberdanau company from Linz in order to begin work on converting the first 15 tank hulls into tanks in January 1943. The last of the 90 hulls were manufactured and shipped by the Nibelungenwerke company 12 April 1943
Meanwhile. plans for the final assembly of self-propelled guns by Alkiett had to be abandoned for two reasons.

The first was that there were not enough special Ssyms railway transporters. which were used primarily for transporting Tiger tanks to threatened areas of the Eastern Front. The second reason: the Alkett company was the only manufacturer of the StuG III assault guns, which were extremely necessary for the front. regarding the quantity of which the appetite of the front remained truly insatiable. The assembly of Type 130 self-propelled guns put an end to the production of StuG III assault guns for a long period.

Drawing of the suspension of the self-propelled gun "Elephant/Ferdinand"

Even the production of self-propelled guns "type 130". for which, according to the production plan, the Alkett company was responsible, were transferred to the Krup company from Essen, which, by the way, seriously affected the pace of production of Tiger tank turrets. The cooperation of the Nibelungenwerke - Alquette companies was ultimately limited to business trips of welding specialists from the Alquette company to Nibelungenwerke to assist in the final assembly of heavy self-propelled guns at the Porsche plant.

A brand new Ferdinand at the beginning of a long journey from the factory to the front. At the factory, self-propelled guns were painted in one color - Dunkeigelb, crosses were painted in three places, numbers were not drawn. Vehicles were often shipped from the factory without gun shields. There were not enough shields; in many photographs of self-propelled guns from the 654th battalion there are no shields on the Ferdinands. The toolbox is located in a standard manner - on the starboard side, spare track tracks are placed on the wings immediately behind the fender liners. Towing cable thimbles are attached to the hooks.

On May 8, 1943, the last Ferdinand (FgstNn 150 100) was completed. Later, this vehicle entered service with the 4th platoon of the 2nd company of the 653rd heavy tank destroyer battalion. The “anniversary” car is decorated with numerous inscriptions made in chalk. The car is festively decorated with tree branches and mock-up shells. One of the inscriptions reads “Ferdinand” - which means this name appeared on the Nibelungeneverck already in May 1943.

On February 16, 1943, the first prototype of a heavy tank destroyer (Fgsr.Nr. 150 010) was assembled by Nibelungenwerke. According to the plan, the last of the 90 ganks ordered by the fighter was to be delivered to the customer on May 12. but the workers managed to deliver the last StuG Tiger (P) (Fgst. Nr. 150 100) ahead of schedule - on May 8. This was a labor gift from the Nibelungenwerke company to the front.

The Krupp company from Essen supplied the box-shaped cabins in the form of two sections, which were connected with bolts during assembly.
The first tests of two “Ferdinands” (Fgst.Nr. 150010 and 150011) took place in Kummersdorf from April 12 to 23, 1943. In general, the vehicles received a positive assessment of the test results and were recommended for use in field conditions. This outcome of the test can hardly be called a surprise, since Operation Citadel was planned for the summer, in which the emphasis was placed on the use of the latest armored vehicles. Operation Citadel was supposed to be a real search test for heavy tank destroyers, a test of beta quotes and subtext. Just tests.
The shooting took place without any notice.

By this time, the name “Ferdinand” was firmly attached to the self-propelled gun “type 130” in all circles. The Ferdinand in its final form differed from the Type 130 project in a small but extremely important detail. The Type 130 assault gun was equipped with a front-facing machine gun for self-defense against enemy infantry. There is no doubt that if the Alquette company had been responsible for designing the machine, the machine gun would have been preserved.

At the Krupp company, however, they did not bother with installing a machine gun mount in a 200 mm thick frontal armor plate. By that time, there was experience in placing a machine gun mount in the frontal armor of the Tiger tank, but its thickness was half that of the Ferdinand! Krupp specialists, in general, rightly believed that any cutouts weaken the strength of the entire armor plate. The machine gun mount was abandoned, as a result the crews lost their means of self-defense in close combat. “Excessive” losses of heavy self-propelled guns were thus predetermined at the design stage.

It’s not news - the concept of a combat vehicle is tested for truth only in combat. The artillerymen could hardly imagine the difficulties of providing nine dozen modern armored self-propelled guns, for the operation of which supply and repair problems were critical. A vehicle weighing almost 70 tons was very susceptible to breakdowns, and how to tow a broken self-propelled gun. There are not enough horses here. To a large extent, it was the lack of towing means that contributed to the high losses of the Ferdinands at Kursk. At the top they hoped that the tank roller with its non-stop moving forward would simply flatten the enemy’s defenses and did not provide the tank and self-propelled artillery units with the tractors necessary to tow damaged combat vehicles. The lack of decent tractors a few weeks after the failure of Operation Citadel gave rise to the Berge-Ferdinand recovery vehicle project. May 1943 and losses in self-propelled guns near Kursk might not have been so significant.

The command of the German ground forces intended to form three artillery units armed with Ferdinands, according to the Kriegsstarkenachweisung. K.st.N, 446b, 416b, 588b and 598 of January 31, 1943, two units of the 654th and 653rd assault gun battalions (StuGAbt) were formed on the basis of the 190th and 197th assault artillery battalions, respectively. Third, StuGAbt. 650 intended to be formed from a “clean slate”. According to the state, the battery should have nine Ferdinand self-propelled guns with three reserve vehicles at the battery headquarters. In total, according to the staff, the battalion was armed with 30 Ferdinand self-propelled guns. Both the organization and tactics of combat use of StuGAbt were based on “artillery” traditions. The batteries took part in the battle independently. In the event of a massive attack by Soviet tanks, such tactics seemed erroneous.

In March, on the eve of the start of the formation of battalions, there were changes in views on the tactical use and organization of units armed with Ferdinands. The changes were personally promoted by Panzerwaffe Inspector General Heinz Guderian, who achieved the inclusion of Ferdinands in the tank forces, and not in the artillery. The batteries in the battalions were renamed into companies, and then the instructions and manuals on combat tactics were redrawn. Guderian was a supporter of the massive use of heavy tank destroyers. In March, by order of the Panzerwaffe Inspector General, the formation of the 656th heavy tank destroyer regiment, consisting of three battalions, began. The 197th Assault Artillery Battalion was once again redesignated, becoming the 1st Battalion, 656th Regiment (653rd Heavy Tank Destroyer Battalion) - 1/656 (653), and the 190th Battalion - 11/656 (654) . 3rd battalion "Ferdinands". The 600th, 656th regiment was never formed. The two battalions each received 45 Ferdinads - a complete analogy with the heavy tank battalions, which were armed with 45 Tigers each. The new III battalion of the 656th regiment was formed on the basis of the 216th assault tank battalion; it received 45 StuPz IV “Brummbar” Sd.Kfz assault howitzers. 166. armed with 15 cm StuK-43 howitzers.

The battalion of heavy tank destroyers included a headquarters company (three Ferdinands) and three line companies formed according to the K.St.N staff. 1148с dated March 22, 1943. Each line was armed with 14 Ferdinands in three platoons (four tank destroyers per platoon, and two more Ferdinands were assigned to company headquarters, which was often called the “1st platoon”). The date of formation of the headquarters of the 656th regiment is considered to be June 8, 1943. The headquarters was formed in Austria in St. Pölten from the cadres of the Bavarian 35th Tank Regiment. The regiment commander was Lieutenant Colonel Baron Ernst von Jungenfeld. Major Heinrich Steinwachs took command of the 1st (653rd) battalion, Hauptmann Karl-Heinz Noack - II (654th) battalion of the 656th regiment. Major Bruno Karl remained in charge of his 216th battalion, which was now designated III/656 (216). In addition to the Ferdinands and Brummbars, the regiment received Pz.Kpfw tanks for service with the headquarters company. Ill p vehicles of forward artillery observers Panzerbeobachtungswagen III Ausf. H. Also in the headquarters company there were half-track vehicles of artillery observers Sd.Kfz. 250/5. sanitary evacuation half-track armored personnel carriers Sd.Kfz. 251/8. light reconnaissance tanks Pz.Kpfw. II Ausf. F and Pz.Kpfw tanks. Ill Ausf. N.

The 1st battalion (653rd) was garrisoned in the Austrian town of Neusiedel am See. The II (654th) battalion was stationed in Rouen, France. The 2nd battalion was the first to receive new equipment, but its Ferdinands were brought to the unit’s location by the drivers of the 653rd battalion.

Burnt Ferdinand from the 656th Heavy Tank Destroyer Regiment. Kursk Bulge, July 1943. Based on the camouflage coloring, the vehicle belongs to the 654th battalion, but there are no tactical signs on the fender liners. The gun mantlet shield is missing, most likely knocked down by an anti-tank shell. Marks from small-caliber shells or anti-tank rifle bullets are visible on the barrel in the area of ​​the muzzle brake. In the frontal armor plate of the hull in the area of ​​the radio operator's location there is a mark from an anti-tank shell of 57 or 76.2 mm caliber. There are holes in the fender liners from 14.5 mm bullets.

"Ferdinand" with tail number "634", from the 4th platoon of the 2nd company of the 654th battalion. The car stopped moving after being hit by a mine. The tool box lid has been torn off. Ultimately, the toolbox was moved to the rear of the hull. The photo perfectly conveys the camouflage pattern and white side number characteristic of self-propelled guns of the Noack battalion.

"Ferdinand" with tail number "132", the vehicle was commanded by non-commissioned officer Horst Golinski. Golinsky's self-propelled gun exploded on a mine near Ponyry in the defense zone of the 70th Red Army. In the Soviet wartime press, the photograph was dated July 7, 1943. The car's chassis was seriously damaged. A mine explosion tore off the entire first bogie with two road wheels. In general, the vehicle was in good working order, but there was nothing to evacuate it from the battlefield. Note the pistol embrasure plug hanging on a chain at the rear of the cabin.
Staged photo. A Soviet infantryman threatens “Ferdinand” with an RPG-40 grenade. “Ferdinand” with tail number “623” from the 4th platoon of the 2nd company of the 654th battalion was blown up by a mine long ago. A whole series of photographs were taken; in the last ones, the self-propelled gun was enveloped in clouds of white smoke from the ignited phosphorus.

Two photographs of a Befehls-Ferdinand self-propelled gun from the headquarters company of the 654th battalion of Hauptmann Noack. The car has no external damage. The self-propelled gun number, “1102,” indicates that the vehicle belongs to the deputy battalion commander. The camouflage pattern is typical for the 654th battalion. The design on the barrel and mantlet is made in such a way that it becomes obvious that the self-propelled gun never had a mantlet gun shield. The Soviet press indicated that the self-propelled gun first hit a mine and then drank a Molotov cocktail.

Burnt and blown up “Ferdinands” are cars with tail numbers “723” and “702” (closest to the camera - FgStNr. 150 057). Both vehicles are painted in the typical camouflage pattern of the 654th Battalion. The self-propelled gun closest to the camera (“792”) lost its muzzle brake. Both vehicles do not have mask shields - perhaps the shields were torn off by explosions.

The 653rd battalion received most of its Ferdinands in May. On 23 and 24 May the Inspector General of the Panzerwaffe was personally present at regimental exercises at Brooke-on-Leith. Here the 1st company practiced shooting, the 3rd company, together with sappers, crossed minefields. Sappers used Borgward remote-controlled self-propelled wedge charges
B.IV. Guderian expressed satisfaction with the results of the exercises, but the inspector general expected the main surprise after the exercises: all self-propelled guns made a 42-km march from the training ground to the garrison without a single breakdown! At first, Guderian simply did not believe this fact.

The technical reliability demonstrated by the Ferdinands during the exercises ultimately played a cruel joke on them. It is possible that the consequence of the exercises was the refusal of the Wehrmacht command to equip the regiment with powerful 35-ton Zgkv tractors. 35t Sd.Kfz. 20. Fifteen Zgkv tractor battalions entered the battalions. 18t Sd.Kfz. 9 were for broken Ferdinands, like a poultice for the dead. Later, the 653rd battalion received two Bergpanthers, but this fact took place after the Battle of Kursk, in which many Ferdinands had to be simply abandoned due to the impossibility of towing them. The losses in equipment were so significant that the 654th was disbanded in order to supply the 653rd battalion with equipment.

The regiment's battalions united only in June 1943 before being sent by rail to the Eastern Front. The Ferdinands had to undergo baptism of fire during Operation Citadel, on which the head of the Reich had great hopes. In fact, on both sides of the front there was an understanding - Operation Citadel decides the outcome of the war in the East. The 653rd battalion was equipped with equipment in full compliance with the staff - 45 Ferdinands; the 654th battalion lacked one self-propelled gun to reach its full strength, and the 216th battalion lacked three Brummbars.

In contrast to the previously planned and practiced tactics of covering the flanks of a tank wedge, now self-propelled guns were tasked with directly escorting infantry in an attack on a heavily fortified enemy defense. The people who planned such actions hardly imagined the real combat capabilities of the Ferdinands. Shortly before the start of the operation, the 656th Regiment received reinforcement in the form of two sapper companies equipped with remote-controlled mine clearance vehicles - Panzerfunklenkkompanie 313 of Lieutenant Frishkin and Panzerfunklenkkompanie 314 of Hauptmann Brahm. Each company was armed with 36 Borgward B.IV Sd.Kfz tankettes. 301 Ausf. A, designed for making passages in minefields.

During Operation Citadel, the 656th Regiment operated as part of General Harpe's XXXXI Tank Corps. The corps was part of the 9th Army of Army Group Center. The 653rd Heavy Tank Destroyer Battalion supported the 86th and 292nd Infantry Divisions. The 654th Battalion supported the 78th Infantry Division's attack. The only truly assault unit of the regiment, the 216th battalion, was intended to operate in the second echelon together with the 177th and 244th assault gun brigades. The target of the attack was the defensive positions of the Soviet troops on the Novoarkhangelsk - Olkhovatka line and especially the key defense point - height 257.7. It was dominated by soft pounds, cut up by trenches, firing positions of anti-tank guns and machine guns, and strewn with mines.

On the first day of the operation, the 653rd battalion advanced in the direction of Aleksandrovka, penetrating the first line of defense. The Ferdinand crews reported 25 destroyed T-34 tanks and a large number of artillery pieces. Most of the self-propelled guns of the 653rd battalion failed on the first day of the battle, ending up in a minefield. The Russians perfectly equipped defensive positions, placing thousands of thousands of YaM-5 and TMD-B anti-tank mines in wooden casings in the forefield. Such mines were difficult to detect by electromagnetic mine detectors. Anti-tank and anti-personnel mines were placed interspersed, which greatly complicated the work of sappers armed with conventional probes. In addition, the crew of a self-propelled gun damaged by an anti-tank mine explosion jumped out of the vehicle straight onto the anti-personnel mines. It was in this situation that the commander of the 1st company of the 653rd battalion, Hauptmann Spielmann, was mortally wounded. In addition to mines, improvised explosive devices made from shells and even aircraft bombs of various calibers were widely used. The torsion bars suffered the most during mine explosions. The self-propelled guns themselves were not damaged. but as a result of the breakdown of the torsion bars, they lost speed, and there was nothing to tow the damaged, but actually serviceable cars.

The offensive began according to plan with clearing passages in minefields. The passages for the Ferdinands of the 654th battalion were provided by the 314th engineer company. Hauptmann Brahm's men used up 19 of the 36 remote mine clearing vehicles available. First, the StuG III and Pz.Kpfw control vehicles moved into the aisle. Ill with the aim of launching the remaining wedges and deepening the passage. However, the tanks and assault guns came under heavy barrage fire from Russian artillery. Further clearing of the minefield became simply impossible. Moreover, most of the milestones placed on the borders of the passage were shot down by artillery fire. Many Ferdinand drivers drove out of the passage into the minefield. The battalion lost in one day no less than 33 self-propelled guns out of 45 available! Most of the damaged vehicles could be repaired; all that was left was a “trifle” - to tow them from the minefield. In general, the losses of the first three days of most of the 89 who took part in Operation Citadel were the result of heavy tank destroyers being blown up by a single mine.

On July 8, all surviving Fsrdinands were withdrawn from the battles and sent to the rear. A significant number of damaged vehicles were nevertheless evacuated. Often, to tow one self-propelled vehicle, a “train” of five or more tractors was assembled. Such “trains” immediately came under Russian artillery fire. As a result, not only Ferdinands were lost, but also extremely scarce tractors.

The Ferdinands of the 654th battalion attacked together with the infantry of the 78th division at heights 238.1 and 253.3. advancing in the direction of Ponyri and Olkhovatka. The actions of the self-propelled guns were provided by the 313th engineer company of Lieutenant Frishkin. The sappers suffered losses even before the battle began - four tankettes with mine clearance charges exploded in a German minefield not marked on the map. Another 11 tankettes were blown up in a Soviet minefield. The sappers, like their colleagues from the 314th company, were hit by hurricane fire from Soviet artillery. The 654th battalion left most of its Ferdinands in the minefields around Ponyri. A particularly large number of self-propelled guns were blown up in a minefield near the farms of the May 1 collective farm. It was not possible to evacuate 18 heavy tank destroyers that were blown up by mines.

After numerous reports on the lack of tractors of sufficient power, the 653rd battalion received two Bergnanthers. but “the milk has already run away.” The damaged Ferdinands remained motionless for too long and did not escape the attention of Soviet demolitionists, who visited the battle during the short summer nights. In other words, the long-awaited Bergapanthers had nothing to tow anymore - Soviet sappers blew up the damaged self-propelled guns. Activity regarding towing damaged vehicles finally ceased on July 13, when the 653rd battalion was transferred to the XXXV Army Corps. The next day, an improvised battle group of Teriete, formed from the remnants of the company of Lieutenant Heinrich Teriete and several vehicles of the anti-tank artillery battalion of the 26th Panzer-Grenadier Division, was rushed to the aid of the encircled 36th Infantry Regiment. For the first time, the Ferdinands were used according to the initially conceived tactics and achieved success, despite the enemy's multiple numerical advantage and in the absence of proper reconnaissance. Self-propelled guns worked from ambushes, periodically changing positions, stopping attempts by Soviet tanks to launch flank attacks. Lieutenant Teriete modestly announced that he personally destroyed 22 Soviet tanks; modesty always adorns a warrior. In July, Teriete was awarded the Knight's Cross.

On the same day, the 34 surviving Ferdinands from the 653rd battalion that survived and were pulled from the battlefield were joined by 26 surviving Ferdinands from the 654th battalion. The self-propelled fist, together with the 53rd infantry and 36th panzergrenadier divisions, held the defense in the Tsarevka area until July 25. On July 25, only 54 Ferdinands remained in the 656th regiment, and only 25 of them were combat-ready. The regiment commander, Baron von Juschenfeld, was forced to withdraw his unit to the rear for equipment repairs.

During the period of Operation Citadel, the Ferdinand crews of two battalions of the 656th regiment chalked up 502 confirmed and destroyed Soviet guns (302 of them were attributed to the combat account of the 653rd battalion), 200 anti-tank artillery guns and 100 artillery systems for other purposes. Such data are given in the report of the Supreme High Command of the German Ground Forces dated August 7, 1943. Three months later, the next OCI report spoke of 582 Soviet tanks destroyed by the Ferdinands. 344 anti-tank guns and 133 other artillery systems, three aircraft, three armored vehicles and three self-propelled artillery units. The pedantic Germans also counted the anti-tank rifles destroyed by heavy tank destroyers - 104. German headquarters were always distinguished by amazing accuracy in their reports... From the depths of the regiment, reports were transmitted to the top, in which the weaknesses and strengths of the Ferdinands were assessed. In general, the idea of ​​a heavily protected self-propelled tank destroyer justified itself, especially if the vehicles were used specifically to fight tanks. The crews liked the range of the guns installed on the Ferdinands, their high combat accuracy and high armor penetration. There were also disadvantages.

Thus, high-explosive fragmentation shells got stuck in the breech of guns, and steel casings of all types of shells were poorly extracted. Ultimately, the crews of all Ferdinands acquired sledgehammers and crowbars to remove shell casings. The crews negatively noted the poor visibility from the vehicle and the lack of machine gun armament. If the gunner noticed Soviet infantrymen, big fans of Molotov cocktails, near the vehicle, he immediately inserted a machine gun into the cannon and opened fire from it through the barrel. After the end of the Battle of Kursk, the repair company produced 50 sets that made it possible to fix a machine gun in the body of the gun, so that the axis of the machine gun barrel coincided with the axis of the gun barrel so that the zeros would not ricochet off the walls of the barrel bore and muzzle brake. The 653rd battalion experimented with machine guns placed on the roof of the cabin. The shooter had to fire through an open hatch. exposing himself to the enemy's bullets, except
Moreover, zeros and fragments flew through the open hatch into the cabin, which the other crew members were not at all happy about. By its nature, “Ferdinand” was a “lone hunter,” which Operation Citadel fully confirmed.

Self-propelled guns moved over rough terrain at a speed of no more than 10 km/h. The attack turned out to be slow, the enemy had time to shoot, and the time spent under fire increased. If the Ferdinands were not always threatened by medium and small caliber artillery fire, medium tanks, assault guns and armored personnel carriers, forced to “match” heavy tank destroyers in speed, suffered from such fire. The attack was held back by constant waiting for passages in the minefields to be cleared. The concept of using the Ferdinand as a means of transporting infantry on a special platform attached to a self-propelled gun was thwarted by Soviet artillery. Under a downpour of machine gun, mortar and artillery fire, the panzergrenadiers on these platforms found themselves defenseless. The huge and slow monster was an ideal target for all types of weapons. As a result, the “Ferdinand” brought the corpses of panzergrenadiers to the enemy’s front line of defense, and the dead German soldiers were no longer able to protect the monster from the destructive Molotov cocktails that the living Soviet infantrymen generously treated the “Ferdinands” to. Another weak point of the Ferdinand was the power plant, which often overheated when driving on soft ground.

The power plant did not have proper armor protection on top - the same Molotov cocktail was easily spilled onto the engines through the ventilation holes. What is the use of an armored cabin that survived the shelling if the engines are out of order, the electric motors are burned out, the fuel lines and electrical wiring are broken by shell fragments? Soviet artillery often fired incendiary shells at tanks, which posed a huge danger to the self-propelled fuel system. The reason for the loss of most of the 19 Ferdinands that failed was not due to mine explosions, but was due to damage to the power plants. There were cases of failure of engine cooling systems due to nearby detonations of shells, as a result of which the Ferdinand engines overheated and caught fire. One Ferdinand was lost due to self-ignition of the electric generator when the self-propelled gun got stuck in the ground.

The negative assessments of the entire electromechanical power plant were unexpected. Four cars burned out due to short circuits in the engine electrical system. For their weight, the vehicles demonstrated good maneuverability if the torsion bars did not break. Not only mines disabled Porsche's patented torsion bars, even large stones posed a threat. The tracks, which were wide in principle, turned out to be narrow for the mass of the Ferdinand - the self-propelled guns got stuck in the ground. And then a fairy tale about a white bull began: an attempt to get out on your own ended in engine overheating at best, in a fire at worst, tractors were needed for towing, there were no tractors...
The armor in most cases provided reliable protection for the crew. Again, not always. On July 8, the “Ferdinands” of the 3rd company of the 653rd battalion ran into “hunters” - SU-152 self-propelled artillery units capable of firing 40 kg armor-piercing shells. The armor of the three Ferdinands could not withstand hits from such shells. One "Ferdinand" was destroyed as a result of a completely fantastic incident.

A shell fired by a Soviet cannon hit a Borgward mine clearing wedge. installed on the carrier - the Pz.Kpfw tank. III. The 350-kg demolition charge of the wedge detonated and smashed both the wedge itself and the carrier tank into atoms. A considerable part of the “atoms” of the tank collapsed onto the “Ferdinand” taxiing nearby; the remains of the tank broke the “Ferdinand’s” gun barrel and disabled the engine! A fire started in the engine compartment of the self-propelled gun. It was probably the most successful shot from an anti-tank gun in the entire Second World War. One shell destroyed three units of tracked combat vehicles: the Borgward B-IV remote-controlled mine clearing vehicle, the Pz.Kpfw tank. III and the Ferdinand heavy tank destroyer.

The battalions armed with Ferdinand tank destroyers achieved some success, but at the cost of too many losses, which were not possible to replace. Under these conditions, by order of August 23, 1943, the 654th battalion was ordered to hand over all materiel to the 653rd battalion. The 654th Battalion ceased to be listed as II/656 (653) and became simply the 654th Battalion, as did the 216th Battalion, which ceased to be listed as III/656 (216). The remnants of the regiment were taken for rest, repair and reorganization in Dnepropetrovsk, the largest industrial center of Ukraine in the front-line zone, which had the capacity to repair heavy tank destroyers. 50 of the 54 self-propelled guns were subject to repair; repairing four tank destroyers was considered inappropriate. Alas, to repair Professor Porsche’s revolutionary products, special equipment was required, which was not available even in Dnepropetrovsk. Meanwhile, the front was approaching the city of Petra on the Dnieper. At the end of September, the Ferdinands were evacuated to Nikopol, where all combat-ready vehicles (at least ten) were sent to the Zaporozhye region. Alas, even the Ferdinands were unable to slow down the Soviet tank roller - on October 13, German troops received an order to retreat, and a few days later, units of the Red Army crossed the Dnieper along the Dneproges dam, although the Germans managed to blow up the dam dam.

Soon the Germans left Nikopol. Here, on November 10, the Ferdinands of the 653rd battalion entered a fierce battle. All self-propelled guns capable of moving and shooting were sent to Mareevka and Kateripovka. where they achieved local success. The advance of the Red Army was stopped, however, not by the Ferdinands, but by the onset of prolonged autumn rains, which turned the roads into what we know. The offensive resumed with the first frost. On November 26 and 27, the Ferdinands from the Nord battle group were successful in the battle for Kochaska and Miropol. Of the 54 Soviet tanks destroyed in these places, at least 21 vehicles were shot down by the Ferdinand crew, commanded by Lieutenant Franz Kretschmer, who received the Knight's Cross for this battle.

Memo for Red Army soldiers for the destruction of self-propelled guns "Ferdinand/Elephant"

By the end of November, the situation in the 656th regiment became critical. On November 29, 42 Ferdinands remained in the regiment, of which only four were considered combat-ready, eight were in medium repair, and 30 required major repairs.
On December 10, 1943, the 656th Regiment was ordered to evacuate from the Eastern Front to St. Poltey. The regiment's withdrawal from the Eastern Front lasted from December 16, 1943 to January 10, 1944."