Formed on April 1st, 1943, after first being designated the 197th Sturmgeschutz Battalion, schwere Panzerjager-Abteilung 653 (653rd Heavy Panzerjager Battalion) was a specially created tank destroyer unit of the Wehrmacht designed to take on some of the larger and more destructive allied armor being fielded by both the western and eastern Allied powers. It was originally equipped with the Ferdinand and later the more capable Jagdtiger tank destroyer, perhaps the most powerful anti-tank gun of the Second World War. Elements of the battalion served on the Eastern, Western, and Italian fronts between 1943 and 1945, thereby making it one of the most traveled, and dare we say, deadliest units in the German army.

After bitter fighting in the east, the 3rd Company of schwere Panzerjager-Abteilung 653, returned west to rejoin the 1st Company, which had withdrawn to Vienna with only four operational Elefants. In September, both companies were issued with newly-fielded Jagdtiger heavy tank destroyers. The Jagdtiger was the heaviest armored fighting vehicle produced during the war, mounting a 128 mm main gun inside a 72-tonne chassis. However, it was severely underpowered, having been equipped with an engine (Maybach HL230) originally designed for the 57-tonne Tiger I and which had already been found significantly inadequate even for that vehicle. It was only produced in very small numbers – around 80 were ever built – and the few manufactured would only be issued to two units, the 653rd and the 512th Heavy Panzerjager Battalion.

Once re-equipped, the battalion was again split up, with the 1st Company assigned to the 15th Army on the northern flank of the German Ardennes Offensive and the 3rd assigned to 17.SS Panzergrenadier Division Gotz von Berlichingen to the south, where it would fight in Operation Nordwind in January. By February, the two companies had reunited at Landau in the Palatinate, and by the end of the month, they were reinforced to a strength of 41 Jagdtigers. In April, it fell back to Austria, from where it was to receive new vehicles from the Nibelungenwerk Factory, and finally reached its conclusion in the war under the command of Army Group Ostmark near Linz.

Look for Forces of Valor’s latest Jagdtiger to defend the last vestiges of the Third Reich in early September.

Back in December, we did a write up on the upcoming Jagdtiger from Forces of Valor, which is largely an upgrade to the Unimax Jagdtiger released several years ago but now comes with a detailed engine compartment complete with a bonus engine. At the time, there weren’t many images of the new vehicle available, so the article was somewhat text heavy and ended up discussing the reasons for building and fielding a Jagdtiger (hunting tiger) tank destroyer even when the Reich’s late-war resources were scarce and likely should have been diverted to other less costly projects.

Well, the manufacturer was kind enough to provide us with an avalanche of images for their soon-to-be-released Jagdtiger, which show off the upgrades made to the existing mold as well as the weathered ambush paint scheme it now bears.

According to our distributor, both the Jagdtiger and Jagdpanther (hunting Panther) are expected to arrive this month, along with a restock of their Sherman Firefly and other items. We anticipate brisk sales for all three vehicles and hope to share some additional information we’ve gleaned from the manufacturer in the days ahead. Stay tuned.