Monday 4 July 2016

Captured German Tanks in the Red Army

According to Maksim Kolomiyets, this was the inventory of German tanks in the Red Army on June 16th, 1945:
  • 1st Belorussian Front: 39 Panthers (26 need repairs), 11 PzIVs (all need repairs), 2 PzIIIs (all need repairs), 9 Jagdpanthers (7 need repairs), 74 StuGs (59 need repairs). Total: 135 vehicles, 103 need repairs.
  • 2nd Belorussian Front: 3 Tigers (all need repairs), 2 PzIVs (all need repairs), 12 PzIIIs (11 need repairs), one PzI, one PzII (needs repairs), one Jagdpanther (needs repairs), 12 StuGs (all need repairs), 255 APCs (44 need repairs, 211 cannot be repaired).
  • 1st Ukrainian Front: 11 Tigers (1 needs repairs, 5 cannot be repaired), 27 Panthers (17 need repairs, 10 cannot be repaired), 47 PzIVs (15 need repairs, 14 cannot be repaired), 52 PzIIIs (34 need repairs, 9 cannot be repaired), one PzI, 17 PzIIs (8 need repairs, 8 cannot be repaired), 118 StuGs (93 need repairs, 5 cannot be repaired), 45 other SPGs, 62 APCs (34 need repairs, 23 cannot be repaired). Total: 317 tanks and 62 APCs.
  • 2nd Ukrainian Front: 27 Tigers (24 need repairs, 3 cannot be repaired), 122 Panthers (27 need repairs, 86 cannot be repaired), 79 PzIVs (10 need repairs, 53 cannot be repaired), 49 PzIIIs (11 need repairs, 25 cannot be repaired), one PzI, 23 PzIIs (2 need repairs, 19 cannot be repaired), 30 150 mm SPGs (12 need repairs, 13 cannot be repaired), 2 105 mm SPGs (need repairs), 4 Jagdpanthers (need repairs), 158 StuGs (38 need repairs, 64 cannot be repaired), 81 other SPGs, 485 APCs (374 need repairs, 111 cannot be repaired). Total: 575 tanks and 485 APCs.
  • 3rd Ukrainian Front: 36 Tigers, 84 Panthers, 3 PzIVs, 6 150 mm SPGs, one Jagdpanther, 28 StuGs. Total: 319 tanks and SPGs (data is incomplete).
  • Courland group: 15 Tigers (8 need repairs), 35 Panthers (25 need repairs, 4 cannot be repaired), 41 PzIVs (15 need repairs), 12 PzIIIs (8 need repairs, 1 cannot be repaired), one PzI, 2 PzIIs (need repairs), 18 150 mm SPGs (17 need repairs), 19 105 mm SPGs (15 need repair), 9 StuGs (need repairs), 323 other SPGs, 279 APCs (113 need repairs). Total: 474 tanks and SPGs, 279 APCs.
There is no data for other fronts, but an estimated 3000 armoured vehicles were captured, 1851 tanks and SPGs and 1081 APCs.

5 comments:

  1. What happened to all those captured vehicles?

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  2. I presume all the "Tigers" listed are Tiger Is? No King Tigers? I would presume that King Tigers would be rare finds, but by 1945 the supply of Tiger Is would be dwindling too.

    In the Western Theater, the biggest reason cited for loss for German AFV by Allied inspectors was "destroyed by own crew". Was this true in the East as well, looking at all the "damaged beyond repair" cases listed?

    (This does not make German AFV superweapons, mind you, just a reminder that any tank force can be rendered useless by the combination of the interdiction of fuel, spare parts, and problems with mechanical reliability, especially during retreats).

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    Replies
    1. TBH wouldn't be surprised if the KT just came with too many headaches to bother with...

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    2. These aren't necessarily tanks that are in running order and being used by the army, just tanks that are listed as in possession of the Front rather than shipped off somewhere. It's possible that there are KTs in there as well.

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