On March 1, 1945, Schwere Panzer-Abteilung 509 (s.Pz.Abt. 509; Heavy Tank Battalion 509) was attached to the III. Panzer-Korps with 25 Tiger II heavy tanks listed as operational. Situated in the Hungarian town of Falubattyán, the mechanics of s.Pz.Abt. 509 toiled for the next three days to bring as many tanks back to operational status as they could. Their efforts paid off and by March 4, the battalion had 32 tanks ready for combat. They did not have long to wait. That day, orders were received to move towards the Hungarian village of Seregélyes in order to deal with dug-in IS-2 heavy tanks from one of the units belonging to the Soviet 2nd. Ukrainian Front. These tanks had stalled a German attack as the Panther tanks supporting the effort could not neutralize the IS-2s from a range of 2,000 meters. There was a very good reason the Panther tanks were attempting to engage at long range. In order for the 7.5cm KwK 42 L/70 gun of the Panther to guarantee penetration of the thick (up to 160mm) frontal armor of the IS-2, the gunner had to engage at a range of 600 meters or less. However, the IS-2's 122mm D25-T gun could punch through the front armor of a Panther at 1,000 meters. Although the Panther could go through the side armor of a IS-2 at 2,000 meters, the Soviet tankers were not giving them the opportunity to get such shots. On March 5, the battalion moved out at dusk but many of the tanks become mired in the mud which delayed their arrival near Seregélyes until March 6. The battalion had to leave some of the tanks behind where they bogged down so as to avoid further delays. Two of the battalion's tanks took the IS-2s under fire from long range where the 8.8cm KwK 43 L/71 guns of the Tigers were able to knock out six of the Soviet tanks and the German attack was able to continue. Unfortunately, the battalion had to wait until a railway bridge crossing the Dinnyés–Kajtori Channel was repaired. The bridge was opened on March 7 and the battalion moved across and assumed supporting positions.
After consolidation, the German forces pushed forward towards the town of Gárdony beginning on March 10. The battalion, at this time, was down to 26 operational Tiger II tanks. After hard fighting, Gárdony was bypassed and the town of Velenczefürdö was taken on March 12 with the battalion destroying twenty Soviet assault guns in the action. On March 13, the battalion linked up with Kampfgruppe Bradel between Velenczefürdö and Tükröspuszta and during the advance, ran into a Soviet minefield that was overwatched by no less than twenty-four ISU-152 assault guns. The ISU-152 was nicknamed by Soviet crews as the “Zveroboy” or “Beast Killer” and this was because of the massive 152mm ML-20S gun-howitzer's 100lb. armor-piercing and high-explosive shells that had the potential to devastate an enemy tank if the round hit. In addition, the frontal armor of the ISU-152 was between 90mm to 120mm thick. Fortunately for the Tiger II tank crews, the ISU-152's gun was situated in a superstructure rather than in a turret which meant the entire vehicle had to be moved to traverse the gun. Also, the ISU-152 wasn't meant for anti-tank combat because the fire controls and sighting for the ML-20S were not optimized for such engagements. By consequence, accuracy beyond 1,000 meters was poor and even when firing APBC (Armor-Piercing Ballistic Capped) rounds, at 1,000 meters, the round could only penetrate 95mm of armor at a 60 degree slope. This was not enough to penetrate the 100mm to 180mm of frontal armor the Tiger II carried. Still, the concussive force of impacts from the ML-20S was enough to damage the Tiger II as well as injure crewmen. The battalion deployed 16 tanks to deal with the ISU-152s while German combat engineers cleared the minefield. In the ensuing engagement, three of the Tigers were knocked out with the remaining thirteen tanks suffering heavy damage. Despite the punishment dealt out by the Soviets, two of the Tigers advanced through a corridor made in the minefield and they overran the Soviet position, knocking out the last of the ISU-152s.
On March 14, s.Pz.Abt. 509 withdrew back to Seregélyes in order to lick their wounds. Recovery parties were dispatched to extract the mired down Tigers and return them to Seregélyes while repairs got underway around the clock. By the next day, the battalion had eight tanks listed as operational. Repairs would continue until March 18 when the roster was up to 20 tanks as operational. At this stage, the battalion was deployed southeast of the Hungarian city of Székesfehérvár (Stuhlweißenburg in German) in order to keep the roads from Geregelyes and Dinnyes open. However, on March 21, the battalion was sent back towards Falubattyán in order to stymie a Soviet push towards Polgari. There, the battalion covered German forces until March 23 when the tanks were sent to Sandorka under the cover of darkness and that same day, engaged the flanks of Soviet armor thrusts near Küngös and Papkeszi. The next day, the battalion assumed positions along a ridge on the northwest side of Lake Balaton. Here, they repulsed numerous Soviet tank attacks, destroying eight T-34 medium tanks and eight IS-2 heavy tanks but at a loss of three of their own. And one of the losses is the subject of the photograph.
The photograph depicts Tiger II “324” of s.Pz.Abt. 509. The tactical number meant it belonged to the 3rd. Kompanie, 2nd. Zug (platoon), and was the fourth tank in the platoon. It is likely that this image was taken following the war as it appears to be in the process of being broken down. This is evidenced by the missing tracks, road wheels, front drive sprockets, and much of the exterior pieces such as the track links, tow cabling, etc. What took out “324” is difficult to say though judging by the scorching on the very back of the turret, it may have come from a hit or hits to the rear side or direct rear of the tank which set the engine compartment on fire. The “57” painted on the gun mantlet may be a cataloging number used by the scrappers to identify the wreck. There appears to be some writing on the turret side but it is difficult to make out.
Returning to s.Pz.Abt. 509, on March 25, the remaining 27 tanks were refueled and ammunition was replenished. By now, the unit was in retreat in the face of continued Soviet advances. On the road march towards the Austrian border, fuel turned into a serious difficulty. The Tiger II only had a maximum range of 75 miles on the road (less off-road) and this was because the Maybach HL230P30 engine consumed two gallons of fuel per mile from the tank's maximum fuel capacity of 227 gallons. Thus, the battalion was faced with a hard decision given fuel was running low. The choice was made to drain what fuel remained from fourteen of the tanks and top off the rest of the Tigers so they could continue on. The now drained tanks had demolition charges set and were blown up, leaving s.Pz.Abt. 509 with only thirteen tanks left by the time the unit crossed into Austria near the town of Heiligenkreuz im Lafnitztal on March 31. As the weeks went on, the battalion was whittled down until by May 8, 1945, it had no tanks left. The next day, what remained of the unit surrendered to elements of the U.S. 3rd. Army near the city of Kaplice, Czechoslovakia (Kaplitz in German).
