Early in 1943, orders were given to design a heavy, self-propelled anti-tank gun, which would mate a 12.8cm gun with a Tiger II chassis. On October 20th, 1943 a wooden mock-up of the enormous vehicle was shown to the OKH planners who authorized that a prototype be finished by April 1944. Two Jagdtigers were built with the Porsche-designed longitudinal torsion-bar suspension. During field testing, this arrangement proved entirely unsatisfactory, which further delayed production of the tank destroyer. The initial series was set at 150 vehicles, but an order issued in October 1944 stipulated that when these had been completed, production capacity was to be switched over to the Panther. This mandate was reversed in January 1945, and assembly of the Jagdtiger was to be resumed as fast as possible. By March 1945, only 77 examples were produced, all assigned to either the Panzerjager Abteilung 653 or the schwere Panzer Abteilung 512.

This particular 1:72 scale 9-wheeled Henschel version of the Jagdtiger was assigned to schwere Panzerjager Abteilung 653, which was used in the defense of the Alsace region in 1945. Now in stock!

Dimensions:
Length: 5-1/2-inches
Width: 2-1/4-inches

Release Date: March 2004

Historical Account: The 653rd Heavy Panzerjager Battalion (Schwere Panzerjager-Abteilung 653.) was a tank destroyer unit of the Wehrmacht active during World War II. It was equipped with Ferdinand and later Jagdtiger tank destroyers. Elements of the battalion served on the Eastern, Western, and Italian fronts between 1943 and 1945.

The battalion was formed on March 31st, 1943, by the redesignation of the 197th Sturmgeschutz Battalion. The 197th was an assault gun battalion which had been formed in 1940, later seeing service during the Invasion of Yugoslavia and on the Eastern Front. The 653rd was initially equipped with Ferdinand tank destroyers; the Ferdinand was a heavy tank destroyer built on chassis originally intended for the VK4501 variant of the Tiger I, mounting a powerful 88 mm gun.

It was assigned to the XXXXI Panzer Corps, and fought at the Battle of Kursk in August, and around Nikopol during the Battle of the Dnieper. After heavy losses in Ukraine, the battalion was withdrawn to Vienna to refit. The 1st Company received 11 new Elefants - the new name for the added defensive hull-machine gun mount armed version of the Ferdinand - and was sent south to Italy where it fought at the Battle of Anzio in February 1944. The 2nd and 3rd companies were equipped with 30 new vehicles in April and sent to the Eastern Front, where they were attached to the XXIV Panzer Corps.

By August, the 2nd and 3rd were reduced to twelve vehicles between them; these were withdrawn to refit in Krakow, where they were combined into the 2nd Company. It remained on the Eastern Front, as part of 17th Army, and was redesignated the 614th Heavy Panzerjager Company. It would see out the rest of the war fighting the Soviet Army, with two Elefants surviving until the Battle of Berlin in May 1945.