Anyone know if there are any pics around showing Panzer II tanks in battle alongside Tiger I’s? Or can you just tell me if they did. I’m wondering if a diorama with both of them in it would be accurate.
I have never seen a pic of a Tiger I and a Panzer II together in the field. My references indicate that most models of the Panzer II had been removed from frontline service by late 1942 (the year the Tiger I went into production). Now there may be a chance that the last version of the Panzer II, the L or Luchs might have worked alongside the Tiger I in a recon role. The major noted differences on the Panzer II’s and the Luchs is a much wider tracks and a bogy system that looks like a miniature version of the Panther suspension system. The odds get even worse when you consider that only 100 versions of the Luchs were built between August 1943 and January 1944. Sorry I can’t be of more help
Stranger things have happened… Panzer II of Sturmpanzer Abt. 216 passes by a Tiger of 3rd Co, sPzAbt 508 and an SdKfz 9 of the recovery company, Nettuno sector, Italy, March, 1944.
Sturmpanzer Abteilung 216 was unique from other Sturmpanzer units in that it was allocated 5 Pz.Kpfw. II’s. It is suspected that recon and observation might have been their task.
Records show that on March 1st the battalion had five Panzer II’s, four ready and one under repair. On April 1st there was one ready and three under repair. On the July 1st document no Panzer II’s are shown; but in the weapons section of the report a 2cm KwK 36 was still on the books. This is likely correct because the records from August through April 1945 indicate that a single Panzer II was ready for action. There are some photos that suggest that the remaining Panzer II was assigned to the maintenance company, as they show maintenance personal operating it in several photographs. If that was in fact the case, it might explain how a Panzer II survived to almost the end of the war, while four others had been lost between March and July.
The Waffenmeister in the turret of a Pz.Kpfw. IIC, presumably from the 216th Sturmpanzer battalion.
Great pics! Thanks for that. OK, so not too likely they went into combat together, then, it seems.
Not exactly fighting side by side, no, but Sturmpanzer Abt. 216 was attached to sPz Abt. 508 at the time to provide direct fire support, (with Brummbars, not the Panzer IIs) for the Tigers.
Same Tiger being passed by Brummbar of the 216th;
