page_title: 501st Heavy Panzer Battalion
section_title: Eastern Front
hierarchical_section_title: 501st Heavy Panzer Battalion / Operations / Eastern Front
caption_attribution_description: English: Soviet advances on the Eastern Front (WWII), 1943-08-01 to 1944-12-31
context_page_description: The 501st Heavy Panzer Battalion was a German heavy Panzer Abteilung equipped with heavy tanks. The battalion was the second unit to receive and use the Tiger I heavy tank, changing to Tiger IIs in mid-1944.
  It fought and surrendered in Tunisia, reformed in September 1943, then fought on the Eastern front; destroyed, it reformed with Tiger IIs in July 1944, then mostly deactivated on 11 February 1945.
context_section_description: On 9 September 1943, the 501st was reformed from a few remnants of the old battalion, including several wounded tank crewmen who had been evacuated to Europe for recuperation before the end in Tunisia, commanded by Major Erich Löwe. By 12 November, it comprised 45 Tiger I tanks (three companies of 14 tanks, plus three tanks for battalion command). Between 5–12 December, the battalion was transferred to the Vitebsk region in the Soviet Union (modern Belarus).
  On 20 December, the 501st attacked an enemy tank formation near Losovka, which inflicted 21 enemy tank, and 28 gun casualties, for the loss of two of its own tanks and all three company commanders wounded. Because infantry support was unable to follow, the 501st withdrew. Three days later, Major Löwe, the battalion commander, went missing after he was forced to change tanks when his own was knocked out. In the next five days, the battalion destroyed 81 enemy tanks. By the end of December, 16 Tigers were operational out of 39 available, two having fallen into Soviet hands.
  Major von Legat took command in January 1944 and the battalion carried out missions in the Orsha region. On 13 January, a Tiger was destroyed by an artillery shell plunging through its turret roof. On 13 February, failed attacks led to the loss of nine Tigers. By 1 March, only 17 Tigers are available out of 29 due to a lack of spare parts.
  On 12 March, the battalion joined the 256th infantry division in a counterattack north of Nipinzy; by the next day, the enemy forces were surrounded and destroyed. By 1 April, spare parts had been delivered and 27 tanks were operational.
  In June, nine tanks were transferred to the 509th, leaving 20 operational. On 23 June, fighting at Orsha, opposing the Soviet Operation Bagration, dispersed the battalion, leading to several days of independent tank battles, some against IS-2s. Under the weight of a withdrawing Tiger, the Orsha bridge collapsed, and several others ran out of fuel. The rest retreated towards the Berezina River, where only six could be ferried across, the rest being blown up on 1–2 July.
  By 2–4 July, ad-hoc defenses of dispersed Tigers fell back towards the Minsk area: despite five replacements which boosted operational forces to seven, two were lost, and another broke down. The next day two Tigers ran out of fuel while withdrawing near Maladzyechna, another bogged down, and all three immobilized Tigers were blown up. Operational tanks dropped to zero.
caption: Soviet advances from 1 August 1943 to 31 December 1944:   to 1 December 1943   to 30 April 1944   to 19 August 1944   to 31 December 1944
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