The Octopus King Tigers - Battle of Kassel 1945

[Music] castle is a mid-sized city in the german state of hesse population before the war of two hundred thousand a hundred and forty kilometers northeast of frankfurt a mine interestingly it was also home to the henschel tank factory that constructed the famous tiger ii or king tiger tank had 69 tons the largest tank to see combat in world war ii but not the largest armored vehicle that being the 71-ton jagtiga tank destroyer a close relative the tiger ii or kernix tiger in german was the successor to the tiger one incorporating the heavy armor of the latter with the armor sloping used on the panther medium tank it mounted the long-barreled 88 millimeter anti-tank gun and was virtually impervious head-on to allied anti-tank weapons it first saw combat in normandy in july 1944 but the design was plagued by mechanical difficulties some associated with its great weight only 492 were built by henschel and son and in the right hands it could be a devastatingly effective defensive tank and was also noted for its good tactical mobility by late march 1945 u.s forces were approaching the city after having defeated the arden offensive in the winter of 1944 to 45 and advanced east and southeast into western germany on the 22nd of march 1945 elements of general george s patton's u.s third army had got across the formidable barrier of the rhine river at oppenheim near mainz patton covered the u.s first army's right flank as it advanced on paderborn patton aiming to prevent german reinforcement of the rural pocket where hundreds of thousands of german troops have become encircled leading the charge was the third army's twelfth corps which pushed east through weak german resistance to reach frankfurt on the 26th of march further south west the third army's twentieth corps moved to capture castle by the 30th of march twenty core's 80th infantry division began to deploy to capture the bombed out city at the henschel factory complex employees work feverishly to complete eight tiger two tanks which will be the very last tigers to roll off the assembly lines in world war ii waiting at the final assembly plant at mittelfeld were 50 men from the third company army heavy tank battalion 5115 well-trained crews who would take the tigers straight into action defending castle was the responsibility of general mayor johannes xlaben with some 6 000 troops his main combat force was the 15th grenadier replacement regiment along with some flat guns and a motley collection of foxterm home guards on the 30th of march the eight tigers and their new crews moved south with orders to strengthen german forces the town of fritzlar part of the outer defenses of castle just 29 kilometers southwest of the city they were sent to reinforce the ad-hoc german defenses there the tigers advanced straight into the also advancing us third army spearhead and went straight into action in a surprise meeting engagement just three kilometers from fritzlar the massive tigers managed to knock out between six and nine u.s tanks and tank destroyers halting the american advance for no lust to themselves the tigers were then subjected to a heavy u.s artillery barrage who were forced to withdraw to avoid serious damage on the first of april leading elements of the u.s 80th infantry division approached castle from the south but were again halted by strong german defenses this time it was not king tigers but the 88 millimeter guns of third battery 393rd rad anti-aircraft regiment whose men were drawn from the wrights arbeitsteins the rad the german labour service they were firing over the doncha armour training ground a wide and relatively flat expanse of land ideal for anti-tank work the tigers had also withdrawn to this area the second of april the u.s artillery smashed the rad flak battery with concentrated fire scattering its survivors the u.s 80th division's 318th infantry regiment pushed a battalion into wooded high ground west of castle while the 319th infantry crossed the river fulda and moved north on its east bank general xlaben ordered a counter-attack against the u.s battalion of the 318th infantry in the wooded high ground west of castle for the assault the germans used a battalion of the 15th grenadier replacement regiment mounted in 15 armored half tracks supported by about 12 panzers including king tigers the strength of the assault took the americans by surprise and in the resulting battle one tiger was damaged but six u.s tank destroyers were knocked out the german infantry and tanks became separated from each other the tanks continuing on unsupported until they were struck by a heavy u.s artillery barrage using millimeter howitzers that knocked out two german tanks the germans rallied and attempted another assault but this was also broken up by american artillery fire and they withdrew the americans now moved to eliminating the threat posed by the german infantry and on the 3rd of april literally shred the barracks using m16 half tracks mounting quad 50 caliber machine guns known as meat choppers causing the germans there to surrender third company heavy panzer battalion 511 had no intention of surrendering and the remaining king tigers were ordered to withdraw over the vera to cover this retreat a single tiger was positioned at the castle east autobahn exit allowing an excellent field of fire south and west the tank was commanded by sergeant heinz wilms some infantry was dug in on the 15 meter high railway embankment where the motorway ran underneath the 1st battalion 318th infantry approached but was repulsed by fire from the stationary tiger and its infantry force however a local civilian from haile goroda led the americans to a point behind the tiger u.s tank destroyers and infantry ambushing the german tank hit repeatedly in the rear it was knocked out and the german infantry scattered some 500 german troops were taken prisoner in caso house to house fighting was taking place but the outnumbered german garrison was pushed back into the city center [Music] at zero nine hundred hours on the fourth of april u.s forces were outside general xlaben's command bunker u.s forces were by now all around castle realizing the hopelessness of his position ex-laban surrendered at 1200 over 5000 germans were taken prisoner as for the tigers the third company was disbanded on the 19th of april 1945 its tanks all knocked out or abandoned due to lack of fuel or mechanical breakdown thanks for watching please subscribe and share and also visit my audiobook channel war stories with mark felton you can also help to support both of my channels at paypal and patreon details in the description box below you

Channel: undefined

Views: 833,212

Rating: 4.9565744 out of 5

Keywords: Mark Felton Productions, King Tiger, Tiger tank, Kassel, Patton

Id: dxPiL0rQxZU

Length: 9min 4sec (544 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 23 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Patassmotherfucker]

I highly suggest watching more of this channel, Mark Felton Productions, as well as War Stories by Mark Felton. He has some amazingly interesting topics and a lot of footage I had never seen. Great narration as well.