Tiger Tank 222 on the ferry crossing the straights of Messina. The evacuation of Sicily by the Germans in August 1943.
The fate of the 17 Tigers on Sicily was reported by Major Gierga, commander of Panzer-Abteilung 215, in the following report to the Generalinspekteur der Panzertruppen dated 28 August 1943:
On orders from the division, at the start of July, I transferred the 17Tigers from the Abteilung to Panzer-Regiment Hermann Goering.
” Before the transfer, I proposed to the commander, Oberstleutnant Urban, as well as the division supply and technical officers, to give them a complete Werkstatt-Zug that was already entrusted with repair of Tigers along with elements of the Bergezug in exchange for one of their Werkstatt-Zuege. Successful recovery and repair of the new Tigers would be questionable without this exchange. The proposal was rejected by Panzer-Division “Hermann Goering” with the excuse that an exchange was out of the question; instead, only transfers from my Abteilung were to occur. I reported this to my division commander. After telephone calls between General Rodt and General von Senger, I was ordered to give up the 10 special mechanics, all of the special tools, all replacement parts, as well as the portal crane along with the 17 Tigers.
Because of transport difficulties, Panzer-Regiment “Hermann Goering” did not pick up all these replacement parts, so that part of them (rubber tires, road wheels and more) in addition to about 80 tons of 8.8 cm ammunition were left lying and fell into enemy hands.
Based on the after-action report from the Tiger-Kompanie and the report from Leutnant Goldschmidt, the last commander of the Tiger-Kompanie, at the beginning of the campaign the Tiger-Kompanie was assigned to Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment “Henrice.” The Panzer-Grenadiere interfered with the employment of the Tiger-Kompanie and the terrain was insufficiently scouted, so that several Tigers became bogged in the mud. The Tigers became separated from our own infantry, so they were cut off, making recovery or repair impossible.
Ten Tigers had already been lost during the first three days when they were blown up to prevent capture. Of the remaining seven Tigers, three more were lost by 20 July when they caught fire or were blown up to prevent capture. The excess Tiger crews were employed as infantry at the Gerbini airfield despite the strongest arguments from the Tiger-Kompanie commander. During the further retreat employed as rearguard, three of the last four Tigers broke down and were blown up to prevent capture. The last Tiger was transported across the straits to the mainland.
Based on statements made by Leutnant Goldschmidt, a large portion of the Tigers could have been repaired and saved by well-prepared recovery and maintenance work if they had been guarded by adequate infantry support. In no way were the Werkstatt and the recovery service of Panzer-Regiment “Hermann Goering” up to this task. In addition, during the retreat the portal crane, so important for repairing Tigers, was blown up by the Werkstatt-Kompanie.
The German units gradually retreated across Sicily toward the northeast to Messina for evacuation to the mainland. During the nights of 10/11 and 11/12 August 1943, 34 Panzers and 44 Sturmgeschuetze were transported by ferry from Sicily to Italy. The rest, employed as rearguard, had been transferred by the morning of 17 August.
A total of 118 out of 217 Panzers and Sturmgeschuetze that had been committed to the defense of Sicily were lost.
