The Book I have is "Panzer: the Illustrated History of Germany's Armoured Forces in WWII" by Dr. Niall Barr and Dr. Russell Hart, MBI Pusblishing Company 1999, p.75..........

But I did find this on the Web:

Schwere Panzer Abteilung 504 - sPzAbt 504:

schwere Panzer Abteilung 504 (s.Pz.Abt.504) was the second Tiger Battalion to be assigned to Tunisia. (s.Pz.Abt.501 was already in Tunisia and operating against the allies.)

In February 1943 the s.Pz.Abt.504 was advised that its 1st Company would be going to Tunisia, and their Tigers were equipped for tropical duty. Because of the training time and delays in the delivery of vehicles and equipment, the ill-fated 1st Company did not begin to move until the end of February of 1943. From March 6 to April 16th the s.Pz.Abt.504 was ferried across to Tunisia on motorized lighters, with no losses in transit. Some were unloaded at Bizerta and the rest at Tunis.

25 PzKpfw III, two Panzerbefehlswagen Tigers and 18 Tigers I’s (comprising the battalion staff, workshop company, and 1st tank company together with the commander of the Battalion, Major August Seidensticker) arrived. The tank company had four platoons, each with two Tiger I tanks and two Pzkpfw III support tanks.

Upon arrival the commander of 504 learned that the 501 was without a commander and only 11 of the 501’s Tigers remained serviceable. It was therefore decided to incorporate the 501 Tigers and their remaining PzKpfw.IIIs and PzKpfw.IVs into the 504 since only 3 of the 504 Tigers were ready for action around the time of March 10th. Gen.von Arnim then ordered the merged battalion south to the Maknassy pass area in support of Kampfgruppe Lang.


On March 20 they moved west to intercept American forces attempting to break through to the sea and claimed 44 tanks of 9th Armored Division. These would be some of the last victories for the newly combined 1st Company 504 battalion.

Because of situation in Tunisia getting worse, the 2nd Company s.Pz.Abt.504 was retained in Sicily. All of the 1st Company s.Pz.Abt.504 Tigers were destroyed or captured. The First Tiger to be captured by the allies came from this unit. The surviving elements surrendered on 12 May 1943, only 60 short days from their arrival.



Ah, the Fog of War......!!

Paul McD.