217 Sturm Panzer Abtielung

 217. Sturm-Pz.Abt

Saumur tank museum sd.kfz 166 Sturmpanzer IV (Stupa) Brummbär,

 

sd.kfz 166 Sturmpanzer IV (Stupa) Brummbär,

This unit was unique in Normandy, since it was the only unit equipped with the sd.kfz 166 Sturmpanzer IV (Stupa) Brummbär, with its short 15 cm howitzer in a box superstructure on a panzer IV chassis. The low muzzle velocity of the weapon made it unsuitable against tanks in an anti tank role, but it was quite effective against buildings and ground targets.

According to Niklas Zetterling The battalion probably had a T/O&E strength of three companies with 14 vehicles in each and three StuPz in the battalion staff. This is similar to the organization of the 216. Sturm-Pz.Abt., first employed at the battle at Kursk 1943 and also similar to the organization of the Tiger battalions.

On 24 June it was intended to send the battalion to the Conde-sur-Noireau  - Le Beny Bocage - Vire area in Normandy, but on 18 July, the battalion had still not arrived. The battalion seems never to have been employed in Normandy as a complete unit.

On 21 July one company (probably the 2nd) had arrived in 21. Pz.Div. area. Two days later the 2nd company was subordinated to 21. Pz.Div. On 24 July, the company had 11 StuPz IV operational and 2 in short term repair. Later, on 29 July, the company was subordinated to Leibstandarte (1. SS-Pz.Div.) and one day later its strength stood at 9 vehicles operational and 2 in short term repair.

The first document found where the 3rd company is mentioned is dated 30 July. It is stated that the 3rd company is transferring from II. SS-Pz.Corps area to the 74th Corps. 2nd company remained with 1. SS-Pz.Div. and had 10 StuPz IV operational 31 July. That number was unchanged on 1 August, but had risen to 12 on 3 August¹¹, when the company still was subordinated to 1. SS-Pz.Div. Both strength and location was unchanged on 4 August.

On 6 August 2nd company was with II. SS-Pz.Corps and had 3 StuPz operational for the beginning of Operation Lüttich. Simultaneously 13 runners were with 89. Inf.Div during the fighting around Tilly during Operation Totalize . Three days later ten were operational with 12 SS-Pz.Div. and just one with 89. Inf.Div who lost four vehicles destroyed by Canadians around the village of Cintheaux along the Caen Falaise road (just south of the Canadian war Cemetry) . The battalion shrunk to just 5 operational with 12. SS-Pz.Div. on the 10 August. On 11th it was unchanged. This day it was also reported that the 1./Stu-Pz.Abt. 217 was subordinated to 271. Inf.Div.

After that no documents from the staffs in western Europe mention the 217. Stu.Pz.Abt., though this should not be interpreted as indicating that the unit did not take part in the actions, since higher command echelons usually did not deal with smaller units than divisions. Furthermore, the excellent daily reports on tank strength found in Pz.Gr. West/5th Panzer Army records do only cover the period up to 11 August. Thereafter no such documents have been found. On 4 September the 217. Stu.Pz.Abt. still remained in action.

There exist however one report, dated 16 August among the files of the Inspector-General of Panzer Troops. According to this the battalion had 17 operational StuPz IV and 14 in short term repair (within three weeks). The casualties 1 - 15 August amounted to 10 killed in action, 33 wounded and 12 missing. The authorized manpower strength was 772 men, but it was short of 69 men.

The 2nd company of the battalion clearly took part in the battle, but the whereabouts of the 1st and 3rd is less clear. Only on 30 July is the 3rd explicitly mentioned. Also on 6 August StuPz IV were found both with 12 SS-Pz.Div. and 89. Inf.Div. which might mean that two companies were present. However, these two divisions were quite close at the time and it is not inconceivable that they came from the same company. The total number of StuPz IV with these two divisions was 16, which exceeds the strength of a company, but it is also possible that the battalion staff was in Normandy (with three StuPz according to T/O&E). Whatever the truth, the number of StuPz IV employed certainly was small. As indicated by the table below only 28 StuPz IV were delivered before the end of the campaign in Normandy.

On 1 October, the battalion had a strength of 603 men, while casualties during September was 13 killed, 57 wounded and 53 missing. Only 11 men had arrived at the battalion as replacements and 36 men had left the battalion for other reasons than being casualties. This indicates that the battalion had over 700 men on 1 September, which means that it was far from destroyed.

The deliveries of StuPz IV to the battalion were.

24 May	19 StuPz IV
25 June	2 StuPz IV
10 July	7 StuPz IV
18 August	10 StuPz IV
16 September	10 StuPz IV
26 September	4 StuPz IV

On 1 October the battalion had 14 combat ready StuPz IV, while 5 were in short term repair. The number in long term repair is not known.

As the companies fought attached to larger organisations I plan only to build two vehicles at this stage for Rapid Fire. 

Cheers

Matt

References 

Niklas Zetterling ("Normandy 1944, German Military Organization, Combat Power and Organizational Effectiveness". ISBN 0-921991-56-8)