German Tank Numbering

[wibblywobbly]

I once built Panther 104, which I did in a wrecked state, using pics of it, eg with the number on the side of the turret. I have just been browsing the web, and by chance came across a King Tiger, which also bears the number 104. So, did they re-use numbers, as according to this site, the digits identify the company/platoon/individual vehicle?

http://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=287

[jackalope]

I think each unit had their own numbers so that a tank from the 505th could share the same number as a tank from the 506th and so on.

[Swamprat33]

Most of the Zug (platoon) numbers were the same unit to unit like 111, 112, 113, 114 then 121, 122, 123, 124.

The main differences occured with the command vehicles as there were many variations.

Another thing to bear in mind is that the colour and style of the turret numbers were often unique to a particular regiment or division and are now being used to identify previouslu unknown tanks in period photos.

It is a vast and thouroughy confusing subject.

Tim

[billpe]

To expand on what Swamprat says there were a few different systems but generally all conformed overall: So first number is Company, second number is platoon, third number is tank.

For example 502 Heavy Tank Battalion had three HQ tanks labelled I, II and III. Second Company had two HQ tanks 200 and 201 then three platoons. First platoon in the second company is 211, 212, 213 and 214. Second platoon is 221, 222, 223 and 224. This was fairly typical for a dedicated heavy tank battalion. Third company is 300, 301 then 311 etc.

There were some differences, for example in 506 Heavy Tank Battalion there were 4 companies, each company had at peak 14 tanks. Two of those were command tanks and 12 were divided into platoons of 4 tanks. There were also three HQ tanks labelled 01, 02 and 03. Tanks in teh first company were labelled from 101 to 114, second company was 201 to 214. However 506 was an oddity because this wasn't the typical numbering system . In 506 Second company had red tactical numbers with a white outline, in third company it was black with a yellow outline.

Earlier in the war you also had slightly different systems for the SS, like 13th panzer regiment Grossdeutschland at one point had S01 for command and S10 to S13 for the first company and S20 to S23 for second and so on (that was I think there 2nd type of numbering system). III Panzer Regiment GD it was A, B or C for the Company so A01 and A02 for A company command, A11 to A13 for first platoon, A21 to 23 for second etc.

It's also worth noting that over the war years some battalions and regiments changed thier numbering systems. Several SS regiments did this in 42/43 and in some photos you can see the old numbers underneath the new.

So in summary, at any point you could have a dozen tanks (maybe more given the number of tanks over the years) in the Wehrmacht and SS with the same tactical number. Also tanks could be repainted with new numbers or replacement tanks painted with an existing number i.e. if tank 201 was lost and a replacement arrived it was adorned with 201. This is why you might see a tank in a certain battalion or company wearing the same number but different camouflage in two different photos. Makes life hard for the rivet counters.