Saturday, December 10, 2011

German Tank losses FMS P-059

Although I’ve covered German armored vehicle losses before report FMS P-059 - German Tank Strength and Loss Statistics by Hermann Burkhart Mueller-Hillebrand has slightly different data and for the sake of completeness I decided to add these tables:



1941
1942
1943
1944
Sum
Type
Pz I
345
60
405
Pz II
393
287
408
61
1,149
Pz III
782
1,501
2,395
130
4,808
Pz 38
773
196
96
1,065
Pz IV
369
502
2,352
2,643
5,866
Panther
525
2,297
2,822
Tiger
3
307
834
1,144
Command tank
96
99
209
271
675
Recovery tank
7
35
42
Sum
2,758
2,648
6,299
6,271
17,976






Sum
Stug III/IV
95
330
1,566
3,558
5,549
JagdPz 38/IV
344
344
JagdPanther
33
33
Elefant
44
35
79
Pak Sfl
127
831
981
1,939
Nashorn
92
174
266
Stuh III
71
437
508
StuPz IV
24
83
107
Sum
95
457
2,628
5,645
8,825




Again it’s interesting to note that tank losses stay the same in 1941-42 and 1943-44 but Stug and self-propelled gun losses explode each year.  


3 comments:

  1. 1943 saw a dramatic increase in the use of turretless AFVs in the German Army. My guess is that higher loss numbers came as a result of increase use.

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  2. Christos, thank you for your data. However can you please clarify following. German tank losses for 1942 is 2,648 but if you check your post Tank strength and losses – Eastern Front, table German AFV losses Eastern Front it says Germans lost 3,195 tank in 1942. What number is correct?
    Thank you in advance!

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    Replies
    1. Different sources, different numbers. Did you check what i wrote in the essay?

      [Note that there are the following ‘issues’ with the German report:
      1).The losses for 1942 include December 1941. According to Foreign Military Studies P-059 ‘Tank Losses’ by Generalmajor Burkhart Mueiler-Hillebrand total losses on all fronts for December 1941 comes to 525 Tanks and SPG’s but not all were lost in the East since at the same time there was heavy fighting in N.Africa during the British operation ’Crusader’. This could increase the 1941 percentage significantly.

      2). February 1943 total losses show a huge spike at 2.069 vehicles. It seems reasonable to assume that these are vehicles heavily damaged/destroyed in late 1942 but officially written off in 1943. This would take the 1943 percentage down by a few points while raising the 1942 percentage.

      3). For 1944 it says ‘December incomplete’. According to FMS P-059 total losses during the month were 677 Tanks, SPG’s and self-propelled artillery. A lot would be against the Western Allies during the Battle of the Bulge. In any case the number is so small that it can only raise the percentage by a few points.]

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