When Tigers Stood Against the Soviet Steamroller: The Brutal Battle for Daugavpils, July 1944

By mid-July 1944, the Soviet juggernaut - Operation Bagration had torn apart the German front in Belorussia. Over 300,000 German troops were either dead or captured and the once mighty Army Group Center had been annihilated, leaving a gaping 250-mile hole in the German defenses.
Tens of thousands of defeated soldiers trudged into Soviet captivity, facing a grim and uncertain future at the mercy of their vengeful captors.
As the Soviet steamroller pressed west toward Latvia, Estonia and the heart of the Fatherland, panic gripped the German ranks.
The Latvian town of Daugavpils was a key crossroads, a lifeline for the German Army’s northern forces.
If the Soviets seized it, Army Group North would be cut-off with disastrous consequences for the German war-effort.
Holding Daugavpils was crucial for the Germans, who frantically funneled reinforcements into the region.
Among these reinforcements was Major Hans Joachim Schwaner’s battlehardened 502nd Heavy Panzer Battalion.
Having already proven its mettle in the brutal fighting around Leningrad, the 502nd and its Tigers were now poised to make their mark once again.
#tigertank #panzer #ww2tanks

[@blaze1148]

Much footage I have never seen before 😮

[@FactBytes]

Thanks

[@adriancamano777]

Panzer dominate

[@Arnor2207]

The narva battle is in details in carius's autobiography. Him and another tank held an army korp's fate in their hands for 2 days. 10 dudes in 2 tigers without infantry support at first, against an entire soviet inf div and an heavy tank bat with t34's and kv1's, poised to cut the narva front in half then destroy the pocket. They destroyed a few dozens tanks, repulsed a regimental sized inf assault, around the clock bombardments and arty attacked, then retook the lost positions with only 20 german infantrymen.

[@antcaruso3465]

Just finished reading “Tigers in The Mud.” I see the book text was put into ChatGpt and repurposed for this video. Good job though

[@rgmm-pz3wi]

i have a link for that, online libary version, only as far as the luftwaffe division

[@infolover_68]

The Tiger I was a formidable weapon of war: it could take high caliber impacts and destroy targets between 1 and 2 km away. But it was available in a few numbers; Germany never had enough of them tanks...

[@bertvsrob]

hitler reprimanded rommel for pushing too far throughout africa, then displayed the same audacity on the eastern front, costing germany the war

[@adriancamano777]

Germany had better optical range

[@adriancamano777]

And fighting continues today

[@blank557]

Less than half of the Tigers in the unit were available for combat? The Tigers greatest enemy was not the Soviet opposition, but lack of mechanical reliability and required maintenance. Germany was too resource poor to make enough tanks and also provide spare parts at the same time.

[@volvo1354]

interestingly enough, Otto Carius ended the war in a Jagdtiger. he developed an admiration for the machine, quickly familiarized its capabilities, and managed to turn its disadvantages into positive attributes

[@BorisKitsis]

I love how they make them sound so heroic and soviets Savage. Germans raped and pillaged their way through the territory of USSR for years! Demonstrating incredible cruelty! They did awful things to their prisoners. You didn't want to be a communist or a Jew in their captivity... And if they were so amazingly good, why did they get their behinds served to them on a platter? Mind that while you create future heroic Germany footage! F Hitler! F the Nazis! Glad they got their due!

[@MrNaKillshots]

A nightmare for all involved.

[@adriancamano777]

And fighting continues today

[@MrNaKillshots]

Only 1300 produced.

[@antcaruso3465]

“One thousand hours” lol

[@adriancamano777]

German panzer