Although from July 5th through the 16th, Das Reich accounted for 448 Russian tanks and SU's, losing a total of 46 panzers and assault guns destroyed, Army Group South failed to completely break through to the final Russian defense line south of Kursk. On the 28th, before it departed for Italy, the Leibstandarte handed over to Das Reich 9 Tigers, 39 Pz. IV's, and 4 Pz. III's, which already had 33 Pz. III's, 17 Pz. IV's, 2 T-34's, and 2 Tigers combat ready.
In battles around Kharkov from Aug. 22 through Sept. 2, Das Reich scored 463 armor kills. On Aug. 27 it had 4 Pz. III's, 31 Pz. IV's, 6 Tigers, and 6 command tanks combat fit, plus one Panther company. The other Panther companies were briefly attached to other divisions. Das Reich panzers moved to the Walki area early in Sept. On the 13th, some 60 km SW of Charkow and 20 km west of Walki, over 70 T-34's attacked Das Reich's recon battalion. From their reserve position, Hstuf. Friedrich Holzer in Panther #101 led 7 tanks of his company to the rescue. In a 40 minute battle the Panthers destroyed 28 T-34's. In 2 days, 78 Soviet tanks were left burning on the long grass of the steppes.
On October 29th, just outside of Khodorov on the western bank of the Dnjepr River, some 75 km SE of Kiev, 20 T-34's pierced Das Reich's defense line after 5 a.m.. Quickly advancing to this dangerous breakthrough, Hscha. Willy Simke in Pz. IV #531 and his third platoon, 5th Pz. Co., fired upon the T-34's from 20 to 30 meters, and knocked out 17 of them. In the same area on Nov. 1 the Russians tried to secure their bridgehead over the Dnjepr. Stubaf. Tychsen's IInd Pz. Abt. was on the right flank of Das Reich's position. When enemy tanks and infantry attempted to outflank his unit, Tychsen led his panzer HQ stab and an engineer platoon to the attack around Hill 188. Three T-34's appeared over a rise: Tychsen's BeflPz.III knocked out two, then his swiftly advancing force destroyed 6 more and drove off the rest. That same day in Tiger S11, Hsha. Hans Soretz, I Zug leader 8/Pz.Rgt. DR, scored the 2000th armor kill for the division in 1943. Its panzer regiment had accounted for some 1100 of these, to its own losses of over 250 tanks. On the 11th in Slavia, Tigers shot up more than a dozen Russian tanks.
On Nov. 26, Das Reich had 9 Pz.IV's, 2 Tigers, 7 Panthers and 2 command tanks combat fit. In mid-December, most of the division was ordered to France to re-supply and retrain. A kampfgruppe remained behind, its depleted panzer force formed a battalion of only 2 companies, one led by Ostuf. Schomka, the second led by Ostuf. Kloskowski. The acting battalion c/o was Hstuf. Willi Endemann. Six Pz.IV's, 4 Panthers, and 5 Tigers were combat fit. From Dec. 25 through Jan. 18, 1944, the battalion destroyed only 12 tanks, 14 SU's, and 12 anti-tank guns. Three of its Tigers were knocked out on March 4th east of Semjalintzy. Ustuf. Tegthoff and Sta.Ju. von Einboeck were mortally wounded. A handful of Das Reich tanks fought on until April.
The Tiger Company was disbanded that spring, its surviving personnel distributed among the 3 companies of the forming 102 sSS Pz.Abt. (most D.R. veterans went to its first company). In all, Das Reich's Pz.Rgt. scored 1200 armor kills by April, and lost c. 300 tanks in combat against the Russians.
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Updated January 28, 2022