Der zweite Weltkrieg

Operation Citadel was one of the turning points in the war. The Tigers of the LAH were one of the strongest German units and they were assigned to hammer the Soviet defenses on the southern part of the designated area. However, the fighting took a heavy toll and many of the steel titans were damaged. Staudegger’s Tiger was one of them and on July 8th, 1943, he was unable to participate in the upcoming attack. Frustrated, he just sat around, watching his Tiger being fixed, thinking he wouldn’t see action that day. However, that was not to be the case.

Around 10AM, a message came to the company repair camp at Teterevinovo, that a Soviet assault force of 50-60 tanks is approaching from the northwest. Staudegger’s Tiger was the only available tank to counter it – all the other Tigers were already committed to other goals. Staudegger decided quickly: he and his crew would perform some emeregency repairs on his Tiger and meet the threat head on. His crew (Herbert Stahlmacher – driver, Gerhard Waltersdorf – radio operator, Heinz Buchner – gunner and Walter Henke – loader) agreed.

After the quick repairs were completed (the tracks were barely holding together however), the Tiger slowly advanced towards the Soviet onslaught. They arrived just in time to rescue elements of the infantry batallion “Deutschland” from being overrun. Two Soviet tanks were already burning, destroyed previously by the infantry. The arrival of the steel behemoth changed the tide of battle. The Tiger crew, guided by the infantry, quickly took out three Soviet T-34 tanks.