Tanks in the German Army the Vistula River near Baranów Sandomierski. The majority of King Tigers went to Wehrmacht units, while some 150 were assigned to the Waffen SS. The first Tigers II tanks reached schwere Panzer Abteilungen of both Wehrmacht and Waffen SS as early as February 1944. Only two companies of Schwere Heers Panzer Abteilung 503 (s.H.Pz.Abt. 503), equipped with Tiger II tanks (with Porsche turrets), were committed to the fighting in Normandy. Tiger II tanks of Schwere Heers Panzer Abteilung 506 (s.H.Pz.Abt. 506), saw combat during the "Market Garden" operation in the Netherlands in September 1944. On 15 October 1944 Tiger IIs
12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend the SS giving up the struggle for the town and withdrawing around midnight. In his analysis of the fighting against the Canadians of the Regina Rifles Regiment (which contained a number of Sherman and Firefly tanks, as did virtually every Canadian and British regiment) at Bretteville, Cardonville farm and Norrey-en-Bessin, Hubert Meyer, the commanding general of the 12 SS Panzer Division (after Kurt Meyer had been captured in September 1944) wrote later in "The 12th SS: The History of the Hitler Youth Panzer Division" (volume I) that: “The tactic of surprise, using mobile, fast infantry and Panzers even in small,