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
Tiger II the Battle of the Seelow Heights in April 1945, and the Battle of Berlin at the end of the war. On 12 January 1945, a column of Tiger IIs from 524th Heavy Panzer Battalion were involved in a short-range engagement with IS-2 tanks near the village of Lisow, with both the German and Soviet formations suffering heavy losses. The 103rd SS Heavy Panzer Battalion (s.SS Pz.Abt. 503) claimed approximately 500 kills in the period from January to April 1945 on the Eastern Front for the loss of 45 Tiger IIs (most of which were abandoned and destroyed by their own