<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> Some of this article's listed sources may not be reliable . Please help this article by looking for better, more reliable sources . Unreliable citations may be challenged or deleted . (December 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> German heavy tank battalions (German: schwere Panzer abteilungen), were elite battalion - sized World War II tank units, equipped with Tiger I, and later Tiger II, heavy tanks . Originally intended to fight on the offensive during breakthrough operations, the German late - war realities required them to be used in a defensive posture by providing heavy fire support and counter-attacking enemy armored breakthroughs, often organised into ad hoc Kampfgruppen . </P> <P> Early formation units experimented to find the correct combination of heavy Tiger tanks supported by either medium Panzer III tanks or reconnaissance elements . In 1942 this consisted of 20 Tigers and 16 Panzer IIIs, composed of two companies, each with four platoons of two Tigers and two Panzer IIIs . Each company commander would have an additional Tiger, and battalion command would have another two . </P> <P> Later formations had a standard organization of 45 Tiger Tanks, composed of three companies of 14 Tigers each, plus three command vehicles . Maintenance troubles and the mechanical unreliability of the Tigers posed a continuous problem, so often the units would field a smaller number of combat - ready tanks . </P>

How many tanks in a platoon in ww2
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