King Tiger from Schwere Panzer Abteilung 507 that defended the woods around Padeborn 1945
During World War II, Paderborn was bombed by Allied aircraft in 1944 and 1945, resulting in 85% destruction, including many of the historic buildings. It was seized by the US 3rd Armored Division after a pitched battle 31 March – 1 April 1945, in which tanks and flamethrowers were used during combined mechanized-infantry assaults against the city’s southwestern, southern and southeastern approaches
German “Elefant” tank destroyers on the assembly line.
These Schwerer Panzerjäger (“heavy tank-hunter”) of the Wehrmacht during World War II, built in small numbers in 1943 under the name “Ferdinand” after its designer, Ferdinand Porsche, using tank hulls that had been produced for the Tiger I tank requirement, but which were rejected in favor of the competing Henschel design.