Cheating at Statistics 7: Korner the Conjurer

I could spend the rest of my life cranking out "Cheating at Statistics" articles by simply comparing kill claims from Tiger battalions (especially the SS ones) to the actual casualties suffered by the other side, so I'll limit myself to particularly interesting ones. For instance Karl Körner, a truly amazing tank commander that destroyed some astronomical amount of tanks. Let's take a look at Tigers in Combat II to see what Schneider has for us on this outstanding individual and his unit.

"18 April 1945: Blocking positions are occupied on a road from Protzel to Bollersdorf (at Ernsthof). An enemy armour assault originating from Grunow is repelled; sixty-four enemy tanks and one Tiger II are knocked out.

19 April 1945: ...
four enemy tanks knocked out
...
On the road to Strassberg, a Josef Stalin company is lined up; at the edge of Bollersdorf more than 100 T-34/85s are crowded together. He opens the engagement by knocking out the lead and trail Joseph Stalin tanks...the three Tigers wipe out the T-34/85s. They then dispatch the remaining Josef Stalins....
...In the late afternoon, the 3 Tigers are attacked by around thirty T-34s...all the enemy tanks are put out of action.
...more Josef Stalins restart their advance and are knocked out..."

The amazing adventures of Korner's Tigers keep going, but I'll stop here. Wow, what  a feat, 130 T-34s, over a company of IS-2s (at least seven tanks) and then 64 of some unspecified tanks. That's over two hundred vehicles! Let's see who the unfortunate sods were that received such a brutal punishment.

CAMD RF 233-2356-776 (fragment)

The 5th Shock Army is shown rolling through Bollersdorf and Strassberg. The only other units around are infantry, and even they were too far north to run into Korner. It's these guys he fought for sure. 

Let's take a look at the composition of the 5th Shock Army. In 1945, it included the 26th Guards Infantry Corps, 9th Infantry Corps, 32nd Infantry Corps, and 11th Tank Corps. Aha, tanks! Let's see what that unit is composed of. The 11th Tank Corps consists of the 20th, 36th, and 65th Tank Brigades.

Uh-oh, there is already a problem! I don't see a single Guards Independent Heavy Tank Breakthrough Battalion in the area, and that is the only unit that would even have IS tanks. That claim is out. 

Let's keep going. A Tank Brigade each has a Tank Battalion, 21 tanks apiece. That means, at maximum strength, the 5th Shock Army would possess 189 tanks. It is unclear where Korner found at least 12 more tanks to destroy. 

Now, maybe there were a handful of double claims, nothing too unusual. Let's see what the 5th Shock Army has to say about the battles of April 18th and 19th.

"By the end of April 18th, 1945, tank units bypassed this system of lakes and canals, and reached a more favourable terrain for maneuvers. By 21:00, they reached the Schultzendorf-Batszlow-Reichenberg line.

Developing the offensive, and fiercely fighting the enemy that was determined to not let tanks through the forests north of Straussberg, tank units burst into the forest at 21:00 on April 19th, and reached Steinbeck, Bizov, and Blumental."

That's it. No mention of enemy tanks at all. The conclusions section whines a little bit about Panzerfausts and Panzerschrecks, but that's it. The 5th Shock Army ran over the 103rd SS Heavy Tank Battalion in a single day, and didn't even notice.