The 654th only had about 14 Jagdpanthers on its strength in Normandy. Two were found abandoned after the action with the 6th Guards Tank Brigade. The new K & C model looks great and is a real improvement over its predecessor.
The 654th was the only unit to be issued 42 Jagdpanthers.
The Panzerjäger Abteilung 654 arrived on the 28th April in Mailly (Fr)
on the 14th of June 17 more Jagdpanthers were dispatched.
27-29th June: one Kompanie with 8 Jagdpanthers was attached to the Panzer Lehr Div.
18th July: 2nd Kompanie was assigned to the 47th Panzer Corps
28th July: 3th Kompanie arrived sometime prior in Normandy, 21 Jagdpanthers were operational and 4 in repair
31st July :8 more Jagdpanthers issued
1st August:8 Jagdpanthers operational and 16 in repair an 1 remained in Mailly
10th August: 16 additional Jagdpanthers were sent to the unit . 1st Kompanie recommended to be sent to Normandy
14th August: 8 more Jagdpanthers dispatched.
Only the 2nd Kompanie fought in Normandy and only 2 of its Jagdpanthers made it back from the Normandy battle grounds and succeeded to get across the Seine river;
51 Jagdpanthers were assigned to the BoB
Typical for each of the independent army heavy AT battalions , there was only 1 Kompanie with Jagdpanthers, the others had field assault guns or Jagdpanzers IV/70s
6 of these battalions were operational during the BoB. The 560th Army AT Battalion with 25 jagdpanthers and 25 Jagdpanzers IV/70s provided support to the 12th SS Hitler Jugend Panzer Division. During the BoB the 654th was taken from reserve and redeployed to Alsace-Lorraine on Dec 31st 1944. Of the 519th heavy AT battalion attached to the 6th Panzer Army during the BoB, only the 1st Kompanie took part in the campaign.
Camo schemes are extremely varied and include plain dark yellow, green/brown on yellow, green base with secondary yellow/primer and the latter with winter whitewash
In the book " Combat History of Schwere Panzerjäger Abteilung 654" by Andrew Dextras there are over 200 pictures including some nifty combinations like early models with 2piece 8.8cm barrels and lates with one piece monobloc barrels .
Hope this helps to clarify a bit the history of 654th Heavy Panzerjäger Battalion
