I have pieced together info , from various and sundry sources, on the final four Elephants with s.Pz.Jg.Kp. 614 (formerly 2./s.Pz.Jg.Abt. 653 ) attached to Kamfgruppe Ritter, Berlin, April, 1945. Looking more for confirmation my intel is right and confirm a supposition is accurate. Being ex 653 rigs, would they have retained the 653 emblem
on the front and rear of the casement after being redesignated s.Pz.Jg.Kp. 614, especially seeing 1/s.Pz.Jg.Abt. 653 and 3/s.Pz.Jg.Abt. 653 were now a Jagdtiger unit. Or, under the circumstances (the world coming to an end!) , would they have just been left on? I’m thinking painted over. It was 4 months between the designation change till KG Ritter. ( While the unit emblem would add a little splash of color to the camo, if justifiable, I’m also trying to logic out not having to buy a $20 decal sheet for two decals. )
All Ferdy survivors from Kursk were shipped back to Germany for refit/upgrade, re-emerging as Elefants. 653’s blotchy 3-colour Kursk camo was overpainted (no evidence it survived refit in any Italian campaign photo-refs that I’ve ever seen) so safe to assume 653 Kursk markings (3-digit number, and colour-coded panel on upper-starboard rear casement ) were overpainted too.
I guess you could hedge your bets by letting the Kursk markings ghost through an overpaint - here’s Pedinghaus’ decal sheet for inspiration (ignore the camo scheme which looks more like 654’s “net” pattern), you could mask/AB the panel rather than buy decals…
Found a photo of a 653 Ferdinand in Ukraine Oct. (?) 43 with those markings, before being sent back for rebuild. Those would have been gone with the factory repaint after the rebuilds started in Jan 44. 653 adopted the new emblem in March 44. Stabs, 2/635 and 3/635 used it. 1/635 , in Italy, didnt use them. Ferdinands/Elefants on the Eastern Front – Mike’s Research (mikesresearch.com) Elefants in Italy 1944 – Mike’s Research (mikesresearch.com)
That’s an excellent link, I’ve never seen some/most of the later images before, thanks for posting/clarifying 
Glad to share. The guy has some great info. One on the M41 is real interesting. Especially the Bay of Pigs part. I stumble into most of these site by shear luck. After pondering, and taking into consideration the fact it was 4 months between 2/653 becoming s.Pz.Jg.Kp. 614, I decided to opt that the 653 emblem had been painted over. Used Migs 1944 dunkelgelb. (stands out from the “regular” Dunkelgelb. )
