Carius graduated from school in 1940, a year following the commencement of the
Second World War. He enlisted in the army and was only accepted after twice being rejected as unfit for military service for being underweight. He first served in the infantry before volunteering for the Panzer branch; his father referred to tanks as "metal deathtraps." Carius was transferred to the
502nd Heavy Panzer Battalion in 1943 and fought in the northern sectors of the
Eastern Front. At the beginning of 1945 he was made commander of a
Jagdtiger company of the
512th Heavy Anti-tank Battalion, which by that time was engaged in fighting on the
Western Front. On 8 March 1945, the 2nd Company was directed to the front line near
Siegburg, where it took part in the defense of the
Rhine against the American forces crossing the river, with limited success. Eventually, after being trapped in the
Ruhr Pocket east of the Rhine, he ordered all his Jagdtigers destroyed to prevent enemy forces from capturing them intact and then surrendered to the US Army on 7 May. He was released from captivity on 21 May, two weeks later. He is considered a "panzer ace", credited with destroying more than 150 enemy tanks; most of his kill claims were on the Eastern Front. He claimed in his autobiography that his gunner shot down a Soviet plane (possibly an
IL-2) attacking their tank with the
Tiger I's 88mm main gun in late 1943 on the Eastern Front. ==Later life==