OSPREY· VANGUARD 20

THE TIGER TANKS

Bryan Perrett

Colour plates by David E.Smith

 VANGUARD SER I ES

ED ITOR : .\tART I :\" W I XDROW

THE TIGER TANKS

TextbyBRYAN PERRETT
I Colour plates by OA YIO E. SM I TH

OS I>REY PUBLISHING LONDO:'\

 ,
Published in Ig81 by
Osprey I)ublishing Ltd
.\{ember company of the George Philip Group
1'2 14 Long Acre, London WC2E 91.1'
Copyright 1981 Osprq Publishing Ltd

This book is copyrighted under the Berne

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should be addressed 10 the Publishen.

ISB:"l' 0 8504-5 3B9 5

Filmsel in Greal Britain

J)rinted in Iiong Kong

Acknowledgenu~ nts
The au thor wishes to express his thanks ror the
assistance so kindly provided by Licut('llalll-Coloncl I
Bernard Couzens, RTR, and Oberslleutnant
Schneider or the Bundcswchr's Panzerlruppcnschu!c
in [racing the planned order or battlc or the German
Heavy Tank Battalions in the Second World War.

•
The M arbach .,"sin.,bein,; low.,,..,d in l o t h e com pleted hull
of a Tis., r E. (Ma n ia Windrow)

Deve lopment Hi sto ry

In the two decades between the World Wars The ' breakthrough ' tank belonged properly to
most of the world's major armies dabbled in the the realm of infalllry su pport and thus had no
concept of a heavy 'b reakthrough ' tank ; the part to pla y in the basic philosophy of the
British produced the Independent, the French Panzerwaffe, which relied on concentration,
the Char de Rupture C, the Russians various speed and firepower 10 achieve its aims. ~ot ­
multi-turreted designs, and the Japanese the withstanding, the concept did have its influential
T ype 91 ,.md 95 Heavies. Germany, officially protagonists. By 1937 the NbFz was patently old-
denied tanks until Hitler's repudiation of the fashioned and the Ilenschcl organization was
restrictive clauses of the Treaty of Versailles, asked to produce a design for a well-armoured
also produced two versions in 1934 under the vehicle with a weight restriction of 33 tons which
transparent title of ~eubaufahrzeug (:"l"bFz) or could be substituted for the PzKpfw IV in close
~cw Production Vehicles, and actually used the support role. (This is fully discussed in Vanguard
few prototypes buil t during the short Norwegian No 18, The Pflllzerknmpfwn,lft71 IV. ) This tank, like
campaign of 1940, manned by erews drawn from the PzKpfw IV , was to be armed with the 75mm
the 4. Panzer-Division. Their major contribution Lj'24 howitzer and rea ched its final form in the
was, however, a propaganda coup achieved by DW 2 (Durchbruc hswagen or Breakthrough
Dr Goebbcls' departmelll, which slyly contrived Vehicle l\ lark I I) of 1940, which had a five-man
a leak to the effect that the vehicles were a new crew and was carried on a five-wheel torsion bar
PzKpfw V, thereby causing some alarm among suspension. At this point the Heereswa ffenamt ,
the AlIit.'S who were full y conversant with responsible for the Army's procurement, in-
PzKpfws I IV but only dimly aware of the creased its requirements by specifyi ng a nmm
existence of the Nbfz. (The NbFz were actually 1../.18 gun, tenders for the ne\\ design , known as
classified as PzKpfw V I and PzKpfw VII VK 3001 , being invited not only from Henschel
[Sturmwagen], but Gocbbels wisely chose to but also from Porsche, l\laschincnfabrik Augs-
under-state his easc. ) burh-Nurnburg p .I AK), and Daimle r-Benz. The
 Henschel contender, the VK 3001 (H), carried on
a seven-bogie interleaved suspension, was over-
taken by events; the two chassis built were later
converted to Panzerjager by filling a 128mm
gun, and served on the Eastern Front in 1942.
The position was complicated by a concurrent
project, the 36-lon VK 360., the specification for
which came from Ililler himself, his remarkable
insight into weapons technology not as yet having
reached the heights offantasy to which his manias
later gave rise. The VK 360 1 called for heavy
armour, a high-velocity gun and a top speed of
24.5mph, the need arising directly from the
PanzerwaIT"e's experience against the thick-
skinned Fr·ench Char Bs and British i\ lalildas
during the campaign in France. The decision to
raise these requirements still further by the
revised specification VK 450] , calli ng for the
installation of a tank version of the redoubtable
88mm dua l-purpose anti-aircraft/anti-tank gun
Nea rill!!: eo mpletiOIl. S " lIdl ..!!: a T is;er illvolv.,d :JOO,ooo tna.n
h o u rlla nd a CO.I of800,ooo Re lc h.!lrna r1r.s. (Ma rt i" Windrow)
while permitting an increase in weight to 45 tons,
was one of the most remarkable in fighting
vehicle history since it was made in May 1941,
one month bifort the invasion of Russia and
without foreknow ledge of the qualities possessed
by the Russian 1'-34.
There was, therefore, an clement of sycophancy
rather than exped iency in the directive to manu-
facturers that they should have their prototypes
rcady to demonstrate to the Flihrer on his birth-
day, 20 April 1942. By now Henschel and Porsche
were the only contenders left in the race and in
order to meet their deadline both decided to
incorporate the beller features of their respective
VK 3001 and VK 3601 designs. The trials took
place at Rastenburg 011 the date specified, the
Henschel machine bcing adjudged the superior.
Quantity production commenced III August
1942, the tank's official designation being
PzKpfw VI Tiger Aus f.H (SdKfz ]8. ), re-

named P zKpfw Tiger E in 19+4, by which title
it is more genera ll y known and referred to here·
after. The Porsche version formed the basis of the
Elefant tank destroyer, deta ils of which can be
found in Vanguard Ko 12, Sturmartillerit and
Pan..terJiigtr.
Th e Tiger E excecded the VK 4501 weight
specification by over ten tons and was carried on
an eight-bogie interleaved torsion bar suspension
with a front drive sprocket. I t was powered by
th e Maybaeh HL230 V-['2 700hp engine which
produced a top speed of 23m ph. I L<; most strikin g
features were its 88mm L/S6 KwK 36 gun and its
ar mour, the latter being [ [omm thick on the
mantlct, [oomm on the vertica l front plate, and
60 80mm on the sides. Two machine-guns were
mounted, onc co-axially wi th the main armament
and the second in the front plate.
Layout followed the cOIl\'ent ional German
paltcrn. the line of drive passing from the engine
compartment at the rear through Ihe fighting-
compa rtment to the gea rbox and Ihence across
the front of the vehicle through an cxtremely
complex final-drive mechanism to the drive
sprockets. The comma nder was located at the
N.rrow 1...... " iI lrack" ......... 6ued dun"! con"' .... cc'on and
_ .. re "sed un~il th .. .... It.id.. .....ched ill, ."""red UBiI .
(M.rti .. Windro ...)
left/rear of the turret with the gunner im-
mediately in front of him, the loader being on the
right of the gun, his sca t facing towards the turret
rear. In the driving compartment the driver was
separated from the hull-gunner/radio operator
by the gearbox. I n honour of their special station
in life Tiger crews enjoyed the benefi t of sli ghtly
more comfortable seals than those provided in
other German tanks.
Production continued for two years, being
terminated in August [944, by which lime [.350
had been built, only 26 less than had been
contracted fo r, an average of 56 per month with
a peak of 104 in April [9+4. Great interes t was
shown in the vehiele by the Im perial J apanese
Arm y. which purchased one through its Berlin
agents, Showa T sucho Kaisha Ltd , at a cost of
6"'5,000 Rciehsmarks: there is no record of its
delivery.
~o soone r had the first Tiger E entered scrvice
than plans were put into effect to produce an
 even better protected mod el with a yet more
powerful main anna menlo ~1ost of the main
components of the Tiger E'g armour were
arranged in a vertical plane, but the T-34 had
demonst rated beyond doubt that better ballistic
protection was provided by any given thickness
of armour if it was angled back. Again, it was
considered to be of vital importance that
Germany shou ld break the cycle in which the
Red Army's designers were progressively intro-
ducing larger ca li bre weapons than were avail-
able to the PanzerwaOe, and a means of putting
her ahead once and for all was available in the
high.velocity 88mm KwK 43 gun, which had a
calibre length of 7 I.
Once more, Henschel and Porsche were asked
to submit competitive designs. Dr Ferdinand
Porsche was a JMrticular favourite of Hitler's and
was sufficiently confident that his VK 4502 (P)
design a modified version of his earlier entry
would succeed that his organization began manu.
facturing turrets, which were to have been
mounted at the rear of the vehicle. Unfor.
tunately, a major clement in the concept was its
electric transmission, requiring large qualllities
of copper, which was in criticall) short suppl y in
Germany as a result of the Allied blockade. and
on this ground it was rejected in favour of the
Henschel VI{ 4503 (H).
The Henschel candidate followed the con.
ventional layout and was standardized as the
PzKpfw VI Tiger Ausf.B (SdKfz (82), some-
times referred to as the ' riger II , but known
popularly in Germany as the Konigstiger (King
Tiger) and among the Allies as the Royal Tiger.
Production commenced in January 1943.
'The first Tiger B was delivered in November
1943· Production models started coming off the
lines in February 1944, parallel with the Tiger E;
in this month eight J'\'lodel Bs were produced as
compared with approximately 95 of the ~1odcl E
in the same period. By September 1944 produc-
tion of the ~odd 8 was sched uled to reach a rate
of approximately 100 tanks per month , increasing
to '45 per month by December and continuing at
this rate until August '945. 8y this date, if
production had been allowed to proceed accord·
ing to plan, 2,179 Tiger ~lodcl8s were scheduled
to have been produced si nce January 19'~+ a lone
6
Tif!:"r E co....... nd"r·. po.llio... with 8rue1d from roof
",moved. The .u:ociliary tnn'"ue h.ndwh....! can be !Ie"" Ilt
th" c.,..tre of the p;ctu"" with the rod CODnectia~ the cupola
'clock ...,.]". to th" turret r.ck sll~ht l)' to the Idt of it, (RAC
Tank Muae..... )
11(1.0"
Lo.d"r'. view of the .n.aj • • •d ~DaI arm.un_ ; th e
canv •• tray for CIllchlnp,: ejected abeU aUln can be 1Ift!. . .t
bottom left, .owl th e b.d. of the lo.du's ru ..... f.cia~ .ea' at
II." risht . (RAC T.nk Munu.m)
and this vehicle was meant to form approximately
five per cent of the total German AFV production
for the first eight months of '945. I n fact, the
maximum monthly output was 84 tanks in
August '944, and this had tailed off by f\ larch
'945 to only 25 tanks, due chieny to non-receipt
of components (mai nly bulls and turrets) from
the Ruhr. The lotal number of Tiger Model Bs
produced was 484.'1
The delay between the production order and
the first delivery arose because of the need for
Henschel to liaise closely with ~AN concerning
the interchangeability of components with the
proposed Panther II project, in which the latter
were closely involved. The rcsulu of this liaison
were apparent in the ~ l odcl 8's external
appearance, which suggested lineal descent from
the Panther rather than the ;\ Iodel E. The
already completed I'orsche turrets were uscd on
the first 50 production models. following which
the domcstic Henschel turret was fitted as
standard: the I)orsche turrct had a rounded front
which cou ld deflect a shot down through the thin
roof armour of the driving compartmenl, whereas
the Henschel version's nat, slightly back-sloped
front avoided this danger. &th turrets took the
shape of a blunled oval in plan, the rear third
consisting of a bustle used primarily as convenient
stowage for the heavy ammunition.
At 68.7 tons the Tiger B was the heaviest tank
to ellter general service during the Second World
War and this, together with its sheer size,
severely inhibited its operational usc, I t was
driven by the same V.12 Maybach HL230 P30
engine fitted to later models of the Panther,
producing 6oo/7oohp, and was thus under-
powered, although it cou ld reach a top speed of
'EJ[rr:octro from Illtdligence \olts 0If f.Jonrt~ lifTs prc:parro from
caprllrro docume:nu snd rccc:i,'ro by the: Brirish School or T ank
Technology ()Il 21 Jun~ I !H~; now hdd bv RAe Tank Mu~um.
Bo-.inl;lQn
i
 23·5mph on good, hard, level going. Being longe r
than the Model E, it was carried on a torsion bar
suspension supporting nine bogies per side, over-
lapping but not interleaved. Maximum armour
thickness was .85mm on the turret front, with
'50mm on the glacis and Somm on the angled
hull and turret sides.
For all its size and weight the Tiger B would
have pa led into insignificance beside some of the
heavy tank projects which had their roots in
Hit ler's increasingly disturbed brain, none of
which were ever completed, although work on a
prototype Eloo was staned; had it been pro-
duced the vehicle would have weighed '40 tons
and carried a '50mm main armament with a
75mm gun mounted co-axially. Lest this idea be
considered the ultimate in phantasmagoria, it
should also be mentioned that se rious discussion
took place concerning a [,5oo-ton tank which
was to have been powered by four V-boat
engines! Only slightly less bizarre was the Ram-
Tiger idea, originating in lhe street fighting at
Stalingrad, which would have produced a son of
mechanized baltering-ram intended to bring
bui ldings down on top of their defenders.
A few Tigers "ere supplied to the l lalian
Army but were quickly taken back into German
service when Italy requested an armistice wi th
the Allies; Spain a lso acquired several, General
Franco being careful to give a calcu lated
impression of sy mpathy with the Axis cause.
Those vehicles which survived the war in running
order saw limited se rvice with thc French Army
and were then used as targets on French gunnery
ranges.
Special purpose vehicles
The Tigers were not suitable for conversion to
other roles, nor was it really intended thai tbey
should be. The two most notable variants, the
Sturm tiger (Assauh Tiger) based on the lvlodel
E and the Jagdtiger (Hunting Tiger) based on
the ~1 odcl B, are discussed in Vanguard No '2 ,
Sturmartillrnt and Pan-ttrjagtr. However, a number
of l\todcl Es were converted to the Bergepanzer
(armoured recovery vehicle) role, and examples
of both models were equipped as Panzer-
befehlswag en (armoured command vehicles)
by the ins tallation of additiona l radios.
8
.
Details oft b .. Tig .. r E'. ""..vatin g .... ck . nd bandwbeel ; tb ..
t .... v ...... ins- han d wh eel can be ..1I!ftI .t t op ['"-ft, w ith th ..
c linom ete r an d binOSCGpic .. ight . (R AC T . nIr. M .. "",UJJI)
">:tOW
Driv.. r'. poII it;(M> s b o wing in 8f ru m .... t pan ..1 . net g:... r
... Iecto r I .. v .. r. Sp.~ vi.ion b lock .........towed .bov., t b ..
m Mnu...,n u. (RA C Tank M .. _m)
The Ti gers Descri bed
THE TIGER E
Armour
Following examination of sam ples taken from a
captured model in September [943, the British
consultan ts reached these conclusions:
' In all the samp les so far examined the armour
steel is of a Iype not hithcl"lo encounlered in the
investigation of German lank armour. T he main
points of interest arc as follows:
'( i) T he usc of homogenolls instead of face-
hardened plate for the frail tal armour, which is a
logical developmcnl in thick armour designed to
provide protection against large-calibre capped
projectiles.
'(ii) The high chromium and molybdenum
content.
'( iii ) Thc high carbon content, which is likel y to
give rise to welding difficulties.
' Pend ing further evidence, however, the bal-
listic propcrties of this type of German armour
wou ld seem to be at least comparable with good
machinable quality armour of the sa me thickness.
'Thcre is no protection for the turret ring other
than that provided by the front platc of Ihe
superstructure, the upper edge of which extends
about 2il1. above the level of the superstructure
roof. '
A further report, preparcd about the same
time, comments that 'The introduction of plate
interlocking in addition to thc normal stepped
jointing is a distinct development in AFV
construction.'
Of particular interest are the results of firing
trials carried Out against the armour of a cap-
tured Tiger E with every high.velocit y anti-tank
weapon then in service with the \\'estern Allies.
The Amcrican 37mm gun barely succeeded in
penetraling the thinner rear armour at 400 yards.
The British 6pdr. penetrated the rear at 1,500
yards, but on ly got through the side armour at a
range of 500 yards willi shots angkd at 30° and compartment, the upper wedge-shaped, the
more. The British and American 75mm guns lower rectangular. All four tanks werc coupled
were effective against the side armour at 700 and held a total of 125 gallons. »('trol consump-
yards, but the American 3in. gun fitted to the tion averaged 2.75 gallons per mile across
:\11 0 tank destroyer was capablc of penetrating country.
the nank at 1,400 yards at angh."s of 50' and Two alternative starting systems could bc
more, as well as the rear at '2,500 yards with go employed: an electric 21-volt axial motor,
angle of impact. The best performance was operated from the driving compartment and
provided by the British 17pdr ... which found no located on the right of the enginc at its forward
difficulty in penetrating hull and turret side and end, and a Bosch inertia starter similar to that
rear armour at I,goo yards. I n no instance was fitted to the PzKpfw 11, III and IV. The latter
the frontal armour penetrated. 1'\0 figures are was turned by a crank handle inserted through
available for the gomm gun filled to the M36 the tail plate and swung by one or twO men, the
tank destroyer specifically to combat the Tiger, geared reduction between the starler flywheel
but the results would have been comparable with and the main crankshaft being much greater than
the '7pdr. gun. On the Eastcrn front the Red that on earlier tanks because of the obviously
Army's 12211lm gun, fitted to the.JS series and greater effort involved.
the SU 122, provided some improvement on this A hydraulically opcral<.'d prc-selcctor May-
as although its muzzle velocity was lower than bach Olvar gearbox was cmployed, giving eight
that of the 17pdr. (2,562 ft/scc as opposed to forward and four reverse gears, used in con-
2,950 ft /sec) it relied to a greater extent on the junction with thrce hydraulic cylinder selectors,
mass of its round to achieve its effect. thus providing tht.. widest possible flexibility. For
the driver's guidance a metal strip was moumed
Automotive on the gearbox, inscribed:
The early .Model Es were powered by the .:\1ay-
bach HL 210 21-litre engine, but it was soon
realized that this lacked the necessary power and
it was replaced by the IlL 230, which had a
capacity of 24 litres. The ilL 230 had an
aluminium cylinder block, crank case and piston To this the User Handbook provided thc key:
heads, although the connecting rods were made 'The figures within the diamonds correspond to
of steel. Like all German tank engines it was the hydraulic cylinder of each selector. The
designed for operation in temperate climates and figures on the left of the diall10nds in each case
experience gained in the hot, dusty conditions of represent the number of the gear engaged with
North Africa wilh thc .\hybach engines of thc the respective selectors in the forward position.
PzKpfw III and I V led to those Tigers sent to The figures on the right of the diamonds repre-
Tunisia being fitted with the feifd air filter sent the gear engagcd with the selectors in the
system, which was atlached to thc rear of the rear position'. The rcv('rsc ratios were obtained
vehicle and connected with the enginc by promi- by shifting the drive change lever through
nent trunking which crossed the engine deck. neutral into the real' position.
The end of hostilities in Tunisia removed the Because of the Tiger's grcat weight a simple
necessity offitling the Feifel system. clulch-and-brake steering mechanism was con-
The engine was water cooled, the total capacity sidered unsuitable. Instead , a hydraulic re-
of the system being 16 gallons. Two linked generative controllcd-difft'T('ntia l steering unit
radiators were located onc each side of the cngine was employed, similar to the l\lcrritt-Brown
compartment and through these air was dra\vn system installed in til(' British Churchill. the
by four fans driven by the timing gears, and driver using his sleering wh<.·cI to impose different
expelled through grilles in the engine deck. Two speeds on the sun-whel."ls of the epicyclic gearing.
pelrol tanks were fitted at each side of the engine This system provided two turning radii in each
'0
gear but, as already mentioned. resulted in a
com pie-" final drive \\hieh abwrbed valuable-
construction time and was difficult to maintain.
If the power steering failed, the driver could
resort to two steering levers which actC'd upon the
vebicle brakes, but these were intended for
emergency usc only.
The service track con~isted of 96 twin-horn
manganese stecllinks 725mm wide and extended
beyond the hull , producing an overall vehicle
width of 12ft 3i n. This was 100 wide for rail
transit , for which a narrower 520mm track had to
be fitted, the serv ic(' tracks travelling on the same
rail nats as their vehides. With the se rvice track
the eight bogie~ consisted of 24- wheels, inter-
leaved front to rear in the follo\\ing manner:
Outer front
:2 2 ':I. :2
2 :2 :2 ':I.
I nner rear
However, with the tramit track the outer wheels
Hall ra-ner/ radio operator's position in a Tiller E. The
macbine pro has a h_d-s:-d device for etevation., sin« both
huod s were needed for firi.nf; the 5"- and conlroUinfl: the
a .... m_n.itioo feed. Spare bell baAS are .10' _11 i_ the ~ __
&pace on lbe "lIhl. (RAe Tank M" • ..,.,",,)
from each bogie \\ ere removed, reducing the
number to 16, arranged as follows:
Outer front
, , , ,
Inner rear
The time quoted for changing a single track was
25 minutes, no doubt quite possible- on hard
standing in ideal conditions, but probably the
su bject of wry commen t in the field. Track
adjustmelll was oblainable through the cranked
mounting of the rear idler wheel, the draw bolts.
by means of which the adjustment was made,
being internally mounted but accessible from
outside by the «.'moval of a domed cover on each
side of the tail plate. Originally all wheels were
rubber-tyrcd, but in 1914 all-steel resilient wheels
"
[ Tif!:"r ' I] " , m u ch p h otof!:raph ed dt"r its CIIpt U", by British
were introduced a nd the ou ter set were aban-
doned. A poor [ea ture of the running gea r design
was the low centre of lhe drive sprocket, which
seve rel y curtai led the vehicle's obstacle-climbing
capability.
The T iger's dimensions denied it lhe use of
many bridges avai la ble to smaller tan ks; to
ci rcumven t this dimculty {he veh icle could be
sca led for wading submerged to a depth of 15fl.
with the aid of a long breathing tube, provided
the river bed was suitable.
Apart from the steeri ng a nd gear seiCClion
sysl<."ms already mentioned, the driver's contro ls
included a hand brake lever on his left and a
footbrakc pedal operated with his right fOOl; an
accelerator ped al; a mechanical clutch peda l
wh ich was power assisted when lhe engine was
running and whic h could be adjusted by means
of a hand wheel to his right rear; and a starter
ca rburetto r behind his scat. I nstrumenlS included
a tachometer marked to 3,500 rpm , 3,000-
3,500rpm in red, 1,300 2,5oorpm in green; a
speedome ter ca libra ted to Tookph; an oil pressu re
ga uge scribed up to 12kg per cubic cm ; water
t roop s in T u nisia. Th" ori~ ... 1 G.,rm ..... m.arkinf!:~ in dud"
t h ., " "avy Ta nk Com p a n y symbol, a.Hn h " r ., j u st to tb .,
rif!:h t of t h " Allied 1st Army !Jh.jel d a nd t h e black di a bol o
u,,!lis"la of2 3tb Tallk Brif!:ad". (RAC TIlIlk M use ..... )
temperature gauge from 40-1'20 degrees Centi-
grade; ignition s\",i tch a nd wa rning Lig ht ; lighting
switch es and fusc boxes; and, on the left of the
compartment, a gy roscopic directio n indica to r.
Drivi ng was described as a pleasure, the steering
being so lig ht tha t it could be controlled with
two fingers.
Gunne r y and Optical
The KwK 36 88mm L/56 gun was [7ft long,
contained 32 grooves with a ri gh t-hand twist, and
was fiued with a double-baffie muzzle-brake. A
sem i-automatic falling-bl ock breech was em-
ployed , th e weapon being fired electrically from
a control incorporated in th e elevating hand-
wheel. The trunnions were of spherical type and
recessed into the turret sides. Maxi mum elevation
was + 17° and maximum depression - 6.5°,
further movement in either direction being cur-
tailed by stops on the rear face of the ma ntiet,
which proj ec ted across the turre t side plates and
could be removed by the extractio n of four bolts.
The g un was muzzle-heavy in its mounting and
to compensate fo r this was linked to a balance-
spring in a cylinder which was bolted hori-
zontally to the right-ha nd upper segment of the
turret ring. In normal circumstances the recoil
cylinders were filled wilh Brtmsjlus$igktit Braun
(brown buffer (Juid ), but in conditions of severe
cold this was replaced by I3 rtmsjiu$.rigktit Arktisch
(Arctic buffer fluid ). Later it became the custom
to employ an equal mixture of both fluids , th e
fa ct being recorded by stencilling ilraun Ark on
the reco il cylinders; one SS unit is known to have
sten cilled this on the gu n sleeve, ex ternall y. The
gun was fitted with a recoil indica tor which
showed the maximum working recoil as 580mm.
In common with the Pz Kpfw III and IV a
number ofsa rety devices were employed , operat.
ing if (a ) the breech was not full y closed, (b) the
gun was no t fully run out and (c ) the recoil
cylinders were less than fu ll. A protective sh ield
Th" .am" ..." hid" 0 " "Y"Ill u a t ioo t rial. u" t h" UK, sb o w1.nf!:
d da.illi o f t h ., Fn rel ai r fi.]t ., r .Y""m.. (RAC T.1lk M ..,.., .. m )
was installed ror the gunner and commande r,
mounted ve rti call y rrom the root: A ca nvas bag
was slung beneath the breech , capa ble or holding
ten spent cases.
The 20·ton turret turned o n a crowded ball·
race incorpo rating 79 load·carrying balls or
40m m d iameter, alte rn a ting wit h 79 spacer balls
o r 39mm diameter. Beca use of the we ight
involved t he g unner's hand traverse was heavil y
gea red , requiring 720 turns to complete o ne
revolution. Some assista nce was available rrom Tis;e r E i .. ro ..&hl y .ppH.....DOw umou.&.."e, R ....i .. "prin"
the comma nder's linked auxi lia ry traverse hand- '943 ; not., lOB "I ... W.... on h ..U s id., . . .. ndiu:h.inB beam. This
; ~ probably .. tank of 'iI.{"PzAbf '50II. (Bu .. d e&archiv)
wheel, which required 595 turn s per revolution .
Turret locks we re avai lable at 11.30, 12 and
6 o'cloc k in the rorm or a spring.loaded plu nger ju nction with the I o'c lock to 12 o'clock scale
which engaged coincid ent holes. recorded around the inside or th e comma nder's
A two-speed powe r traverse sys tem was a lso cupola on a lOothed a nnular ring.
avai lable, the direct ion being comrollcd by a n Thi s sca le worked on th e cou nler· rotaUon
unco mrortabl c roc ker p la te activated by the princi ple . Wh en the turret was traversed a
gun ne r's root. Powe r was drawn rrom the main pilljon which also engaged the teeth of the turret
drive shaft by mea ns or a hydraulic cou pling rack drove the scale in the opposite direction but
wh ich could be swi tched in b y a hand leve r. a t the sa me speed, so tha t the figure 12 remained
The gun ner's binocu lar te lescopic sig ht was in constan t al ignment wi th th e hull 's cemreline,
a rticu la ted and had a mag nifica tion or 2.5 and a looking direc tl y rorward . This enabled the com·
field o r 23 . I t was calibrated from 0 - 4,000 metres ma nder to determine the bearing or his next
for the m :tin armament :md 0 1,200 metres ror target and inro rm t he gu nne r accord ingly. T he
the co· axia l machine g un . The sight incorporated gunner would then traverse on to the bearing
two tra nsparent discs, on one or which the range o rde red, usi ng his traverse indicator, and wou ld
scales were inscribed around th e circum rere nce. find t he g un approxima tely 'on' ror line.
This d isc was turned until the appropria te range The cupola itsclr provided the commande r
was se t against a pointer, the action simul- WiUl aU-round vision through five horizontal
taneou sly rai sing o r lowering th e second plate vision slits mcaslll'ing 7li n. by tin., a sighting
which contained , centrall y, the aiming and lay- strip being incorporated in the rorcmost visor.
off marks. Then , using his traverse and elevation All visors were or greelH inted bullet-proor glass
controls, the gun ne r p laced the aiming m ark and were easily replaced but, oddly, no latched
against the target. armoured shutters were p rovided ror their
A rurther aid to good gunnery was a clinometer pro tection, as on earlier German tanks.
with an illuminated bu bb le, loca ted o n lhe The Tiger E stowed 92 rounds or main arma·
gunner's right. This was gradua ted to 400 mils ment ammunitio n , as rollows:
(22.5°) in elevation a nd to 100 mils (5 .625°) in Horizontally in two bins, rorward at tach side,
depression , the lalter being shown in red , as well each holding 16 ro unds 64
as inco rporating a metric scale rrom 0--8,000 Horizon ta ll y on fl oor in two bins at tach side,
me tres. I n contras t to this comparatively sophisti- each holding ... rounds 16
ca ted piece or(." quipment, a rud imen tary traverse In bin under fl oor 6
ind icator graded rrom I o'clock to 12 o' clock was I n pannier a longsid e driver 6
located on the gunner's left, being driven by a
pinion from the turret rack. :\ Io re fittingl y As wi th mos t German AFVs the hull mach ine-
d escrib<.-d as a turret or ta rget position indica to r, g un was breech·hea vy in ilS mount ing, this being
th is instrument was intend ed ror use in con· partially corrected by a spring and a shaped
,3
Two v;e-w .. ofd.~,,~ orTi!~r E 'xp' orth ~ h~ .vy compan y,
SS- Div. ' 0.. R~c" ', c. r ryio:l! o ut .... utin~ d~. nin! and
m .... t ~ ...... c:e of .r .... ... ea t . nd o pti c:.. in Ra n ia. F~bruaryl
M . rch ' 943; ~ . 1... PI. t~ 8 •. Apart from th~ c:o ... rn.Dd~ r,
IOn SS-H".pl. c:I•• rfo "rll:r (_ rra .. t o ffi cer) thll: crew a r~
nOfic:no bl y you t hf\ll . (ECPA)
head-piece. In all 5,230 rounds of machine-gun
ammun ition were carried, disposl'd around the
vehicle in 34 bags each containing onc [50-rOund
belt.
Three smoke grenade dischargers were fitted
on each side of the turret. Th ese were fi red
electrica ll y by three buttons in boxes fitted to the
turret roof on eithe r side of the commander's
seat.
THE TIGER B
Armour
'The turret and hull construction has been
accomplished from a minimum number of plates
and a limited number of plate thicknesses.
Ac tually only six plate thicknesses have been
employed ( ISonllu, 150mm, lOomm, 8omm,
40mm a nd 2smm). Considerable effort seems to
,I
have been direc ted towards the usc of sloped
plates, and it wou ld appear that the Germans
considered a slope of20 25 to be worthw hile. In
the case of the thick platcs, i.l'. 150mm and
t80mm, the hardness figurc..'S arc lowl'r than a ny-
thing previously tnl't in Gl'rman armour pracllce,
whercas the pannier side plate is approximately
in line with recently examined Panther armour.
The mantlet design is unusual and is onc of the
most interesting features of the tank. It represents
a d istinct departure from previous German
practice and is worthy of sp(:cial considerat ion .
T he immunity shou ld be ofa very high standard
and particu lar attcnt ion sel'ms to havl' been given
to the design in order to avoid the deflection of
hits from the mant let in to the hull roof. It wou ld
be difficul l lO jam th(' mantIct under attack,
m her than by penetration o r a t least ncar-
penetration, and b('('ause or the bell-shaped
protector casting such a hit would be difficu lt to
obta in'. I
, b.tr:an..d fmlll Apl)f'ndtx I" II) II·", O.ffi<t T """u,,/ I,,I,I/'I"te! .5~m"..ry
\. ,61. dau-d 7 I.... brll;o.n "Ir,·

The COInmander Or'3311' a nd a n Army o ffi cer .,,.a rn;nin~ Ih.,
Ti!!.,r'" .,,,,b a u ,,,,,; nole placinJlj or naliona l and divisi ona l
in " i!!"';a on rear huU pl.le, (ECPA)
Automotive
The ;\Iodt'l S's automotive layollt rollowed
closely that or the ,\lode! E, with numerous
improv(,ments. The capacity or the engine's
water coo lin g system was increased to 25 gallons,
the fan arrangement being ve ry sim ilar to that or
the Pamher. [75 gallons or ruel were carried,
housed in seven interconnected tanks as rollows:
1 tank agains t rear wall or engine compartmem
19 gallons; 2 tanks (upper) aga inst len and
right walls or engine compa rtment (6-'J. gallons) ;
2 tanks (10\\ er) against len and right walls or
engine compartment ( 17 gal lons) ; 2 tanks against
fighting compartment bulkhead (75 gallons),
The common filler pipe was located in the
cen tre or the engin e compartmt'llt. On the road
the Tiger B would consume 1,77 gallolH per mile,
and across country 2,48 ga llons per mile.
In addition to the elcc\I'ic and inertia starlers,
the .Model B cou ld also employ all emergency
petrol starting engine ( h'lIrbdwtlltll-Btn;:il/an-
lossa ) , This was positioned on two bracke ts close
to the rear end of the c rankshan, which was
engaged by dogs, Use of the electric Slarter in
extreme cold was discouraged. and in these
circumsta nces the inert ia starter was used in
conjunction with a petrol injection apparatus.
t>. Ii nimum engine operating temperatu re was se t
at 50 Cl'migrade. maximum 95 and norma l
85 '
'The ge neral assembly of the sllspe nsion units
is similar to that employed in the Tiger E. and the
only important departure in suspension design is
the use of overlapped bogie wheels, as distinct
from the overlapped and interleaved system
found in the Panther and the Tiger t>. todel E, It
is to be assumed that interleaving has been
abandoned on this veh icle by reason of the
difficulties encountered in suspension maIn-
tenance and further through the problem of
wheel jamming in shingle and boggy cOllntry.
There can be little doubt that the tyre loading.
particularly with syn thetic rubber, would han'
bel'!l prohibitive in a vehicle of this size and the
sleel -tyred resilient wheels h.-.ve offered the best
solution to the problem, Captured German
documents indicate th at the resilient wheel has
been designed to conserve ruhber'. I
The vehitk was provided with a set or
narrower tracks for transit by rail, but as the
bogie units were less wide than those of the ;-.lodel
E the track changing operation was simplified by
not having to remove the outer wheels.
Wheel arrangement took the following patlern:
Outer front 2 2 2 2 2
2 2 2 2 Inner rea r
Gunnery and Optical
The Kw K 4-3 88111111 L/ 71 gun was widely
regarded as the Ix-st all-round tank gu n of the
war. The barrel had a length of 20ft 7in., con-
tained 32 grooves with a righthand twist and
was fitted with a double-banlc muzz le-brake: the
breech was of the scmi-automatic railing-block
type, The problems facing designers ordered to
install such a large weapon in a turret capahle of
a ll-round traverse were considerable and con-
cerned not only lhe installation itself but also the
prac ticality of loading the gun with long, heavy
rounds in a confined spacc. It was, for example,
immcdiately obvious that not only was the piece
going to be muzzle heavy, but also that its weight
was going to throw the turret out of balance by
bearing heavil y on its leading edge,
Fortunatel y the chassis \\as wide e nough 10
accommodate a large turret ring, the internal
diamter of which was 6ft lin, The front of the
turret was then built out, leaving- a gap of 14tin.
'Ibid. On Ihl' LMll'm hont fompactcd ' flOW a nd icc alllO a. u~d
wheet jamn""1!
,,-.
 ~;:; "~."

t,

'r " , ..

HtD!K'hel KO";Sllis",r turret-elevation. (RAe T.nk

Mus"",,,,)

between the inside of tht" turret front plate and to such merry-making being vaguely disapprov-
the inside of the turret ring, so allowing the mg.
trunnions to be mounted well forward and thus The gun could be elevated to + 15 and de-
giving the loader room in which to work . To pressed to 8, 6.5 turns of the elevating hand-
compensate for this further frontal weight it wheel giving 5 in cithcr direction. The same two-
lurret bustle was added to the rear, holding 22 speed power traverse system was used as on the
rounds of main armament ammuniLion and so ~Iodel E. A complete 360 traverse in high ra tio
providing an cffcClive counter-weighl. ~Iuzzle "ilh an engine speed o f 2,ooorpm took 19
heaviness was corrected by a venical hydro- seconds, the f..'tStesl timc avai lable; a range of
pneumat ic cylinder installed to the right rear of lower speeds resul ted from various other combi-
the gun mounting. nations, the slowcst bcing 77 seconds in low ratio
The spent-case deflector shield was hinged at wit h an engine speed of I,ooorpm. It required
the breech and spring-loaded catches held it 700 turns of the gunner's traverse handwheel to
steady in either the dropped or the firing position. complete one revolution of the turret, this being
Ingenious usc of it could be made by the loader linked to an auxi lia ry hand wheel which was
who, having withdrawn a round from the turret worked by the loader and which required a mere
bustle, would rcst the base on the shield which, 680 turns there was a saying that more .Model B
given a sharp upward jerk, would then deliver it turret crews died of overwork than as a result of
into the breech. enemy action.
The recoil indicator showed the normal reco il The gunner's sight was a monocular telescope
distance as being 530mm ( 20~in. ) and the Type TFZ gel which provid<.'d either a x 3 or a
maximum permitted 580mm (22j-in. ). If th e x 6 magnification, operating on the principle
crew were fecling part icula rly frivolous the already described. On some versions t he number
deflector shield would be lowered and the recoil of aim-off marks on the aiming plate varied. The
forces used to shoot a spent case straight out of rangc plate was marked around its circumference
the breech and through thc open escape hatch at in the following manner, the AI' scales being
the rear of thc turret bustle, thc official aldlude diametrically opposed to the HE :
 °
APCBC: 3,000 in red, 200m intervals
°
APCR: 3,000 in green, 200m intervals
HE (percussion) : 0 5,000 in black, loom intervals
HEAT: 0 -3,000 in yellow, loom intervals
Officially, those ~lodeJ Bs fiued with Porsche
turrets stowed 78 rounds or main armament
ammunition, those with the Henschel turret R1-
rounds. However, there seem to have been
departures rrom this sca le as two Henschel
versions captured by the US Army in October
1944 had provision for on ly 70 rounds each,
disposed as rollows:
I n \crt rront sponson beside driver, nose rorward
(6) ; in left sponson, centre or fighting compart-
mcnt, nose to rear (7); in rcar sponson, ccntre or
fighting compartment, nose rorward (I I); in
right rorward sponson beside operator, nose
rorward (6); in right sponson, centre or fighting
compartment, nose to rear (7 ) ; in rcar sponson,
centre or fighting compartment, nose rorward
( II ) ; in turret bustle,lert, nose rorward ( II ) ; in
turret bustle, right, nose rorward ( [ [) .
Much or this was extremely inconvenient and
the turret bustle was obvious ly the prime source of
ready-usc rounds, being replenished rrom the
I,
sponsons when time allowed.
The APCBC projectilc was fired at a muzzle
velocity or 3,340ft/sec and could penetrate
'gomm armour set back at 30' al a range or2,400
yards. The figure 92 was stencilled in white or
yellow on the projectile and 'S.Bcrn KwK 43
I>ak 43 43/ 1/2/3' in black on the case. The HE
(percussion projectile was stencilled in black
'Ig IV RS'. A tota l or h800 rounds (32 belts) or
machine-gun ammunition were a lso stowed.
Some v('hicles, including ~Iodcl Es, carried Ihree
'S' mines which were thrown by dischargers, but
their usc was by no means universal.
The command('r's cupola contained seven
cpiscop('s, as oppos('d to vision blocks, the ror.
ward cpiscop(· incorporating two venical vanes
giving a line of sight parallel with the gun barrel;
occasionally lhis was llsed in conjunction with a
blade roresight welded to the rront or the turret
roor, but the arrangemem was a personal one.
The installation ofcpiscopes meam that since the
commander's head was now below the cupola he
had a direct view or the gunner's traverse
indicator and it was therefore possible to dispense
with the counter-rotating clock scale.
11 1'
1
- ..,1 I
:l I[
l
, Or
J J r
/
/ 1
,7
The Tigers Assessed
The common opmlon among Western lank
experts during the Jast years of the Second \,"orld
War was that 'Th( P7Kpfw VI with its heavy
armour, dual-purpose armament and fighting
abi lity is basica ll y an excellent lank a nd con-
s titutes a considerable advance- on any tank that
we have tried. Its greatest weakness is probably
the limit imposed on mobilit y 0\\ ing to its weight.
width and limited range of aClion. Taking it all
round, it prese n ts a very formidab le fighting
machine which shou ld not be unde r-rated.'
Over 30 years on, and in the light of user
expe ri ence one can only add a postscript to the
effect that a degree of difficulty in servicing
certain aspects of the vehicle was accompanied
by a high level of cnginc(' ring excellence.
Organization and Manning
Guderian's intention was that each Panzer
division should have its own organic Heavy
Bat talion; but in fact only lhe most favoured
Army and 55 Divisions ever received an allo-
Newly-arrived Till:er or 'lI/.P&Abc '502 0" Lhe Lcni"A"rad r ...... t ,
lI ........er '!MJ- Pai .. ted a U over i .. ractory.fiai",h ochre, will.
" m a ll black t .. r"'t .... mber., il loa" the Fe ud "y""em and a
rull com ple m e nt otS-mine diKha"l':er CUp!'. (B.... d."...rcbiv )
cation, since the supply of vehicles never
approach(:d the demand for them. The theoreti-
cal eSlablishm('nt of tilt· Heavy Battalions
included battalion headquilrtt'rs with three tanks,
and four companies c;Jeh \\ith h"o com pan y
headqua rters tanks and three four-tank platoons,
giving a tota l of 59 T igel"\. I n the event battalions
considel'(xl Ihemselvt"S to be luck y if they
possessed suffic ient vehides to form their third
company.
When fonned, some Heavy Baltalions were
actually ('quipped with Pz Kpfw III AlIsr.~s
until their Tigers arrivcd. The PzKpfw 111:\
mounted an 1.{2\ 75mrn howitzcr inherited from
the early mode ls of the PzKpfw IV which had
once t'quipped ,he Il eavy Companies of the
standard Pam~er battalions, and the issue there-
fore had SOllle historical justificat ion. These
vehicles lingel't'd on in battal ion and company
headq uaners long aftel' Tigers began ['caching
their units regularl y. (5ee alw Vanguard f\os [6
and [8, TI" Pallzcrkampjwaf!,tn III and The
PanZtr!..ampjwIIgm "'. )
The Army formed one Replacement and
Training 1I <"<lvy Baltalion Schuwe PallZtT' Ersatz-
und-. lushifdungs . lhle/lun,S: 500 s pzErs-u-Ausb.
Abl. 500 ' based at Paderborn. and II inde-
pendcnt Hcavy Batta lions (s PzAbl. ) numbered

501 to 511. The initial allocation of Tigers to
favoured divisions enabled them to form one
Heavy Compan y. Thus, the thrcc·batlalion
Panzer Regiment ' GrQssdrlltsrhlrmd' added an
additional compan y to ils establishment ( 131PR
'GO'), the \\ hole of the regiment's third balta lion
being- converted to the heavy role in Deccmbn
19+4 and rc-dcsignatcd spzAbt. 'CD' , During
Operation :{}ta(/f llf the I . SS·Pan zer-Oivision
' Leibstanda rtf . Ido!! Ihtftr' also added a 13th
Company to its Panzer regiment ( 13/SS.PR I
' LSSAH ') and the two-battalion Panzer regiment
of the then 2. SS-Panzcr-Crcnadier-Division
< Vas Reich' converted its 8th Company, which
was rcfern'd to as 8/s pzKp Criger) 2. 55-PGD
. DaJ Rm lt '. Later the SS formed three inde-
pendent Ilcavy Battalion s of their own (sSS-
PzAbt. ) numbered 10! to 103 (bllt sometimes
referred to as 501 to 503 ) and these generally
fought in support of the SS Panzer Corps.'
The Heavy Battalions were employed at the
discretion or senio r commanders for specific lasks
or to stiffen particularl y imporlant sectors of
front. Frequently single companies wne detailed
for operations, their idemity being recorded as a
prefix to their battalion number. Thus !/s pzAbt.
504- refers to the 1st Compan y, 50'lth Hea\ y
Tank Batta lion , and 2/sSS-PzAbl. 101 to the 2nd
'Wh lk 001 Sl riCl h rd('.; ~n l 10 our '10 r\ il il ...·ort h rn .. ntio n illll. (h "l
on(' ond('P<'nd('" I J alld liJl;('r !)atl ahon .~ 12'
Stllrmlilt;tf(-oonpan if'S' I(lUO a nd 1001 '
I
Rounded whit e turret numbers (ris bt ) probably indicate
.. PzAbt .,509:. whicb arrived on tbe l':a"I<' ", . "ront in the
autumn or '9-13, The se Ti!;:ers are .1.0 fiued wilb S_rnine
dl"cbar!;:e", intended ror u se wbe .. tbe t.nk wa. in the
..... ult role and was deep in s id e tbe enemy position. How_
eve r, . ince tbe Heavy Saualio ofj fou !;: ht deren s ively for the
most pare after KUr!!ik, there waS little need ror c.bue
dan!;:erou"ly irnpareial w ea pon s, and they were dl ...
contin ue d . (Bundearchiv)
Compan) , 101 St SS Hca\-y Tank Battalion.
Service in the Heavy Battalions was regarded
as being a signal honour and recruitment was by
means of selection from volunteers, of wh ich Ihere
was never a shortage. The battalions themselves
possessed a tre mendous tSpn't dt corps and the
majority chose to identify themselves by some
individual symbol , whi ch was painted on their
vehieles when time allowed, The coveted
Knights' Cross was won by no less than 50 Tiger
c rewmen, sevcn of whom werc later awa rded the
supplementary Oakleaves and one , the legendary
:\ Iichacl Willmann , the Swords.
I t was, perhaps, a little resented by vehicle
commanders in less dramatic branches of the
Panzerwafl"c that service in a Heavy Battaljon
could quickl y elevate it man to the status of
' lank ace', The a ce system was regarded as being
unrea listic by the W('Stem Allies, who looked on
each kill as be ing the resuh of teamwork by an
entire crew \\ hieh would , in the nature of things,
changt, whi l(' the commander a lone received the
"alo aoo formro. and 1... 0
CUlllul a tiv(' henefit of their combined efforts. Tht'
 ~: 01, .o"'m' ... ~~ ""~, '" ,•• M '~m I<h~B
wid .," ".eM .. t. O~ .. " .1 o~," m~8_

Ow f,~~ o·..• ~ ..'h"·

.'.'I.~ . •on4.,,, I OMyo'l o~f ,."" 0.,10" I.~o~
deu PO'~"'Q""O; •• ,~ .... , ","dO'" Obi,.'.'"
"' ...... k~",~' •. 10'"" ,."., d.o"~.,....m." ..... n·
w,o d." _"'., ,...ril" ~"d ... 0..,1,"

.ou.'
",., M" 08.".", F"n .... ~.""~ ".".'
",., " ........ d .... Sl"."~"o" 'o~.'
on ... 80,d"I,,"0 ~nd "'!H,nl,,8~lolI. '0".

P"'I" ..... b.,,~Q~~.". ""hi 01.~·

lo<. Z""d"~.oub.,, '0" H" .. d en, In.,,'
Z,,"d"'''''vb,," dU'/I" " •• ", h",,,,,I.~."'
~.J~r',,"d ••• o~ ...... d .. ":,.n.,,
Kop·,,,"d., "'eM ...... ,.... "" •• " ....... '
lO<I .,"d "'."bo,. Ge"h"OI. o.,""•• ,eMI .. '
"'0"" 0" mol S''''''O'',"cI"nt<'ubl 0 b,I(~""M"al

G."n,,'"" fl.' '" d,. H<llI.'''"OI" .llmml'"

8. ' MI" .. ",Io~ •• "'
8.,,,, l"d." fv",,,no,,,,O n"~1 b."oS."'
P" .... ·0'0"" ' .3" ",.,t. ..
O« .... , ... ,ft., SP"II'
Pon .. '~r"nOl. 40 "'''''''''0'"'
Hl·G,u",,'. _,' 0''''''
\pro"ggron",. ", Ollb'
"'o"OO",unO nur m,' dim 1''''"".1 ., ..".111"'
"'Q<~ d ..... £""Qd.~ .."odor , ~,~t ' Q~f o....
.... "og.' u~d "'"',"n ~b9.b.~·

P'"p;e S4 of ,h., Ti8erfibd handbook. oKerinp; advin: Oil Lh e

.....,optid..... Care and maintenance of ammu.nition. The
' ... oraJ· ., the bOHo ... m .), be I_ I), transl.led lOS:
' Whet h e .. bJooode, bl.eII, white o r P;"')" nul..:. fass of he... s
you wowd ),our b .. ide. 'I1I e ..... WI will be seo"'", ....... ; 0...,
1000ch of ,hi 6l1ser, . nd . h e CIOlch es fino !' (RAe Tan.Io
Museu m )
prOVision of hero·(jgures \\-as, however, co n-
sidered to be an essential dement in maintaining
German civi lian morale and the sy~tem remained
in use to tIl(' end. \V hatever one's views o n its
wisdom, th e fact remains that the aces were
extremely capable vehicle commanders.
At the more work·a·day level, the crews
of T iger tanks we re presenled with a humorous
aide-memoire to their respective duties, the
Tigerfibtl or Tige r Primer. Written in ' Landser-
deutsch' (i.e. service slang, the German soldi er's
name fo r himself being La ndser), the booklet
cOlllainro numerous 'do's a nd don't..<;' for eve ry
crew mcmber, easi ly.rcmcm bered rhyming
mottoes, a nd cartoons amo ngst which a nubile
blonde lady, frequent ly naked, urged the reader
to grea ter efforts.
'o ll)
The Tiger in Action
Fighting a Tiger successfu lly was a team effort to
a greate r ex te nt th a n with any othe r vehicle, all
crew membe rs being acti vely involved with the
possible exception of th e radio opera tor who,
beyond attending to his sets and the hull
machine-gun, cou ld make o nly a limited contri-
bution. Th is is illustrated by the following inci-
dent, based on an ac tion carri ed out by I.cutnant
l\l cyer of l/s PzAbl. 502 nca r Len ingrad on 17
February 1943.
A KV· I ha s moved into positio n behind a
wood and the Tiger has been detailt-d to deal
with it. The comma nder decides to lea ve the
wood o n his right and sets the vehicle in mOlion ,
choosing his gro und carefull y: ' Dri ver advance!
Keep to the left of tha t bank now, speed u p !'
The engagem(, nt will ta ke place at close range
and he choost'S Ihe appropria te ammun ition :
' Load AP 40!' Obed ie ntl y the loader selects a
black- nosed round from the nearest bin , bracing
himself aga inst the tank's motion. He lays the
round in the breech-trough and rams it into the
chambcr with his fist; the breech closes noise-
lessly.
Thc commander peers through his vision slilS.
They arc almost past the wood and there it is!
T he K V is at thc far corner, exchanging shots
with the German anti-tank gunners; a round
strikes as he watches, nying off the thick castings
high into the air. 'Driver, halt!' The Tiger comcs
to an abrupt standstill, ilS gun barrel d ipping as it
rocks on ilS suspension. The sca le around thc
cupola indicatcs the angle of the target. 'Traverse
hard riglll threc o'clock!' The gunner switches
in the high-speed power traverse and jams his
right foot on the rocker plrltc. 'Rev up!' His Acti on ,, ~u~ce IIho~n~ Ti~er. pr.rfo nning IItanda rd fi r ....
a nd_movem en, drill .11 ' hey a d v.nce , o w a rd" a b .. rning
warning to thc drivcr is not necessary. The latter viUa~e. Th e I.,.din g v",hi de h all m oved on lO . n in' e r tnedia' e

knows what is coming and a lready the engine ere,,,, cover ed b y , h e second l a nk . (Bund ..... rchiv)

note is rising to 2,ooorpm. The power take-oH" In ,hi,. n ext pi ct u re , he seco nd la llk h .s aIso m oved u p to
t h e cre .. t .. nd i s i n a good hull-down pos ition, u .. in ~ Ih e low
from the drive shaft begins to hum as the heavy b a nk al t h e " id e of t he d irt ro .. d . Th e lert klon d t .. nk i s too
turret turns. 'Tank ' 400 metres!' The com- rar rorw....! .. nd coul d be r ever8l!d ,,,",veral yard .. ~lhn " l
i m pairi ng ils performan ce. (Bu ndesarchi v)
mander completcs his fire order.
The gunner watches his traverse indicator until
it shows thrce o'clock, then releases the rockcr
plate and grips the hand traverse a nd elevat ion
con trol wheels as he peers into his binocular
sight. Thc K V fills the lens, and he chooses his
point of aim with care. Thc commander watches
the muzzle of the gun move very slightly to the
right and then drop a little as the fina l lay is
made. 'All safc loaded!' The loader has
complcted the safety drill. 'Fire!' 'Firing now!'
With the last word the gunncr depresses the firing
button.
Inside the vehicle the concussive explosion is
muted to a dull roar. The gun's recoi l is sensed
rather than seen. The empty case clangs oA' the
deflector shield and tumbles brassily onto others
in thc bag. Thc breech is open again, trickling A hatch flies open on the K V's turret and a
bluc·grcy smoke into the turret. man tries to scramble out. Densc smoke pours
For the gunner lhe target has bcen obscured through the aperture. He is almost clear when
by a cloud of snow kicked up by the blast of the the burning ammunition explodes, throwing the
wcapon, and now his vision is momentarily im- turret high into the air. The shock wave washes
paired by a drift of super-heated air from the over th(' Tiger.
muzzle-brake causing distortion. The com-
mander, however, has scen the Tiger con nected Unit Deploym e nt and O perations
to the K V by a slim lance of green tracer, lasting When ~Iajor Richard ~ I arker's IJspzAbt. 502
the merest fraction of a second; seen, too, the was ordered to the Leningrad sector of the
orange nash, tinged with red, that signalled a hit Eastern Front it was a company in name only ,
on the hull side, just bclo\\ the turret ring. consisting of fOllr 1\lodel Es, one PzKpfw III and
a sma ll echdon and workshops. De·training a t
i>. lga, sou th eas t of the city, on 29 Augllst 19+:.1, it
was commilt('d to action only hours later. Tht.,
next day horrified officers at OKH and OK\\'
learned that l'vt.'l'y single Tigcr in the ('ompally
had been knockt.'d out.
,\lthough in inyolullta ry reti l'l:,mcnt at the
time, Guderian obviously heard of the affa ir
short ly afte rwards and subst.'quently gave ven t to
his disgust in his memoirs, 'There is an old
military maxim to the eO'eet that if one devtiops
a new weapon system one mus t exercise con·
siderable patience so that mass production can
take place and mass altacks be made \\ hen the
appropriate moment comes. Hitler knew this
perfectly well; nonetheless, burning \\ith enthu·
siasm to tryout his huge new killers, he decided
to employ them on a front of secondary im·
portance, mort' specilically in a series of li mi ted
The denl a, S"O"S'" and plibe1l in Ib .. Zimm",n', aDd annour
of IheM: 1....10.. cODfinn tbe ferocity of tbe K ......l.eht.u:h' .. "
in whieb they baye been inyotyed. Th .. f .. n.her I .. nk h .... Ihe
original cupola, th .. n .. a .... r on .. the improved 'Version.
(Martin Windrow)
local attacks in an area of quite unsuitable going.
Il eav} avoidable losses were incurred and th e
benelit of surprisc in future actions was forfeited;
disappointment \\'a~ great but due to the nature
of the ground the attack can hard ly haw been
expected to succet.·d.>l
\luch of what Gudnian said was true, but
\\ hile there was no cause for celebra tion, neither
was th ere cause for deep despair. H is accoul1l has
given rise to the: sugg<'stion that the attack was
made in an area of soft, boggy goin g, but
photograp hic cvicknce shows dry, reasonably
firm gro und a nd , of cou rse, the autumn rains
were st ill some way 00'. On the other hand, the
tanks had been e:omm itted a long narrow forest
tracks bordered by dellse pine and lir and were
unable to give each other mutual lire suppOrt.
Again, the Russian anti·tank gunners facing them
were battle·hardencd, had not given way to
panic, knew the range to the metre and were good
;It the ir job, TIH'Y had gone first for the tracks and
when the Tigers had ground to a standsti ll had
'(;udrrian Eri"nn~nt'W ,,~,.\ SQldaltw,
 sent round after round at the front armour. They
had lIot succeeded in effecting a penetration,
although photographs reveal the use of heavy
ca libre ammunition, V('ry possibly 1'2'2mm. The
German crews had escap('d but returned at
night, blowing up Oil(' immovable vehicle to
prevent iL~ secrets falling into Russian hands, but
recovering three.
It has been poillled out that H itler did 1101
regard Leningrad as i.l front of seco ndary
importance he certainly nurtured a dcep loath-
ing for the city which had spawned Bolshevism
and that the Tiger offered a H.'al opportunity of
breaking the Red Army's iron ring of bunkers
and anti-tank guns. It was unfortunate that his
enthusiasm lacked the temper provided by
practical experience,
J\lleanwhile I/S02 was back in business, and
was not again commitled along an unsuitable
axis. Throughout the rest of the year the COIll-
pany's strength was slowly built up until on 12
January 19H it stood at four Tige~ and eight
PzKpfw I II AusD.1 and :"J. On that date the
Red Arm y launched a massive and carefu lly pre-
pared offensive designed to break the siege of
Leningrad, and the following day a distress call
was received from the 96th Infantry Division to
the e ffec t that it had been overrun by '24 T-34S ;
the formidable 'Snow Kings' found no diffic uily
in operating in the prevai li ng temperature of '28
below ze ro.
The situation was cri tical , and the four Tigers
under Oberleutnant Bodo von Gerdstell were
sent to the infanlry's relief. During a sharp
exchange of fire 12 1'-34S were blown apart and
the remainder turned tail and drove for their own
lines as th ey had never been driven before. Tiger
Company 1/502 had had their revenge and the
Snow King no longer reigned alone.
The Soviet oO"ensive lasted until 6 April and
the company was in action almost daily, receiving
a welcome reinforcement of three new Tigers on
5 February. When the Russians finally abandoned
their eflons they had lost a total of 675 tanks,
including T-'26s, T-345, KV-I s and li s, and
SU-I'2'2S. Of these 163, approxjrnatciy one-
quarter, were credited to 1/50'2, an incontestable
proof of the Tiger's effect iveness. On I I February
Ihe com pany ae('oullted for 32 or the 46 tanks
destroyed on the Leningrad front, while during
the three days 19 21 March it knocked out no
fewer than 40 T-34S. It was a truly remarkable
achievement for SO small a unit, aided to some
extent by the Ru ssians' unimaginative tendency
to attack repeatedly over ground on which they
had already been decisively repulsed.
Elsewhere, the deteriorating situation in North
Africa had led to the despatch of :\1ajor I-Ians-
Georg Lueder's sl)zAbt. 50 1 to Tunisia, the 1st
Company arriving at the end of November 194'2
and the 2nd followin g some weeks later. The first
thret' Tigers ashore joined the ad hoc balliegroup
which successfully foiled the All ied attempt to
se ize Tunis by coup de main, claiming their first
victories over British Crusaders and American
Lees during scrappy fighting around Tcbourba
between 1 <lnd 3 December. These vchicles
almost certainly belonged respecti vely to the
17th/'2lst Lancers and the US '2/13th Armored
Regiment, but the prt'sence of Tigers went largely
unrecorded by the Allied armour (though not by
the infantry) probably bcc."l.use those few who
had seen them were either dead or prisoners.
During the course of these engagements Haupt-
mann i\ikolai Ba ron von Nolde, the commander
of I/SOI, was killed by shell splinters while
cOlllrolling his vehicles from an open Kubel-
wagen.
On 19Janllary 1/50 I spearheaded an attack on
,he French X IX Corps at Hamra. (Entered as
Robaa in some Allied records.) At this Slage the
French garrison troops were still limited to pre-
war equipment and were forced to rely for lheir
defence on their ramolls but now elderly 'seventy-
fives '. These weapons were actually used to arm
the first American tank destroyer and could
produce results against the German PzKpfw Ills
and I Vs, but were useless against the Tiger, their
rounds nying off the fronta l armour in rapid
succession (see Vanguard No 10, Allied Tank
Dtslro.Jers ). I/SO I broke through , forcing the
Frenc h to withdraw and leaving the field
littered with 25 wrecked guns and 100 burning
veh icles.
The Allies could hardly fail to be impressed by
the Tiger ; after all, in size it bore thc same
relationship to the diminutive Valentine as the
cabin cruiser to the dingh y. On the other hand,
 -

1. Tille r E , I /t l):tAbt.602: LeninlCrAd, winte r 1942 / 43

'~I'L~;';=E~=~
... ......,
-;
~,
.J-
. '

- '-'-==ft
2 . Tige r E, I /I PzAbt.301 : Tunis ia, e arly 1943

~+
j
1

T r
3 . Til(er E, I / ,P'Il Abt.604; Tun!.la, ~pring 1943

, l'z Abl . !'tOI

A
I. Tiger E, 8/,i>ItKp, 2.SS-i>,,-C r f! n -Di ... 'ORB "-,-,,:-
Ruuia, "'e bruary 11:143

.. - y ... '"
332 .I"

2. Tiger E turret detail, un it unknown:

Ru ..ia, 11:143

- - •
I

____~ULr__~-----i.-I_-
"I -

~ ~'---;
3. Tiger E, 8/sP 7. KII , 3.SS-P:t-Cren-l>iv. Wrote nkopf":
Kurllk , lIummllr 1{143

,
,

I-II
B
1. Tiger E, 13/,PzK Pt I.SS-pz·Gren-Div. 'Leihl!tll ndllrw
Adolf Hitler'; Kurllk, lIummer 1943

2. TilCcr E, 8/11f>zKP..l2.SS.P:r..(lren-lJiv. '01l8 Re ich';

Kurllk, lIummer 11143

c
I. Tiger F.,I/.SS-PzAbt.IOI: Morgny , Normandy. June 1944

2. Tij[er E. S/.I"ltAbt.Ml3: Normandy, July 1944

D
 I. Tiger B (Po r llc h e turret), 3/&P:r.Abt.6Q3: Ma iHy- Ie-Camp, ~""nce. July 1944

2. Tiger n (lI enllChe l turre t), 2/I1P:r.Abt.601J,: Ruuifl, .. utumn 1944

3. Tige r H (lI e n llChe l turre t), 2/.I':r.Aht.603: Budapest. ellr ly 1945

4. Tiger B (H e n sche l tUrret). 3/I1P\!:Abt.l~03: Hun gllry, winter 1944/46

E
(fop) Tiger Ii: turret interior: loader'. polIition. (Bottom ) Gunner' . pUlition ,loo n from IOlld e r '. po.itio n . S .... key on p.26.

F
 --'-

•
G
In.iarni" d e tail.; .ee Platd
eummentary (or key.

3
•

,. ~ 9

, ~~~
n

H
Key, Plate F (top): Tiger E turret interior,
looking right and forward:
, Breech of KwK 3688mm L/56 gun
2 Lead to smoke grenade dischargers
3 Loader's kit bin
4 Compressed spring counterweight cylinde r
5 Stowage position for box containing bu ll
and bipod for co-ax :\IG when dismounted.
6 Gasmask can isler
7 Stowage, :\1G belt bags a nd water can teens;
in all fo ur bags and two canteens cou ld be
stowed here.
8 Turret escapc h,uch
9 Projecti le ejeclOr
10 IG rd s. 88mm ammunition sec text for
Plate G (top): Tunet interior looking to
left and rear Crom loader's position ;
again, breech ofKwK36 is cut away for
clarity:
I T urret fust' box
2 Escape ha tch
3 Extractor fan housing
4 Stowage for :\11'.40 a nd mag. pouches
S Spa re vision block SlOwagf'
6 Stowage, microphones a nd headsets
7 Fl a re pistol ammunition stowage
8 Commander's scat; canu:en stowage behi nd .
9 Pistol port
10 Drive shaft to traverse indicator
II Command er's kit bin

colour code details 12 Flare pistol and holster stowage pistol

I I 16 rds. 88rnm ammunition displayed here purely for clarity.
12 Loader's scat 13 Commander's hand traverse wheel
14 Signal nag basket
Plate F (bottom): Turret interior looking 15 Stowage , three water cans
left and forward ; note gun breech and
basket cut away for clarity, indicated by Plate G (bottom): Driver's position :
red sectioning:
[6 Gyroscopic d irection indicator
13 Drive shaft to traverse indica tor 17 Power steering wheel
14 Commander's radio sockets 18 Spare vision block stowage
15 Emergency battery for firi ng circuit Ig !nstnlment panel
16 Gunne r's radio sockets 20 Selector control
'7 Gunner's kit bin 21 Drive change lever (direction control)
18 Traverse ind icator 22 Electric starter
19 Hand traverse wheel 23 Emergency track steering level"!
20 TZf 9b sighti ng telescope 24 Clutch, foot brake and accelerator pedals
21 Elevation clinometer 25 Ha nd brake
22 Loader's seat
23 Co-ax :\1G The PzKpfw VI
24 Elevating handwhecl HASte TI'.C II N I CA I. DETAILS

25 Co-ax MG trigger pedal Model E

26 Rocker plate control, power traverse
27 Tetra fire extinguisher Weight : 54.1 tons
28 Stowage position, breech spares bin Armour: tlQmm
2g Power traverse motor Spero, 23 m ph
30 Stowage , three wa te r cans Overall length : 27ft. gi n.
3 1 Commander's sca t Width : 12ft 3in. (with st'lVice track)
32 Gunner's seat l'leight : 9ft. 6i n.
33 Commander's ha nd traverse wheel Model B
34 Instruction board (for scaling turret)
Weight: 68.7 tons
Armour : t8smm
Speed, 23·6m ph
Overall length: 33 ft . 8in .
Width : 12ft. 31in. (with service track)
Height : loft. I tin.
Tiger E of 1/8SS.P.. Ahl.lol p .",,,,in! through the village of
Morg»y, F ..... ce. en route for tbe lnvasion Front on ' 0 Jan e
'944: He Plate 0 •. (Bundetoarchlv)
it was subject to breakdown spzAbt. 501 was
equipped with early production Illodels still
prone to teething troubles and its inhibiting
dimensions a nd limited oper.ational rad ius be-
came dearly ap pare nt following technica l exami·
nation of a captured example which had had its
trac ks blown off by th e 6pdrs. of 72 Ant i-Tank
Regi ment RA on 3 1 J anuary.
T owards the e nd of J a nu a ry 2/50 1 moved into
the southern sector of tile line ncar Pon t dl! Fahs,
and on [4 February 1/50 1 took part in the opera-
tions against the US II Corps in the Faid-
Kasserine Pass area, destroyi ng 15 Shermans,
o ne of whi ch was knocked out at a recorded range
Of2,700 metres.
On 26 February 1/501, now a t full strength
with 14 Tigers, joined II {Ilanzer-Regiment 7 in
/lampfgruppt Lang, wh ic h had the task of seizi ng
the major road junction of Beja as part of an Axis
26
cou nter-oflcnsive . From the outset, almost every-
thing went wrong. The balllcgroup's route
wound th rough twining mountain va lleys which
I(,ft lillie room for the tanks to deploy, and a
stubborn British outpost at Sidi Nsir took a day's
hard fightin g and cost .severa l valuable tanks to
subdue. During that time a strong defensive
position was const ruc ted at Il unt's Gap, so that
when the Panzers reached the area all the 27th
they rolled onto a can-full y preparcd killing
ground, severa l vehicles being lost on mines while
the o thers were subjected to the combined fire of
huJl-down Churchills, anti-tank guns, field and
Ill('dium artille ry, and swooping Hurri-bombers.
1/50 1 lost scV('n of its Tigers through various
causes, one being knocked out by a C hurchill's
6pdr. penetrating its thinner turret side armour.
Two men v"e re killed and 18 wounded, including
Major Leuders and most of the compa ny's
officers; the ba ttalion history subscqU(,1l11y re-
fe rred to Hunt 's Gap as The Tiger Graveyard.
II / PR 7 suffered even more severely a nd was
reduced to a ha ndfu l of vehicles. t>. 1uth of the
damage was caused by the concentrated fire of 'pI ' of :JIIISS-P" Abl . u)I Inl .....! in F .....ce prior 10 Ih",
' .. _!rio .. ; Ih", i.a";5ni. of ISS-P"-OZH" Korp" i" cI",arl)' vi";b) ..
the superbl )- handled British arti llery, particu larly on Ihe f...,,,1 pl.l"'. WiUtna..,,'. TiS"''' tn ..st h ...... p..-..-a.ed.
the medium batteries. ~ot e\-en Tigers cou ld ""'ry .itnila ... pope......ee •• it ,huad","", ia,o tt.", "H.dr. . ,
ViUe .... Bocas"'. (Bua.d",_rchiv)
afford to ignore shelling by 5.5 in . howitzers,
which the British us<:"d r('gularly as an dfcClive and driving across the rear of the Wadi Akari!
counter in later campaigns. So traumatic had Line, the defenders of which were coming under
been the experience that in later years the pressure from tIl(' British Bth Army. The Ameri·
survivors erec led a stone memorial on the site. can I st Armored Division was stalled by the
The battlcgroup commander, Oberst Rudolf obstinate defcnce, losi ng 44 tanks on 24 t\larch
Lang, received the scomfu l sou briqul't of 'Tank alone. Long after the war Seidcnsticker, servi ng
Killer' , somewhat harsh ly, since he had merely in the Bundeswt'hr, met the co mmander of one or
followed his orders. (Sec also Vanguard No [3, the American tank battalions, who commented:
The Churchill Tank. ) ' It was you r goddam Tigers that stopped us
For th(' next few weeks both Tiger companies getting to tht' sea that night' . The new com-
were employed in minor defensive operations mander of II Corps was George S. Patton J r,
a long the front. On '7 ). Iarch t\ t ajor August whose opto'rationai directi ve to his troops had
Seidens ticker of sl)zAbt. .')04- arrived in Tunisia, been tersely encapsulated in the sen tence: 'Go
followed by the first six Tigers of 1/504, and take a bath!'
assumed command of all the heavy com panies in Reduc('d in number to eight, the Tigers fought
the thea tre. The first task of the combined unit, their last African batl lcs in the :\1cdjtrda Valle)
wh ich numbered on ly a dozen tanks, was to assist in April and :\ Iay 1945, the survivors ofs PzAbt.
[0. Panzer· Division at :\ Iaknassy in preV('ntin~ 501 and ' /504 surrendering o n 12 :\ lay. Tiger
the US II Co rps break ing out of the mountains ' 1 3 1 ', til(' last in running orde r, was examined
with gn-'at interest by Hi\.t King George VI
before being sh ipped to England for evaluation.
Taken logether, the lessons of Leningrad and
Tunisia confirmed that even thoug h the Tiger
had been designed as a breakthrough lank , il
produced its best results when fight ing defen.
sively. Naturally, most of its subsequent battles
were fought on the Eastern Front , where the sheer
scale and longevity of operations permits mention
of only the briefest details.
On the Leningrad sector spzAbt. 502 a{lained
thrce·eompany sta tus in the spring of 19+3,
remaining in the area until the Russia ns finall y
broke the siege, and then serving with Army
Group North until the latter was dismembered
during the Red Army's 1944 series of offensives.
The battalion fought at Riga , Memel, Konigs·
berg and in East Prussia, where its career ended
on 9 ~tay 1945. It has been calculated that this
longest-serv ing battalion destroyed not less than
1,400 tanks, 2,000 anti·tank guns and as man y
artillery weapons during its years of almost
COlllinuous involvement.
During the Stalingrad dcbftcle spzAbt. 503
had assisted in holding open a corridor at ROSIOv
through which the German troops in the
Caucasus retreated from the trap into which they
had driven. At Kursk the Army Group South
wing of the German attack was given the greatest
concentration of Tigers yet seen, including not
only sl)zAbt. 503's three fully equipped com·
panic...'S (45). but also the Heavy Companies of the
favoured divisions 'Grossdeu{schiand' ( 14), I. SS·
Panzer ' /~ibSlandarle' ( 13), 2. SS·Panzer-Grena-
dier ' Das Reich' ( '4), and 3. SS·Panzer·Grenadier
'Tottnkopf' ( 15), a grand total of 101 Model
Es. The story of Operation .(itndl'lil' is too
well known to require repetition in detail here,
but it is worth mentioning that at the climactic
tank battle of Prokhorovka the Russia n counter
to the Tiger's obviously superior firepower was to
close the range as quickly as possible and, on
occasion , to ram. Further details will be found in
Vanguard Nos: 12, StuNnarfillerie and Pan~erjiiger .
'4. Tlte T-34 Tank, 16, The Pa1/~erAampfwngtn III
and 18, The Pnn~erkampfwllgt1l IV.
After Kursk, Army Group South was pushed
steadily west until by the end of 1943 it had been
forced across the Dniepr. In January '944
Supo:rb ponrail or '-Z,T. a lale-produccion Tiser E or -z/sSs..
PzAbt.,o" polled ;a the aununer woodlaadlf or Norma ..... y:
a photO(l:raph which sivelf a Sood idea ollhe "h.,.,r ... taacing
bulk orlhe bea..-I. To ....... yAllied laalr me-a La NOO'Tnandythe-
Tille"'" rearrul reputalioa m.ade il " 'bas..,."'''''' {Bu..des.
.rrhi,,\
spzAbt. 503, st ill in possession of 34 Tigers, was
joined by a 46-strong Panther battalion to form a
Heavy Tank Regiment which would operate
under the comma nd of 1st Panzer Army. Named
Pall~er-Rt'gim(1lt Bake after its com mander,
Oberstleutnant Dr Franz Bake, the regiment also
included a self-propelled artillery battalion and
an engineer bridging battalion.
l\luch of the fighting took the form of Kessel·
schlacllten (literally, cauldron battles) in which
Biike's regiment either fought its way to the relief
of pockets of German troops trapped by Hitler's
insane stand·faSI orders, or was compelled to fight
its own way Ollt of trouble. These aClions were
never less than desperate and at the Balabonowka
Pocket 267 Russian tanks were destroyed in five
days and nights of fighting ; the German loss was
not believed at first and had to be ca refully
verified it amounted to one Tiger and four
Panthers.
During the spring of 1944 sPzAbt. 503 was
withdrawn and re.equipped with Model Bs.
After serving in France the battalion returned to
the Eastern Front in October, fi g hting in
Hungary until the general collapse.
At Kursk spzAbt. 505, with two companies,
had fought under Army Group Centre on the
northern wing of the German attack. To main-
tain a balance of heavy breakthrough vehicles the
northern wing was also supported by J agdpanzer-
Regiment 656, which contained two battalions
of Porsche Elefants (653 and 654). After .(iladtllt
505 remained with Army Group Centre until the
latter was virtually destroyed during the Red
Arm y's summer offensive B agration. The bauaHon
was then refitted and served with ~lodcl Bs in
East Prussia .
Schwere l)anzer.Abteilung 506 came into the
line under Army Group South in September
194.3, subsequently taking part in various
ca uldl'on battles neal' Lemberg and Tarnopol. In
April 1944 it disabled the first .1S·11 so far en·
countered, the vehicle being despatc hed to the
Kummersdorf proving grounds for evaluation.
The battalion was withdr:l\\ n for re-equipment
in August 19'H and did 1I0t return to the Eastem
FrOllt.
Also serving on the Tarnopol sec tor was
spzAbt. 507, which arrivt-d in ~ I arch 1944, and
was transferred to tht· crumbling northern from
in ~ovember. It ren'ivC'd ilS last re placemem
ve hicles 15 ~lo(h' l Bs in ~ I arch 1945 and
during the following month "'as fought to
des truct ion.
Schwere I)anzer-Ab leilung S09 arrived on the
Army Group South from in ~ovcmbcr 19+3,
being involved in numerous actions designed to
stabilize the front around Proskurov. The bat-
talion then replaced spzAbt. 503 in Panzer-
Rfgimfnt BiiAt and fought at the notorious
K amenets-Podolsk pocket. In Septembcr [9+4
sSS_PzAbt.IOlZ'a approa ch march to Nonn .... dy wa" made il)
Ibe face of 101a1 AU;~ air " upe';Only, hruce the liberal U$f!
of folias:e (or camouO"l!:e. The e,,, .... fuel dru.m.,. On tbe
el)!>I)e dKk " are a reonil)d"'r of the Til!:er'. s:rl!f:dy COIl5u.m.p-
rio ... (Ma.nm Windrow)
spzAbt. joq returned to Germany for re-
equipment with J\ lodel Bs and arrived back on
the Eastern Front in January 1945- fighting in
Hungary. The survi\'ors surrendc'T{'d to the
American Army near Linz, Austria.
A battalion \\ hich had a comparat ively short
act ive hisl01)' was sPu \bt. 510, which fought on
the northern front and in Courland from August
1944, blowing up its last Tigers on 8 ~lay [9+5.
Schwere Panzer-Ableilung .50 [ returned to the
line in December 19-13. having been re-formed
from a nucleus of 150 men from the original
battalion who had not been involved in the
Tunisia n debftclc. The batlalion served on the
Vitebsk sector, where it was involved in heavy
fighting during the Russian summer offensive,
and was re~equipped with ~1odel Bs inJul y 1944.
For the remainder of the year it fought in
southern Poland at Sandomierz, Radom and
Kielce . On 2 [ December sPzAbt. 501 became an
integral part of Genera l Walther Nehring's
XXIV Panzer Korps, changing its title to Korps-
Tiger·Abt. 424; its role was summed up by its
more unofficial title of A·orps·Ftutrwthr, or Corps
Fire Brigade. The balta lion was destroyed during
the Red Army's 19H i'\ew Year offensive; until
overwhelmed it formed the defensive heart of a
wandtrndtr A·tsstl or ' moving pocket' in the
manner of the Old Cuard at Waterloo.
The three SS Heavy Battalions a ll finished
their days on the Eastern Front. Schwere SS-
Panzer·Abteilung 101 went straight from the
Ardennes to Hungary, where it arrived too late
to affect the outcome. On the other hand, sSS-
PzAbt. 102 made a formidable contribution to
9th Army's d('fence of the vital Kustrin sector,
inflicting grievous loss on Zhukov's 1St Belo-
russian Front as it strove throughout April 1945
to storm the Scelow Il eights. the last natural
feature betwecn the Red Army and Berlin.
Schwcrc SS. l'anzer.Abtei lung 103's career as an
armoured unit came to an end in Danzig the
previous month, although rJ'!i1ny ofils men fought
on as infantry. Something of the ferocity of these
last battles can be gauged by the fact that be-
tween 2 February and 18 ~ I arch one Tiger alon('
(that of Untcrsturmfuhrer Karl Brommann of
2/ 103) destroyed 66 tanks. 4-J. guns and 16 10rrit"S.
Th., fj, rst KO"'~8e i8o=r com pa .. y to ...... acti ve ~rvi« On
Fra .. ce waa . /aP ilAbc.!jOJ, a-=en b ., r o= era lnirlfi; ahortl y bd'o~
O-Oay; tbey ca m e m eo tbo= line ..aae o r Ca.,... (Bund..,... rchi v)
It will be recalled that 1/5°4 had been lost in
Tunisia; '1 / jOh however, fought throughou t the
short campaign in Sicily and succeeded in
evacuating its surviving vehicles across the Straits
of ~tcssina. Schwere Panzcr-Abteilung 504 re-
fitted in Holland and after a shon spell on the
Eastern Front was posted to Italy in J une '944,
going into ac tion against the 5th Army ncar
Massa tvlaritlima. The Italian landscape was
particularly suitable for the type of defensive
warfare in which the Tiger's capacity ror long
shooting could be used to its best advantage. On
'22 J unc at Parolla a single platoon commanded
by Oberfahnrieh Oskar Roh rig, a young cadet
officer, destroyed I I out of 23 Shermans leading
an American attack; the German account claims
the capture of the remaining 12 after they had
been abandoned by their crews.' It is easy e nough
' fahnri r h _ F.ns ill;n ~ Olx-rfahnrich _ &nior Em,!!:n I nt~.".,..ro
lxot .... ttn eh~ '•• alTant a nd commiss ioned offic~,." Ih~ ranks had
no Ilr<xi~ cq uiuknt ;n tm- Briti~h a nd Am~rican Armio. Rohrig
",as awa rdrd th .. Knl lI; ht', Cross.
3'
 to deplore such conduct un less one has been in
a similar position oneself. British crews have also
unashamedly evacuated their vehicles j ust in
time to witness their destruction by Tigers which
re mained impene trable even at short ra nge. ' Like
shooting ducks on a pond ', was the Tiger crews'
verd ict on the Shermans.
In the a utumn sllzAbt. 504 crossed the
Apennines to assist in the defence of the Gothic
Line nea r Rimini . Here its strength was steadil y
eroded by the combined effects of na val gunfire,
medium art illery and the methodical British
infalllrY/tank drill. The battalion remained in
action against the British 8th Arm y until the
German forces in Italy su rrendered on 3 :\1ay
[945·
Schwere Panze r-Abteilung 508 was formed in
August 1943 and was for a while associated with
trials of [he Goliath self-pro pelled bombs, whi ch
proved to be such a dismal failure at Anzio .
Although 3/508 was also present at An zio from
February to Yfay 1944, it is not clear from the
records available whether it was involved in these
a borti ve a tt empts; th e impression give n is that it
fought as a conventional Tiger com pany, inflict-
ing loss but suffering seve rely from the effects of
naval gu nfire. Nor is much known of the bat-
ta lion's actions during the withdrawa l to
northern Italy, although in Janua ry 19+5 it
ha nded over its remaining veh icles to sPzAbl. 504
and returned to Germany .
In France the first Tigers to meet the Allies
belonged to sSS- P:tAbt. 101, the Corps Tiger
Banalion of I SS Pa nze r Kor ps. On 13 June the
British 7th Armoured Di vision was engaged in a
wide right hook which, if successful , would not
only lever the defende rs of Caen out of their
positions but would a lso isolate the Panz.er LdlT
Division. Shortly after dawn the leading British
brigade, 22nd Armoured , a pproached Villers·
Socage and its advance guard - ' A' &luadron,
4th County of London Yeomanry, a nd ' A'
Company, 151 Bn . The Rifle Brigade passed
through the village and halted at the roadside
beyond . The tanks, carriers and half-tracks were
then closed up nose-to-Iail 10 allow sufficient
room for the rel ief point units to pass.
The rood climbed to th e summit of Hill 2 13,
where the whole course of events was wa tched by
3'
the comma nder of 2/101. Obcrstu rmruhrer
Michael Wittmann. Aged 30, Wittma nn was
a lread y credited wi th th e des tru ction of 119
Russia n tanks; he had been awarded the Knights'
Cross on 14 J anuary 1944 , ga ining the Oak-
IC:lves onl y 16 days later, both wh ile serving with
13/SS- PR ' I..sSAH '. On the morning of 13 June
his ~o 2 Compa ny muste red on ly six Tigers, of
which onl y fou r were in a fit sta te to fight , the
battalion havi ng JUSt complcted a difficult road
march from Beauvais. Nea rby was No [ Com-
pany, also reduced to a handfu l ofve hiclcs.
Willmann realized tha t the British had halted
in such a manner as to trap the mselves if
allacked , since the narrow road left no room for
turnin g. His Tiger lurched out of its position and
onto a track runnin g parallel with the road , the
first round smashing into a half-track with such
force that it was thrown , blazing, across the
highway. Th e grea t machine lumbered the length
of th e colu mn, its gun belching flam e and each
round claiming another victim. Then Willmann
directed his drive r onto the road itself and into
the village. A Cromwe ll fired at point-blank
range, without result , a nd then erupted in flam es
and smoke as the SS's I'e turn rou nd tore through
it. The Tige r rolled on, devouring everything in
its path , including the Yeomanry's RHQ T roop
a nd severa l OP Sherma ns. Another C romwell
reversed into a side road, hoping to send a shot
into the German 's thinner rear armour, but
Willmann was expec ting something of the kind
a nd had his turret traversed ready to blow his
opponent apart. He th en turned orr the main
street and re turned to Hill 2 13 across co untry.
Virtuall y a lone, he had stopped 7th Armou red
Division in its tr<l cks: from start to finish th e
action had taken a mere fiv e minutes.
Less well known is the immedia te sequel.
During the afternoon 2/ 10 1 and elements of' 2.
Panzer-Di vision ent ered Villers-Bocage, to be
savagel y assailed on all sides. ' A troop of Crom-
well tan ks of the C LY , commanded by Lieu-
tenant Con on. edged its way towards the centre
of the town. Turning into the ma in street the
crew of the leading tank, com manded by
Corpora l Horne, saw a Pz Kpfw IV 20 yards
away, while behind were two alert Tiger tanks,
the foremost of which started to swing its gun to
 engage them. Trooper \Vood, the gunner, quickly
shot up the PzKpfw I V, which bu~t into flames,
and the driver, Trooper Grimshaw, reversed the
tank into a side street with commendable
celerity.
'The German tank men dismounted to peep
round the wall at the British tank, and a game
of hide-and-seck began. Armour-piercing shells
were fired at our tank through the intermediate
buildings. The crew noted the words "Justice el
Paix" on a baltered building with mixed feelings.
'Arter a time the Huns seemed to consider that
our tank had been knocked out, and one of the
Tige~ started up. As the hull appeared at the end
of the street, Trooper Wood fired one shot which
put the tank out of control and it crashed into a
building. One Tiger tank remained \0 be dealt
with.
'I n the meantime the troop commander,
Lieutenant Colton, had entered a house over-
looking the Tiger. Seeing that the tank was shut
down and that there was no sign of activity, he
assumed thal lhe crew had bailed out. Hc Kauptrnann Walcer Scherff or sP~Abt.503 wu awarded the
Rittf!rkre''''' 0" ~3 Febno.ary ."'''' while ... rvinS in Rus .."'.
collected some petrol, poured it over the tank, DuriDfl the Nornoandy amp";p he co ....nanded the
and was about to set it alight when, to his banalion'" ,.Kompanie, which was wiped oul on , _
"ep.....,e _cuion .. : "", P .... ,e 1>2. (ECPA)
surprise, the tank moved 01T. Once again,
Corporal Horne was on the alert and dealt with it British Shermans at least partly equipped with
in the same way as it crossed the end of his street. 17pdr. FireOies.
'By this lime fierce battles were going on all Arriving in :'ol'ormandy in early july, sSS-
over the town and men of Ihe Queen's Royal PzAbl. 10'2 (the II SS Korps Tiger battalion )
Regiment had arrived to play their part with went into action immediately on the vital Odon
6pdr. anti-tank guns. About five o'clock in the sector. On lojuly at !\Ialtot 1/ 10'2 destroyed 12
afternoon it was realized that the opposition was oul of 14 Churchills belonging to 9th Royal Tank
too strong and a withdrawal was made to a high Regiment, but elsewhere Hill 11'2, the linchpin
feature west of the bauered tOWIl. 1J of the German defence, fell to a determined
The day's fighting cost 7th Armoured Division British attack. It wassSS-pzAbt. 102 which led II
'25 tanks, 14 half-tracks and '4 carriers, the SS Korps' panzer-grenadie~ in a series of night
majority lost during the morning. The afternoon attacks which succeeded in recapturing half of
allack saw three Tigc~ written 01T, a further the hill, which became the most bitterly con-
three immobilized (including Wittmann's) and tested feature in ~ormandy. The Germans held
several or '2nd Panzer's tanks knocked out. their ground with Tige~, the British with massed
Willmann was awarded the Swords to his artillery fire; so bad was the latter that Tiger
Knights' Cross on the recommendation of crewmen on standby were often unable to dis-
General Bayerlein of the Po".t." LLhr, and was mount for the most urgent personal reasons,
immediately promoted. lIe declined an appoint- nature's calls being answered with the aid of an
ment to an officers' tactical school, and was empty shell case. The battalion left the Odon
killed on 8 August in a bailie with a troop of valley at the end of july, moving west to the
American sector and the eventual shambles of
'Club ROUl~ 30 Corp! in t: uropc , Hanno~er, '946. the Falaise pocket. During the campaign III
33

~ ---
318 P~Ahl '50J 'ahoolin« in' ,he;r n.,w Koni sstis.,r!!l;note ,he
b .,avy muul., hi."" of ,b., '88. T h., two ,anks on Ib., rigbt
b.y., ,b.,ir I "n", lodot:d in ., I.,yalion while p nn.,ry in.
structor", di"'<:UlIa ,b., rH"I'a of ,brir s booling wi,b Ih .,
cr.,w •. (B .... de"'.n;b;y)
~ormandy it destroyed 227 tanks and 28 anti·
tank guns.
Schwere Panzer.Abteilung 503 came into the
line cast of Caen on 11 July. At first only No 1
Company was fully equipp('d with ~lodel Bs, but
as refitting continued the issu(' became general.
On 18 July ~o 3 Company was cauglll in the
bomb carpet which opcn<."<l Operation 'Good-
wood' and was all but destroyed, although later
in the day Nos I and 2 Companies arrived in time
to repulse the British attack on Bollrgellbus
Ridge . 3/503 re-equipped at :\Iailly-k-Camp but
did not return to Normandy. losing its last Tigers
in a vain attempt to hold the line of the Seine at
Amiens. In September the battalion was re-
equipped yet again before leaving for the
Eastern Front.
Thanks to Il iller's no·withdrawal order, which
kept them within range of the Allied naval guns,
the effects of massed artilkry quite unlike any-
thing experienced in the East and the incessant
activities of ground-attack aircraft, all the Tiger
battalions which fought in Normandy were
slowly battered to destruction, although many of
their personnel managed to escape-.
As previously mentioned, spzAbt. 506 left the
I:::astern Front for refitting in AlI~ust l()H. The
battalion's first actions in the \rest w('rc a direct
response to lhe Allied airborne opera lions at
Arnhem and Nijmegen, and it was then employed
against the Americans a t Geilenkirchen and
Aachen, becoming a rour-company battalion by
31
absorbing the independent Heavy Tank Com.
pany ' Ilummel ' in December. (l\ number of
independent Heavy Companies \\ere planned for
the local 'Fire 8ri~ade' role, but of these on ly
sPzKp ' Hummd ', named after its first com-
mander, was given substance.)
Tog-Nher \.. ith sSS· I>z.\bt. 101. sPz. \bl. 506
took part in til(' ArdelllH'S onCnsi\'l'. That Ti gers
were emp l o~t'd <It all confirmed Germany's acutc
shortage of tanks. since they wert' quitc un-
suitable for the lyP{' of fast-mo\-'in.~, dt't'p-
penetration operation that was planned. In the
film Batllt oJIIi, /311(~t tlie cinematic equivalent of
ObcrsturmbannfLilirer J oachim Peipn ('xpn'ssed
delight at the prospect of his ballkgroup being
led by Konigstigers. In reality l\'iper spoke out
against the whole COllet'pt of the Heavy Bat-
lalions. suggesting instt'ad that t'aeh Panzer
division should haw iL~ own Tiger company
which would provide a firm base around which
the lighter tanks could l'xl'fc ise their more
n('xible tactics. Again, h(' was too experienced an
officer to permit his lint' of advance along the
narrow. tortuous .\ rdenn ('S roads to be blocked
by broken-do\\ n Tigers. For the most part, tht'
Ileav), Battalions trundled along behind the more
mobile l>zKpf\\ IVs and Panthers, burnin~ huge
quanlili('S of pctrol that could have becn put to
good use elsewherc.
The end was ine,-iwble ('\-'('1\ before the failure
of this last grea t Gt'rman ofJ'emive. During the
rcw remaining months of the war sPzAbt. 506
was swallowed in th(' Ruhr pocket. The last
TigTrs to sern' 011 the \Vestrrn Front were
mann('d by crews rrom sPzAbl. 508, the in·
complete sPzAbl. j l l , and the personnel of
{r<lining ('Stabli .. hll1{'nLs.
Hitler ol1ce commented that each Tig('r bat-
talion was worth a Pan zer division to him,
although Ihe form('r could never perform the
duties of the latt('r, nor was it evcr intended that
tiH'Y should. The influence or tht' I kavy Bat·
tali ons was purdy local; they won th ei r battles
but they never altered the course of a campaign.
For all thai, the Tiger in both its lorms remains
all(' of the world's mmt It'genda r} weapon
syst{'ms.
 : -...... -
• •
•
.. •

Further views of the •• me K" ..... Thc:H lank" kay" the

Ponch" turrH, which identifie-s them •• amons tbe IiniI
,.. KOrU!l:5t;sen to be built. (Buntlnaremy)

The Plates
AI: Tigtr E, l/sPvlhl. 502; Leningrad front,
winl" '.942/43
This whick is finished in standard Panzer grey
with roughly applied whitewash snow camou-
nage, and the tank number < 123' in yellow on the
turret sides. 502's insignia was a mammoth
(detail inset) and this may have been painted on
the frOIll plate close to the driver's visor; certainly A2: Tig" E, r{sP<;Abl. 501; Tunisia, tariy 1943
this area has been Jcrt grty dtlibcratcly, and our This detail was taken from a limited-vicw photo-
source photograph shows while markings which graph contained in the contemporary British
give a strong impr{"SSion of the insignia. i\ rubber intelligence file on the Tiger. The vehicle is light
lyre from a roadwiwc\ is stowed on tlw hull side. sand yello\\ and the white turret number '7' is
Slightly laler photographs of 502 show Lculnant probably the only Olle carried. The placing of the
\ky<-'r's Tiger with an a ll .white turret and upper baualion's sta lking tiger insignia is most unusual,
hull but grey roadwh('ds and lower hull, the as is thaI of the name Xorbti. I nset is a detail
overall (·n(·ct being extreme!) smart; no turret vi('w ofsPzAbl. 50 1 '~ in<;ignia.
numb('r was carried by :\!eyer's vehicle.
35
A3: Tiger E, l /s PzAhl. 504; Tunisia, spring '943
The overall olive green finish of this vehicle
confirms its late arrival in Africa and therefore
indi cates a lank belonging to 504 rather than 50 1,
whos(' vehicles W('fe the more commo n sa nd
yellow. The turret is marked 142 in red trimmed
with white. Th e vehicle is fitted with the Feifcl
air filler system.
BI: T iga E, 8/sPz Kp ( T iger), 2. SS-Pan<.tr-
Cwwdi" Division' Dar Reich'; Russia, Februa~"1
.11arch 1943
' Oa5 Reich's' T iger compa n y was fo rmed in
December 1942 and first wt'nt into action in
Februa ry 19+3. Th e photograph on which our
painting is based was probabl y taken nca r
Bclgorod , and the all-whil(' colour scheme and
runic divi sional sign (d C'lail in st"t) have enabled
us to dale it fairly accu rately. The vehicl e
number '332' is painted in black on the turret
sides: in Tiger battalions tIl(' normal numbering
sequence compa ny/troop/ tank seems to have
On .. of AIK .. n ....,; 503'- Ki",; Ti,;...... _b ...doned by. Fre:o.da
road!l.id ... Th......jor di ...d __ tase oftbe PorKh.. turret _s
tb .. rouaded fro .. t, which could d"Oect s bon do_ ...... rd
thro",;h tb .. roof of tbe drivi,,! companm.... t. (RAe T .....
MuftUm )
been rather less than uni versal. The fitting of
S-mine dischargcrs, as shown, was never very
popular; the weapon was too indiscriminate in its
effect, and not su ffi ciently 'soldier-proor to
prevent accidents.
82: Tiger E, lurrd delail, unil unknown; Russia,
1943
The vehicl e was finished in fa cto ry yellow ochre
and light.ly spra yed with brown camouflage
pain!. On the turret side is the ve hicl e number
'334' in red outlined in whit(· and in rront of t.llis
is an unusual placing of a large na tional cross;
both num ber and cross a rc repeated on the rear
bin.
83: Tiga E, 8/sP<. Kp (Tiger), 3. SS-Pall<.er-
Grenadier Division ' TOltllkopf'; Kursk, summer
1943
German tank crews were issued with tins of g reen
and brown camou fla ge paste which could be
diluted and applied to their vehicles as th e
situation demanded. In this case a continuous
brown wavy line has been painted over the ochre
finish. The turret number ' I I I', in black outlined
in white, is repeated o n the rea r bin . Not all of
Kompanic 8's Tigers carried the division 's black
threc-bar sign, but we have traced olle cxample
in whic h the insignia has been painted on the
frOll t plate, close to the hull machinc-gun (detail
inset). Ingenious usc has been made of a torn
side skirt to stow a jerrican.
CI: Tiger E, '3/sP<.Kp (Tigtr), J. SS- Pan(p-
Grtnaditr Diuision ' Ltibstandarlt'; Kursk,
summer '943
In this case the basic ochre colour scheme has
been oversp rayed with areas of brown on the
turret , hull front and ba ck, leaving soft t.xlges; the
hard-edged brown hatchin gs on the hull sid es
have, however, been appli ed with a brush.
Markings arc limited to a slllall '6 13' on thc
turret side, and the national cross on the hull; no
fronta l markings arc visible on Ollr source photo-
graph. It is unusual to see the qui ck-recogn ition
largc swastika fl own from the radio ae ri a l rather
than spread over lhe rea r decking.
C2:: Tigtr F., 8/sP('Kp (Tiger), 2. SS- Panzer-
erenadi,r Division' Das Reich'; Kursk, summer
'943
This vehicle provides an interes ting contrast wi th
lhal shown in 1)late 81. The ochre finish has been
oversprayt.xI with la rge d iagona l areas of brown.
This company used turret numbers in sequence
wi th the prefix 'S' for Schwere, HQ tanks being
marked e.g. SOl. Also on the turret side is the
Kompanie 8 'i mp', who appears regularly in
The nenst:bel turret , hems ft.I.(.... nled with ... Ii s hl b.ck.
ward. lilt , pre_Died no .. ucb "hot ...... p". NOie boo"" (or
.. pll ..... Irlld< t ..... " on Ih" lurrl!t of thil ""hid". (RAe Tan"
MUII"um)
'943 photographs of this unit (detail inset ). The
original run ic d ivisional insign ia has been reo
placed by th e white double-bar emblem used by
' Oas Reich' at Kursk . The national cross on the
hu ll side is trimmed very narrowl y in wh ite. The
crew's helmets are slung from a wire a longside
the hull.
D.: Tiger E, ' lsSS- Pz Abt. 101 ; M orgny, Frana,
JUrI'1944
The vehicle has a coat of fac tory.applied
Zimmtrit ove rpaintcd with yellow ochre, following
which a heavy green and brown camouflage has
been app lied . The veh icle number ' 131 ' appears
on th e lurrel side. The ins ignia of I. SS· Panzer
Korps 'uihstllrlllartt' (detail inset right) appears
on the fronl and rear plates in squares which have
bee n left free of Zimmtril. Also inset are the old
markings used by Heavy Tank Companies; use
of these was now rare, bu t two vehicles of this
unit which were knocked out at Villers-Socage
ca rried them on the left end or their rront and
right end of their rear plates, opposite the Corps
insignia. Both had resilient steel wheels, so
neither can have been thi~ particular vehicle, but
there is no reason why it should not have been so
marked .
37
D2: T(~(r J';, 3/sP.{Abt. 503; Normandy, July '944
Known to have been commanded by Hauptmann 88mtn KwK 36 Ammunition
Walter ScherlT, this vehicle has an almost
identical camouOage scheme to that illustrated in ,\fU'{''{'11 IVtighf, II'tight,
I'e/oeily Round Pro/tetil,
Plate 0 I, supplemented by heavy foliage for the
flluc ( Ib,) ( Ib,)
final approach march into position. The turret
number '301' indicates the company com· pzGr 39
mander's tank, and is repeated on the rear hin, (APCBC: 2657 33-75 20·75
apparently in black trimmed with white, al·
though we arc working from a high·contrast I'rCr 40
night photograph. This vehicle, like that in 01, (AI'CR) 3000 16.00
has the improved cupola fitted to later versions of
II EAT rq68 16·75
the :\1odcl E; note the resilient steel wheels.
HF:
EI: Tiger B (Porsche tumt) , 3/sP-tAbt. 503; (Percussion fuse ) 26g0 32 .00
,\/ailly·/(-Camp, July /944
After being nil but wiped out during Operation HE
'Coodwood' 3/503 refitted with Porsche turret (Time fuse ) 3 r. 75 20.06
King Tigers at i\lailly.le·Camp. In this instance
the tank's basic ochre has been almost covered r..IOSI commonly Slowed were PzGr 39, PlGr
40, HEAT and HE. (percussion fuse ), identi·
with olive green with a pattern of vertical brown
fied by their respective colour·coded projcc.
streaks. On most :\10dd Bs the national cross was
tiles. black with white c:tp. black, grey and
painted centrally on the turret side, but here it yellow; additionally the PzCr 39 case was
appears well forward on the hull. 3/503 lost markc.'(1 '8.8cm Flak 18' and the HE (per·
several more vehicles when attacked from the air cussion fu~ ) casc 'S.Scm 398 T. liE (time
while returning to the front, its last Tigers being fuse) was in short supply, but there is reason
destroyed ncar Amiens. to believe that it was used by Tigcrs in
Normandy to air·burst over the turrets of
Allied tanks at cxtremc range.
E2: Dttail oj Jhnsc/lel·turrtt Tiger R, 2/sP-tAbt.
At shorter ranges APCR (Armour Piercing
505; Army Group Cmtre, Em/ern Front, autumn Composite Rigid ) ammunition, relying on a
'944 high density core to achieve penetration,
Abteilung 505 took great pride in their charging produced better results than APcnC
knight insignia, leaving a large rectangle clear of (Armour Piercing Capped Ballistic Cap)
Zimmerit on the turret side so that it could be because of its higher muzzle velocity. How-
painted on; the device was also painted on the ever, the lighter projectile r{:sultf'cI in a sharp
fall~fr in performance above 1,000 yards,
turrets of lhe battalion's Model Es before it was
whereas the APCBC projectile was capable of
equipped with Konigstigers, sometimes in black, penetrating Somlll plate set back at 30° at
sometimes in brown. Another distinctive marking 2,000 yards.
of 50S'S was the system of vehicle numbering
using the inner and outer sleeves of the gun
barrel, the company number generally being
closest to the mantlet. On this particular turret here the turret carries more conventional mark-
large areas of the ochre finish have been sprayed ings, the vehicle number '233' being painted
with green and brown. centrally and ahead of the national cross and
repeated on the turret rear escape hatch. For
E3: D(tail oj l1enschel·tumt Tiger B, 2/sP;:,Abt. extra protection spare track links have been
503; Budap(st, tarfy '945 suspended from hooks fore and aft.
Once again, the ochre-painted Zimmeril has been
oversprayed with areas of green and brown, but
I
£.t: TilW IJ, 3fsP~Abt. 503; J/unf!,ory, winter
'944/45
Alt hough pa in ted overa ll in \\ hiIC snow camou-
flage, th is vehicle has a sma ll a rca or the gun left
in its original colou r scheme '10 tha t the name
'Annclicse' is clearly visible. The vehicle number
'3[4' is in white outlined in red , but is partly
obscured by whitewash. T he national cross has
been painted centra ll y on the turret side.
F (top) : Intm'or, TiW' E turret, showing loader's
positioll find adiaetll! ammunition bi,lJ.
Sec key on p. 25.
F (bottom ) : Int~rior, Ti.~rr E tImet, showing
gunne,'s /)0511ion as SUfi by loader.
Fo r clarity pa rt of the brccc h has been ('ut away
and the sh ield from the roof has been om itted.
Sec key on p. 25.
G (top) : Intenor, Tiga F: turret, shou'in,t: (om-
mander's position as sun by loader.
Aga in the shield is omitted. See key on p. 25, and
photograph elSl'whert: in this book.
W .. U_lo.nown b .., II H-t..Jly d et ailed phoCoV- ph s howin!!; •
U "'DM:h,,) Ti!l;<!r B, probabl y of s P:lAbt.,S03. beUo8 s pra yed
with brown a nd 8r~n a unouOa8"' pa..., b y iu .,....... in a
rear ...... durill.8 the NO...... lI.d y ca mpa i«n. Thi5, and th ..
" .. hid ..•• inunar:ula, e a ppearan« •• un .... tha t i, i .. a brand
n e ... d .. l iv .. ry. (Bund....archi,, )
G (bottom) : Interior, TilW E, SIIOWillf{ driver's
positiOlllookilll!,Jorword.
See key on p. 25.
HI: Tiger n,
.5PZAbl. 506: Aachen, fate '.944
This vehicle is shown in lhe 'ambush ' colour
scheml' in w hich ochre, green and brown have
been applicd to resemble the sun-dappled leaf
paltern of wooded country. The addition of
vehicle numbers, insig nia, etc., would have bee n
incompatib le with such a scheme.
fu: Turret eSUlpe IUI/ch marAin!!" company COnl-
nUlflder's T(t:er 11. 3/sPv lht. 505
H3: Battalion inn,t:lllo, .!Pz. lbt. 506
H.t : BattaflOn inngnia, sPzAbt. 508
39
 I H5: Turut detail, Tiger F.; Easttrn Front, winter
194 2143
\
Beneath the carelessly applied whitewash the
name ' Do rothcc ' remains visible on the gun. The
I unit co uld be spzAbt. 502 but is more likely to be
f
, 503, wh ich had a long trad ition of naming ilS
tanks arter girls.
•"
H6: Battalion insignia, sP,{Ahl. 504
n
H7: Turrtt numbm'ng style, Tiger E, IlsP~Abt. 507,
h
Russia
II
A r.rbtafeln
'I A. , ();c norm~1o: 'f"'nu'llnu~ .'a.1x """h brnu,n lu d,oc. It'' mi' Crobt.
.... t .... &hn<'tu..nun~ darubr'~lnah nu Ab,<ilunltSlticben .... a. ~In
h \hmmu', v"n dtln .n~n _Iaub., d_ '" nelxn de.n &h,.;hJ i.. o:kt r.h ......n
d,.,..m Panur gemah war. h I U"gtwohnhcbe pIUlt'UII~ d.. Ab'~iIIlIlK'"
tI •• icbens u"d """ individudl." I'anzc",alll(ni. A31 I'kn«. d;"". Ei"hc", dl~
ID Af.ika .p.un all d;., d ... ,\b, J'I' tin,,,,r.n, ""' •• n of\ grun cnlncn.n
" Btl Di. Tunnnu"'II"eril"rU"II r~\C IUd" d .... "".mal~n R.ih .....IOIR' d ....
fruh ..en I'ill'" t:i""." .... d•• 55 Divi.;., ..... " !leach .. Eill.dll.i, rn:b .. : drr
\b.kicrullflen linD ~uf d.. hirl, ..... n RUlnl'fplai'e. 8~ , Il<ad". di< IIngt-
...... IIlk .... Art <kt Iknu~u"g d .. Hohe"ok...,u ... auf <kn Tu....-i'." lind
R "c~" •. B3 ' EintRe P.n .... diOK' Komp;oni. Itu,!;.... du .p<' .... ,~ d...,,-
""",fige Oivi'I(ID...id ... n, dM fll' dcn KUllk .',ld.1I1 I..."u .., Wllrtk, auf dtm
,,,.dfTen Rlllnp( neben dem Ma""h",.ng."""
C., IkKh,. d ... un,enchiodhd.. A....h"'. de. T •• nung lIn ., u.m und
Rumpf .in.. ,I;"pn,h,. das ......... handgtmah 0 ... f1.a~gt >.u' ,-.kennu,.
dutch rlu~"\lRe ",I, ,I;<:"·,,Jmhch naeh auf dem h,"' .... n I)"':k 8<1e!I1 lind
",d" wi<' h,e ••" d., ,\",.ml( lxf.. ttg1. Ca , Di.", "'omp."i. "um.nc.i.".
all. Pan ••• in. R,'he"fOl~ ml( <km V" .... lChen 'S' fut ·SC....'• ..,' 0.,
",obok]' " ••• ,n K"ml'"nl~u,<ben
DII I)"" 7.«ch.n d .. I SS P~ ... e.ko'r- I ~ln~t .., •..:II\» am h"ken fond.
E d~c vontere.n und hilll"',n RUII\l'fplatl= F.inig~ I'~,~ .. 'n'!)cn ~,,<h all d~"
lI'11"nu""'h.~,id~n ~u ... d ...... PI~"~n d ... ~hmod,od .. Mh ... ~"'-Pan ......
'Cl['.
k"m1"'n ...... lCben ' .. n~ .. l,nk •• D2 ' 0,....- lind d~r ,·orht.gth.llde
I'~n ... hahtn den ".nu"u.m lind Slahlr&d~. nach !km leuten Typ 0,.,
"I det P>n"" ,on llat'l"mann Wall • • S<hc.ff.
A E" t;n,,,,,,,,hnlich.,. t('nkr'eeh. _.,tr~if'" '1amunk""hrml de. "blkh.n d",
k, tar"'n, unod li",e"·ohn~.be l'la..r.J.ru,,~ d.,. lIoh .... kreu..... 1::0 , I)..
R",.n.i.be" und die Plnicru"K d .... Numm"n aufd~m Gnch",d'lIIfWll..,n
~ilIC t:iB.nIICit de. Ah"ilung ~o~ u"d .l1o<h .. "." .IIf .be.d.n P~" •• n', d,m
Z Tlgt. t: und d<:m K"nl!(Sti,•• , '9H ,,~. E.3 ' TYI'_ch. 1'1 •• i"unll <ks
AbulC .... ns &m Tu.", <ko Kon'«lUII.", 14 1 Di. _ ... Tarnf.,1lt dcd, &11.
P' \Ia.k;"",,,,.n, au.' d~m l\."",,, 'Ao ... h.... · a .. fde.n ~h ...~bur..h
tu , (oben), I"".na",;.h, des Ti~rt t: 1'1I.mn, rech .. an d ie I'.,.;,ion ,....
Getrhlltzl~d<:n 1IC"',,~nd. (U .. ,,,,,, ) I;nk, in di~ Ri<'hIUl'g ~" I''';';"n dn
C(
Schlitzen .. hauend. S ..... 1';"'1 '" .",1 Sprach. auf Se,t. 2~. I.u. KIa.he"
habtn ,,-i. d ...iKme Srhulzpbn •• d;"1ItIm Oach htrunter hi"" _ada ...."
'0
G (abe .. ), Il,. P(10111011 d .. KQI"mandeull, "on d .. I'",i,ion d .. GcKh",,-
of lade .. a ... ~ ... h.n lind ... iet1.run\ wu.de di. Schull!'I.". ,wl",h.n d,m
Sltz "nd d •• c...:bu,.b.nd.. ".wl,....,n. (U.I""' ) I),.. "OII'I(HI dn
us hh .... S;"h. Ti,el in .ngt S.,..ach. &ufSei,. 25-
b, It" ' H in'''''~1t' F•• b!u.. mm ..... l.II,,"g, '''" "';t d., IOml.nd".<hfl .. ,."d."
Waldbnd.cltaf' .u.. mmen,"bl.ndcn; ""..",I ...... i.. "'."',, k.i". Ab •• id""
do darullt'gtmah. "2 II •• , Si.be Titel in .ngl. Spra<:be. d ... 1m AIIRe"",in'D
Rlbo,a\14I1'nd oind
I.
wi
E:
o
ov
I"
H8: .t./u.{.zle brake paiuted to memble tiger's jawj
sP<:Ers~u~Ausb. Abt. 500, Pad"born 1943
H9: BaUafion insignia, s P~ bt. 507
Known to have appeared on left upper rear pial
of some of this unit's vehicles.
HI0: Delail oj Tiger E gun with name {lliidegard
unit unknown
HII: Turret numbering s~le, Tig" F., 2/sP.;:Ai
504, Ita ly
Notes sur les planc heI' en couleur
AI ' '-" .oulcu, lIandard '~ri •• Pall'~""' e".o", u.ili ...... ,'f'(" UII (""'o"n,
bl.t>(' flto. ... hl !"' .......u. I.'ul<'lla", a,·ai. un mammo,,,h pour In"gnc .,1
p<'n", qu. celuH' .,all I,f ~m. ",. t t char pm dll kl""l .... <k v ......
1>,10)", Out I. d.,-anl d. I. ",,_. A~' PI...:. ",hab."... II. d. I',nsi~n.
I'ob"ol"",f... ""m mdi"ldu~1 du c ..... A3 1 Lei cha .. d~ oe\l~ unM • ... ,,'1'0
Afriq .... "prl:s ccu~ d<: A~I jOl, ~,.""" "''''~n' pem... n ,'ert
B. , I... nu ..... ro ... K< de II tou""n.· n•• u"."" JI'U I'ordre ""rmal da .. 1eo">1
p"""~n'. ""'lk d .. 1'i,en <in d,vl..., .. So". No,e.l. M.all de ma.qucolII
1I.1I(1t~ d~ I~ 1'lk~lI~ .trlh.. M la Call"'. !h l '10'(' I'ul"".';"" ",,,,hte d.
crl)l~ n.'i<>na~ 'UI "'" oolfo(I 'U' I'a .. iohe d. I. ' .. u..,l~ 8" SlI' ~ drvan
la cai_.lI crill dr II mi, •.,,,lIeu,,,, oert.ins chan de ce"ewmpagnlt po".
l'i""I~'" .pleial de la di"ilion, romP""" de .,.,,;. rita, employ.' Ion d.
r.mp~g". d. K"unk
C • • r.Olez Ie diffl..,n, .ff~, du .a"..."ftag<' .u. b "",,,lie, el lu' I. c.ioo
u .... partie 1""I1~ au p;....Io:t.. e' I'.u'"' it la main I.., d .. ~.u ........,
l'id~n"fica'l(In par rav;.I"'" ... I..... i, h.b"u.llcm .... ' it pl.,
arr;~ •• , plu,o, qu·altach~ it 1'1"'."'" C<Jm"", dao. «I .~ .. mpk ell C
.li. Ie r
(O'''I',agn;'' rlumirotli, rh'l"c cha. d ... l'Ot1lrr "".rmll, .vee It I' .... fix,
po", St/uL",•. I", 'Iu'in' IIa" l'iDOJI\ .... de la wmpo.gn,..
D. , I.'im,!!". d" Ic. Corp- SS Pa"... (.n ca"OII.he, it d .... I.: 'ur la ,a,
d,. pla'!u,," av,,,, .1 amh. de la ra ..... . A I'u' .... mi'i droll. d. en pl.,
C~.tam. <hall po. talcnl ou,,; Ie ',,"UK 'ymbol. d. la con'I'"II"1< d.,. c
Iou.d. 'cn canou.:h •• it It.llch.· DlII Ctlu,"'".~, Ie char p .... ki.,,', or
coupolo: d'un 'Y~ plUI ,"".n.," I.. rou .... n .c..... compte" Vooci Ie elta
Cal'''.m~ "ott" Scherff
E" U, ... racoo ~" ""'i'<' d'util,,,,, la ,roil coule" .. hahi,,,dl.,. danl
~.n'IOtlH"J<.n bandn w-rtlC&let;rt pooinon Inhalo"udl.d~ la croo. nallOl
E2 ' L·ins'K.... du ch .... ah .... e' I'i""';p,ion de numb.... u, Ie catIOn. tu
pa"iCIII",n A I'Abl<1l• .., j()5, ..... >'OyalCR' lIor Ie TI,.~r [, •• ,"r Ie K6,
tiK<' "143 H· F,3' Oo1lc poIi'lOrI de I'i",illn. ""' 'YP'q'" ,"r b 'o"",n.
Koolg>Iigc. E.r" La ~in'u'" blanche du camouHag<' co",'"" ",,,Ie
marq .... """flo: nom ·A-I,O>I· .u. It. u""n
F (...... ), In 'tn~llt d. II "'u""l~ dil l ,S". t:. vue ""I. droi'e v~llla pOI
d u rh,.eu •. (Bu) V,,, 0... 1. gauche vCI'I la poo,uQn d" li""u •. VOlt .... ,
,it"", .n~b .. 1"'K~ 25. 1'"". plu. d. dartl, tI<IU. a ...... Om" Ie boucher ~
q"i p<'ndai, du l<>i,
G (...."I). La I"""io". d" chof dt <har, '"' de I. pOIi,ton du ch~'1Itu,
f<>ill de plu.,.1< bouchrr ."' .... Ie .i~ge e' ... (Ill.",. ~ f'f 0111.,. (llu
poomon du 1',1",•. Voir In ...... ·11 ...... n,l;oill"~. 2".
HI , La gam",c d ... '0" ' l:mbuKadc', 1""" b .. n .. mtl •• ",.co: I... 'on
bo" truoklllk; norm.I."",n •• "CII" im'gDe n'ttai, pcin, .ur Ct can'lOtll
H2 111" V"ir I.,. fOuH""'" ""gl .... 'lui. en ~fni.al, ... p .... n' d'c.pl..;a,
 OSPREY ·VANGUARD

A series of books describing key units and wcapons systems of

20th cen tury warfare, p repared b y leading military experts
for the en thusiast and mod eller, and illustrating au th emi c d eta ils
of a rmour and s upporting vehic:les, camouflage, markings,
un iform s, insignia and ,,'capons.

A vec a nD o t at io n li e n (ra n~a i ll li u.r leli pl.neh ell en coul", ur

Mil AufzekhnunS"'D a uf d e uuc:h u be r die Fa rblaf",ln

I. Briti s h 7th Armoured Divis ion

~. Panz er-G r enadier Divis io n ' Gros sdeutsc hland'
3. US 1 S t Infantry Divi s ion
4. Fallschirmpa nze rdiv is io n ' H ermann Goring'
5. US 10I s t Airborne Divi sion
6. Th e Lee /Gra nt T ank s in Briti sh Service
7. 2nd SS P a nze r Divis io n ' Das Reic h '
8. U S I s t M a r i n e Divis ion
9. Briti s h G u a rds Armoured Divis ion
10. AlJjed T a nk Destroyer s
II. US 2nd Armored Di vis ion
12. Sturm a rtille rie a nd P a nze rjage r
13. The C hurchiJI Tank
.4. The T-:w T a nk
15. The She rman T a nk in Briti s h Se rvice
16. The Panz e rkampfwa ge n III
17· The Stuart Light Tank Series
18. The Panzerkampfwagen IV
19· Armour of the Middle East Wars 1948-,8
20. The Tige r Tanks

BR YJ\:\ P ER RI :T r \\:\s born ill [93-1 a nd edu cated at Livcrpool College .

Il l' scncd in the Roya l Armourcd Corps, in th e J 7th/ 21 st I.anccrs,
Westminstcr Dragoo ns, Imd Royal Tank Regiment, and was awarded the
' I erritoria l Deeoration . l ie is now a professional author, and has published
numerous book ~ al1(l a nic/cs on all aspcClS ofarmour("d wa rfa re from the
First World Wa r to th e present da ). Ik yan I)crrct! is married , a nd lives in
Lancashire.

I S Il ~ 0 115045 389 5

__~5~.9~8_________________________________~