Steve Stone

TIGER HEAT

^{GERMAN PANZERS ON THE EASTERN FRONT}

INTRODUCTION

NOTES ON TIGER TANKS IN THE BATTLE FOR FLORENCE

Intelligence Bulletin January 1945

In the battle for Florence, a New Zealand division had its first experience with standard Tiger tanks on a fairly large scale, and noted several useful points about the ways in which the Germans employed these vehicles.

As a rule, the Tigers were well sited and well camouflaged with natural foliage. To delay the New Zealand infantry and to pick off tanks, the Tigers were used in hull-down positions. Another enemy method was to send Tigers by covered routes to previously selected positions. From these positions the Germans would fire a few harassing rounds, withdraw, and move to alternate positions. Tigers also were used to provide close support for German infantry, to lend additional fire power to artillery concentrations, and to engage buildings occupied by the New Zealanders. These troops noted that almost invariably a Tiger would be sited with at least one other tank or a self-propelled gun in support. The supporting tank or gun would remain silent unless its fire was absolutely needed. Sometimes a Tiger would be accompanied by infantrymen — often only 6 to 12 of them — deployed on the flanks as far as 50 yards away from the tank.

The New Zealanders were of the opinion that the Tiger’s heavy front and rear armour made it unlikely that the tank would be knocked out by hits on these parts. Simultaneous frontal and flank attacks were considered desirable. The New Zealanders found the Tigers’ side armour definitely vulnerable to fire from 17-pounders. Other weak spots, it was reported, were the rear of the tank, just over the engines, and the large exhaust hole, also in the rear and just over the left of centre. Some commanders found high explosives the most effective ammunition against these rear parts.

As a rule, the Tigers were placed in position so skillfully that the New Zealanders found it difficult to employ a sniping anti-tank gun or a towed gun for stalking purposes. Unless very careful reconnaissance was carried out to site the gun to the best advantage, and so as to detect German supporting tanks or self-propelled guns, the effort was likely to be fruitless. For this reason, the New Zealanders concluded that maximum time for reconnaissance, and the maximum amount of information, were essential for a battery commander who was called upon to engage a Tiger. The German tank-and-gun combination seemed to be slow at manoeuvring and firing, and also very susceptible to blinding by U.S. 75-mm smoke ammunition. On one occasion, two smoke rounds, followed by armour-piercing projectiles, were enough to force a Tiger to withdraw.

Sometimes the Germans used their Tigers with marked recklessness, the crews taking risks to an extent which indicated their extreme confidence in their vehicles. This rendered the latter vulnerable to New Zealand tank-hunting squads armed with close-range antitank weapons. When Tigers were closed down, and were attacking on their own at some distance from their supporting guns, the tanks’ vulnerability to those close-range weapons was increased correspondingly.

Tigers were effectively knocked out, or were forced to withdraw, by concentrations of field artillery. It was clear that German tank crews feared the damaging effect of shell fire against such vital parts as tracks, suspension, bogie wheels, radio aerials, electrical equipment, and so on. The New Zealanders incorporated medium artillery in several of their artillery concentrations, and decided that medium pieces were suitable when a sufficiently large concentration could be brought to bear. However, owing to a dispersion of rounds, it was considered preferable to include a good concentration of field guns, to “thicken up” the fire. The division in question had no experience in using heavy artillery against Tigers.

It was admittedly difficult to locate stationary, well camouflaged Tigers which had been sited for defensive firing. Worth mentioning, however, is the performance of an artillery observation post, which was notified by Allied tanks that a Tiger was believed to be in a certain area. The observation post began to range. A round falling in the vicinity of the suspected tank blasted away the vehicle’s camouflage, and the Tiger promptly retreated.

Several of the New Zealand antitank gunners’ experiences in combating Tigers will be of special interest:

1. A Tiger was observed about 3,000 yards away, engaging three Shermans. When it set one of the Shermans afire, the other two withdrew over a crest. A 17-pounder was brought up to within 2,400 yards of the Tiger, and engaged it from a flank. When the Tiger realized that it was being engaged by a high-velocity gun, it swung around 90 degrees so that its heavy frontal armour was toward the gun. In the ensuing duel, one round hit the turret, another round hit the suspension, and two near-short rounds probably ricocheted into the tank. The tank was not put out of action. The range was too great to expect a kill; hence the New Zealanders’ tactics were to make the Tiger expose its flank to the Shermans at a range of almost 500 yards, by swinging around onto the antitank gun. The Tiger did just this, and, when it was engaged by the Shermans, it withdrew. The enemy infantry protection of half a dozen to a dozen men was engaged by machine guns.

2. At the junction of a main road and a side road, a Tiger was just off the road, engaging forward troops in buildings. Another Tiger, about 50 yards up the side road, was supporting the first. A field-artillery concentration was called for. It appeared to come from one battery only. Although no hits were observed, both Tigers withdrew.

3. A Tiger on a ridge was engaged by what appeared to be a battery of mediums. After the first few rounds had fallen, the crew bailed out. (It is not known why.) Shortly afterward, while the tank still was being shelled, a German soldier returned to the tank and drove it off. About 10 minutes later, the remainder of the crew made a dash along the same route their tank had taken.

4. A tank hidden in the garage of a two-story house ventured out for about 20 yards, fired a few harassing rounds, and returned to its shelter. Many hits on the building were scored by 4.2-inch mortars firing cap-on, but little damage was visible. Each night the tank was withdrawn from the area, even though it was in an excellent concealed position and was protected by infantry. Later the house was examined. Although it had suffered appreciable damage — and there were several dead Germans about there was no evidence that damage had been done to the tank itself.

PROLOGUE

Russia

November 1942

The late afternoon sunshine glistened off the white snow; the sun offered very little warmth to the cold Russian winter. In the middle of a large clearing surrounded by trees, a lone sixty-ton Tiger sat motionless in the snow. One main track had snapped and a road wheel had been blown off. From a distance, the Tiger still looked every bit as menacing as it had always been. Its distinctive step shape frontal armour wide tracks and large exhaust stacks mounted on the rear. This tank though had seen its fair share of battle and had the scars on its armour to prove it.

The crew of the Tiger was huddled together dead in their steel tomb. After a successful campaign, the tank now lay lifeless in a field. Flames still flickering around the engine compartment after it had been hit several times with armour piercing rounds. A testament to its armour that it had survived so many hits. Low on fuel, low on food and the tank in desperate need of maintenance the odds were stacked against the crew. They had only been together for six months and had ate, laughed, cried and now died in the same tank.

The first 76mm shell from a T-34 had hit the Tiger on the rear, near the tracks and the idler wheel. It was a HE (High Explosive) round letting out a bright white flash as it exploded. The force of the blast caused the entire rear wheel of the Tiger fly off and land in the snow a few feet away. This wheel took at least three men to lift off and had been launched like a tiddly wink by the explosion. As the wheel broke away, it shattered the pins holding the tracks together, causing the tracks to break apart and hang limply off the wheels. The momentum of the tank causing the tank to slew off to the right out of control. Sending a huge cloud of snow up into the air. A second shot had shattered the front drive sprocket. This opening shot had pretty much decided the outcome of this tank duel.

The third round hit into the side causing shrapnel to enter the hull. The round had entered the thinner rear armour before hitting the engine and bouncing back up through the engine grilles. This caused several lacerations to the gunners’ torso. His uniform now shredded and his jacket partially hanging off. The driver had been knocked out cold after the second round had hit the right-hand track just before the front sprocket.

The final AP (Armour Piercing) round fired by a T-34 at close range. Penetrated the rear hull and entered the crew compartment before bouncing around and causing fatal shrapnel wounds to the crew. Petrol poured out of ruptured fuel lines as the first glimmer of flame began to lick around the engine.

Inside the tank was a bloody mess. Flesh and limbs had been scattered in all directions and the crew had died a horrific death. The tank commander’s head now lay on the crisp white snow his eyes wide open starring into the blue sky after his body had been partially ejected and his head had come clean off. Through a crack in the front corner, the driver was slumped down missing an arm.

The crew had fought valiantly, knocking out over 30 tanks during their time on the Eastern Front. Shells from T-34 tanks had just bounced off the frontal armour as had rockets fired by Russian infantry. The Tiger had shown what a formidable weapon it truly was, but it was vastly outnumbered and low on fuel after becoming separated from its column. After a couple of minutes, the fire took hold and the Tiger was now fully ablaze thick black smoke reaching far into the clear blue sky. Within an hour what was once a formidable tank, was now a sooty black and rusty brown coloured hull. It had become the crematorium and final resting place of a heroic German tank crew. Their remains finally interned in mass unmarked graves in the vastness of the Soviet Union.

Although, in actual combat only about a quarter of tanks hit in battle caught fire and burned out. Even immobilised or ‘knocked out’ tanks could often be repaired either on or off the battlefield. The actual casualty rate was around 0-2 for every tank taken out of action by enemy fire. A crew could be knocked out several times during an operation. During the early years of the war on the Eastern Front, Red Army crews would often abandon their tanks once knocked out and stroll back to camp. This was until a directive that stated if they did not return with their tank they would be sent to penal units. This meant Red Army crews stayed with their damaged tanks until they could be repaired or recovered, reducing tank loses.

The first attack by a tank took place on September 15, 1916 by a British Mk1 tank with limited success. The Mk1 had an unusual rhomboidal shape, which was to give a long track run as possible to aid in crossing wide trenches. Many of the Mk1 tanks still became stuck or broke though. Initially used in very small numbers on the Somme in September 1916. On November 20, 1917, the first tank offensive was a launched when 476 British tanks made a 12-mile breach into the strongest sector of the Hindenburg Line. The Germans produced only 13 tanks during the First World War. By July 2018, the British had 1,184 tanks. The first tank v tank battle took place on April 24, 1918, when three British Mk IVs engaged three German heavy A7Vs. One AV7 was knocked out, although not before the Germans had disabled three British Whippet tanks.

The lessons learnt in the First World War were not lost on Germany’s military leaders under the Nazi regime. General Hans Seekt guided the development of the tank as an instrument of mobile warfare and put together the Blitzkrieg (Lightning War) tactics in which German Panzer tank divisions, preceded by ground attack aircraft like the Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber. The Stukas went deep into enemy territory to create corridors for the mechanised infantry to exploit. These tactics worked well in the Battle of France and in North Africa; although in North Africa the Germans were ultimately thwarted by Allied air supremacy.

The Blizkreig tactics also worked well during the early phase of the attack on Russia. The Germans received a shock though when they came up against the Soviet KV-1 and T-34 tanks. Their 76 mm could penetrate German armour whilst remaining immune to German anti-tank weapons. To counter this the Germans quickly developed a new generation of heavily armed tanks. Two of these were the Tiger and Panther tanks…

CHAPTER ONE – Cold Start

November 1942

As the sun rose on another cold and harsh day. Tigers from the 11^th Company of III Abteilung made their way out of the gully they had used to conceal themselves in overnight. Klaus, the driver of the lead tank looked at his basic instruments. The Tigers main instruments on the driver compartments right hand side contained a dip or dimmer switch. Then a large dial next to the switches which was the revolution gauge. To the right of that at the top a speedometer and odometer combined. Below that, a slightly smaller oil pressure dial. The final dial on Klaus’s instrument panel was the coolant temperature gauge and beneath that was the ignition switch and light.

Klaus and the other drivers flicked their ignition switch and tried to start the mighty Maybach V12 engine. The Tiger was steered via a half steering wheel made of metal and wrapped in black tape. In a similar fashion to the tape wrapped around a like a 1980’s road bike handlebar. The driver only had a small viewing slit to look through which took away some of his peripheral as well as lateral vision.

Each tank struggled to turn over in the intense cold and even when started the tracks had to unstick themselves from the frozen ground, before moving forward and shedding all the icicles that had formed on the wheels and tracks overnight. These icicles shattering into thousands of glittering pieces of what looked like shattered glass.

The bright sunlight revealed every crease on Max’s battle weary face as he stood up in his cupola listening intently to his headphones. As the engines burst into life one by one, the smell of the exhaust seeped into the tanks and mixed with the smell of gun oil along and men whom had not washed for days. Standing up Max had a commanding view of the battlefield and could pass down orders to the rest of the crew. German commanders liked to stand up and out of the tank for a better view. Russian commanders did the reverse limiting their view through small sights.

Klaus, manoeuvred his heavy Tiger around some rocks using all his skill on the slippery surface before climbing up a gentle slope and onto the rough cart track. The engine roared as it took the strain of pushing 57 tons of tank up a slope. The tracks were the widest track of any tank use in anger in WWII. Wide tracks helped reduce the ground pressure inflicted by the Tigers heavy weight. The tracks bit into the snow with a loud crunching noise slowly propelling the Tiger slowly up the 40-degree slope. Looking out from the thin slot the tank Klaus could see right up into the grey sky, heavy with snow.

One by one the column of Tigers formed up on the rough track and began to pick up speed on the slightly smoother rough track covered in snow. They headed west coming across a battle damaged panzer and truck column, which had been destroyed the previous day. Three sooty black and rusty brown tank carcasses were still smouldering along with several badly damaged and burnt out trucks, which blocked the path in front. The lead Tiger pushed one of the destroyed trucks out of the way and they had to drive round the others. The bodies of dead soldiers frozen in strange positions lay to the left and right of the column. The smell of burnt metal and charred bodies still hung in the air as they passed.

A couple of horses lay dead with their leg bones sticking out and their eyes wide open as if their last breath was one of terror. This scene of carnage went on for a hundred yards. The column stopped briefly to pick up some food supplies that had come off a shattered horse drawn cart, the horse was still partially alive and a single round to it head, put it out of its misery. The Tiger crews knew the Red Army were not far away. A lone and burnt out T-34 lay just above them, its turret half blown off.

The column of Tigers headed towards the forest and over the intercom Max Wenck as the lead Tiger commander, shouted over the intercom “biegen Sie rechts auf dieser Strecke vor.” The driver immediately turned the Tiger towards a narrow track leading into the forest. The forest was very dark with plenty of places for the enemy to hide. The column bunched up to offer better protection and travelled slowly down the track in an uneventful manner. Hanz in the lead Tiger was operating the coaxial MG 34 and swivelling it around in its ball mounting like a man possessed hunting for any potential target that could harm the Tigers.

From behind, Max heard a loud explosion and looking back Max saw a flickering orange light that lit up the trees. Acrid dark grey Smoke drifted towards Max. He was not sure if it was an engine fire or due to enemy action. The column halted, several crews climbed out of their tanks with MP 40s slung over their shoulder and ran to the Tiger now fully ablaze. The engine was on fire and the fire had become intense in a short period. Burning liquid was dripping onto the ground causing instant steam as it hit the snow and ice. A crewmember was trying his best to extinguish the flames with a handheld extinguisher that seemed completely inadequate for the task in hand. Hanz was still sitting in the lead Tiger hunched over his MG. He spotted movement just to his right and fired several short bursts of fire, which were soon followed by the crashing and cracking of branches that had been sliced through by the hail of bullets from Hanz’s MG 34.

The crew from the burning Tiger were leaping out of the hatch as the fire began to engulf the whole tank. The crew had left the intense heat of their burning tank to stand out in the bitter cold. A sudden burst of fire from the trees leapt out as the crew made their escape, narrowly missing them as they sought cover. One Tiger turned its turret and let off an 88mm round into the tree line where the machine gun fire had emanated from. Inside the tank turret, the crews had to suffer not only an explosion that felt like a small explosion in a building, but the turret quickly filled with chocking ammonia fumes. A switched-on tank crew would turn the extractor fan on before they began to fire helping reduce the unpleasant gasses. Without proper ventilation, the crew would often quickly become nauseous and it had been known for crews to vomit in their tanks after quite a few rounds had been fired. The tiger had a good extractor fan mounted in the turret and this did a good job of extracting noxious fumes.

Suddenly, almost as if there was a dragon in the woods a large flame erupted out of the treeline and towards the tank column, the fire reached out far enough to envelop a Tiger. The commander standing up proud in the turret was showered in an orange flame. He let out a high pitch scream as clothes caught fire and his torso began to burn. He jumped out of his cupola and hit the snow hard before rolling around frantically trying to put the flames out. His torso and head had been badly burnt and he pleaded in his croaky and almost incoherent voice “Töte mich, Töte mich.” His face had melted into a back and red bloody mess and his jacket had burnt into his torso. As strips of the burnt jacket came off it pulled off huge chunks of skin. The pain from his burns must have been excruciating. His crew reluctantly agreed to kill him and fired a couple of rounds from their MP 40 straight into his skull. It was the right thing to do, as they did not have the medical support or supplies to deal with such horrific burns. He would have mostly died from either shock or infection before making it to a field hospital. The smell of burnt tank and burnt flesh now hung heavy in the air. It was almost a choking smell, but nowhere as bad as a rotting corpse. Although, the cold climate of the winter tended to preserve and slow down the decay of human remains. It also greatly reduced the smell as well. In the summer, the sweet yet nauseous smell of death made it almost difficult to breath. This very pungent smell became ingrained like a memory in the noses of all those that smelt it.

Everyone turned their MP 40s towards the location of the flamethrower and put down a large amount of fire. Everyone knew that the situation was only going to get worse and they needed to get out of the forest as quickly as possible. A flamethrower in close proximity could easily destroy a Tiger by sending burning liquid into engine air vents or even through the viewing slits or hatch seals. A Tiger managed to get a round off at the flamethrowers position and scored a hit. Shrapnel from the round pierced the flamethrowers fuel tank he carried on his back. This caused his tank to exploded sending a plume of fire high up into the air and setting several trees alight. He fell back and was consumed by the explosion and intense fire all around him. The Tiger crews could feel the heat from the fire and any Red Army within the vicinity would have either been incinerated themselves or had to make a run for it.

The fire on the Tiger had been put out, but they were still a Tiger down. Max’s Tiger repelled the last of the Soviets with a several HE rounds, which ripped through the treeline shattering branches and left swirls of thick grey smoke hanging in the air. Sunlight seeped through where trees had once stood. After climbing down Max fired off his MP 40 as some figures disappeared into the darkness of the trees beyond the smoke. He slung his MP 40 over his shoulder, lit a cigarette, and surveyed the scene. Before shouting “wir müssen aus dem Wald zu bekommen.” Telling everyone that they needed to get out of the forest. The Red Army would retreat, regroup and attack in greater numbers. The crews quickly scooped up their dead and placed them into the first tiger to be knocked out and poured petrol into the hull before setting it light. Animals would not be able to eat the dead and the Red Army could not capture a Tiger and either use it if they got it to run or steal parts from it.

The crew quickly mounted their Tigers and moved forward trying to make it out of the forest, one tank skidded as it tried to avoid an obstacle and nearly skidded off the track and into some trees. The very hard icy surface meant the tracks struggled to get a grip and power had to be put down slowly and smoothly to prevent skidding. Trying to turn too sharply sent the tank almost onto a pirouette – although more of a drunken pirouette.

Max decided it would be safer to go through the forest crashing through the trees than stick to the much more dangerous forest path. The Red Army had infantry forces in the area and posed a real danger to the column. With five Tigers left the column made its way through a less dense area of the forest, the darkness aided in moving covertly even if the noise from trees cracking as they fell disguised the noise of the Tigers engines. As they finally burst out of the forest they found a safe location to perform essential checks and maintenance on the tanks. The first job was to move the bits of trees and body parts that had become stuck in the tracks. The forest had seen intense fighting and bodies and body parts lay scattered in all directions.

A major part of being a tanker was that of tank maintenance and having enough fuel and ammunition. Sometimes this would mean scavenging fuel and ammunition from disabled tanks or even enemy vehicles if they used the same fuel. Fuel became a much scarcer resource as the war in Russia went into its final year. Maintenance was of great importance if a tank was to be given its best chance of survival. The heavier the tank the more strain it put on its mechanicals. Tanks have a track system that consists of the actual tracks, road wheels and a suspension system. On a heavy tank like the Tiger, parts wear out quickly especially if the correct maintenance is not carried out. Road wheels suffer blows with tree stumps, boulders and battlefield wreckage and can easily be damaged. The individual track elements are held together with long pins that need constant attention and can easily fail. These need to be looked at almost continuously to the point that they are routinely checked whenever the tank comes to a stop when not in combat, whatever the weather. If these pins fail, the tank will throw a track and the tank becomes immobilized. The track links themselves each weighed about ten kilos. They wear quickly especially when off road and the tracks must be tightened and adjusted so the track does not break become tangled on the drive wheel sprocket. The pins that hold these links together are thick steel rods and weigh about 1-2Kg each. These heavy and very strong pins eventually bend under the massive strain of propelling the very heavy Tiger forward. Even more so on difficult terrain. The link pins on all the Tigers were looking distorted and loose.

Spot tightening of road wheels and pins aids their longevity. Friction causes the most issues, as cause’s parts to wear much quicker. This means greasing wheel hubs and suspension parts. After a river crossing or operating in very wet conditions this becomes even more essential as the grease can become washed out leading to hubs overheating and seizing. A Russian T-34 tank can use 1Kg of grease for every 60 miles it covers on a dry surface. Engines, gearboxes and transmission all lose a small amount of oil when in use and again need to be topped up. Gaskets especially those made of rubber become brittle in the intense cold of Russia. When these fail, oil losses can be massive and seize an engine or transmission. A weekly engine and transmission check for wear was undertaken by checking the engine compartment for metal shavings, which could indicate excessive wear. Batteries needed to be checked and topped up if necessary.

Turret systems including hydraulic reservoirs, optics and radios needed to be checked as well and the main gun needed to be bore-sighted again after any significant move or firing. If the optical telescope and main gun went out of alignment either through battle damage or extreme terrain this could put the main gun out of alignment causing it to lose accuracy and making the gunner’s job of hitting a target very difficult.

Good maintenance helped prevent breakdowns and field repairs. Some such as replacing a broken torsion bar were difficult to perform in the field. With the need to remove road wheels and judicious use of a sledgehammer to remove the broken torsion bar. If not replaced and continued to be driven on the weight would have to be taken by the other torsion bars, which would quickly fail as well. In the field, this sort of job could take four to six hours. Often tanks were pushed to operate even when not fully operational just to play the numbers game.

For a tank battalion, efficient recovery and fuelling faculties in the field were essential.

The biggest issue for the Tiger on the Eastern Front during the winter months when mud and snow would pack into the tracks and freeze up. This caused the tracks to jam and the tank to be effectively immobilized. When the Red Army realised this, they timed their attacks for the early morning before the snow/mud could thaw out. Another issue in leaving tanks to get too cold was that the ionised water inside the tank’s batteries froze, cracking the cases, which required immediate replacement – but batteries were in short supply. Even without the batteries rupturing the intense cold caused the batteries to struggle to hold enough charge to turn the tanks engine over. Even if the batteries didn’t rupture, the charge they could hold dropped off rapidly below freezing. Even when the Germans managed to start their tanks, they found that the cold weather had a serious adverse effect on electrical and more sensitive equipment. Radios seemed to hate the cold and condensation which turned to ice often made them inoperable. The gunner’s sight was also prone to having condensation freeze either fully or partially blocking the view. As the optics tended to trap frost inside the lenses. Tank maintenance also became very difficult in temperatures below –29°C. Any exposed skin would instantly freeze to metal surfaces and even standard oil lubricants and tank grease became too thick to be able to use. Lubrication was key to stopping excessive wear of the running gear. Tasks like changing a torsion bar or drive sprocket proved to be impossible without proper shelter in very low sub-zero temperatures.

Rubber coatings on power cables could also crack at temperatures below –29°C. Petrol and diesel fuels were also affected by severe cold, which could have ice crystals form in fuel lines. Below –32°C, the hydraulic fluid in the main gun’s recoil system would freeze, resulting in the main gun being badly damaged if fired. The lubricant in machine-guns froze at –37°C, making the weapons unusable until cleaned. Ammunition became difficult to work with after being frozen and the main gun breech could become very ‘sticky’ after a frost, resulting in rounds becoming stuck in the breach.

Starting an engine that had been idle for several days in sub-zero temperatures proved very difficult for the Germans and they resorted to extreme measures, such as building a wood fire under the tank. Once heated, the frost turned to condensation inside equipment, which could cause electrical issues. In contrast, the Soviet T-34 had been designed and tested to work in the harsh Russian winters. It had internal compressed air bottles for cold weather starting. The T-34 had better crew heating and a design that took into account issues of very low temperatures.

This again made German panzer units became vulnerable if attacked by Soviet armour early in the day, when many panzers could not start. If the tanks could not be started and the Germans had to withdraw, the Germans had no choice but to abandon their tanks.

Another issue was the sheer size and weight of the Tiger. Only a handful of bridges were strong enough to cope with the weight of the Tiger, which increased with the Tiger II. To counter this issue, the first 495 Tigers were fitted with a snorkel, which allowed them to cross-rivers up to a depth of 13 feet. However, this was abandoned as an economy measure. This meant later versions could only operate to a depth of 4 feet. To stop water entering via the turret ring an inflatable rubber tube was inserted. This would be inflated prior to entering any water and provided a watertight seal for the turret ring.

CHAPTER TWO – Bridge to Nowhere

Once the Tigers had burst out from the forest and were back out in the open the bodies of fallen soldiers were still everywhere. There had been an intense firefight here. The ground was full of holes from where artillery shells had exploded and you could even see bits of frozen human remains hanging in the trees. The one that took the crews aback was a head. Initially, they thought it was a sniper, its pale head looking towards the tank crews. The crews let of a couple of volleys of fire from their MP 40s. However, soon realized it was a dismembered head that had be blown up into the branches of the trees. The forces involved with heavier weapons and what they could do to the human body could be seen all too clearly on the battlefield. Bodies ripped apart from the intense forces and in some cases charred from the intense heat. It showed all too clearly how frail the human body was and the intense violence of war.

Nothing is more violent than being in an intense firefight. Be it a soldier out in the field or in a tank having rounds bouncing off the tanks armour with an almost unbearable loud bang. Wondering which round will burst through the armour or immobilize the tank.

The crews quickly completed their maintenance even though it was not adequate. Max wanted to get the Tigers into a better position than they were now. Out in a wide-open space they could be subject to air attack. The Russian Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik, often bursting through the low cloud cover to bomb or strafe ground units. They were built in such numbers (42,330) the Ilyushin became the single most produced military aircraft design in aviation history. Thanks to the heavy armour protection, the Il-2 could take a great deal of punishment and proved difficult for both ground and aircraft fire to shoot down. It was reported that one Ilyushin had received more than 600 direct hits and having all its control surfaces completely shredded as well as numerous holes in its main armour and other structural damage. However, still managed to return home safely. The biggest issue with the Ilyushin was its accuracy, which was never really addressed until the end of the war. The German tank crews would much rather have an Ilyushin over them than a P-47. Especially the ones equipped with an early version of Napalm used later in WWII after the Normandy landings. This thick and oily liquid could seep into any ventilation duct or small crevice. When a salvo of these rockets hit, you would see a line of expanding fire emanating from the oily liquid that seemed to grow in intensity. It burnt very hot and could quickly cause a tank to be engulfed in a fierce blaze. Giving little chance of escape for the crew who were essentially cooked inside their tank if they did not suffer from asphyxia first.

The crews mounted up and began moving across the wide opening avoiding large holes and damaged artillery pieces. It was not that long before they were back into the relative safety of the forest. The tank tracks and transmission made some strange noises indicating that they were getting worn. Tigers were never designed to drive on long journeys. The engine and transmission only lasted around 600 miles before needing to be completely replaced. They had to be moved by rail from one operational area to the next.

Back inside their tanks, the crews felt slightly warmer being just a couple of degrees below freezing. A ceramic heater which took heat from the engine was the only warmth for the crews. It continued to provide heat for the tank for about an hour after the engine had been switched off. The temperature inside the tank would plummet overnight to well below freezing. The cold was a real problem for both men and machines. Adding to the difficulties of fighting on the Eastern Front during the winter months. The column continued back into the forest avoiding large holes caused by artillery shells and aerial bombardment for another two hours before finally emerging almost on top of a river. The river looked too deep for the tanks to forge and the only alternative was to follow the riverbank. This would require careful driving as it could be all too easy to slip into the river and more than likely the tank ending up on its side or worse still upside down. The terrain also meant no let up on the tired tanks, already battle worn. Max scoured the map and saw a bridge not that far away. The problem was that the map did not show if the bridge could take the weight of a Tiger rumbling over it.

The column of Tigers headed off once again along the riverbank encased in heavy snow. It was slow going, simply to avoid obstacles and the narrow gap between the edge of the river and a gully almost running alongside the thin ledge at the side of the river. As they set off down the riverbank a thick fog started to form, further adding to the difficulty of seeing ahead. The upside of the fog was that it would also aid in concealing the Tigers from Soviet ground and air forces.

The tanks engines roared as they struggled through some thick snowdrifts pushing vast mountains of snow aside as they ploughed through. This did nothing to aid in fuel consumption. To help balance out fuel consumption the lead tank was changed over with the other tanks following. The tracks on the tanks were getting more and more tired. It had been nothing more than sheer luck that a track had not broken or a transmission failure. All the crews could do was be as gentle as possible with their tanks and gently nurse them where they could get some much needed maintenance and fuel their tanks being three quarters empty. More fuel was used on rough terrain than on flat ground or even a road. On normal flat terrain, a Tiger did around 0.4 miles per gallon. This meant the 534-litre tank could travel around 50 miles before needing to be refuelled.

They could see the bridge in the distance it was a steel girder bridge with a wooden platform. The tank column stopped short of the bridge and halted for a few minutes, to undertake some checks before crossing over. They undertook checks on the running gear, surrounded by exhaust smoke and the swirls of fog. Max looked at the slackened track length, the worn link pins and the distortion to the drive wheel that had resulted from hitting a large tree in the forest. The Tiger could not take much more punishment but if the stuck with flatter terrain the track should hold together fine. Max had a quick discussion with Klaus. “Ja, die Titel werden nur um zusammen zu halten.” “Ja, ja,” said Klaus. All the crews mounted back up and moved towards the bridge.

The Tank column finally made it to the bridge. The steel girders looked strong enough to take a Tiger. This theory could only be put into practice by driving a Tiger over it. The bridge showed signs of small arms fire damage but no other damage after a quick inspection by Max and Hans, another tank commander. They mounted up and Max swung his tank to the right before heading over the bridge. The bridge grumbled slightly as the first Tiger went across, followed by the second and the third. As the third Tiger was very nearly across a loud crack almost like an explosion went off just behind the third Tiger. The steel girders had torn away from the connecting rivets. The bridge behind the Tiger collapsed into a heap of twisted metal. The third Tiger stood still for a matter of moments before the hull started to rise in the air and slipped backwards. There was nothing the crew could do as it slipped backwards into the cold and fast flowing river. The tank was a total loss, but thankfully the hatches on the tank burst open and the crew scrambled out and up the tank that was now half submerged and the barrel of the 88 resting on the final part of the bridge, which was still standing. The crew of the Tiger were spread about amongst the remaining Tigers with the driver sitting on the floor of Max’s tank. The fourth Tiger was now stranded on the other side of the river and would need to find another way to get across the river. There was not much Max could do put wish them all the best and continue. At least the fog would offer some cover for the lone Tiger. The lone tiger and its crew carried on down the side of the river seeing if it could find a way to cross and catch up with the rest of the column. However, by following the river the Tiger was taken further away from the column and towards an advancing group of T-34s.

The commander saw the origin of the shot, though, and called it out to the gunner. In a group of trees, where the fog had lifted. There was the unmistakable outline of a T-34 tank. The Tiger driver slowed and halted to give them firing stability. The gunner got a good aim on the T-34 before firing at the T-34. The shell hit the T-34, hitting its frontal plate and causing a plume of dark smoke to emit from the hole. Then, just up from the T-34, another two T-34s appeared. They moved to the right and seemed reluctant to engage. The Tigers 88mm gun made short work of two T-34s firing several rounds into both targets. Bits of metal were shaved off the turret as the Tiger’s round impacted on the turret. The T-34 turned to the right, before rolling over black smoke belching out of its exhausts. Another round hit the gun mantle with such force that it knocked the top surface of the turret completely off, exposing the commander who had been killed instantly when the shell had hit the tank. Another T-34 continued to advance towards them, they fired another round that went straight through the frontal armour and killed the entire crew inside in an instant. They Tiger was running low on ammunition as well as options.

As the Tiger moved up towards a line of trees, it was unaware of the T-34 lurking in the trees. Its 76-mm barrel bearing down on the Tiger. The T-34 managed to get a shot off as the first shell hit the Tiger, on the rear, near the tracks and the idler wheel. It was a high explosive (HE) round letting out a bright white flash as it exploded…

CHAPTER THREE – Tiger

World War 2 saw many technologies make some rapid progress. Aircraft design made an almost amazing leap from the bi-plane to the dawn of the jet engine. There is no doubt that German engineering skills produced designs years ahead of their time. In some cases, this knowledge such as the V-2 missile and swept wings of the Me-262 would aid the post war military design.

Tank design was another area were the Germans excelled. The Tiger, Panther and later King Tiger in some ways was over engineered. They were labour intensive to produce and made use of expensive materials. The Tiger I took around twice as long to build as another German tank of the period. In battle, its weight caused issues with its tracks and high fuel consumption limited its range. Its heavy weight of 56 tonnes put a strain on track, transmission and suspension. Overall, though, it was mechanically reliable. Many of the brutal experiences learnt on the battlefields of World War 2 has aided tank technology and tactics. It was Ferdinand Porsche gave the tank its Tiger nickname.

The development of the Tiger began as early as 1939. The development programme accelerated after May 1941 when the Wehrmacht asked for a 45-ton tank which had as its principle weapon as an 88mm gun. The 88mm gun had already proved itself in battle as an artillery weapon. The 88mm gun would allow the Tiger to out shoot any gun currently carried by Russian tanks. However, the Tigers 88m gun was not related to the FlaK 36 88 anti-aircraft gun in anything but calibre. The two guns were merely parallel designs.

The Tiger design brief was for a Tank that had both heavy armour and a powerful main gun. This was achieved with an 88mm KwK 36 a very accurate gun. Its armour was 100 mm thick in the frontal area. The frontal turret armour was 100 mm thick and a 120-mm thick gun mantlet. The Tiger also 61 mm hull side plates. Armour plates were mostly flat, with interlocking construction. The armour joints were of high quality, being stepped and welded rather than riveted and were made of maraging steel. The first Tiger prototype was scheduled to be ready for Hitler’s birthday on April 20, 1942. This though gave the designers only a limited amount of time, further hampered by the Wehrmacht constantly changing the design requirements.

On April 20, 1942 two new versions of the Tiger – one from Henschel and the other from Porsche were displayed in front of Hitler at his base in Rastenburg. The Henschel design was considered to be the superior design as well as easier to put into mass production. The full production of the first Tiger tank started in August 1942. The official designation of the new tank was Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger Ausf. H.

The Tiger I was the first German combat tank to be fitted with overlapping road wheel suspension which gave the tank very good weight distribution. For a tank the size of the Tiger, its ride was stable and was considered to be comfortable for the crew on board. Tigers were fitted with two types of tracks – a 520 mm track for travel and transportation and a 724-mm version for combat. One of the most advanced features of the Tiger was its assembly process. Flat section armour plate was used throughout the assembly process, which allowed the use of heavy armour. Various parts were made as one complete unit complete with interlocking joints that made assembly a quick process and increased strength. The hull of the first Tigers was divided into four sections, two in the front for the driver and the bow gunner and radio operator, a central fighting compartment and a rear engine compartment.

The thick armour made the Tiger impervious to frontal fire from tanks like the 75mm armed M4 Sherman, 76.2mm armed T-34 and 75mm armed Cromwell tank, but vulnerable to the 76mm of up-gunned Sherman’s, the 85mm of the T-34-85 and the British Ordnance QF 17-pounder.

The rear of the tank which held an engine compartment was flanked by two separate rear compartments each containing a fuel tank, radiator and fans. The Germans had not developed an adequate diesel engine, so a petrol gasoline power plant had to be used instead. The original engine utilised was a 21.35-litre 12-cylinder Maybach HL 210 P45 developing 650 hp at 3,000 rpm. Although it was good engine, it was underpowered for the tank. After the 250th Tiger, the engine was swapped for an upgraded version of the same engine. The aluminium block being replaced with a cast iron black that allowed for larger cylinders, which in turn gave more power. The engine was a v design with two cylinder banks at a 60-degree angle. These changes along with others increased power to 700 hp. An inertial starter was mounted on the right side of the engine compartment and driven via chain gears through a port in the rear wall. The engine could be lifted out through a hatch on the rear hull roof.

The engine drove front sprockets, which were mounted quite low. The Krupp-designed 11-tonne turret had a hydraulic motor whose pump was powered by mechanical drive from the engine. A full 360-degree rotation took about 60 seconds.

Another new feature was the Maybach-Olvar hydraulically controlled semi-automatic pre-selector gearbox. The extreme weight of the tank also required a new steering system. The clutch-and-brake system, typical for lighter vehicles, was retained only for emergencies. Normally, steering depended on a double differential, Henschel’s development of the British Merritt-Brown system. The vehicle had an eight-speed gearbox, and the steering offered two fixed radii of turns on each gear, thus the Tiger had sixteen different radii of turn. In first gear, at a speed of a few km/h, the minimal turning radius was 11ft 3. In neutral gear, the tracks could be turned in opposite directions, so the Tiger I pivoted in place. There was a steering wheel instead of a tiller or levers and the steering system was easy to use and ahead of its time.

Production of the Tiger I began in August 1942, and by August 1944 when production ceased 1,355 had been produced. Production started at a rate of 25 per month and peaked in April 1944 at 104 per month. Deployed Tiger I’s peaked at 671 on July 1, 1944. When the improved Tiger II began production in January 1944, the Tiger I was soon phased out. However, each tank cost over 250,000 marks to manufacture.

The Tiger first saw action in August/September 1942 in the Leningrad campaign. However, the terrain was swampy forestland – not very suited to the Tiger. However, on January 12, 1943, four Tiger’s, with eight Panzer MKIII’s, faced 24 Russian T-34’s near Leningrad. The ground was frozen solid which greatly aided manoeuvrability. Twelve T-34’s was destroyed and the other twelve retreated. Given the correct terrain to fight on, the Tiger easily proved its fighting worth.

The Tiger was the main tank spearhead for the Germans at Kursk. Here it did not do well. Many tanks had left their factories before rigorous mechanical checks had been undertaken. Thus, many suffered major mechanical malfunctions during the battle. In the famous tank battle at Kursk of July 12, the Tiger could hit a T-34 from 1500 metres but when the two got to close-quarter fighting, the T-34 proved to be superior. The T-34 was faster and more manoeuvrable than the Tiger.

It was in the retreat from Russia that the Tiger proved its defensive qualities that were to hinder both the Russians on the Eastern Front and the Allies on the Western Front. On October 18, 1943, one Tiger led by Sepp Rannel destroyed 18 Russian tanks. Michael Wittman, another Tiger commander, had destroyed 119 tanks, including great success in Normandy after D-Day. In Normandy, Wittman’s Tigers destroyed 25 British tanks, 14 half-tracks, 14 Bren-gun carriers in a short and bloody battle around the village of Villers Bocage. However, Wittman lost 6 Tigers which were very difficult to replace – as were his experienced crew.

Within Normandy, the Tigers had great success with a very high kill ratio. On July 11, 1944, thirteen British Sherman tanks were lost out of twenty with two more captured with no Tiger losses. The Tigers did well enough to survive the onslaught at the Falaise Gap and in August, just two Tigers held up the advance of the 53rd British Infantry division.

The Tiger II followed the Tiger I that the Germans called the King Tiger. The King Tiger first saw action on the Western Front on August 1944. The Tiger II was a formidable weapon. It also used a vast amount of fuel, which the Germans were finding very difficult to produce due to Allied bombing of fuel plants. The Allies also bombed the factories that made the Tigers. This meant that only one hundred Tigers were available for the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes during the winter of 1944-45. Many of those ended up being abandoned as they ran out of fuel.

CHAPTER FOUR – Battlefront

December 1942

The small column of Tiger’s continued their journey from the bridge down a rough track before moving onto the frozen Tundra, a mixture of ice and frost that looked like a shiny white carpet. As they headed towards a village, where there was a small number of Panzers and light infantry, currently holding the village. Max hoped to get fuel and ammunition there and a place to rest up for a short while. All around them there was evidence of past battles, burnt out vehicles, arms and legs protruding out of the snow. As they passed a German half-track, a Sonderkraftfahrzeug 251 produced by Hanomag and nicknamed Hanomag. These were the most widely produced half-tracks with 15,532 being built between 1939-1945. They proved extremely versatile from being a personnel carrier, medical carrier, flack gun or even a cannon mounted on them. This Hanomag had four of its seven rear wheels blown off and the track was broken in three places. The side of the Hanomag was peppered with holes some small and some the size of a fist. The front of the Hanomag had been partially blown away with the engine missing and the driver of the vehicle half hanging out. His bright green head made for a very strange sight as his body was already starting to decompose and had been there for at least a few days.

Further along an Ilusyian lay half buried in the ground at a 45-degree angle, its propeller had snapped off and was lying some forty feet away. The headless pilot, was still in the cockpit of his aircraft. The pilot had either dived into the ground or tried to perform a crash landing. The smell of death hung heavy in the air and even though it was also bitterly cold, the whole area sent a shiver down the spines of the crew. A feeling that something had happened here. From the carnage that surrounded them it must have been a fierce firefight. Two T-34 tanks were almost huddled together. One was on its side and the other upright but the turret had been blown clean off and the remains of the crew were still sitting inside. There had been an intense fire that had engulfed both tanks. Any crew left inside would not have had chance of survival. German infantry had a saying “The T-34 doffs his hat when he meets the Tiger.” This was due to the T-34s turret having a tendency to come away from the main hull if the tank was penetrated by 88mm armour-piercing ammunition.

A lone Panzer IV was not too far away from the T-34s. The rear end of the Panzer IV had been blown apart from what could only be bomb damage, possibly dropped from attacking Ilyushin.

For a short while, any evidence that a fierce war was ranging disappeared. The fog completely lifted and slim rays of sunshine burst through the small gaps in the clouds. For a few seconds, everything seemed peaceful and almost normal. Max drifted back to his childhood in. Max was 13 when he was just one of six children out of the 70 children at his school to be selected to attend a Nazi development camp for the Future Little Elite. It was a great opportunity and very much moulded Max into the person he was now. Max never agreed fully with Nazi policies, but her knew that they had helped Germany become strong once more. Max was proud to be German and fight for his country. He had seen the brutal acts that the Red Army had done towards the invading Germans. The Soviets were nothing more than Neanderthals who needed to be obliterated. A smile came to Max’s face as he remembered the story of how one of the children in his class brought a condom into school. His friend blew it up like a balloon, before throwing it out a window as the teacher approached the classroom. It was found by a Nazi youth leader who knew where it had come from. Max and his friends were lined up; each of them was almost interrogated. They all stuck to the same story and would not reveal who the culprit was. As they had shown solidarity the Nazi youth leader let them off. Solidarity was more important than the act. The youth leader said, “You can do what you want, you can let your teenage violent impulses out, it doesn’t matter, as long as you do it for us.” Instead of a good telling off, Max and his friends were congratulated for sticking together.

In the distance, the damaged roofs of the village came into view. It was obvious the village had seen its fair share of fighting. The odd building was partially destroyed and the local people all looked very glum. They hated the Red Army as much as they hated the Germans. Finally, the Tigers came to an abrupt stop and the crews clambered out. A fuel truck was not too far away. Max went to sort out getting fuel and ammunition on board. The rest of the crew went to smoke and get something to eat. The plan was to stay at the village for the night and continue in the morning to their main objective.

At least they would be safer here. Air attacks were common, but there were two flak batteries complete with quadruple 20mm anti-aircraft cannon guarding the sky and several anti-tank guns stationed around the village. A counter attack was expected. The German infantry had been getting dug in and preparing their own defences in preparation for an attack. Very little tank fighting occurred at night, since tanks could not effectively engage targets at ranges much beyond 100 yards unless flares were fired, but this tended to aid the defender more than the attacker, revealing enemy positions.

CHAPTER FIVE – Overview

Hitler hated the Communist ideology and his intention was to crush the Soviet Union. He already had battle prepared and tested panzer divisions along with the mighty Luftwaffe to offer air support. His plan was to use armoured spearheads to penetrate deep into Russian and destroy the Russian Army. Hitler saw Operation Barbarossa as a crusade to not only destroy the Red Army and Soviet state, but at the eventual obliteration of the indigenous Slavic populations as a necessary precursor to German colonization in the East.

The war in the East would see an offensive planned on an almost ad-hoc or making tactical decisions based on opportunity. This was very different to the campaigns in France, Poland and the Balkans. Hitler made three assumptions, the first being that the Soviet campaign would be a short campaign lasting only a few months. The second was that the Soviet terrain and climate would not have a significant impact on the operation. The third was that the Red Army could be swiftly destroyed – maybe taking around six weeks with a fast moving campaign.

Hitler had not taken into account what would happen if the operation lasted longer than intended. The production of tanks and training of new tank crews to replace battle losses. The stockpiling of fuel and ammunition to keep the panzer forces moving. He had just assumed the flat terrain of the Soviet Union would aid the fast progress of the panzer divisions across Russia. The dense forests, poor roads, plethora of rivers and vast distances had not been factored in. He had also underestimated the Red Army’s ability and fighting spirit. Each one of these factors would conspire against the German’s and lead to their eventual defeat allowing the Red Army to repel the attacking force all the way back to Germany before marching into Berlin.

Stalin knew he had to deter any German attacks until the Red Army was ready to take on the German’s on a more even footing. The Red Army’s tanks corps had been disbanded in November 1939 only to be re-formed and double in size after the German victory in France. These corps would be equipped with the new KV-1 and T-34 tanks to replace the T-26 and BT series tanks. Over 5,000 of these new tanks were ordered and had to be ready to fully equip the Tank corps by mid-1942. However, Stalin realized the Germans were expanding their panzer divisions and wanted another 11,000 tanks to be produced and form an even larger Tank corps as quickly as possible. With plants operating at fully capacity this was unlikely to be met by late 1943. The reorganization and expansion of the Tank Corps led to disarray in June 1941.

Stalin like Hitler had made three assumptions. The first being that adequate warning of an impending German assault. Giving the Red Army time to prepare and deploy. The red Army also assumed it could hold its own against the Germans with adequate training, logistics and preparation. The third Soviet strategic assumption was that industrial mobilization was the key to victory and that campaigns would be decided by the side that had the greater ability to sustain its forces in protracted operations, not by fancy manoeuvres. Stalin’s misunderstanding meant the first assumption undermined the second assumption. This error led to the destruction of most of the pre-war tank force within the first three months of the German assault. However, unlike Hitler the third assumption did come to fruition and in turn enabled the second assumption to come to fruition. In this sense, Stalin and the Red Army ended up in a better tactical position. The Soviet numerical superiority acted as a counterweight to the superior panzer tactics.

Hitler had deployed four panzer groups for a total of seventeen panzer divisions and 3,106 tanks for Operation Barbarossa. In addition, two independent panzer battalions, Pz.Abt. 40 and Pz.Abt. 211, were deployed in Finland with 124 tanks (incl. twenty Pz.III). The 2 and 5. Panzer-Division were refitting in Germany after the Greek Campaign in April 1941 and were in reserve. Germany was in essence committing all of its Panzer divisions to Operation Barborossa. By mid-1941 the Germans were producing around 250 tanks a week.

The Red Army by June 1941 would deploy 9,500 tanks. The Germans based their assumptions and put together a handbook about Soviet tanks for the panzer groups, which described the various models of the T-26, T-28, T-35 and BT-5/ 7 in detail. The handbook also included information about a new Soviet heavy tank equipped with 60mm-thick armour and 76.2mm main armament that had been used against the Finns in December 1939; this was the SMK prototype, which the Germans mistakenly labelled as the T-35C. What was not fully realised was the existence of the KV-1, also trialled at the same time as the SMK. Only one SMK was ever made as it proved to not be a very good design after being used in the War in Finland. Although Kinzel was aware that the Soviets had fielded a prototype heavy tank eighteen months prior to Barbarossa. He felt though that existing anti-tank weapons would be able to defeat it.

Another issue was that German planners had no appreciation for the Soviet military philosophy of echeloned attack and defence, which meant that defeating the Red Army in a single campaign would prove far more difficult than the French Army in 1940. The entire essence of the so-called Blitzkrieg was to use concentrated armoured formations in short, powerful jabs to dislocate an enemy’s defence by isolating their best forces.

This would lead to the surrender of the forces cut off and surrounded. However, Stalin and his Red Army had no intention of surrendering. Especially when they realised Hitler wanted to exterminate them. They may as well fight to the death rather than become POWs and be killed any way. This so called ‘war of annihilation’ made it impossible for Hitler and his Wehrmacht to succeed against the Red Army. This was without factoring the harsh weather and terrain that the Germans had not foreseen or even planned for. The Red Army had already learnt these painful lessons about the limitations of mechanized units in forested terrain and winter conditions during the 1939–40 Russo-Finnish War. Another larger area that the Germans left unconsidered was the crossing the mass of Rivers in the Soviet Union. Although, the German had some amphibious tanks to aid in getting across rivers. However, the bridging capabilities of the 1941–42 panzer divisions were rather rudimentary –a Brüfckenkolonne B or K could construct a 50-meter long pontoon bridge in about twelve hours that could just support a Pz.III medium tank, but the Pz.IV and later Tiger and Panthers needed proper bridges to get across significant water obstacles. The Germans lagged behind the Allies in assault bridging, having nothing like the British Bailey bridge. When bridges or fording sites were not available, armoured operations came to a full stop.

CHAPTER SIX – Eastern Front

During the war on the Eastern Front both sides tended to claim every enemy tank hit as a ‘kill’, but a good percentage of hits either bounced off the armour or failed to penetrate. Based upon post-battle analysis of both sides’ records, the Germans appeared to have on many occasions exaggerated their tank ‘kills’ by up to 200 per cent and the Soviets by 500 per cent. Tanks are complex weapon systems that require several sub-systems and the crew to function properly in order to provide the vehicle with its key characteristics: firepower, protection, mobility and communications. Tank crews vary in size, with 4–5 being the normal size for a full-strength crew. Combat and noncombat casualties along with disease and sickness in winter months could reduce crews both in size and fighting ability. This was true of either a German or Red Army crew. It was essential that each member of the crew performed their designated task to the best of their ability for the tank to achieve its full capability. A poorly-trained loader might be the lowest man in the tank crew hierarchy, but his inability to reload main gun rounds quickly in combat could easily lead to his tank losing a gunnery duel against a faster opponent. The tank driver’s ability to manoeuvre over rough terrain and use cover and concealed approaches is critical for the crew’s survival. The driver needed to fully understand the tanks limits on different kinds of terrain.

Here is a diary extract from Unteroffizier Erich Hager, a Panzer IV driver in the 6 Panzer Regiment 39. This extract records his actions not far from Venev on the Eastern Front:

Now the fun starts… 42-tonner on fire. Great to watch. A bit further on another 2 down. We attack 13 tanks. One tank destroyed. LKWs on fire. Lots of Russian infantry destroyed. Run over by the tanks. Then the best bit. We attack two 42-tonners and start a real hare hunt. He couldn’t turn his turret after the first direct hit and took off. We were after him with force, 20 meters behind him. Half an hour the hunt went on for until he lost a track and fell into a ditch. We fired 30 shots into him. Nothing got through. That day our vehicle fired 110 rounds… Have no more rounds.

The 42 tonner relates to the KV-1 tank and LKW is short for the German expression Lastkraftwagen meaning truck in English.

The Tigers first appearance on the Eastern Front was unsuccessful. Tigers were first issued to the 1st platoon of the 502 Battalion of Heavy Tanks (Schwere Panzer Abteilung 502). On August 29, 1942, four Tigers arrived at the Mga railway station near Leningrad. As soon as they arrived they were unloaded and made ready for battle. At 1100 hours, the tanks made their way to their battle stations. Major Richard Merker was in command of the platoon, which included four Tigers, six PzKpfw III Ausf. L and J, two infantry companies and several trucks of the technical support unit. A representative of the Henshel firm – Hans Franke accompanied the unit in a VW Kubelwagen right behind the first Tiger. After the attack, it was realised that trying to use the heavy Tiger tank on soft ground was an error as its ability to manoeuvre was severely reduced. The Tiger already had a slower moving turret, top speed and slower turn than the likes of the T-34. This was the trade-off for having a much more powerful gun and thicker armour.

During the battle, Russian infantry retreated, and their artillery opened heavy fire to cover the troops. Major Merker’s unit, divided into two groups, started to attack on two parallel side road. The first Tiger was soon abandoned because of transmission failure. The second one was abandoned a few minutes later after engine failure. In spite of Russian fire, the Henschel representative started to inspect the tanks, before Merker came by with his Tiger and said that the third tank was disabled because the steering control failed. During the night, all three damaged Tigers were evacuated using Sd Kfz 9 prime movers. It took three of these per Tiger to recover. The Germans had been lucky that the Red Army had not tried to capture the disabled tanks. Spare parts were flown in and all four Tigers repaired by the 15 September ready for battle.

Sadly, the second action the Tigers participated in was no better than the first. September 22, saw four Tigers, supported by PzKpfw III tanks; accompany the 170th Infantry Division in attacking the 2nd Soviet Army. The terrain was highly unsuitable, the ground again was too soft after heavy rain, and Merker opposed the use of Tigers in this operation. After a direct order from Hitler, the Tigers went into battle. Not long after the attack began, the first Tiger received a direct hit in the front armour plate. The shell did not penetrate, but the impact caused the engine to stall and there was no time to restart it. The crew abandoned the Tiger before they threw hand grenades into the fighting compartment.

The other three Tigers reached the Russian trenches, but very soon were damaged by Red Army artillery crossfire as they lost their ability to manoeuvre on the soft ground. Again, the three Tigers had to be abandoned and the fourth was destroyed to prevent it from being captured.

The Wehrmacht was adamant that crews read the Tiger’s manual before charging into battle with one of the Third Reich’s most vital (and expensive) pieces of hardware. However, experience showed that young tankers had little interest in poring over pages of dry instructions and boring schematics. To try to entice crews into reading the Tiger manual it was renamed the Tigerfibel and used poetry, humour and illustrations including scantily clad illustrations of women to make crews want to read it. A similar manual was also written for the Panther tank. The manual was written by Lt. Josef von Glatter-Goetz. In contrast to the usual tedium of instruction manuals.

The manual mostly covered the maintenance of the tank however it also contained supplements, like a vehicle recognition chart, which displayed good black and white photographs and diagrams of the Allied tanks a Tiger tank crew could encounter.

The Tigerfibell also included diagrams illustrating the vulnerability of enemy tanks and the ranges at which the armour could be penetrated. There were detailed diagrams of these tanks, which revealed the vulnerable spots in the front, side and back armour. The manual stood out not just for its humorous and playful tone, but also for its striking graphic design, which ironically was inspired by the ‘degenerate’ and ‘communist’ Bauhaus school of the 1930s so detested by Nazi ideologues. Each page of the manual was printed using just black and red ink with the text broken up by illustrations, cartoons, and easy-to-read technical diagrams. It provided an influential model for future army manuals

Finally, Tigers had a successful third battle. January 12, 1943, saw the 502nd support the 96th Infantry Division opposing an attack of Russian tanks. Four Tigers destroyed twelve T-34 tanks. This forced the rest of the Soviet tanks into retreat.

January 16, 1943 the Russians finally captured their first Tiger during a German attack near the Shlisselburg on the Leningrad front. This tank was immediately delivered to the Kubinka Proving Grounds and inspected by Soviet Engineers. This meant the Soviets knew all of its secrets and could use this knowledge to build their own tanks and know the best method to attack and destroy a Tiger.

In early 1943, the Red Army had no comparable answer in terms of firepower to the Tiger and its 8.8cm KwK 36 L/56 gun or its heavy armour. For close combat, the Red Army Infantry had the PTRD-41 and PTRS-41 anti-tank rifles, which had a 4-foot barrel firing 0.57 inch or 14.5 mm shells with tungsten cores. This weapon was not able to knock out the Tiger, but, in the right hands, could destroy the tank’s optic devices or damage the suspension, slowing down its progress or immobilizing a Tiger. However, it was pretty much useless against the heavy German tanks, and later Soviet troops used captured Panzerfausts.

Artillery was the main weapon of the Red Army. Although, not all Russian artillery could penetrate Tiger’s armour. If fire was concentrated from several guns onto a single Tiger, the Tiger could be heavily damaged.

The 76.2mm ZIS-3 cannon, using anti-tank shells, could penetrate Tiger side armour at distances between 300-400 meters. The ZIS-3 could also destroy the running gear, but could not penetrate the Tiger’s frontal armour. The Tigers poor manoeuvrability aided in the use of anti-tank guns. Although it took the 85mm or 122mm A-19 cannon to destroy a Tiger at longer ranges. The Soviets made many anti-tank guns, up to 100mm in bore diameter.

When the Tiger I first appeared on the Eastern Front, the Red Army had the T-34/76 and different models of the KV-1. Until the autumn 1943, Red Army had only two types of SP guns: the SU-122 Medium Assault Gun and the SU-76 Light Self-Propelled Gun. None of these were effective against the Tiger at ranges over 500 meters. The Tiger had a great advantage over long distances. During the famous tank battle near Prokhorovka, the Soviet commanders tried to take advantage of the greater mobility of the T-34 and the assault guns by closing in to short ranges and shooting at the Tiger’s thinner side armour. The result of the battle was that the new German tanks were equal to older Soviet tanks because of the correct choice on the battlefield. This was a great manoeuvre on the part of Gen. Col. Rotmistrov and Gen Leut. Zhadov. The battle ended with almost equal losses, but the Soviets kept more tanks in reserve for a counterattack, while Germans were unable to continue with their offensive.

In February of 1944, the T-34 was rearmed with the new long-barrelled 85mm S-53 gun This was an 85mm AA gun was an anti-aircraft gun without any special modifications. In mid-1944 with 85mm ZIS-S-53. The ZiS-S-53 was a modified S-53 designed by Grabin’s Design Bureau to simplify the gun and reduce its price, while ballistic of both guns were same. This new gun could penetrate the side armour of a Tiger from 800 meters and penetrate the side of the turret from 600 meters. However, the Tiger could destroy the T-34 from 1,500 to 2,000 meters.

From early 1943 to mid-1944, the main opponents of the Tiger on the Eastern Front were the assault guns based on T-34 and KV-1 chassis. When it was discovered that the existing SU-76 and SU-122 types could not penetrate the Tiger’s armour at any distance under 1,000 meters, the Soviets decided to create a new assault gun, the SU-85, armed with an adaptation of the 85mm anti-aircraft gun. Production of the SU-122 was stopped and the SU-85 was adopted in its place. It was later followed by the SU-100 medium assault gun. By mid-1943, SU-152 heavy assault gun entered service. The SU-152 was based on the KV-1 heavy tank and was armed 152mm howitzer. It was nicknamed Zveroboi (Animal Killer). At the end of 1943, a new assault gun, the ISU-152, based on IS-2 heavy tank was produced. It was armed with a very powerful 152mm howitzer. The shell of this gun could penetrate any part of the Tiger’s armour and even cut the turret from the hull. The ISU-152 was nicknamed “Animal Hunter”. The weight of the AP (Armour Piercing) shell was 48kg, while the high explosive shell was 41kg.

Using assault guns to their maximum ability, the Red Army fought as best as it could against the formidable Tiger. The new heavy tank the IS-1 was developed at the end of 1943. The Red Army received its first IS-1 tanks in February of 1944. This was followed by the IS-2 heavy tank. The IS tanks had a low profile, lower than the Tiger or the Sherman. The turret and front armour plate were 100mm thick. The side armour plates were 75mm. The IS-1 tank was armed with an 85 mm D-5T and the IS-2 with a more powerful 122mm D-25T gun that had a 16-foot-long barrel. The downside of the D-25T was that it used a separate shell and powder charge, resulting in a lower rate of fire and reduced ammunition capacity due to having to carry a charge and projectile, which put the IS-2 at a disadvantage. Soviet proving-ground tests claimed that the D-25 could penetrate the frontal armour of a Panther tank at 1.5 miles.

The IS tanks had a great advantage in comparison to the Tiger I because of their sloped armour plates that gave them better penetration resistance. With these tanks, the Red Army finally had armour that was better than the Tiger and equal to the King Tiger. During March 1944, the first IS-2s were tested in action and proved their power. More than 3,000 IS-2 tanks were produced by the end of the war. In the opinion of Hasso von Manteuffel, it was the best tank of WW II. Although others state it was the Panther or Tiger.

CHAPTER SEVEN – Valley High

March 1943

German armour on the other side of the valley opened up, bringing down an intense barrage of fire on the group of T-34s.The first T-34 was just about to move out of sight, though still advancing towards the German armour. It was letting off rounds, which hit the Tigers frontal area and just bounced off. The Tiger fired back and the shells slammed into the turret knocking it clean off. Behind the first T-34 was a second T-34 advancing towards the German permission and firing at the same time. One of it shells hit a Marder III and blew the gunner clean out of the open top gunner’s position. His body was ripped in two by the force of the blast. The Marder III was a tank destroyer with a captured Soviet 76.2mm F-22 Model 1936 divisional field gun or German 7.5 cm PaK 40, in an open-topped cupola on top of a Panzer 38(t) chassis. They offered the crew very little protection and the thin armour made them vulnerable but they proved to be very reliable. The Pak 40 gun was originally an anti-tank gun developed in 1939-1941 by Rheinmetall. The Pak 40 formed the backbone of German anti-tank guns for the latter part of World War II, mostly in towed form mounted on a various chassis as the Marder I, II and III. The Marder I was built on the base of the Tracteur Blindé 37L (Lorraine), a French artillery tractor/armoured personnel carrier of which the Germans had acquired more than three hundred after the Fall of France in 1940. Mounted with the same Pak 40 gun. The Marder II used either captured and re-engineered Soviet 7.62 cm guns firing German ammunition or the Pak 40 gun and was mounted on a Panzer II chassis.

The noise from all the guns firing at once was immense – almost deafening. Volley after volley of fire criss-crossed the valley. The second T-34 was hit multiple times shearing off its front sprocket and multiple road wheels. It continued to fire before a final shot to the side caused the ammunition to explode enveloping the tank in a large ball of flame and blowing the hull apart. A third T-34 appeared it turret swing from left to right, unsure of which target to hit first as a line of Marders and Tigers were laid out in front of it. In an almost a classic American Western film, this was down to who would be quickest on the draw. Instead of trying to flee, this lone T-34 continued to advance. It managed to get one wild shot off before the Marders and Tigers opened up as the T-34 picked up speed and continued to advance. Rounds started to slam into the front of the T-34 but it continued to advance, more rounds slammed into it and a small fire could be seen coming from the rear of the tank. Rounds pierced the turret and blew fragments away as the fire at the rear of the tank intensified. The driver must have been killed and had slumped over his controls causing it to drive autonomously towards the German armour. Another round slammed into the side of the T-34 ripping off it tracks. Such was its momentum the T-34 continued for quite a distance before finally coming to a stop. Rounds continued to rain down on the tank before a round caused the hull to lift up and reveal the inside burning intensely as the ammunition cooked off and blew the turret off. The crew inside did not stand a chance and either had been very heroic or an act of total madness.

The Marders and Tigers stood firm for a while, waiting for a further attack that never came. Rather than wait and become sitting ducks the tanks decided to advance to where the enemy tanks had come from before moving right to meet up for resupply and repairs. The problem with re-supply was that there was not always enough fuel and ammunition to go around. The fuel issue would become an even greater issue in the closing stages of the war when tank crews would scavenge for fuel.

CHAPTER EIGHT – Panther

The Panther tank was developed due to the German tank crisis that became apparent during the invasion of Russia in 1941. It was a change from traditional medium tanks that had always been of a comparable weight to Allied tanks. However, the Panther was a compromise. Whilst having essentially the same engine as the Tiger, it had more efficient frontal hull armour, better gun penetration, was lighter and faster, and could traverse rough terrain better than the Tiger. The trade-off though was weaker side armour, which made it vulnerable to flanking fire.

The Germans had used the speed and mobility of lighter tanks through lighter armour and firepower. The current PzKpfw III and PzKpfw IV were durable, reliable tanks although not fully suited to tank v tank engagements. By 1942, Germany was beginning to struggle with stretched supply lines and well as fighting on too many fronts. With the Eastern Front proving to be much more difficult than anticipated. This lead, the German Army into a more defensive situation and required armour that had greater firepower to take on Red Army tanks that were now numerically superior. The Germans required a long range 75 mm gun that could take on Red Army tanks on the flat plains. The 75mm gun was the primary focus, but the amount of armour and offering a better armoured tank became part of the design brief. This led to the weight of the Panther creeping up with its heavier armour. The Panthers weight went from 22 tonnes to 40 tonnes by the time the Panther entered production. However, supplies of crucial steely alloys and other materials required compromises with high carbon steel being used. The use of this material required complex interlocking plates because of welding issues. The increased weight was not factored in with regards to the power, transmission and suspension systems. The transmission in particular suffered reliability problems due to the extra weight it now had to propel. In the end the Panther was really a heavy tank as opposed to a medium tank. It cost much more to produce than the PzKpfw III and PzKpfw IV and was much more complex to manufacture.

The design like that of the Tiger was more about over engineering and craftsmanship than designing a tank that could be quickly and easily produce in vast numbers.

One example is that of suspension with a torsion bar as opposed to the more traditional leaf spring design. Torsion bar suspension gave a better ride but offered no tactical advantage. The Panther also had complicated interleaved road wheels leading to added manufacturing costs and maintenance issues. This meant the Panther could never be produced in the numbers required just like the Tiger and it would always be outnumbered.

In September 1942, Hitler demanded that armoured production reach 1,400 vehicles per month by spring 1944, including 600 Panthers. The Adolf Hitler Panzer Program put forward by Albert Speer’s Ministry of Armaments and War Production in January 1943 was only 1,200 armoured vehicles per month. Infuriated, Hitler summoned Speer for a meeting at which he increased the production objective to 1,500–2,000 vehicles per month. This was comparable to Soviet or American production. Again, the complex designs and continued bombing of factories in Germany meant this target was never met. However, Hitler did manage to double tank production as greater priority was given to armoured vehicle production. In 1942, 6,180 vehicles were produced and in 1943, 12,013 vehicles were produced.

Reliability dogged the Panther with around one-quarter of the Panther tanks deployed in the panzer regiments being operational at any given time. Teething problems with any new system is commonplace, but the Panther was worse than average. One example was the Panther’s AK 7-200 transmission. It had been designed for mass production and in doing so compromises had been made to speed up production. The original MAN proposal had called for the Panther to have a planetary gearing system in the final drive, like that used in the Tiger I. A shortage of gear-cutting machine tools and that the Panther was intended to be mass-produced numerous compromises were made against the designers wishes. The compromises effectively weakened the transmission.

Multigeared steering that permitted the Panther to pivot turn by running the tracks on one side in one direction and the other in the opposite direction. This meant the Panther could turn on its own pivot. However, this just added to the already badly overstressed transmission as this high-torque method of turning could cause failures of the final drive and caused premature stripping of the third gear. The more serious transmission problem was the final drive, which had a nominal life expectancy of 1000 miles. In practice, this was sometimes as low as 100 miles. Another factor was the difficulty in getting to the transmission for repairs, which necessitated a full strip down of the front portion of the tank just to get to the transmission. The single-teeth spur gears tended to strip more readily than the more robust double herringbone design used on other tanks such as the American M4 Sherman. To replace the transmission, the mechanics had to unbolt a heavy rectangular plate from the hull roof above the radio operator. The mechanics would need to unbolt the transmission from the hull and drive shafts, before a crane was used to lift it out of the tank. Before a new one was lowered in and bolted down. This could take nearly a day for a skilled team of mechanics.

Although, some shortcomings were slowly addressed over the Panthers service life particularly in 1943. One example being the Panther’s engine compartment that had been designed to be waterproof. This had led to engine overheating due to poor ventilation in early Panthers. Fuel connectors on the early Panthers were non-insulated, leading to the leakage of fuel fumes into the engine compartment. This led to engine fires in the early Panthers. Extra ventilation was added to draw off these gases. Although this only partly solved the problem of engine fires. To reduce this problem, the coolant circulation inside the motor was improved and they added a reinforced membrane spring to the fuel pump. The Panther had a very solid firewall to protect the crew from an engine fire.

The Panther’s operational rate rose from a very low 16% at the end of July 1943 nearly double but still poor 37% by December 1943. An improved version, confusingly called the Panther Ausf. A, entered production in August 1943. This version standardized improvements that had been gradually introduced into the Panther Ausf. D and included an improved turret with a new commander’s cupola. Additional changes continued to be incorporated into the design through 1943 and into 1944. These improvements began to influence the availability rate of the tanks deployed on the Eastern Front, going 37% percent in February 1944 to 78% by the end of May 1944.

The German tank industry was spared from major strategic bomber attacks through 1943, and none of the Panther tank plants were significantly bombed until summer 1944. This aided in Panther production although the goal of 600 per month was never reached. However, the Allies realised that Panthers and Tigers were powered by Maybach engines, the Maybach plant was struck by the RAF on the night of April 27 and 28, 1944. This halted Maybach engine production for five months. Thankfully, a second source of engines from the Auto-Union (now Audi) plant at Siegmar was secured. To aid in production the Panther design was simplified. Such as a simplified side armour plate design, which also increased side armour protection from 40 to 50mm. Many small changes were also introduced, including redesigned hull crew hatches, a new traversable driver’s periscope mounting, and an improved power train cooling system. The Panther was one of the best tanks of WWII and its design helped post-war American, British and Russian tank designs. Its delicate transmission and the lack of certain alloys due to war shortages was the main reason its impact in battle was not as big as it could have been.

General Heinz Guderian sent in the following preliminary assessment of the Panthers in July 1943:

Due to enemy action and mechanical breakdowns, the combat strength sank rapidly during the first few days. By the evening of 10 July there were only 10 operational Panthers in the front line. 25 Panthers had been lost as total writeoffs (23 were hit and burnt and two had caught fire during the approach march). 100 Panthers were in need of repair (56 were damaged by hits and mines and 44 by mechanical breakdown). 60 percent of the mechanical breakdowns could be easily repaired. Approximately 40 Panthers had already been repaired and were on the way to the front. About 25 still had not been recovered by the repair service… On the evening of July 11, 38 Panthers were operational, 31 were total write-offs and 131 were in need of repair. A slow increase in the combat strength is observable. The large number of losses by hits (81 Panthers up to July 10) attests to the heavy fighting.

CHAPTER NINE – Counter Attack

June 1943

The Panthers and Tigers along with German infantry were eager to counter attack. They were determined to drive the Soviets back. The Panther crew had faith in their tank with its high-velocity cannon and good, sloped armour protection. Crews felt further reassured having four Panthers and six Tigers to push home the counter attack. They would still not have the numerical advantage though. As soon as it was dawn and the smallest glimmer of light began to appear on the gleaming white horizon – crews made final preparations. The Panther crew closed their hatches and the commander slid down into the turret before closing his hatch. He made use of his periscope to survey the area in front. Looking at the landscape and trying to see both areas that were good for cover and areas that an enemy tank may use to conceal itself. The early morning mist gave the tanks a little bit of cover as they moved forward into their attack positions. The gunner kept his eye on the gun sight triangle to line up with a target. As the Panther bounced up and down on the rough terrain. The loader behind him was holding the next round ready to load. T-34s had been spotted but had not yet come into sight. Finally, a T-34 popped out of the early morning mist about 1000 yards away. The commander rotated the turret onto the target and gave the gunner final control of moving the gun onto the target. Once the triangle reticule was on the target the shot was all lined up. The T-34 appeared on ground below the Panther just to its left and its distinctive shape was unmistakable. The gunner placed the triangle on the turret as the lower part of the tank was concealed by dead ground. The panther gunner fired. The round burst out of the Panthers breach. The Panther bucked gently, as the muzzle brake and hydraulic dampers absorbed the gun’s recoil. The long 75mm gun could achieve the same velocity as the 88mm on the Tiger, but with a muzzle brake and damper system the recoil did not make the Panther move about very much. The AP round hit the T-34 in the turret. Before the Panthers shell case had dropped into the anti-gas box. The T-34 got a shot off after seeing the muzzle flash from the Panther. The Panther had managed to partly conceal itself at the edge of the village. The shot missed but the Panthers shot knocked the T-34s turret clean off. A second T-34 came into view and the Panther gunner aimed a shot at the front corner trying to hit the front sprocket and disable the tank or get a round into the crew compartment. The round took the front sprocket clean off. It travelled several yards ripping off some track links. The T-34 moved a couple of yards’ further forwards before grinding to a halt. The T-34 had now presented its much weaker side armour to the Panther. The next round the Panther fired went straight into the middle of the side hull, towards the rear blowing the engine cover clean off. The force of the impact had compressed the diesel tanks causing an explosion that blew apart the engine and rear panels. The bright orange flame shot into the air and began to consume the tank and its crew. One of the crew flew out from an escape hatch completely on fire; he disappeared down the side of the tank. From behind the burning T-34, another two T-34s appeared, one of the other Panthers scored a direct hit straight into the ammunition storage area causing a massive explosion that flipped the tank onto its side. As the crew escaped, rounds from the Panthers MG cut them down before they got very far. Two T-34s had been taken out in a matter of minutes. This was just the start of a Red Army offensive. There would be more on their way, now they knew the Panthers position. This village for some reason seemed to be of great importance to the Soviets.

German Command decided that instead of waiting for reinforcements the German tanks would counter attack. The Tigers had moved round onto the Panthers left flank and had engaged a couple of SU-85s along with a Katyusha multiple rocket launcher. The Germans called them “Stalin’s organ” due to the visual and aural resemblance to a church organ. They could deliver multiple rockets much quicker than conventional artillery. However, they were less arcuate and took longer to load. Which each salvo of rockets taking around 50 minutes to load. They had a range of between 4.5 and 13 miles depending on the many rocket variants used during and after the war. The rockets were mounted in parallel on the back of various truck types such as a ZiS-6, six wheeled truck.

One Tiger had been lost in the short exchange of fire between the SU-85s and Katyusha. Although the SU-85 was a capable tank, the 85-mm gun was not adequate enough to penetrate the armour of the larger German armoured fighting vehicles such as the Panther, Tiger and King Tiger at long range or head on. The 76mm gun on the original T-34s could not penetrate a Tigers armour from the front and only the side at a very close range.

The two Panthers pushed forward with German infantry in support. The plan was for the two Panthers to follow the tree line at the edge of the village and descend onto the lower ground where they could isolate and attack enemy tanks. The only issue with this plan was if the Panther had to fire on the move, as the gunner did not have a periscope sight for general observation during travel and relied on the commander for targeting instructions. If the Panther was static and looking for targets, it was not an issue. However, on the move the firing cycle slowed to 20-30 seconds. On receiving the commander’s instructions, the gunner first had to search for the target using the 2.5x power magnification, switch to 5x magnification for the actual engagement. The gunner flipped the reticule to the correct ammunition type depending on the commander’s instructions. The gunner used the commander’s range estimate to make the necessary elevation adjustment. The gunner had two foot operated controls for the hydraulic turret traverse and a backup wheel if the hydraulics failed or the engine was not operating. Gun elevation was undertaken by using a wheel by the gunner’s left hand. The gun trigger was also located on the elevating wheel and was an electric trigger. When the gun fired, it ejected the round against a deflector plate and into an automatically opening and closing bin.

Once the Panthers had engaged targets, the Tigers would act as a cutoff and flank protection for the Panthers. The area was quite undulating, which gave opportunities for the Panthers to hide and pop out to attack Red Army tanks. The Panthers began their attack with dawn light and early morning mist offering some cover. Although sparks coming from the exhausts on the Panthers could easily be seen. German infantry followed close behind using the two tanks for cover. As the Panthers moved down the line of trees, the commander spotted an incoming Ilyushin that let off a volley of fire in completely the wrong location. It roared over the Panthers before turning sharply for a second pass. The second pass was no better than the first and completely missed the Panthers. After the second pass, the infantry reappeared from the trees where they had taken shelter. One Panther moved forward and the other turned left towards a mound. As the Panther got to the mound several trucks, containing infantry came into view. The Panther changed to HE rounds before firing at the first truck. The single round obliterated the truck and parts of it scattered in all directions. A second round was quickly loaded and fired at the second truck. The truck was torn apart as the HE round impacted with the truck. Three trucks were now ablaze. The Soldiers that had been on the back of the trucks were jumping and scattering in all directions. Many of them were on fire, screaming in pain as they burnt to death. The Panther fired another round at the next truck. The HE round it the truck in the centre blowing it apart into two pieces. The driver and passenger were thrown into the air by the force of the blast before their lifeless bodies it the hard frozen ground.

The commander of the second Panther spotted a KV-1 moving up towards the first Panther. One of the Tigers on flank protection had also seen the KV-1. Both the commander of the Tiger and the Panther lined up their sights and let off two AP rounds almost instantaneously. The first round it the side of the KV-1 and appeared to do nothing. The second round from a Tiger hit the rear of the KV-1 and blew the rear end of the KV-1 apart. Acrid black smoke belched out from the KV-1, which had now stopped moving. The round from the Panther had entered the side of the KV-1 taken out half the crew before exiting out the other side.

Three T-34s were moving towards the Panthers. One T-34 got a round that disabled the main gun of the second Panther. German infantry began to fire their heavy machine guns at the approaching T-34s. The other Panther was hit several times by small anti-tank guns. After the huge noise and echo their shots bounced off the Panthers angled armour. What Tank crews feared more were the shoulder mounted ant-tank weapons. The Germans had the ‘Panzerschrek’ (‘tank-terror’), because it had a shaped charge projectile that did not need to even pierce the armour. On impact, the warhead caused a shock wave to travel through the steel plate, which blew a big scab of plate off the inside, which immediately cut through anyone or anything it struck inside the tank. The Panther had now become exposed to enemy fire and needed to get onto a better position as did the Panther just behind, three 75mm rounds had hit the frontal armour and bounced off. A round finally penetrated the side and caused the turret to jam. As the Panther tried to turn, its transmission failed as well and could no longer turn or move. Its engine was juddering and oil smoke was pouring from its vents. The Panther was pitted and scarred from multiple hits by AP rounds, its hatches partly blown off and three wheels missing on one side. Inside the crew had felt the impact and fragments of shattered steel had shot around inside the tank. The gunner had a large laceration to the head. The commander a cut to his leg with blood almost spurting out. The driver had lost a fingernail and suffered a cut to his hand.

The Panther was effectively immobilised. The uninjured loader threw open the hatch before helping to haul the commander out who was struggling due to his leg injury. The rest of the crew managed to haul themselves out and flee into the woods behind them whilst under heavy MG fire and rounds throwing up dirt and stones all around them.

The Tigers by now had decided to move up towards the lone Panther and got a couple of longer-range shots off. One blew the track and three wheels off a T-34, the final T-34 started to reverse out of range when the Panther fired off a shot that hit the drivers viewing window; purely by chance killing the driver instantly and knocking out the tanks transmission. A Tiger got a shot into the side of another T-34. The turret on the T-34 blew off like popcorn exploding. It flew several feet into the air trailing all kinds of debris behind it. Such was the force of the blast the turret spun over in mid-air before crashing to the ground several feet away on fire from the rest of the T-34. German infantry now pushed forward laying down heavy MG fire on the advancing Red Army. This ended with bloody hand to hand fighting and complete and utter carnage as both German and Red Army infantry cut each other down using any weapon they hand to hand. The Panther continued to use its MG to cut down as many Red Army soldiers as possible before running out of fuel. The canvas bags containing empty shells was no full and smoking from the heat of all the hot shell casings.

A KV-1 which had concealed itself in a hollow, decided to appear. Instead of going forward the KV-1 reversed at speed. This was to avoid exposing its lower plate. The tank let off one wild shot and another that hit the Tigers frontal armour. The first round from the Tiger missed just bouncing off the corner of the frontal armour. The KV-1 got off another shot and hit the Tigers left drive sprocket with a huge impact. The Tiger responded with several rounds, which blew off the KV-1s right track and hit his driver’s visor. The KV-1 tried to move forward back into the hollow it had reversed out from. In doing this the KV-1 exposed the engine deck and grills. The gunner of the Tiger saw this as an opportunity too good to miss and got a shot off. The shot hit the KV-1 as it moved forward out of sight. Nothing happened for a few seconds there was an almighty explosion as a large fireball erupted from the hollow. Parts of the tank were thrown into the air along with a couple of the tank crew. The hollow was like a cauldron, bubbling with burning fuel and throwing out exploding heavy calibre ammunition, which went spinning out of control in all directions. The KV-1 had badly damaged the Tiger though. The right wheel and track were damaged and the Tiger reversed and moved forward to test the level of damage. If the Red Army got to them with hand-held rocket launchers, they could knock one or both of our tracks off. The left drive wheel was not operating, and they could only move on the left track. This meant the Tiger could only move at a slow speed otherwise they would curve sideways out of control. If the Tiger needed to be recovered, it would require specialist equipment. This would be at least two to three Berge Panther recovery vehicles, which were not readily available in the current area. The only option left to the Tiger crew was to withdraw by slowly reversing back. The Red Army infantry were steadily being overrun by German Infantry. Although to watch, it was quite simply an atrocity. Red Army soldiers who had nothing to lose using all they had against the attacking Germans. One German soldier was obviously out of ammunition – was slashing and stabbing at the Soviets, his bayonet fixed, lashing out in all directions slashing hands necks in a duel to the death. Another soldier threw his MP 40 to one side and used his entrenching tool to beat another Soviet soldier to death. Before being hit by some high calibre fire that blew his head apart, before his headless corpse dropped to the floor. The Tigers did their best to lay down some heavy MG fire cutting the Soviets down as they advanced like an angry hoard. The battle field hung heavy with the strong smell of cordite. Steam from hot weapons could be seen rising in all directions as the battlefield finally dropped quiet.

Thankfully, the Red Army attack had finally been repelled for the loss of one Panther and one Tiger. The biggest issue the Panther and Tigers now faced was being very low on fuel and ammunition after a short but intense battle. They reversed back into dead ground keeping a watchful out for any signs of lingering enemy forces. When a pair of Ilyushins came screaming in with a hail of bullets raining down they swooped up and down and twisted like a pair of Eagles hunting for their prey. Thankfully, a Sd.Kfz. 251 Hanamog mounted with four 20 mm Flak cannons had seen the Ilyushins roaring in and began to pump out flak. The crews of the tanks leapt out and in an insane move began to fire their MP 40s at the marauding aircraft. It was pretty ineffective but allowed the crews to vent their anger. Finally, a well-placed flak round took the tip of the wing off an Ilyushin. It carried on flying for a while before the right wing started to dip and the pilot tried to correct, but over corrected with his rudder and caused the Ilyushin to enter a spin, which was unrecoverable at its current altitude. It hit the ground with the same force as a small bomb before erupting into a fireball. The propeller in the process was blown off and landed with a few feet of a pair of Tigers being propelled through the air like a Ninja throwing star and embedding itself upright into the ground. With all its ordnance used up and nothing to show for it apart from a handful of dead German infantry, the Ilyushin broke off and headed for home.

CHAPTER TEN – Battle of Kursk

The Battle of Kursk (July 4 – July 20, 1943) was a decisive battle on the Eastern Front. The battle was an attempt by the Germans to get on the offensive after the major defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad. The Soviet counterpart, however, had good intelligence about the German preparations. The Red Army established deep defensive positions and gathered large forces in reserve. The Battle of Kursk was one of the greatest armoured battles in history that led to the largest loss in a single day. The famous tank crew at Prokhorovka was part of the Battle of Kursk. The German forces were unable to break through the Soviet lines, and eventually the Soviet forces counterattacked. The German side named the battle as Operation Citadel, while the Soviet side, had two names for it – Operation Kutuzov for the defensive and Operation Polkovodets Rumjantsev for the offensive part.

The Battle of Kursk was the last major German offensive on the Eastern Front, after Kursk the initiative shifted to the Red Army. The Soviet battle plan and its execution was exemplary and is still a subject of study both in historical and military circles. The Battle was a direct continuation of the Battle of Stalingrad. After the Paulus army was successfully encircled, the Soviet command made a serious mistake and failed to surround and eliminate the entire Nazi force on the Don and in the North Caucasus.

Field Marshal Manstein, who had been allowed to get away from the Caucasus, during February to March 1943, inflicted a crushing defeat on Soviet forces, retaking Kharkov and Belgorod. The Germans did not have enough firepower for Kursk, hence the Kursk Bulge, a projection going deep into the German front. Within that bulge, a powerful Soviet force was concentrated, and the Germans were out to get the Soviets in revenge for Stalingrad by encircling and routing them.

After June 1941, the Germans did not prepare any other offensive operation as thoroughly as they did Operation Citadel. Preparations continued for almost four months; the troops received a substantial amount of modern hardware and equipment, including Tiger and Panther tanks, Elefant self-propelled guns, FW-190 fighters, Ju-87 bombers.

Preparations were made amid the utmost secrecy, but that secret was known to everyone. The axis of the upcoming German strike was far too obvious. Soviet intelligence services merely confirmed the German plans. Soviet troops prepared for a counteroffensive operation just as thoroughly. The Soviets had never built such strong, deeply layered defensive installations.

It is a military-science axiom that an attacking force should have at least a 4 to 1 superiority over a defending force. At Kursk, in the summer of 1943, the Germans did not have any superiority at all. The Soviet Central and Voronezh Fronts had a 20 percent to 50 percent superiority over the opposing Centre and South Groups while there was also a whole reserve front – the Steppe Front, making Soviet superiority over the Germans more than twofold. To cap it all, they knew exactly when the German offensive was to begin.

In such conditions, Operation Citadel was a suicide mission for the Germans. It is worth mentioning that Hitler was well aware of that, but the German generals were resolved to take their revenge for the Stalingrad humiliation.

The offensive began on July 5, 1943. In less than a week, an armoured contingent of Tigers, Panthers, and Elefants, escorted by Ju 87s, despite fierce resistance by Soviet forces, breached all three defence lines of the Voronezh Front commanded by Gen Vatutin.

By July 12, the Germans gained operational depth. In order to rectify the situation, which was getting desperate, the Soviet command mounted a counter attack with the assets and forces of the Fifth Guards Tank Army under Gen Rotmistrov.

This would become the historic battle of Prokhorovka. It consisted of several separate smaller battles, the total number of Soviet tanks reaching 660 with the Germans having no more than 420. Due to the number of tans involved, Prokhorovka cannot be regarded as the largest tank battle in war history. Even during the Battle of Kursk there were more wide-ranging engagements, while in late June 1941 over 1,500 tanks on both sides had been involved in a battle in Western Ukraine.

The Soviets lost around 500 vehicles while the Germans lost around 200. With such Soviet losses, it was difficult for the Soviets to claim victory. As Rotmistrov himself recalled later, “when he learned about our losses, Stalin flew into a rage. After all, according to the Supreme High Command plans, the tank army was designed to take part in a counteroffensive, near Kharkov, but now it had to be reconstituted and reinforced.

The supreme commander decided to dismiss me from command and all but have me court-martialled.”

To analyse the battle of Prokhorovka, Stalin gave orders to set up a State Defense Committee commission, which judged the operation a classic failure.

Manstein’s victory, however, proved hollow. German losses were enormous even though they were smaller than Soviet losses. The Germans had no assets left to exploit their success. Gen Model, who attacked the Kursk Bulge from the north, moving toward Manstein, became stuck in the defence lines of the Central Front commanded by Gen. Rokossovsky.

On July 12, he was attacked from the rear, when Soviet Western Front troops began an advance on Orel. Finally, British and American troops landed on Sicily causing Hitler to panic. The subsequent course of the war showed that the allies did not have a chance on the Italian Front, but in July 1943, Hitler ordered troops to be redeployed from the Eastern Front to Italy. By July 17, 1943 Manstein began to retreat. The Germans ‘achieved a defeat,’ showing that they were still superior fighters while the Soviets ‘suffered a victory’ since the battle had from the start been hopeless for the Germans.

Everything could have been different at Kursk had the Germans attacked head on instead of the base of the bulge, where Soviet forces were expecting them. By attacking head on the Germans would have come across virtually no defensive lines. This would have meant they would have reached the rear service positions of both the Central and the Voronezh Front on the second day of the operation. This was exactly what Manstein wanted to do, and Marshal Zhukov recognized the danger after the war. Hitler was also inclined to support that plan.

But being products of the classical Prussian military school, Wehrmacht generals refused to break canons. They did everything properly and lost. After that, the Germans, having lost their elite units, were unable to attack successfully until the end of the war while the Soviets took another step to victory, once again paying an exorbitant price for that.

CHAPTER ELEVEN – Stuggered

January 1944

The crew of the Sturmgeschütz (StuG) IV had a young Danish driver who volunteered at the age of seventeen to join the Waffen SS. He was one of several Danish teenagers who had volunteered. They were intent on holding back the Soviets whom they hated politically. After his initial training the young driver was posted to an armour unit in Germany. The tank he had been allocated too was the StuG IV a self-propelled anti-tank gun based on the chassis of the Panzer IV chassis with a 75mm gun. Its high reliability with quite good armour protection and low profile made it easy to conceal. Along with the driver the StuG had two gunners’ and a commander all of German origin.

The crew had been sent to the Eastern Front. They loaded their StuG onto a rail car before making the long journey to their intended area of operations. Rail transport was used extensively to move armour to their area of operations. The StuG once unloaded and moving under its own power passed long lines of refugees fleeing the fighting in Russia. Some hated the Soviets as much as the Germans and wanted to get into areas liberated by the British and American forces. The StuG got itself dug into position by digging a large shell scrape to conceal itself. As well as two other StuGs on the left flank. There was a column of five Tigers ready to push forward. The commanding position the StuGs had placed themselves in offered a commanding view. Just behind them was a mortar team. The StuG crews made final preparations ready for the battle. The crew tried to get a few hours’ sleep on the hard, cold floor of the StuG. However, at low temperatures on a cold and hard metal floor it was hard to get comfortable.

As dawn drew near a heavy artillery barrage courtesy of the Red Army begun. The rounds impacted close to the StuGs sending shockwaves that were strong enough to rock the tank on its suspension. As well as artillery, the Soviets had Katyusha rocket launchers firing up into the dawn sky like a deadly firework display. Out of the gloom at the foot of the plain several IS-2 tanks came into view. These were formidable tanks and more than a match for the Tigers let alone the StuGs. The IS-2 had infantry soldiers hitching a lift huddled behind the main turret. The StuGs opened up their shells doing very little damage other than displacing the infantry riding on the rear. A total of eight IS-2s advanced at full pace firing on the German armour. A Tiger was knocked out almost instantly from a 122mm round that penetrated the left hand front corner of the Tiger. Killing three of the crew instantly as shrapnel flew around the interior of the tank inflicting fatal wounds. Rounds started to hit the StuGs but luckily, they did little damage initially as they were deflected by its armour. The StuGs concealment made them much harder to hit, especially in their weaker areas. The StuGs 75mm rounds continued to hit the IS-2s but still did not inflict anything more than very minor damage. The 88mm on the Tigers was having more luck. One hit from an 88mm round jammed the IS-2s turret and another blew another IS-2s track off. The Soviet infantry following the IS-2s and were much easier targets for the various MG gunners to cut down. Rounds from the IS-2s kept coming at quite a rate. Although the D-25T gun even with a semi-automatic breach could only fire up to two rounds a minute, which was slower than the Panther and the Tiger. Another issue for the IS-2s was that they only carried 28 rounds. This was due to limited space and size of the 122 mm rounds and using a separate shell and powder charge.

Even with its left track blown off, the IS-2 continued to fire. Finally, a round hit a StuG killing its gunner. A second round managed to pass straight through the frontal armour before bouncing off the rear bulkhead and killing everyone else except the Danish driver. The round had started an engine fire – so with no other choice the driver leapt out of the StuG and ran backwards to the German mortar teams. The third and final StuG exploded after a HE round hit the rear section and ignited the engine and fuel tanks sending debris in all directions. The IS-2s still advanced as a Tiger hit another causing its ammunition to explode in a large ball of fire.

The whole area was now filled with burnt bodies in every direction. Some hanging out of armoured vehicles some lying in contorted positions in the snow. On both sides, loses were beginning to mount up. German infantry was trying to disable IS-2s with Panzerfausts. To use the Panzerfaust, the soldier took off the safety, aimed, and, with a little squeeze, fired the projectile. One soldier got lucky with a Panzerfaust and caused an engine fire that led to its crew bailing out before being cut up by heavy German MG fire.

Then another Tiger exploded from several hits from IS-2s. This left three Tigers against five IS-2s, which were advancing rapidly. They just rolled over the German infantry crushing them to death. Their tracks ripping arms and legs off in the process. Their death cries could even be heard over the deafening noise of battle. The MG gunners on the IS-2s cut the German infantry down as they approached, literally shredding their bodies in the process.

The Tigers continued to fire and destroyed another IS-2 with a well-placed round to the side that killed all the crew inside instantaneously. In revenge three IS-2s opened up on the single Tiger blowing it to bits in a matter of seconds. It’s turret half hanging off and the crew burning to death inside. The final two Tigers began to retreat backwards still firing on the remaining IS-2s. A Tiger as it reversed backwards scored another IS-2 hit, just below the tracks towards the rear. It caused the rear engine panels to blow off before an explosion blew the turret hatch open. A much bigger secondary explosion sent a huge tower of red and orange flame high into the sky. Black smoke poured out of the rear as diesel and oil caught fire. The Tigers reversed down out of the IS-2s line of fire. They continued to point their guns towards the ridge in anticipation for the IS-2s appearing over the ridgeline.

For whatever reason the IS-2s never appeared and the Tiger crews breathed a sigh of relief. The Tigers continued to reverse into a better position before requesting resupply and repairs before the next encounter. Both the Tiger crews were suffering from exhaustion, but knew that they still had to fight. The Red Army had proven to be a much more tenacious in battle than they ever thought they could be. The cold just added to their misery and valuable energy was being wasted just keeping warm.

One IS-2 had been taken out after multiple Panzerfaust hits to its rear. German infantry swarmed over the other IS-2 as it moved along. With German infantry frantically trying to get the hatches open before throwing in a couple of grenades and killing the crew inside. The IS-2 finally ground to a halt. The Red Army advanced had been halted but not without the loss of several tanks.

CHAPTER TWELVE – Lead Tiger

January 1944

From over the ridge a mixture of T-34s, IS-2s and SU-100s appeared. All of these tanks would be a formidable foe. The lead Tiger commander through his binocular saw the approaching Soviet Army and shouted over the intercom “feindliche Panzer von Westen.” The T-34s were not quite as much of a worry as the IS-2s and SU-100 self-propelled guns. The SU-100 was essentially an upgraded SU-85, which had been rendered obsolete with its gun being mounted on the T-34-85. Although the T-34-85 could still not quite match the Tiger, as a Tiger could destroy a T-34 from 1,500 to 2,000 meters compared to the 600 metres of the T-34-85. The SU-100 took the same T-34 chassis as used on the SU-85 and added stronger armour, which went from 45mm to 74mm in thickness. It also had a better ventilation system compared to the SU-85. Finally, it was fitted with the 100 mm D-10S gun, the SU-100 could penetrate around 125 mm of vertical armour from a range of 1.2 miles and the sloped 80 mm front armour of the Panther from 0.93 miles. They got given the name Cat Hunters as they could take out Tiger and Panther tanks.

The Tigers got off the first shots followed by two Panthers. The first round bounced off the huge frontal armour. The second Tiger round hit the left-hand track. The track shattered and track links blew off in all directions. The SU-100 still fired its gun and the round screamed towards the German armour before finding the side of Panzer IV and knocking off its slim armour covering the wheels. The German crews felt fearful, as they knew they were up against some powerful tanks. It was a case of kill or be killed as the crews loaded the next salvo of rounds into their gun breaches. More shells screamed over from the SU-100s, the IS-2s had moved out of sight and were going to try and flank us to the left. Just behind the SU-100s were three T-34s. The HE rounds from the SU-100s exploded in the snow around the German armour. Throwing up shrapnel that could be heard bouncing off the tank armour. They had been lucky so far, with not one round having knocked a single tank out far.

Both sides continued to fire, with a round finally hitting the top of a SU-100 causing it to explode. One of the T-34s behind was hit in the turret, which was blown off by the force of the round. Another SU-100 was hit in the front and the round penetrated the armour, causing it to fall silent. The crew were either dead or had been knocked unconscious.

A Panther was struck in the turret by a 100mm round from an SU-100, the subsequent explosion caused the turret to lift off from the hull of the Panther and roll off the hull and end up on it side a few feet away. The crew lay dead inside before the tank exploded throwing out body parts in all directions that fell back onto the hull and into the surrounding snow.

The Panther continued to burn until there was nothing left to burn and the remaining crew inside had been incinerated. Another SU-100 was hit by a Tiger shell, it seemed to move backwards slightly in a large plume of dirty grey smoke before catching fire. Further Tiger fire hit another SU-100 in the tracks and hull, splitting open a section of the hull and allowing a dismembered crew member to fall out lifeless onto the snow. The German armour had an elevation advantage and were able to fire shots at the weaker top sections of the SU-100s hull. Another SU-100 was hit in the transmission and it ground to a halt, still firing back. Trying to hit another Panther, which it did with great success knocking out the driver and right hand track. The German infantry was ordered to begin an attack on the last two remaining SU-100s using a Panzerfaust. The IS-2s suddenly reappeared obviously having been ordered to come to the aid of the SU-100s. In doing so they exposed their weaker hull and the first IS-2 had its lower hull blown apart. The dead MG gunner was half hanging out the hole made by the explosion. The IS-2 continued to moved forward before a well-aimed shot through the existing hole with a HE round caused the whole tank to lift up a few feet into the air with a very large and loud explosion ripping through the hull as if it as made of tissue paper. Inside the commander desperately tried to open the turret hatch as he was engulfed in flames screaming and wailing away before falling down into the inferno raging in the hull. Ammunition started to cook off and explode and this black oily residue started to run down the hull of the IS-2 which was now full ablaze. The other IS-2s pushed forward missing the volley of rounds being fired from the Tigers. The speed at which they were moving made it difficult for them to get a proper aim and their shots missed the Tigers completely. The German Infantry were cut down by the IS-2s MG guns their bodies and heads exploding as rounds impacted on them. One infantry man had his insides blown clean out by a single well placed MG round. Another 88mm shell from a Tiger hit an IS-2s track and blew three road wheels clean off in the process. The IS-2 swung round exposing its weaker side armour and another well-placed round hit the rear side of the tank, blowing the engine clean out of the tank and causing the fuel tanks to explode. Whilst diesel does not burn easily, when it becomes compressed it ignites quite easily, especially any compressed diesel vapour. The pressure wave caused by the impact of a well-placed round was enough to put the diesel under enough pressure to cause it to ignite into a fireball.

Finally, an IS-2 round found its mark on a Tiger and penetrated the frontal armour killing all the crew in an instant. It took three rounds in rapid succession to immobilize the advancing IS-2. The first round punched through the lower hull, the second round hit the front sprocket, blowing it off and the third hit the lower hull causing it to go out of control and tip over after falling into a ditch, with smoke pouring out as it lay stranded. As the crew tried to escape they were cut down by German MG gunners who had witnessed the same tank mowing down and shooting at their friends and fellow soldiers.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN – Forest Fire

March 1944

Through the gunsight, the gunner got his first glimpse of two T-34s moving at full-speed down a hill going from left to right towards a treeline. Their vulnerable flanks were right in the Panthers line of sight. The gunner traversed the gun onto the target ensuring the targeting triangle on the lead tank was in the centre of the target. Allowing for the movement of the target. Dirty black exhaust plumes emanated from their twin exhausts from the rear of the tanks as they belted along on the rough track. Russia had very few paved roads, most were just stony tracks that became hard in the winter and summer. Then turned into a thick gooey mud as the snow melted, causing men, horses and armour to become stuck.

About 65% of the Russian territory is underlined by permafrost. Most areas of Russia including European Russia, in the south of West Siberia and in the south of the Russian Far East, including the cities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg, experience a humid continental climate. Saint Petersburg (formally Leningrad 1924-1992) which endured an 872-day siege by German forces from September 1941 to January 1944. It has a temperature average low of –9°C (record low of –36°C) in the winter to an average of 24°C (record high of 37°C) in the summer.

The gunner fired and there was an explosion of metal as the round hit the T-34s track causing it to veer off violently to one side. The second Panther shot an AP round straight through the rear flank, hitting the engine – causing the rear engine cover to blow off.

The gunner of the first Panther traversed his gun slightly onto the second T-34 and scored a second hit, this time on the turret causing a flash of light around the turret ring. The hatches to the tank suddenly flew open as thick grey smoke poured out of the hatches. The crew scrambled out and went to ground before they could be hit by the Panthers MG gun. The T-34 started to burn fiercely and the crew had made a lucky escape. A third T-34 appeared before veering off towards the tree line and relative safety of the forest. The two Panthers got another couple of shots off. One shot missed and the other hit the T-34 in the centre line. This caused a large explosion as ammunition inside the tank exploded causing the main turret to roll off. Before the hull of the tank was engulfed in flames. Three T-34s were now disabled for no losses or hits on the Panthers.

The first Panther was hit by a 76-mm round from another T-34, this round hit the Panther in the frontal area causing an enormous bang and the crew could feel the Panther shake. This T-34 had emerged from the treeline and just to the right of the T-34 was a SU-85 a self-propelled gun based on a T-34 chassis with a D5-T 85mm gun. Originally, the gun was an 85-mm air defence gun M1939 (52-K). It was developed by the D-5 85mm gun. Though much too large for the T-34 turret, it could be mounted in the chassis of the SU-122 self-propelled gun to create a tank destroyer. For it to be fitted to a T-34 a new turret would be required. This was later undertaken to create the T-34-85. The D-5 could penetrate the side armour of the Tiger I from 800 meters and the turret side from 600 meters.

A lucky shot from a Panther hit the T-34s glacis plate and was not deflected. It blew off large chunks of armour plate. A flash of flame emanated from the rear of the turret before thick black smoke started to pour out any openings. The crew threw their hatches open grabbing their PPSh-41s and make a run for it deeper into the forest. Every few metres turning around and firing off a few rounds from their PPSh-41s. One of the crew was on fire as his fiery torso disappeared into the forest.

The SU-85 opened up and the Panther crews fired more rounds from their extremely hot barrels. A round from the SU-85 hit the first Panthers gun mantle knocking the gunner out and damaging the elevation mechanism. The Panther was now unable to fire back and decided to reverse back out of firing range and undertake repairs. With one Panther left and an SU-85. It was going to be a dual to the death of one tank or another.

The Panther got the first round off hitting the fontal armour sending chunks of armour flying off. The SU-85 stopped and fired an AP round straight at the Panthers turret, jamming the Panthers turret from traversing. The Panther instead turned on its tracks for a less than precise aim at the front of the SU-85 and let off another round, it hit not much further away from the first frontal impact and this time penetrated the armour and stopped when it hit the engine block, knocking the engine out. The driver was still injured from the first impact and only the commander along with the driver had survived. The commander pulled the driver out of his seat and out of the escape hatch before landing in a heap on the floor. The Panther was out of MG ammo so was unable to finish them off. Instead deciding to reverse and make a hasty retreat before any more Soviet armour appeared. The SU-85 crew had made a lucky escape. The SU-85 was smoking heavily but had not caught fire. Other than a couple of bruises and a few cuts, the gunner and driver had managed to get away pretty much unscathed. They would more than likely within 24 hours be back on the frontline with a different tank crew to fill in caps left by losses. It was not unusual to lose a German tank commander due to sniper fire. Standing up in their cupola, they made an easy sniper target.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN – King Tiger

August 1944

The Tiger II combined the heavy armour of the Tiger I with the slopped armour of the Panther. It was a completely different tank to the Tiger I and weighed 70 tons compared to the 56 tons of the Tiger I. The King Tiger was first used in action in Normandy in July 1944 before being used on the Eastern Front the following month. The Tiger II also called the king Tiger was the most powerful tank to be deployed anywhere during World War 2. Together with the Panther formed a German spearhead for the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. The offensive though petered out due to a lack of fuel and many Tigers ended up being abandoned.

Despite its success in combat the Tiger continued to experience many problems. The overlapping suspension was one, which could easily become clogged with mud. During the Russian winter, this mud would freeze and would need to be chipped away before the tank could move. The engine was due to be replaced by the Maybach HL234, which was being developed. Essentially, this was the current HL230 engine extensively upgraded and modified with the fitting of fuel injectors which would have risen the engine power to 800-900hp partially addressing the underpowered issue. Although, this engine though never reached production before the war ended. This was to address the same under-powered problem suffered by the Tiger.

In comparison, a modern British Challenger 2 tank which has a weight of 62 tons with much stronger Chobham 2 armour, a more powerful 120 mm gun and a V-12 diesel engine producing 1,200hp. This gives a power to weight of 19.2hp compared 13.8hp for the Tiger I and 10hp for the Tiger II. At the same time, it shows how advance the Tiger II was for its day. With tank engine and transmission technology at the time, being the only real weak area Germans had not overcome.

Only 492 King Tigers were produced, with production being severely disrupted by allied bombing raids. The King Tigers turret was designed to mount the 8.8 cm KwK 43 L/71 gun. The KwK 43 was over 1.3 meters longer than that of the 88 mm KwK 36 L/56 used for the Tiger I. The cartridge was also considerably longer and wider than that used in KwK36, allowing for a much heavier propellant charge. The guns’ extremely high muzzle velocity and operating pressures caused accelerated barrel wear, resulting in a change to a two-piece barrel. This made it much easier to change worn out barrels. The turret could be rotated 360 degrees in 60 seconds in low gear, in 19 seconds in high gear at idle engine speed, and within 10 seconds at the maximum allowable engine speed in high gear. Making it quickly able to swing round onto a target.

After initial success in Normandy in July 1944, the Tiger II or King Tiger made it to the Eastern Front. It was first used in anger on August 12, 1944 by the 501st Heavy Panzer Battalion resisting the Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive. The King Tigers attacked a Soviet bridgehead over the Vistula River near Baranów Sandomierski. However, on the road to Oględów, three Tiger IIs were destroyed in an ambush by a few T-34-85s. Due to these German tanks suffered ammunition explosions, which caused many crew fatalities. This also led to main gun ammunition no longer being stored in the turret to reduce fatal explosions. In doing so this reduced the number of rounds carried to 68. On August 11, 1944, three King Tigers approached and started to attack a bridge over the Vislula River. However, as they began their attack they had already been spotted by Oskin a Red Army tank commander. His T-34-85 along with two others had been well hidden and heavily camouflaged. They also had an SMG platoon supporting them.

Rather than engage straight away he decided to wait until the three King Tigers were much closer and more likely to suffer fatal damage. He waited until the King Tigers were about 200 metres away and opened fire. The King Tigers were side on to the T-34-85s and at this range, the D5-T gun should be able to penetrate the side armour. Using both APDS (Amour Piercing Discarding Sabot). Which is kinetic energy projectile that enabled better penetration of thick armour. The first two rounds fired on one King Tiger did not penetrate the third hit the turret and caused the ammunition stored in the turret to exploded lifting it away from its turret ring. The explosion also caused the King Tiger to catch fire killing all its crew in an instance. The King Tigers had yet to find their target let alone fire off any rounds. The T-34s continued to fire and another King Tiger was hit three times but its armour was not penetrated as they turned into the line of fire with their much stronger frontal armour. A fourth round hit just underneath the main turret and again caused ammunition to explode killing the entire crew once again. Two mighty King Tigers were now burning ferociously without a single T-34-85 having been hit. Out in the open and nowhere to hide, the final Tiger decided to try and escape by moving at full-speed. Using smoke, the T-34s used their greater speed and manoeuvrability and managed to outmanoeuvre the King Tiger. The T-34s fired off several shots into the side of the King Tiger.

This time they managed to disable the King Tiger without it going up in flames. The rounds bouncing off but causing chunks of armour to come off and fly around the inside cutting the crew to shreds. Three of the crew were killed by the shrapnel and the final crew member managed to escape slightly injured. He was captured and taken as a POW by the SMG platoon. It was an outstanding of tank tactics, from a tank that whilst faster and more manoeuvrable was outgunned unless it got up close to the King Tiger.

It was an appalling loss of Germany’s new super tank and caused a review of tactics and doctrine. Twelve tank crew members had been lost with one now a Soviet POW. The immobilised Tiger was captured by the Soviets and repaired before being moved to testing grounds at Kubinka for the Soviets to evaluate. This was one of two King Tigers captured in August 1944.

During the evaluation, the Soviets found out quickly that the King Tiger had a tendency to breakdown. During the transfer to their testing grounds and getting to suitable rail transport the cooling system was found to be insufficient for the excessively hot climatic conditions of the Russian summer. The engine tended to overheat and cause a consequential failure of the gearbox. The right suspension of one of the tanks had to be completely replaced, and its full functionality could not be re-established. The tank down again around every 10 miles. The 8.8 cm KwK 43 in terms of penetration and accuracy was found to be on par with the 122 mm D-25T. It proved capable of passing a round straight through and out of the other captured King Tiger’s turret at a range of at 430 yards. The armour of one vehicle was tested by firing at it with shells between 100 and 152 mm calibre. The welding of the King Tiger even with the usual careful workmanship, was significantly worse than on similar designs even the Tiger I.

This meant that when shells were unable to penetrate the Tigers armour they caused the plates to break into smaller pieces, which would have caused injury or death to the crew sitting inside. These metal fragments also damaged the sensitive transmission and rendered the King Tiger inoperable. The armour plate was found to not be as strong as that on the Tiger I or the Panther. Further analysis found that the armour plate was lacking in molybdenum due to a loss of supply and replaced with vanadium which lowered the malleability making the metal more prone to shattering. Although to this day it has not been recorded if the frontal armour of a King Tiger was ever penetrated in battle. The Red Army also learnt to best way to take out King Tiger was to do it in stages. The first stage was to use HE rounds and destroy part of the running gear. With the tank immobilized the next stage was to at close range firing into the rear and sides to destroy it. T-34s with their good manoeuvrability stood a good chance of being able to out manoeuvre the traversing turret. An attack manoeuvre made more deadly if the T-34s attacked in numbers.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN – Village Liberation

The group of King Tigers raced down the rough track with the forest flashing by to the left. Behind the column of King Tigers was German Infantry who all looked very war weary and bedraggled. The King Tigers suspension struggled to take in all the undulations – these vibrations went straight into the hull, causing the crew to bob up and down and sway left and right in their seats. Smoke belched out from the twin exhausts as King Tigers engines roared in unison on full bore. The Red Army had begun an attack on a village and the attacking infantry was now pinned down and in desperate need of backup. As the King Tigers crew drew near, they ran into an artillery bombardment. Stalin’s Organs could be heard playing their deadly tune not too far away. The artillery bombardment was effective with rounds impacting close by followed by bits of shrapnel and stone flying off in all directions. The shrapnel and stones could be heard bouncing off the King Tigers armour.

The infantry soldier’s following the tanks sought cover in the forest as the King Tiger’s continued to push ahead. The crews hoped they could drive away from the bombardment as they continued to race forward. Artillery shells fell to the left and the right uprooting and shattering trees in the process. The infantry decided to flank left and continue into the woods towards the village under siege. As the Tigers came to the top of a hill overlooking the village, they slowed down to a stop and began to scan the horizon for any potential targets. The village was just to their left and just under a mile away; the shattered roofs of houses could clearly be seen. Smoke poured out of shell damage buildings, almost creating a smoke screen obscuring the fighting going on in the streets. Abandoned T-34s, Panthers and Tigers could be seen around the village.

Rather than become an artillery target, the King Tigers decided to push forward, in the hope they could help clear the village before the infantry followed to finish off any remnants of the Red Army. Making use of their frontal armour and 88mm gun, the King Tiger gunner scanned the horizon, ready to fire as soon as he located a target. The King Tigers wanted to minimize their time in the open and seek some form of cover. The King Tiger’s tracks ripped at the grassland throwing huge grass sods into the air behind them. As they drew to about half a mile, small arms fire began to start bouncing off the armour. The Red Army had been alerted to their presence. However, in doing so would take their attention away from the advancing German infantry about a mile behind the King Tigers. As the Tigers got closer to the village, the Red Army began to fire M-42 guns, the 45mm shells bouncing off the King Tigers frontal armour.

One M-42 45 mm shell hit another King Tiger on the front plate that caused Commander to bite his tongue. Another round hit turret close to his, feeling like he had been punched to the side of the head. The King Tiger continued like a dog chasing a cat. Repeated M-42 rounds were now being deflected off the thick King Tiger armour, flying off in all directions before landing harmlessly in the grass with shrapnel flying in all directions. The M-42 was an upgrade of the 45 mm anti-tank gun M1937 (53-K). The M-42 had a longer barrel and 45 mm shells with more powerful cartridges. It was quite effective against lighter vehicles and could pierce the side armour of Panther and Panzer IV, but not against a King Tiger that generally took at least a 57-mm anti-tank gun model 1943 or similar to pierce side armour.

M-42s had been placed around the village and dug in with mounds of soil surrounding them. The Tigers started to target the angry M-42 guns on the move. A King Tiger fired a HE shell at an M-42 gun. It hit the soil surrounding it and exploded; the force of the blast twisted the barrel of the M-42 gun and killed the soldier’s operating it in an instance.

As the King Tigers drew near, another M-42 gun crew decided to flee rather than fall victim to a King Tiger. They knew their gun would struggle to do any form of damage to a King Tiger and had not slowed any of them down so far. The MG 34 gunner was firing away at Red Army soldiers. Another M-42 gun was taken out by a Tiger – the HE round sent the entire M-42 gun into the air, almost spinning over on its self. This was the last round fired at the M-42 guns as the Tiger Tanks had reached their positions racing at full speed and used all their 67 tons to smash through and crush the remaining M-42 guns. As their crews leapt out of the way to avoid the marauding tanks.

The soil mounds surrounding the M-42 guns had been flattened by the weight of the King Tigers and their distinctive track pattern imprinted into the soil. The M-42 guns were now just twisted lumps of metal completely smashed and rendered useless. Small arms fire was still bouncing off the King Tigers armour as the tanks swung left and headed down the first street. The MG 34 gunner continued to fire away at the fleeing Red Army. A couple of well-placed HE rounds took out a couple of MG positions mounted in the second floor of two ruined buildings. The King Tigers continued until they came to a stop alongside a row of shops. As the German infantry started to stream down the hill towards the village. Their distinctive grey and blue uniforms standing out against the grass as they moved into an extended line to take the village.

The sun began to break out from behind the clouds and add an unwelcome heat to the tank crews already sweating inside their tanks. Red Army artillery opened up once again. Firing its shells on the German infantry rapidly approaching the village. Men could clearly be seen being blown apart as rounds hit the ground all around them. The infantry soldiers were now zipping left and right to avoid the bombardment. Some being lucky and others not being quite so lucky. More shells exploded this time only bits of shrapnel hitting the advancing infantry. From the King Tigers the crew watched the sheer terror the German infantry must be going through as they dodged artillery shell after artillery shell.

As the King Tigers slowly moved forward, some Red Army soldiers popped out of a shop doorway in front of the King Tigers. As the Red Army soldiers popped out a hail of fire from the King Tigers MG 34 cutting them down in their tracks. The King Tigers continued to move forward following the ruined shops along the edge of the village.

As the Germany infantry entered the village, they immediately fanned out and began to search for any hidden Red Army soldiers. It was not too long before small arms fire could be heard as Red Amy soldiers were located and shot. There would be numerous Red Army soldiers hiding in cellars or in the shattered ruins of a building. Not wanting fight and much rather be captured by the Germans. Any that did surrender were captured and would be used as slave labour. The artillery bombardment had pretty much stopped for now. The odd shell still dropping close to the village. The Red Army seemed to almost be avoiding any further damage to their precious village.

It took a further hour for the infantry to sweep the village and root out all the Red Army, in the process taking around one hundred prisoners. Corpses of dead civilians still lay in the street in an advanced state of decomposition. Abandoned weapons and Red Army trucks were found in at the centre of the village. This almost seemed like the lull before the storm. Resistance had been far too light and not one piece of enemy armour in sight.

A pair of Ilyushins appeared at low level racing towards the village. As they got close, they fired their cannons their rounds bouncing off buildings in a flurry of small sparks. The Germans currently had no flak cover and all they could do was find cover and wait for the Ilyushins to run out of ammunition. The King Tigers moved themselves close to a couple of buildings after four passes and their ammunition spent the Ilyushins broke off and headed for home. Other than a few dead infantry soldiers, they had not hit a King tiger or caused any significant damage. The village had been taken had been a small but insignificant success for the Germans.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN – Last Stand

The commander stood up in his cupola to see better, as the column of King Tigers with two Panthers and a Jagdpanther following. The Jagdpanther was based on the chassis of the Panther tank with the powerful 8.8 cm PaK 43 cannon of the King Tiger. It entered service late in 1944 and saw service in both the Eastern and Western Fronts.

As the tank column got close, the town looked very peaceful. However, in the streets and in the gardens, was the bodies of soldiers and civilians. This town had seen some fierce fighting like so many others. Bodily fluids were leaching out and almost eating into the roughly paved streets and roads. The stench was horrific, almost bringing water to the crew’s eyes. The smell of rotting garbage was like a fine perfume in comparison.

The King Tigers positioned themselves on the main road through the town. German infantry was spreading through the town undertaking house by house clearance even if it meant burning a building down to the ground some unrecognisable as ever having been human. Any bodies of Red Army soldiers were turned over prodded. If there was any thought that, they were still alive. They were hit hard in the head a few times with their rifle butts in order to save precious ammunition. Many of the Town’s occupants were still trying to flee the raging war that had been brought to their doorstep. Carts were loaded up with belongings and people, others had their entire life on their backs.

The King Tigers continued to move cautiously up the road passing burning buildings and the odd body crunching underneath its wide tracks. The usual artillery bombardment erupted into life. Shells began to drop onto the street with pin point accuracy, the King Tigers picked up speed and the gap between them grew wider to aid in avowing one shell taking out several King Tigers in one go. Parts of the street and bodies were thrown high up into the air and rained back down on the Tanks with each explosion. German infantry was also caught up in the deadly blast killing and maiming many that had not been able to seek cover quick enough. The explosions shattered any glass remaining in the windows. The street was soon clear of any life other than the King Tigers. The two Panthers and the Jagdpanther had taken a different route around the perimeter and had been spared from the artillery bombardment for now. The flashes of light from the exploding shells was almost blinding for the driver as he peered out through his narrow slit trying to navigate around the craters left by the artillery shells.

Any cars that had remained intact on the street were now twisted burning metal. The King Tigers ploughed on through the explosions as they burst in multiples at the front rear and sides of the King Tigers. As the Tigers got towards the end of the main road through the Town – Kruger the Commander of the lead tank could see the Red Army infantry fleeing from the edge of the town as the artillery bombardment continued.

They would either trap the King Tigers by blocking them so the artillery could finish them off or possibly fleeing as German armour and infantry approached. The Red Army were good tacticians and should never be underestimated. The King Tiger traversed its turret slightly to search for targets. An IS-2 had appeared to the left of the fleeing Red Army infantry. This looked like the start of a Red Army counter offensive. The IS-2 had appeared from the side of a building.

The Jagdpanther had moved into some cover near a group of trees and the two Panthers had moved closer to the building on the perimeter of the Town. A shot from the IS-2 hit the gun mantle on the Jagpanther. It caused the Jagpanther’s main gun to jerk upwards and in doing so broke the jaw of the gunner and knocked him out cold. The round had damaged the mechanism for raising and lowering the gun and the main gun was now stuck in a raised positon. The Jagdpanther had no choice but to reverse and try to get itself out of the line of sight of the IS-2. The slow reloading time of the IS-2 would aid in the Jagdpanthers escape and allow it to get away for repairs, although it would now be out of action for at least 24 hours. The gunner would also need to be replaced by most likely a 16-17-year-old, whom had had no battle experience and the minimum amount of training.

The IS-2 was joined by a pair of T-34s. A King Tiger quickly got off a round. The 88mm HE round hit the first T-34 in the turret and blew its turret off, the turret blew off and fell onto the rear of the second T-34 in flames. Rather than stay with their tank the crew of the second T-34, thought they had been hit and where on fire and bailed out of the T-34. They must have got a bit of a shock to see a T-34 turret resting on their rear deck.

The first T-34 was now fully ablaze and round were starting to cook off as the heat inside the hull became more intense. With one T-34 knocked out and another abandoned, a King Tiger still fired a round into the side abandoned T-34, just to make sure it could not be reused.

With the T-34 threat neutralized, attention was now drawn to the much deadlier threat posed by the IS-2 and its 122-mm gun. The IS-2 had now reloaded and was slowly moving up to get into position. The King Tigers could not get a fix on the IS-2 as their view was blocked. The two Panthers had a line of sight on the IS-2 and both got a shot off. The first shot hit the left-hand corner doing some minor damage to the front corner and the second shot missed the IS-2 totally.

The IS-2 got another shot off with an AP round and this hit the Panthers frontal armour. The shell managed to prise the interlocking plates of the frontal armour apart. The welded joint had completely failed. Inside the tank, shrapnel flew around causing a severe laceration to the MG gunner’s leg. The commander had been hit in his stomach and his guts had fallen out onto the gunner’s lap. The scene inside the Panther was horrific. The impact of the AP round had also shattered the final drive. The Panther was also immobilized. With no time to waste, the crew scrambled out the escape hatch and sought refuge in a building to the right of the Panther. With only one crewmember dead and a couple of nasty cuts, the crew had made a lucky escape.

The remaining Panther fired another round at the IS-2, this slammed into the turret of the IS-2 causing a large chunk of armour to come off. It also knocked the commander and gunner out cold, giving further valuable seconds for the Panther to fire again. The King Tigers had started to move up and try to outflank the IS-2. As they reached a gap between two buildings, they finally got sight of the frontal area of the IS-2, its mighty gun pointing out in front.

Two King Tigers fired off their 88 guns and both rounds hit the front of the IS-2. One round split the front of the IS-2 open and the other round pierced the lower frontal armour before going right through the crew area and becoming buried in the engine bay. The shock from the impact sent the engine timing out of phase, causing the valves to impact with the pistons and the engine seized. The interior of the tank was filled with carbon monoxide fumes that quickly caused the crew to become light headed. The Panther had tried to manoeuvre away so it could fire into the side of the IS-2. The Panther fired off another round that hit pierced the IS-2s side armour plate, causing the ammunition to explode and the turret hatch to blow off and a large tower of flame to shoot out of the hatch.

The MG gunner’s in the King Tigers continued to fire their MGs spitting out thousands of rounds at the fleeing Red Army. Just then, an anti-tank rocket flew from a fleeing Red Army soldier in a long trail of fire and exploded against one of the wheels of a King Tiger. This caused the wheel to fly off and land the other side of the street propped up against a wall. The commander grabbed his MP 40 and joined in laying down fire – as the gunner moved the turret round to the fleeing Red Army. Using the last of his HE rounds, he fired into the centre of the swarming mess. The round exploded and Red Army soldiers were thrown up into the air, their contorted bodies silhouetted against the bright flash from the HE round. This caused the Red Army soldiers to move in all directions trying to make it to the nearest available cover. The Tigers continued to move up and fire off their remaining rounds, stopping at the edge of the Town as fuel and ammunition supplies were nearly exhausted.

The Red Army had been repelled for now, but this would be one of the last victories the German Army would have, before performing a fighting retreat all the way back to Berlin and the fall of the Third Reich. The Tigers had proven themselves to be a great tank and more than a match for the finest Soviet tanks. Tank technology had moved forward immensely during WWII and what had been learnt on the battlefields of the Eastern and Western Front would still be relevant to modern tank battles of today.

TANK PROFILES

PANZRKAMPFWAGEN II – The PzKpfw II was in an interim light tank ordered in 1934 to bridge the gap between the Panzer I and new armoured fighting vehicles the PzKpfw III and PzKpfw IV. The specification called for a ten-ton armoured fighting vehicle with a 20-mm gun in a fully revolving turret. Henschel, Krupp and MAN of Augsburg all responded. Krupps proposal was the simplest. Involving the mounting of a 20-mm cannon and machine gun in the existing PzKpfw I, but it was the tank developed by MAN that was selected for production. MAN produced several prototypes under the cover-name Landwirtschaftlicher Schlepper (industrial tractor) and the tank was accepted for production. MAN was responsible for the chassis and Daimler-Benz for the superstructure. The first production Ausfuhrung A tanks were delivered in 1935 and production continued well into 1942, despite the experience of the French campaign in 1940 showing that the tank was obsolete. Several variants were produced, one of the most interesting being an amphibious version intended for the invasion of England in 1940. The Panzarkamfwagen II was powered by a six cylinder Maybach HL62TR 140hp petrol engine. With a top speed of 24 mph and a range of 124 miles. It weighed 9.5 tons.

PANZRKAMPFWAGEN III – The PzKpfw II came about as the German Army decreed that each armoured battalion should be equipped with three companies of relatively light medium tanks and one company of heavier more powerful support tanks (the latter becoming the Panzer IV). The Panzer III tanks was designed because of this. While the Panzer IV was designed for infantry support role, the Panzer III was intended to fight and destroy other tanks. Mass production of the tank began in 1939. The first three production models Ausfuhrungen A, B and C were built in relatively small numbers and were used during the invasion of Poland in September 1939. The D model which came next had thicker armour and a revised cupola. In 1940, Ausfuhrung F entered production. This last production variant had a 50mm gun and was fitted with just six road wheels. The Ausfuhrung G had similar armament, but was fitted with a more powerful engine. By mid-1941 the Panzer III was the most popular German tank and most of the Panzer IIIs had been fitted with a 50mm gun. It was used successfully against the British Army in North Africa in 1941, when every type of British tank was outgunned. The F model was fitted with a Maybach HL120 V-12 300hp petrol engine. It had a top speed of 25 mph and a range of 102.5 miles. It weighed 19.2 tons.

PANZRKAMPFWAGEN IV – The PANZRKAMPFWAGEN IV was one of the most important tanks of WWII. The Panzer IV was intended to be used in the infantry support role leaving the Panzer III to deal with enemy armour. Krupp was to manufacture the Panzer IV. With the first rolling off the production line in 1937. The driving force behind the development of the two tank types was Colonel Heinz Guderian. His plan was to concentrate Panzer divisions instead of splitting them up in packages between the field armies. It was a formula that worked with devastating effect. The Panzer IV was armed with a short 75mm low velocity gun. The gun fired HE rounds and was effective against fortifications an infantry. But, it lacked accuracy. In 1941, after the first encounters between Panzer IV and the T-34, the Panzer IV Ausfuhrung F was equipped with a redesigned turret mounting a more powerful 75mm L/43 anti-tank gun. In this guise the Panzer IVF2, later renamed the Panzer IVG. This variant became the workhorse of the German armoured divisions and remained unchanged except for upgrades to its main armament and armour. These upgrades, particularly in guns and sighting systems enable the Panzer IV to hold its own with the Russian T-34 and American Sherman which it encountered for the first time in North Africa in 1942. The Panzer IV remained in production throughout WWII, some of the tanks being supplied to Germany’s satellites. About 40 were converted to amphibious tanks. This was originally for the projected invasion of England and were used in the invasion of the Soviet Union. Others, were fitted with additional radio equipment, were used as command vehicles. The last variant was the Ausfuhrung J, which appeared in March 1944. In all 9000 Panzer IVs were made. Many Panzer IV chassis were converted to specialist roles such as tank destroyers, self-propelled howitzers and recovery vehicles. The Panzer IV continued to be used after 1945, notably by Syria, who purchased a number of these tanks. They were also used to shell Israeli settlements from positions on the Golan Heights during the brief ‘Water War’ conflict in 1965. The surviving Panzer IVs were captured by Israel during the Six-Day war of 1967 and became museum pieces. The Panzer IVF2 was powered by a Maybach HL120 TRM, V-12 300hp petrol engine. It had a top speed of 25mph and a range of 130 miles. It weighed 22 tons.

KV-1 – When the KV-1 first appeared in 1941 the Klime-Voroshilov KV-1 was the most formidable Tank in the world. It was developed in 1938 as a successor to the T-35 taking its name from Klimenti Voroshilov, who was the commissar for Defence. The Tank was evaluated under operational conditions in the war with Finland and ordered into production as the KV-1A with a long barrelled 76mm gun and the KV-2 with a 122mm gun, which made the KV-2 very ponderous to use. The KV-2 had a tall slab-sided turret stood out as a tempting target for enemy gunner’s. The KV-1 was however, a formidable tank that served the Red Army well during the war on the Eastern Front. It biggest drawback was its lack of mobility which was a problem on the vast expanses of the Russian plain. It was at its best forming the spearhead of an armoured attack when it was used as a battering ram to break through enemy defences, creating a gap that could be exploited by T-34s. It was powered by a V2K V-12 550hp diesel engine. A top speed of 21 mph although barley achieved and a range of 93 miles. It weighed 42 tons

T-34 – The T-34 was an advanced design for its day and was the result of continual upgrading and refinement of the less than successful BT-17. This upgrading produced two designs known as the A-20 and A-30. Both developments of the BT-1S. They were rejected in favour of the T-32 a cruiser tank with a more powerful gun and heavier armour. It appeared in 1939 and had most of the features of the T-34. The tan was designed by a group under the leadership of Mikhail Ilyich Koshkin. He was a sick man with less than two years to live, but embarked on upgrading the armour of the T-32. Tis became the T-34. The T-34 was a product of robust common sense and owed its existence to a team of men who could envisage a modern battlefield much more clearly than any of their western counterparts. The T-34 went into mass production in late 1940 as the T-34-76A. By the time of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, it was already well established. The long and fluid nature of the front meant that it was initially used as points of greatest danger, leaving older tanks to try to stem the German advance elsewhere. The T-34 was produced in many variants and was the second most widely produced tank of all time. The most widely produced was its successor the T-54/55. The T-34-85 appeared in 1943. It was an improved design model and was the version that after the battle of Kursk in 1943 would put German armour all the way back to Berlin. By 1945, the T-34 had replaced nearly every type of Soviet tank in production. After the Second World War, T-34s equipped the armies of many countries within the Soviet sphere of influence. In 1950 a full brigade of 120 T-34s spearheaded the North Korean attack on South Korea. In all, 39 countries used the T-34 and production finally ended in 1958. More recently the T-34 was used in conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and T-34s acquired by Cuba saw action in Angola. The T-34 had a top speed of 25 mph and a range of 268 miles on the road and 228 over rough terrain. It was powered by a V2 34 V12 diesel engine producing 550 hp. It weighed 31 tons.

PANZRKAMPFWAGEN V PANTHER – It was very clear by the end of 1941that Russian armour was outperforming German armour and this imbalance needed to be addressed. The T-34 has already proven itself and was more than a match for the Panzer IV. Two German companies – MAN and Daimler Benz were given the task of designing a more powerful tank. The MAN design was the one that was accepted in May 1942. By September 1942 a prototype was being tested, and the vehicle designated Panzerkampfwagen V Panther. It was ordered into immediate production. The battle was first used during the battle of Kursk in July 1943 and did not perform well. It was plagued with a number of problems. On July 10 out of 200 Panthers, only 38 were available as serviceable. Once these early teething problems were solved the Panther became a formidable tank. It was widely used in Normandy the preceding weeks after D-day as well as on the Eastern Front. The French continued to use the Panther for some time after World War Two as well. The Panther had a top speed of 34 mph, with a range of 110 miles. It was powered by a Maybach HL230P30 V12 petrol engine producing 700 hp. It weighed 45 tons.

PANZRKAMPFWAGEN VI TIGER – Although the Tiger was a very robust design with a 700bhp engine and an eight speed gearbox with four reverse gears. It still showed severe deficiencies under operational conditions. Its range was only 70 miles and even with the well thought out interleaving of the bogies in the torsion bar suspension to enhance mobility, it was incompatible with the fast moving Panzer divisions. This meant it was rejected by the German tank leaders, who preferred the more mobile, smaller tanks which could be manufactured in greater quantity. Despite this, the Tiger I could easily exchange shots with enemy tanks at long ranges. Its deep wading abilities was unique amongst German tanks. The tiger was originally named as the

PzKw VI Ausfuhrung H, although it became known as the Tiger after being name as such by Ferdinand Porsche. Even though the Tiger I has a number of technical problems which combined to reduce its operational efficiency. It performed very well on the Eastern Front and in Tunisia. Comparatively few, however were used in North Africa as a result of air and submarine attacks Axis supply convoys. The Tigers frontal armour proved highly effective at stopping rounds from most anti-tank guns. The Tiger could knock out its most common opponents the T-34, Sherman and Churchill IV at ranges exceeding 2000 metres. The T-34 could not penetrate a Tigers frontal armour from any range. Although could penetrate a Tigers side armour at much closer ranges. This meant Shermans would attack a Tiger in fours and at close range to get a shot into either the side or the rear of the tanks. In the latter stages of World War Two aircraft with rockets became a deadlier foe. The Tiger I was phased out from January 1944 with the introduction of the Tiger II with a total of 1355 Tigers having been produced. It is still a highly regarded Tank and some ways was slightly ahead of its time. It had a top speed of 23 mph on flat ground or roads and was powered by a single Maybach HL230P45 V-12 petrol engine producing 700hp. It weighed 57 tons.

PANZRKAMPFWAGEN VI TIGER II – The Tiger II combined the heavy armour of the Tiger I with the slopped armour of the Panther. It was a completely different tank to the Tiger I. Being first used in action in Normandy in July 1944 before being used on the Eastern Front the following month. The Tiger II also called the king Tiger was the most powerful tank to be deployed anywhere during World War Two. Together with the Panther formed a German spearhead for the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. The offensive though petered out due to a lack of fuel and many Tigers ended up being abandoned.

Despite its success in combat the Tiger continued to experience many problems. The overlapping suspension was one, which could easily become clogged with mud. During the Russian winter this mud would freeze and would need to be chipped away before the tank could move. The Tiger II chassis was used as the basis for the JagTiger B which was armed with a 128mm gun. With a range of 105 miles the King Tiger had an improved range over the Tiger I’s 70 miles. It had a top speed of 22 mph on fat ground or road. It was powered by a Maybach HL230P30 V-12 petrol engine producing 700 hp. It weighed 70 tons with the production turret.

IS-1 – The IS-1 was developed from the KV series of tanks to combat German tanks such as the Tiger and Panther. Its design was named the KV-13. Marshal Kliment had fallen out of political favour, however, and so the name was changed to Iosif (Joseph) Stalin instead. The first batch used for evaluation were called the IS-85. The IS made use of the 85mm gun of the KV-85, but production models were fitted with the long 122mm gun. This had greater penetrating power and also enough strength to blow off a tanks turret even if it failed to penetrate the armour. This modification led the tank to be called the IS-2. The first IS-2s appeared in 1944. A further variant the IS-3 retained the 122mm gun but had a much more rounded and redesigned turret. The IS tank was used to spearhead the final assault on Berlin in April 1945, their power and protection enabling them to break through enemy defence barriers. The IS-1 was powered by a V-2 IS 12 cylinder 550hp diesel engine. It had a top speed of 25 mph and a range of 155 miles. It weighed 45.3 tons. Without a doubt a great tank but with shortcomings like so many World War Two tanks. Engine development was certainly one factor with heavy tanks from all sides often being underpowered.

GLOSSARY

Bazooka – The Bazooka is a man-portable recoilless rocket antitank weapon, mainly used by the US Army. Also referred to as the “Stovepipe”, the bazooka was amongst the first-generation of rocket propelled anti-tank weapons used in infantry combat. In World War Two the M1 and starting with the invasion of Sicily the M1A1. Both had a range of 400 feet and an effective range of 150 feet.

Focke Wulf FW-190 – The FW-190 was a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. Powered by a twin-row BMW 801 radial engine that powered most operational versions enabled the Fw 190 to lift larger loads than the Bf 109, allowing its use as a day fighter, fighter-bomber, ground-attack aircraft and, to a lesser degree, night fighter.

Hanomag – The Sd.Kfz. 251 was a half-track armoured fighting vehicle designed and first built by the Hanomag company in 1939 nd was used throughout World War II, and based on their earlier, unarmored Sd.Kfz. 11 vehicle. The Sd.Kfz. 251 was designed to transport the panzergrenadiers – German mechanized infantry corps into battle. Sd.Kfz. 251s was the most widely produced German half-track of the war, with at least 15,252 vehicles and variants produced by various manufacturers, and were commonly referred to simply as “Hanomags” by both German and Allied soldiers. he initial idea was for a vehicle that could be used to transport a single squad of 10 panzergrenadiers to the battlefield protected from enemy small arms fire, and with some protection from artillery fire. In addition, the standard mounting of at least one MG 34 or later a MG 42 machine gun allowed the vehicle to provide support by fire for the infantry squad once they had disembarked in battle. Later in the war, doctrine changed as they found they could fight the battle from inside the vehicle, and greater weaponry was added to increase firepower.

Jagdpanther – The Jagdpanther was based on the chassis of the Panther tank. It entered service late in 1944 and saw service on the Eastern and Western Fronts. The Jagdpanther combined the very powerful 8.8 cm PaK 43 cannon of the Tiger II and the characteristically excellent armour and suspension of the Panther chassis. A total of 415 Jagdpanthers were produced from January 1944 until the end of the War in Europe. The Jagdpanther had a good power-to-weight ratio and a powerful main gun, which enabled it to destroy any type of Allied tank. Based on the existing Panther Ausf G chassis, the vehicle did not suffer too many mechanical problems. It had an upgraded transmission (the ZF AK 7-400 heavy duty) – which had been planned for the Panther II – and final drive to counter the Panther’s main weakness. It was manned by a crew of five: a driver, radio-operator, commander, gunner and a loader.

Jeep – The Willys MB U.S. Army Jeep (formally the Truck, 1/4 ton, 4x4) and the Ford GPW were manufactured from 1941 to 1945. These small four-wheel drive utility vehicles are considered the iconic World War II Jeep, and inspired many similar light utility vehicles such as the original Land Rover. With a simple three speed gearbox coupled to a Willys L134 2.2L engine producing 60hp and lightweight construction the Jeep weighed just 1040kg.

Junkers Ju 87 – The Ju 87 or Stuka (from Sturzkampfflugzeug, “dive bomber”) was a two-man (pilot and rear gunner) single engine, fixed undercarriage and inverted gull wings. It was designed as a very accurate dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft. Designed by Hermann Pohlmann, the Stuka first flew in 1935 and made its combat debut in 1936 as part of the Luftwaffe’s Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War. The Stuka’s design included several new at the time features, including automatic pull-up dive brakes under both wings to ensure that the aircraft recovered from its attack dive even if the pilot blacked out from the high acceleration. The Ju 87 was an easy target for modern fighters of the time and suffered heavy losses during the Battle of Britain due to its poor manoeuvrability and speed.

Junkers Ju-52 – The Ju 52 was a German trimotor transport aircraft manufactured from 1932 to 1945. It saw both civilian and military service during the 1930s and 1940s. Its first flight was in October 1930 and continued in service with civilian airlines until 1952.

Messerschmitt Bf 109 – The Bf 109 was a single engine German fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser during the early to mid-1930s. It was one of the first truly modern fighters of the era, including such features as all-metal monocoque construction, a closed canopy, a retractable landing gear, and was powered by a liquid-cooled, inverted-V12 aero engine. It first flew in May 1935 and was powered by a Daimler-Benz DB 605A-1 liquid-cooled inverted V12, developing 1,455 HP. It was still being used by the Spanish Air Force up to 1965. The Bf 109 has the accolade in scoring more aerial kills than any other aircraft during World War Two.

Messerschmitt Bf 110 – The Bf 110 was a twin-engine heavy fighter (Zerstörer—German for “Destroyer”) in the service of the Luftwaffe during World War II. Hermann Göring was a proponent of the Bf 110, and nicknamed it his Eisenseiten (“Ironsides”). It made its first flight in 1936 and was introduced to the Luftwaffe in 1937. The Bf 110 soldiered on until the end of the war in various roles.

Messerschmitt Me 262 – The Me 262 was world’s first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft. Powered by two Junkers Jumo 004 turbojet engines. Design work started before World War II began, however engine problems prevented the aircraft from attaining operational status with the Luftwaffe until mid-1944. Compared with Allied fighters of its day, including the British jet-powered Gloster Meteor, it was much faster and better armed. It was one of the most advanced aviation designs in operational use during World War II, and the helped the Americans after the war develop aircraft such as the F86 Sabre. The Me 262 was used in a variety of roles, including light bomber, reconnaissance and even experimental night fighter versions.

MG 34 – The Maschinengewehr 34, or MG 34, is a German recoil-operated air-cooled machine gun, first tested in 1929, introduced in 1934, and issued to units in 1936. It accepts the 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge, and is generally considered the world’s first general-purpose machine gun. The MG 34 was a very versatile weapon and was mounted into many German tanks to protect against enemy soldiers. At the time of its development the MG 34 was the most advanced machine gun. Its combination of exceptional mobility – being light enough to be carried by one man – and high rate of fire (of up to 900 rounds per minute) was unmatched. It entered service in great numbers following Hitler’s repudiation of the Versailles Treaty in 1936, and was first tested by German troops aiding Franco’s Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War.

Mortar – A Mortar is a weapons system that consists of an adjustable tube that points upwards usually mounted on a tripod type design. Rocket propelled grenades are then dropped into the tube to be fired at a set target. They come in a variety of sizes and are highly effective against soft targets. Larger mortars can have some success against more hardened target. The rounds can be either HE (High Explosive) or Smoke.

MP 40 – The MP 40 is a submachine gun chambered for the 9×19mm Parabellum cartridge. It was developed in Nazi Germany and used extensively during WWII. Designed in 1938 by Heinrich Vollmer with inspiration from its predecessor the MP 38, it was used by infantrymen, paratroopers, platoon and squad leaders on the Eastern and Western Front. Its advanced and modern features made it a favourite among soldiers and popular in countries from various parts of the world after the war. Although the MP 40 was generally reliable, a major weakness was its 32-round magazine. From 1940 to 1945, an estimated 1.1 million were produced by Erma Werke.

P-47 Thunderbolt – The P-47 was a single engine fighter bomber powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engine. It was the heaviest fighter of World War Two and used in a variety of roles, from bomber escort to bombing and interdiction. It had its first flight in May 1941 and 15,560 went on to be built by the end of the War. Due to its air cooled engine it had a much greater survivability than many other contemporary fighters of the day.

Panzerfaust – The Panzerfaust (“Tank fist”, or Pzf in short.) These simple but effective anti-tank weapons proved to be devastating against Allied tanks during second half of the war, and, more important, these weapons set the pattern for most post-war developments in the field of man-portable antitank weapons. The Panzerfaust 60M doubled the effective range of fire from 30 to 60 meters by using launching tube / barrel of larger calibre and more powerful propellant charge. The actual warhead stayed the same. In November 1944 a further improved version appeared, the Panzerfaust 100M, which extended effective range to 100 meters by using a tandem propellant charge. The semi-experimental Panzerfaust 150M served as a pattern for first Soviet post-war RPG, the RPG-2.

PIAT – The PIAT (Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank) was a British handheld anti-tank weapon developed during the Second World War. The PIAT was designed in 1942 in response to the British Army’s need for a more effective infantry anti-tank weapon, and entered service in 1943. The PIAT was based on the spigot mortar system, which launched a 1.1 kg bomb using a powerful spring and a cartridge on the tail of the projectile. It possessed an effective range of approximately 110 m in a direct fire anti-tank role, and 320 m in an indirect fire ‘house-breaking’ role. The PIAT had several advantages over other infantry anti-tank weapons of the period, which included a lack of muzzle smoke to reveal the position of the user, and an inexpensive barrel; however, this was countered by, amongst other things, a difficulty in cocking the weapon, the bruising the user received when firing it, and problems with its penetrative power.

PPSh-41 – The PPSh-41 is a magazine-fed selective fire submachine gun using an open-bolt, blowback action. Made largely of stamped steel, it can be loaded with either a box or drum magazine, and fires the 7.62×25mm Tokarev pistol round.

The PPSh saw extensive combat use during World War II and the Korean War. It was one of the major infantry weapons of the Soviet Armed Forces during World War II. Around six million PPSh-41s were manufactured.

Sherman Tank – The Sherman evolved from the Grant and Lee medium tanks. It kept quite a bit of the previous mechanical design, but added a main 75 mm gun mounted on a fully traversing turret, with a gyrostabiliser enabling the crew to fire with reasonable accuracy while the tank was on the move. The designers ensured it had mechanical reliability, ease of production and maintenance, durability, standardisation of parts. Although being a petrol engine with a 400hp and later 470hp they were prone to catching fire. These factors made the Sherman superior in some regards to the earlier German light and medium tanks of 1939-41. The Sherman ended up being produced in large numbers and formed the backbone of most of the Allied offensives, starting in late 1942.

SS – These were the defence corps of the Nazi party and commanded by Himmler. The SS was a major paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. It began at the end of 1920 as a small, permanent guard unit known as the “Saal-Schutz” (Hall-Protection) made up of NSDAP volunteers to provide security for Nazi Party meetings in Munich. Later in 1925, Heinrich Himmler joined the unit which had by then been reformed and renamed the “Schutz-Staffel”. Under Himmler’s leadership (1929–45), it grew from a small paramilitary formation to one of the largest and most powerful organizations in Nazi Germany. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Himmler’s command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II.

V-2 – The V-2 was the second of the German terror weapons after the V-1 and unmanned drone with a high explosive warhead. The V-2 was an even more advanced weapon and essentially the first cruise missile. It was based on rocket technology. The V-2 used a 74% ethanol/water mixture (B-Stoff) for fuel and liquid oxygen (LOX) (A-Stoff) for oxidizer.

At launch the V-2 propelled itself for up to 65 seconds on its own power, and a program motor controlled the pitch to the specified angle at engine shutdown, after which the rocket continued on a ballistic free-fall trajectory. The rocket reached a height of 50 mi after shutting off the engine. The V-2 was guided by four external rudders on the tail fins, and four internal graphite vanes at the exit of the motor. The LEV-3 guidance system consisted of two free gyroscopes (a horizontal and a vertical) for lateral stabilization, and a PIGA accelerometer to control engine cutoff at a specified velocity. The V-2 was launched from a pre-surveyed location, so the distance and azimuth to the target were known. Fin 1 of the missile was aligned to the target azimuth.

BIOGRAPHY

Tanks: 100 Years of Armoured Warfare – Robin Cross; 11 Aug. 2016

Tank Warfare on the Eastern Front 1941-1942: Robert Forczyk; 28 Feb. 2014

Tiger I and Tiger II (Images of War Special) Anthony Tucker-Jones; 15 Jul 2013

COPYRIGHT

© Steve Stone 2017

Second Edition

Steve Stone has asserted his rights under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

Published by Digital Dreams Publishing 2017