Tiger 131

[daskal]

Just found this older article:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/the-heroic-wwii-mission-to-capture-a-deadly-820143

[Marko]

Just found this older article:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/the-heroic-wwii-mission-to-capture-a-deadly-820143

I31 spent many a happy hour just studying this wonderful piece of engineering

While not the best tank of WW2 it certainly was the most feared

On one of my visits to bovington they allowed me in to the drivers position.

A truly awesome machine. if they had managed to mass produce them who knows

Maybe they could of held the red tide at bay

But I have to say the king tiger towers over it in comparison.

I read something interesting it seems both the tiger and the panther had a reputation for mechanical issues

Well it seems this was partly due to sabotage by forced foreign labour in the factories. sabotaging fuel lines etc.

If I ever win the lotto. I will make esim an offer they cant refuse to model the beast in game. LoL

[Eisenschwein]

From Wiki:

On 21 April 1943, the tank was knocked out and captured on a hill called Djebel Djaffa during the preliminary phases of the Battle of Longstop Hill which opened the way to the capture of Tunis. During the battle, Tiger 131 was hit by three shots from 6-pounders from British Churchill tanks of A Squadron, 4 Troop of the 48th Royal Tank Regiment. A solid shot hit the Tiger's gun barrel and ricocheted into its turret ring, jamming its traverse, wounding the driver and front gunner and destroying the radio. A second shot hit the turret lifting lug, disabling the gun's elevation device. A third shot hit the loader's hatch, deflecting fragments into the turret. The German crew bailed out, taking their wounded with them and leaving the knocked-out but still driveable and largely intact tank behind.[2] Their identity and fate are unknown. The tank was secured by the British as they captured Djebel Djaffa hill.[3] Tiger 131 was the first intact Tiger tank captured by British or American forces.

A 2012 book by Noel Botham and Bruce Montague stated that Major Douglas Lidderdale, the engineering officer who oversaw the return of Tiger 131 to England, was responsible for the capture of Tiger 131 as the leader of a secret mission appointed by Winston Churchill to obtain a Tiger for allied intelligence.[4] The story has been told in brief in a 2012 article in the Daily Mail newspaper prior to the book's publication.

Though the account has been considered plausible (if only in light of Churchill's reputation for being 'hands on' in his dealings with military affairs during wartime) it has been rejected by the Bovington Tank Museum as inaccurate. The story as told in the book contradicts Lidderdale's own letters and papers written in the years before his death, in which he stated that he was not personally present when the Tiger was captured.[5]

[Marko]

From Wiki:

Not saying the story is true

But you can see where the round hit the gun barrel.

I have a picture of it.

You can take a 3D tour of the museum and zoom in on the tiger.

http://virtual.tankmuseum.org/

[Tacbat]

Interesting read.

[Gibsonm]

Not saying the story is true

But you can see where the round hit the gun barrel.

I have a picture of it.

I don't think Eisenschwein was suggesting/saying that.

The first para he quotes is the common record of what happened (Tiger damaged and abandoned in Tunis).

Its para 2 and 3 where his Wiki quote differs from The Mirror's account as referenced by daskal.

Even given Wiki's lack of credibility I'd take it any day over the The Mirror (and most other Fleet Street publications).

[Tacom]

And more interesting, the wiki references to the Tank Museum, where they support this version with actual documents. They even say they challenged the authors of the books and didn´t get an answer.

[Eisenschwein]

I think Google will help to search for sPzAbtl 504 in Africa.

Here is the AAR from sPzAbtl 504 from that Period:

http://books.google.de/books?id=qTi6u9MvEC0C&pg=PA319&lpg=PA319&dq=schwere+Panzerabteilung+504&source=bl&ots=-76NC0tNpl&sig=3DAjC8YTU5wP1xb_6WkavMrckVw&hl=de&sa=X&ei=BL5sVJmQJ8fBPJL9gdAK&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=schwere%20Panzerabteilung%20504&f=false

Just imagine, sPzAbtl 504 was formed in Feb. 1943, 2 Month before they go to Africa, with a complete new Tank.

If more Information are needed, here I am. Btw the Brother of my Grandpa served with 504 (but not as Tiger Crew, he was Gunner on a PzKfwg III) in Africa and came back after POW 1951.

[Gibsonm]

Btw the Brother of my Grandpa served with 504 (but not as Tiger Crew, he was Gunner on a PzKfwg III) in Africa and came back after POW 1951.

Six years after the cessation of hostilities?

I didn't realise that the Western Allies held PWs that long after the war, I had thought that was only limited to your friends to the Ost?

[smithcorp]

Withdrawal through Italy:

15 April - total tanks 26.

28 April - total tanks 0.

Ouch. That's an interesting book.