Tiger I-One Tough Cat

[LAH 1 SS]

Originally Posted by cyberia

Interesting Tiger I fact. The broad battle tracks were far too wide for these beasts to be transported by rail with out first swapping over to narrower tracks.
In this photo, the broader tracks are stored under the tank until it arrived at its destination, where they were mounted again after the Tiger is off the flatcar.

this a beautiful pristine tiger being delivered to an unknown unit nice photo of the transport tracks being used. this vehicle is a rare tiger a fact to look at is this vehicle has a late commanders cupola and if you look close enough you can just make out a single bosch headlight on the drivers side of the hull just behind the barrel not mounted in the centre of the glacis plate like true mid production tigers had and was seen on the tiger up until the final version. furthermore the shovel has been mounted in reverse unlike the mid production tiger. another interesting fact to point out is if you have a look at the main battle tracks they are of the early type and dont have the ice cleats cast into the tread of the tracks like the late tigers this which dates this tiger to between august and september 1943. this a good example of why modelling tigers is difficult and how much german manufacturing changed during a production run

[Whiterook]

Nice shot of the zimmerit!

[Jim O]

Originally Posted by LAH 1 SS

...another interesting fact to point out is if you have a look at the main battle tracks they are of the early type and dont have the ice cleats cast into the tread of the tracks like the late tigers this which dates this tiger to between august and september 1943. this a good example of why modelling tigers is difficult and how much german manufacturing changed during a production run

You amaze me with the depth of your knowledge and your observations LAH. Thanks.

[LAH 1 SS]

Originally Posted by LAH 1 SS

ah this photo has been the cause of quite a stir it is actually tiger 232 towing tiger 231 of 101 ss lah june 44 . now the story is the tiger being towed was the vehicle that wittmann commandered just before the battle of villers bocage which then broke down. wittmann was supposed to have been the commander of tiger 205 this vehicle broke down on route to villers bocage. he then commandered tiger 232. this vehicle later broke down or was abondend due to mechanical failure. he then was supposed to have commanderd tiger 222 for a reconaisance of villers bocage and the rest is history this vehicle 222 was destroyed in the battle for villers bocage. howver is still in debate with researchers

just an edit here guys i must have been asleep when doing this one the tiger pictured is actually 222 not 232 towing the tiger 231 (which isnt pictured) also the vehicle that he was supposed to have used in the battle for villers bocage was actually numbered 212 not 222 as stated previously sorry for the wrong info guys

[cyberia]

Here's another for you LAH...

[LAH 1 SS]

hm cyberia a toughy but lets see. ok the tiger is a mid production tiger interesting points to note are the early trank links without the cleates added to them and if you look closely at the road wheels you will notice that it is missing the first road wheel close to the drive sprocket which was often removed in the feild. another interesting point is the bosch headlight in the middle of the bow plate and the front hull extensions which havent been modified so at a guess this would date this tigers build date as after october 43 another interesting feature to note is there are no mounting points for the shovel that was mounted on the glacis plate common to mid production tigers. this may have been removed in battle or could be a tiger produced very late in the mid production run becuase the late version tigers produced after january 44 had this feature deleated form there production run (it was not uncommon to see minor mods coming through on very late run tigers before the major changes became used) another intersting feature is the use of the track links mounted to the bow plate. the area is hard to identify however in the photo if you look at the tree to the left of the tiger this area is a major point of reference for the rear troops moving to the front there are divisional sign posts mounted to the tree to say what division or unit is in the area so im guessing that this tiger is in the rear away from the action but is still paked under trees which in my mind would make it late in the war. its also intersting to note the two men in the front of the photo appear to be wearing whermacht tanker uniforms if you look at the oficers collar tabs you will see the collar tabs of a whermacht officer and officers cap the other tanker looks like he is wearing motorcyclist goggles or anti aircraft goggles (they stopped the glare when looking into the sun) which goes with either the very dusty conditions and the allied air threat. at a guess i would put this vehicle on the eastern front somewhere in yugoslavia in summer and very late in the war as for the unit hm i have no clue at the moment

[LAH 1 SS]

hm some more info on the tactical marking on the tree it is the tactical marking for a stab panzer grenadier battalion thats all i can come up with at the moment

[cyberia]

Good stuff as always LAH.

That photo was out of a book on panzer uniforms and the text was all about what was worn, but not hint as to who, what or where.

[LAH 1 SS]

was i right about the whermacht uniforms the photo wasnt the best to identify them on sorryn i couldnt do more than that still looking though guys hopefully i can solve it

[cyberia]

OK, LAH. Here's another I picked up with no info. Pretty good shot though.