World War II Database

1. mkenny says:
3 May 2010 11:05:31 AM

It is not a Tiger from 1st SS. They had no Tigers in Normandy. It is from sSS Pz.Abt. 101

2.  Bill says:
11 Feb 2011 01:26:26 PM

AND FOR THE RECORD...

The 1stSS Panzer operated in the Normandy area. Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, had been positioned north of the River Seine to counter any Allied landing at Pas de Calais.
The first units didn't arrive in Normandy until June 27-28th within another week, the whole Division arrived.

12th SS and 21st Panzer were the closest Panzer Divisions to the landing beaches, but were unble to move until they received authorization from the Corporal himself, Adolf Hitler.

Looks like Tiger 231 is being towed another,
victim of its reliability problems

3.  Bill says:
13 Feb 2011 07:32:50 PM

Second photo from different angle, Tiger 231
being towed sSS.Pz.Abt.101, 2nd Kompanie

4.  Bill says:
16 Feb 2011 06:02:53 PM

What was a schwere Panzer Abteilung? sPzAbt

Organized into three platoons each, with three Tigers to a platoon. Later it was expanded to include ten PzKpfw IIIs, but was later dropped.

Tiger Companies had Fourteen Tigers each with
Fortyfive Tigers to a Battalion, with some
Sd.Kfz.250s for Headquators Company to run reconnaissance, messages and other duties.
Each Tiger crew were formed from experienced tankers only. The crews passed extensive theory and practice course before being sent into combat.

Each Battalion had its own marking, the most common was a three-diget number, or letter and number. The First number represented Company number, Second for platoon and Third for the tank number within the platoon.

Example: For sPz.Abt.502 Battalion insignia was a "Mammut" (Mammoth) If a Tiger carried a
letter, say for example letter "A" was one of 3rd Bn., Hq. Staff Tiger of sPzAbt.507

5.  Bill says:
17 Apr 2011 10:28:12 AM

TIGERFIBEL/TIGER PRIMER:

Tiger crews spent many hours in classroom and
field training all of the instructors and students were the best and most experienced tankers.
Special training aids were developed and added to the clssroom work, hands-on-training
included maintenance, gunnery, driving and
radio operations. One useful aid was in the
form of a cartoon booklet and to keep the
panzer troops interested, in the booklet showing all that was needed to do, was a very
attractive blonde female, sometimes shown with little clothing, or nothing on at all in a romantic setting, this was sure to keep
the troops turning the pages.
This kept the students involved in learning
their trade.

SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE:

During the Vietnam War, the US Army issued field booklets, in cartoon form showing the troops weapons or vehicle maintenance, to keep the men interested, an attractive young women would show you how to do things.
How to service her, I mean pull maintenance
on your M-16 rifle, other weapons and vehicles
On the cover of the M-16 maintenance booklet showed a Sergeant yelling at a GI saying Hey Tiger!, do me a quick weapons check, will ya
the troopers weapon was in need of repair remembered that booklet cover over the past 40 years.
Had a few of these booklets covering service and maintenance on weapons and vehicles, but were lost in a fire in the early 1970s.

6.  Bill says:
7 Dec 2014 05:58:44 PM

TIGERS IN NORMANDY:

s.Pz.Abt 503 transferred to Normandy with (33) thirty-three Tiger Is and (12) twelve Tiger IIs
July 1944

s.SS.Pz.Abt 101 Received (45) forty-five Tigers
October 1943 through April 1944 reached Normandy early June 1944.

s.SS.Pz.Abt. 102 Sent to Normandy w/(45) forty-five Tigers July 1944

7.  Bill says:
8 Dec 2014 02:39:16 PM

TOW THAT TIGER:

Above file photo shows Tigers of 2nd Kompanie of
s.SS.PzAbt.101 outside of Villers-Bocage, France
towing Tiger #231 that was a victim of British anti-tank fire June 14,1944