World War II Database

1.  Bill says:
13 Feb 2011 07:27:40 PM

One of two photos show a Tiger towing another
on the road. Both Tigers belonged to
sSS.PzAbt.101 2nd Kompanie.
The two holes on the gun mantel are for the
TZF9b binocular sight.

2.  Bill says:
6 Dec 2014 01:40:44 PM

TIGERS IN THE FIELD:

EARLY FORMATIONS:

Twenty (20) Tiger tanks and sixteen Panzer III tanks made up of (2) Companies each with (4) platoons of (2) Tigers and (2) Panzer IIIs each.
Company Commander would have an additional Tiger
and the Battalion Commander would have (2) Tigers.

LATER FORMATIONS:

Forty five (45) Tiger tanks made up of three Companies of fourteen (14) Tigers each, plus three (3) Command vehicles.

The Tiger tank was produced in limited numbers
and were rarely assigned to a single Division. Tigers were moved around to provide support to other Divisions or Corps. 1,347 Tigers were built
not counting rebuilds.

Did you know that the German Army (Heer) also operated the Tiger I and Tiger II units were abbreviated as (s.H.Pz.Abt)
Waffen-SS units were abbreviated as s.SS.Pz.Abt

3.  Bill says:
7 Dec 2014 08:33:24 PM

TIGERS IN NORMANDY:

One Hundred and Thirty-Four (134) Tigers took part in Normandy. Sixty (60) were destroyed by direct and indirect fire. Fifty-eight (58) were destroyed or abandoned by crews, Thirteen (13)
destroyed by air attack. Tigers knocked out Five Hundred and Ten (510) Allied tanks...

FEAR FACTOR: WAS VERY HIGH

Feared by allied tank crews even to new Allied soldiers any German tank they saw, was a Tiger! the Tiger was big and it was over-engineered and expensive to build 1,347 were produced.
It was reliable if it was maintained However, the Tiger had its brake downs and suffered from mechanical problems and always needed constant maintenance that wasn't possible in the field.

BRAKE DOWNS: TOW THAT TIGER

When a Tiger did brake down it would need another Tiger to tow it away. Another vehicle that was used to tow the Tiger, was the heavy half track vehicle SdKfz 9 Famo Fahrzeugwerke und Motorwerke AG sometimes it took three of them to do the job.

THE DEFANGED TIGER: BERGETIGER

The Bergetiger sd.Kfz. 185 was it an armored recovery vehicle or was it used for other missions its main gun was removed and replaced with a 10 ton crane fitted to the turret.
Fifty-eight of these vehicles (58) were modified.

BERGETIGER: SHE COULD STILL SCRATCH w/7.92mm MGs

The Bergetiger was armed w/7.92mm MG 42 machine guns. I doubt the crane was used to tow a Tiger most likely it was towed and the crane used for (R & R) remove and replace engines but could the crane support even a heavy Maybach engine.

Could the Bergetiger been used as a mine-clearing vehicle or to place explosives to clear different battlefield obstacles. One of these vehicles was
found abandoned, assigned to s.Pz.Abt.508 in Italy by Allied forces, did you know it was the Allies that named the vehicle the Bergetiger, no official German name has ever been located.

I thank the editor/ww2db for allowing me to leave these comments

4. Bill says:
20 Nov 2016 06:06:35 PM

THE FUHRER'S ARMORED FIST: ROAD SERVICE

File photo shows one Tiger towing another Tiger vehicles belong to SS-Schwere Panzer Abteilung 101 abbreviated as s.SS.Pz.Abt.101 so what does that mean in English? Heavy Panzer Battalion 101, this battalion, was part of 1st SS-Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS-Adolf Hitler.

NUMBERS GAME:

Say for example the lead Tiger was numbered 231 what does that mean. 2nd Company, 3rd. Panzer Platoon, 1st. Vehicle in Platoon...
On right front of hull is the shield w/crossed keys and wreath. Those two holes next to the 88mm main gun, are for the TZF9b Binocular Sight

RUSHED TO DER FRONT:

By June 1944 the 101st was located near Paris, vehicle strength was 45 Tigers, 37 were operational w/8 under repair.
Battalion was ordered to Normandy, and arrived June 12, 1944. By July 5th, after combat with Allied forces, the Germans lost 15 of its 45 Tigers.