Yeap, probably the tankers would miss a heavy gloves for that task.
The Tiger also used a 660 mm narrow track but just to use over hard ground and railway transport, never in combat.
Otto Carius Tiger ace:
Otto Carius
(May 27, 1922)
Otto Carius was born on May 27th of 1922 in Zweibrucken, Rheinland-Pfalz in Southwest Germany. Just as he graduated from school, World War II broke out and he volunteered for 104th Infantry Placement Battalion in May of 1940. Following training, he was assigned to the 21st Panzer Regiment and experienced his first battle as a loader on a Panzer 38(t) during the “Barbarossa” operation in June of 1941. After about a year of war experience on the Eastern Front, Carius was accepted in an Officer Candidate Course and following its completion, was assigned to the 502nd Heavy Tank Battalion in April of 1943.
Equipped with the new Tiger tanks, he was assigned as a tank commander to the 2nd Company of 502nd Tank Battalion. That summer, the 2nd Company was deployed to the Russian Leningrad Front and took part in several operations in that area. During that time, 502nd Tank Battalion was ordered to reinforce the front along with 11th SS Freiwillige Panzergrenadier Division “Nordland” at Narva Bridgehead.
During one of his engagements, Carius destroyed four Soviet SU-85s and successfully withdrew without losses. In June of 1944, the company was transferred to Dunaburg (Daugavpils in Latvia) to defend the city from a concentrated Russian offensive.
In the July of 1944, Russians outflanked the German defensive lines via the motorways west of Minsk and Borissov to Witebsk (same route was used by Germans in 1941). By using tanks in vast numbers, Soviets intended to divide the German occupied territory into small salients and then take port city of Riga. Since Riga is situated at the mouth of Dvina River, Dunaburg was an important strategic point for both Germans and Russians.
On July 22 of 1944, 1st Lieutenant Otto Carius with his company of eight (early and mid production) Tigers advanced towards village of Malinava (northern suburb of Dunaburg) in order to halt the Russian advance. 1st Lieutenant Otto Carius and 1st Lieutenant Albert Kerscher (one of the most decorated commanders of sPzAbt 502) took a Kubelwagen in order to check if the village was already occupied by Russians.
They discovered that village of Malinava was already occupied by the enemy. Carius recognized that the Russian tanks in the village were only advance troops waiting for the main force to arrive. He decided to recapture the village before the arrival of reinforcements. Carius returned to his company for briefing and explained his plan to take the village.
He decided to attack the village using only two tanks because there was only one road leading to the village and rushing all of his Tigers would be dangerous. Six Tigers remained in the reserve while Carius and Kerscher’s Tigers moved towards the village of Malinava. Speed was the essence of Carius’ strategy and it was decisive to upset Russians and immobilize their tanks.
When Carius’ Tiger No.217 was about to enter the village, two T-34/85 tanks were observed rotating their turrets. At this moment, Kerscher’s Tiger No.213 which followed Carius at about 150m, fired and knocked them out. Also for the first time, Otto Carius encountered Russian’s latest JS-1 (or possibly JS-2) heavy tank. Its silhouette was somewhat similar to the German King Tiger and Carius was confused at first but after hesitating a bit, he fired and JS-1 burst into flames. Afterwards, Otto Carius recalls that the entire battle did not last more than 20 minutes. In such a short time, Carius and Kerscher’s Tigers knocked out 17 Russian tanks including the new JS-1. Although the Russians were attacked by suprise, Carius’ quick and accurate recognition of the situation and the excellent tactics used were the main factors in the outcome. Carius’ achievement at Malinava is equally outstanding to Michael Wittmann’s achievement at Villers-Bocage.
In November of 1943, Otto Carius destroyed 10 Soviet T-34/76 tanks at the distances as low as 50 meters.In August of 1944, Otto Carius was transferred to Paderbornto the newly created schwere Panzerjager Abteilung 512 and received the command of the 2nd company. sPzJagAbt 512 was equipped with powerful Jagdtigers, armed with 128mm Pak 44 L/55 gun. Carius commanded the 2nd company, which was training at Senne Camp near Paderborn and at Dollersheim near Vienna. On March 8th of 1945, without finishing its training, 2nd company was directed to the frontline near Siegburg. It then took part in the defence of the River Rhine and eventually surrendered to the US Army on April 15th of 1945. Interesting fact is that Otto Carius, only wore his Knight’s Cross at the front, as it was a “pass” to get requests filled better. After the war, Otto Carius became an owner of a pharmacy called Tiger Apotheke.
[ul]
[li]Born: 27 May 1922 in Zweibrucken
[/li][li]Awards:
[/li]- Iron Cross 2nd and 1st Class (EK II and EK I),
- Knights Cross (Ritterkreuz),
- Oakleaves to the Knights Cross (Eichenlaub),
- Wound Badge in Gold,
- Panzer Battle Badge in Silver (100),
[li]Total victories (kills):
[/li]- 150-200 tanks,
- Majority of this score was tailed on the Eastern Front.[/ul]
Source: www.achtungpanzer.com
Tank number 131 of sPzabt 101, Normandy, July 1944. A field applied camouflage of dark green and red brown over a base dark yellow was a common camouflage pattern. In winter, some tanks carried a flat white wash brushed over the the base color.
This tiger tank was probably from the 1st SS Panzer Corps or the 12th SS Panzer Corps. I have learned about this because I am reading a book on both of these groups. The title is Steel Inferno:1st SS Panzer Corps in Normandy. Very good book.
In this photo, German engineers change a Tiger’s tracks from transport tracks to combat tracks. This was a tedious task frowned by the engineers. The tracks alone weighed 2.5 tons. You can see the wheels dismantled and lying on the ground.
Leningrad, 1943. A member of PzAbt 502 advances on a road through a Russian village.
World War 2 leading tanker ace, SS-Hauptsturmf’u’hrer (captain) Michael Wittman briefing his tank commanders, Normandy 1944. Decorated with the prestigious knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords, Michael Wittman destroyed 138 allied tanks and 132 anti-tank guns during his career.
Very nice gallery GermanSoldier.
I saw the first picture in some Osprey book in B&W , never in the actual color.
thank for the compliment on the gallery. I love to find pictures and post them on the forum. I also have seen the black and white picture. I was about to save it, but i looked a little more and found a colored one. pretty interesting photo if you ask me.
Well done, my dear Mr. German soldier. Original and inspiring caption, accurate supplementary information about presented snapshots, and precise matter-oriented elaboration of a thread-theme. Once again, my sincerest congratulations.
thank you, just trying to give the forum some good pictures and information.
That photo appears to be hand colored.
Man, the Tiger is sure a sweet tank, isn’t it?
No doubt about it. I still think who ever hand colored the picture did a pretty good job if I must say so myself.
The Germans generally avoid tank-versus-tank actions, and adhere to the principle that the task of the tanks is to break through and help to destroy infantry, not necessarily to seek out and destroy enemy tanks. Destruction of tanks is a mission assigned mainly to antitank units.
Also, the introduction of the heavy tank (Pz.Kpfw. Tiger) has led to a modification of German tactics, and reports from the Eastern Front indicate that Tiger tanks were sometimes used there in an independent role. The Tiger tank has been employed mainly to provide support for light and medium tanks. In one action in the Tunisian Campaign, however, lighter tanks formed the spear head of an attack, but when Allied tanks came within range, the lighter German tanks deployed to the flanks and the Tiger tanks engaged.
Im pretty positive that those were the american doctrines, not german. Can someone confirm that or is it the other way around?
No ww2admin is correct. At least for the majority of the war. Towards the end they became more defensive in nature. But even at the Ardennes this was the case.
Thirded on ww2admin.
More (not only tanks) on http://www.hpssims.com/Pages/FreeFiles/Downloads_Misc/german%20tactics.txt and http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/recentdev/index.html
Hi Cooke. The above info was from “Company Officer’s Handbook of the German Army” published in March 31, 1944. Is that what you were asking? It’s a pretty good read, but I’m not sure how accurate it is as the intel info was taken during WWII, not after. However, the document is based on captured German documents and seized strategy papers.
I’m currently getting this handbook online for you guys to read.
Is true, in the Battle ok Kursk the Tiger were the spearhead of the german advanced engaging antitank guns, artillery and heavy machinegun entrenched of bunkers, due his heavy frontal armor they were very suceesful.
They even managed to overrun an airfield and shooting up some aircraft.:shock:
The the concept behing Tiger was the “durbruchwagen” breaktrhough vehicle created in march 1941 when still the Panzer Division had not faced the heavy russian armored formations.
Off course sometimes when faced with large russian or american tanks formations the Tiger became the main AT weapon.
Aint it so:cool:
Sorry but I dont follow you. You mean that the Tiger wasnt the main AT weapon in the attack?
I was in agreement with you.
Btw, one thing that often fails to be mentioned was how loud the Tiger Tank was. The engines and tracks could be heard miles away. This is bad if the German army was counting on a sneak attack.
Not as loud as a KV however.:rolleyes:
I supose that the King Tiger was louder than the Tiger 1 because his more overloaded engine.
hmm ok well at least u guys got back up for your info, all i have is memory from something i read about how those were the american doctrines.Or maybe the american’s where the same. But seems you know more about it so.