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    Tiger: Panzerkampfwagen
    Tiger: Panzerkampfwagen
    Tiger: Panzerkampfwagen
    Ebook122 pages1 hour

    Tiger: Panzerkampfwagen

    By Steve Stone

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    About this ebook

    One main track had snapped and three road wheels had been blown apart. From a distance the Tiger still looked every bit as menacing as it had always been, this tank though had seen its fair share of battle and had the scars on its armour to prove it.

    The crew of the Tiger was huddled together dead in their steel tomb. After a successful campaign the tank lay lifeless in a field flames flickering from the engine compartment after being hit in the rear several times. A testament to its armour that it had survived so many hits.

    One of the most feared weapons of World War II, the Tiger tank was a formidable tank at the forefront of tank design in its day. The Tiger nickname given by Ferdinand Porsche dominated the battlefields of Europe with its astonishing size, heavy armour, speed and firepower when it arrived in 1942.

    Tiger, follows Tigers crews into battle in some intense and brutal battles against the Red Army. Even with a tank as formidable as the Tiger the German Army would suffer eventual defeat. This story is based on true accounts and gives an intimate picture of the tough existence for German tank crews. The life and death decisions these crews had to make during World War II on the Eastern Front.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDigital Dreams Publishing
    Release dateJan 1, 2016
    ISBN9781311900906
    Tiger: Panzerkampfwagen

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      Book preview

      Tiger - Steve Stone

      TIGER

      Panzerkampfwagen

      STEVE STONE

      © Steve Stone 2016

      Steve Stone has asserted his rights under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

      Published by Digital Dreams Publishing 2016

      Introduction from the author

      Panzer has been written using the true and at times graphic accounts of German Tiger and Panther crews who fought valiantly on the Eastern Front. During research I was left amazed and horrified by the accounts I read. In many ways, war in a tank was as every bit as deadly as being an infantry soldier.

      This book gives the reader the chance to get a real insight into how crews handled these cutting edge tanks in the very harsh climate and terrain of the Eastern Front. Against a numerically superior enemy, who also had some highly evolved tanks such as the T-34 and IS series which would put German Panzer divisions to the test on the Eastern Front. These advanced tanks could not turn the tide of the war that would see Germany eventually defeated and pushed all the way back to Berlin.

      At times this is a very graphical and violent read that some may find disturbing. But, to truly appreciate what those fighting had gone through. I would rather use the frank and at times graphical accounts from those who had first-hand experience of the true horror of war. A picture that paints the chaotic and violent nature of war and what the brave tanks crews went through to both survive and fight during some of the greatest tank battles to date.

      Steve Stone

      January 2016

      PROLOGUE

      Russia November 1942

      The late afternoon sunshine glistened off the white snow; the sun offered very little warmth to the cold Russian winter. In the middle of a large clearing surrounded by trees a lone sixty-ton Tiger sat motionless in the snow. One main track had snapped and a road wheel had been blown off. From a distance, the Tiger still looked every bit as menacing as it had always been. Its distinctive step shape frontal armour wide tracks and large exhaust stacks mounted on the rear. This tank though had seen its fair share of battle and had the scars on its armour to prove it.

      The crew of the Tiger was huddled together dead in their steel tomb. After a successful campaign the tank lay lifeless in a field. Flames flickering from the engine compartment after being hit several times. A testament to its armour that it had survived so many hits. Low on fuel, low on food and the tank in desperate need of maintenance the odds were stacked against the crew. They had only been together for six months and had ate, laughed, cried and now died in the same tank.

      The first 76mm shell from a T-34 had hit the Tiger on the rear, near the tracks and the idler wheel. It was a HE (High Explosive) round letting out a bright white flash as it exploded. The force of the blast caused the entire rear wheel of the Tiger fly off and land in the snow a few feet away. This wheel took at least three men to lift off and had been launched like a tiddly wink by the explosion. As the wheel broke away it shattered the pins holding the tracks together, causing the tracks to break apart and hang limply off the wheels. The momentum of the Tiger, caused it to slew off to the right out of control. Sending a huge cloud of snow up into the air. A second shot had shattered the front drive sprocket. This opening shot had pretty much decided the outcome of this tank duel.

      The third round hit into the side causing shrapnel to enter the hull. The round had entered the thinner rear armour before hitting the engine and bouncing back up through the engine grilles. This caused several lacerations to the gunner’s torso. His uniform now shredded and his jacket partially hanging off. The driver had been knocked out cold after the second round had hit the right hand track just before the front sprocket.

      The final AP (Armour Piercing) round fired by a T-34 at close range. Penetrated the rear hull and entered the crew compartment before bouncing around and causing shrapnel to fatally wound the crew. Petrol poured out of ruptured fuel lines as the first glimmer of flame began to lick around the engine.

      Inside the tank was a bloody mess. Flesh and limbs had been scattered in all directions and the crew had died a horrific death. The tank commander’s head now lay on the crisp white snow his eyes wide open starring into the blue sky after his body had been partially ejected and his head had come clean off. Through a crack in the front corner the driver was slumped down missing an arm.

      The crew had fought valiantly, knocking out over 30 tanks during their time on the Eastern Front. Shells from T-34 tanks had just bounced off the frontal armour as had rockets fired by Russian infantry. The Tiger had shown what a formidable weapon it truly was, but it was vastly outnumbered and low on fuel after becoming separated from its column. After a couple of minutes, the fire took hold and the Tiger was now fully ablaze thick black smoke reaching far into the clear blue sky. Within an hour what was once a formidable tank, was now a sooty black and rusty brown coloured hull. It had become the crematorium and final resting place of a heroic German tank crew. Their remains finally interned in mass unmarked graves in the vastness of the Soviet Union.

      Although, in actual combat only about a quarter of tanks hit in battle actually caught fire and burned out. Even immobilised or ‘knocked out’ tanks could often be repaired either on or off the battlefield. The actual casualty rate was around 0-2 for every tank taken out of action by enemy fire. A crew could be knocked out several times during an operation. During the early years of the war on the Eastern Front, Red Army crews would often abandon their tanks once knocked out and stroll back to camp. This was until a directive that stated if they did not return back with their tank they would be sent to penal units. This meant Red Army crews stayed with their damaged tanks until they could be repaired or recovered, reducing tank loses.

      The first attack by a tank took place on September 15, 1916 by a British Mk1 tank with limited success. The Mk1 had an unusual rhomboidal shape which was to give a long track run as possible to aid in crossing wide trenches. Many of the Mk1 tanks still got stuck or broke though. Initially used in very small numbers on the Somme in September 1916. On November 20, 1917 the first tank offensive was a launched when 476 British tanks made a 12-mile breach into the strongest sector of the Hindenburg Line. The Germans produced only 13 tanks during the First World War. By July 2018, the British had 1,184 tanks. The first tank v tank battle took place on April 24, 1918, when three British Mk IVs engaged three German heavy A7Vs. One AV7 was knocked out, although not before the Germans had disabled three British Whippet tanks.

      The lessons learnt in the First World War were not lost on Germany’s military leaders under the Nazi regime. General Hans Seekt guided the development of the tank as an instrument of mobile warfare and put together the Blitzkrieg (Lightning War) tactics in which German Panzer tank divisions, preceded by ground attack aircraft like the Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber. The Stukas went deep into enemy territory to create corridors for the mechanised infantry to exploit. These tactics worked well in the Battle of France and in North Africa, although in North Africa the Germans were ultimately thwarted by Allied air supremacy.

      The Blizkreig tactics also worked well during the early phase of the attack on Russia. The Germans received a shock though when they came up against the Soviet KV-1 and T-34 tanks. Their 76 mm could penetrate German armour whilst remaining immune to German anti-tank weapons. To counter this the Germans quickly developed a new generation of heavily armed tanks. Two of these were the Tiger and Panther tanks…

      CHAPTER ONE – Cold Start

      November 1942

      As the sun rose on another cold and harsh day. Tigers from the 11th Company of III Abteilung made their way out of the gully they had used to conceal themselves in overnight. Klaus, the driver of the lead tank looked at his basic instruments. The Tigers main instruments on the driver compartments right hand side contained a dip or dimmer switch. Then a large dial next to the switches which was the revolution gauge. To the right of that at the top a speedometer and odometer combined. Below that a slightly smaller oil pressure dial. The final dial on Klaus’s instrument panel was the coolant temperature gauge and beneath that was the ignition switch and light.

      Klaus and the other drivers flicked their ignition switch and tried to start the mighty Maybach V12 engine. The Tiger was steered via a half steering wheel made of metal and wrapped in black tape. In a similar fashion to the tape wrapped around a like a 1980’s road bike handlebar. The driver only had a small viewing slit to look through which took away some of his peripheral as

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