Tiger Heat: German Panzers on the Eastern Front

The Panthers and Tigers along with German infantry were eager to counter attack. They were determined to drive the Soviets back. The Panther crew had faith in their tank with its high-velocity cannon and good, sloped armour protection. Crews felt further reassured having four Panthers and six Tigers to push home the counter attack. They would still not have the numerical advantage though. As soon as it was dawn and the smallest glimmer of light began to appear on the gleaming white horizon – crews made final preparations. The Panther crew closed their hatches and the commander slid down into the turret before closing his hatch. He made use of his periscope to survey the area in front. Looking at the landscape and trying to see both areas that were good for cover and areas that an enemy tank may use to conceal itself. The early morning mist gave the tanks a little bit of cover as they moved forward into their attack positions. The gunner kept his eye on the gun sight triangle to line up with a target. As the Panther bounced up and down on the rough terrain. The loader behind him was holding the next round ready to load. T-34s had been spotted but had not yet come into sight. Finally, a T-34 popped out of the early morning mist about 1000 yards away. The commander rotated the turret onto the target and gave the gunner final control of moving the gun onto the target. Once the triangle reticule was on the target the shot was all lined up. The T-34 appeared on ground below the Panther just to its left and its distinctive shape was unmistakable. The gunner placed the triangle on the turret as the lower part of the tank was concealed by dead ground. The panther gunner fired. The round burst out of the Panthers breach. The Panther bucked gently, as the muzzle brake and hydraulic dampers absorbed the gun’s recoil. The long 75mm gun could achieve the same velocity as the 88mm on the Tiger, but with a muzzle brake and damper system the recoil did not make the Panther move about very much. The AP round hit the T-34 in the turret. Before the Panthers shell case had dropped into the anti-gas box. The T-34 got a shot off after seeing the muzzle flash from the Panther. The Panther had managed to partly conceal itself at the edge of the village. The shot missed but the Panthers shot knocked the T-34s turret clean off. A second T-34 came into view and the Panther gunner aimed a shot at the front corner trying to hit the front sprocket and disable the tank or get a round into the crew compartment. The round took the front sprocket clean off. It travelled several yards ripping off some track links. The T-34 moved a couple of yards’ further forwards before grinding to a halt. The T-34 had now presented its much weaker side armour to the Panther. The next round the Panther fired went straight into the middle of the side hull, towards the rear blowing the engine cover clean off. The force of the impact had compressed the diesel tanks causing an explosion that blew apart the engine and rear panels. The bright orange flame shot into the air and began to consume the tank and its crew. One of the crew flew out from an escape hatch completely on fire; he disappeared down the side of the tank. From behind the burning T-34, another two T-34s appeared, one of the other Panthers scored a direct hit straight into the ammunition storage area causing a massive explosion that flipped the tank onto its side. As the crew escaped, rounds from the Panthers MG cut them down before they got very far. Two T-34s had been taken out in a matter of minutes. This was just the start of a Red Army offensive. There would be more on their way, now they knew the Panthers position. This village for some reason seemed to be of great importance to the Soviets.

German Command decided that instead of waiting for reinforcements the German tanks would counter attack. The Tigers had moved round onto the Panthers left flank and had engaged a couple of SU-85s along with a Katyusha multiple rocket launcher. The Germans called them “Stalin’s organ” due to the visual and aural resemblance to a church organ. They could deliver multiple rockets much quicker than conventional artillery. However, they were less arcuate and took longer to load. Which each salvo of rockets taking around 50 minutes to load. They had a range of between 4.5 and 13 miles depending on the many rocket variants used during and after the war. The rockets were mounted in parallel on the back of various truck types such as a ZiS-6, six wheeled truck.

One Tiger had been lost in the short exchange of fire between the SU-85s and Katyusha. Although the SU-85 was a capable tank, the 85-mm gun was not adequate enough to penetrate the armour of the larger German armoured fighting vehicles such as the Panther, Tiger and King Tiger at long range or head on. The 76mm gun on the original T-34s could not penetrate a Tigers armour from the front and only the side at a very close range.