Tiger Heat: German Panzers on the Eastern Front

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 now lay lifeless in a field. Flames still flickering around the engine compartment after it had been hit several times with armour piercing rounds. 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 tank causing the tank 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 gunners’ 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 fatal shrapnel wounds to 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 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 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.