Tiger Heat: German Panzers on the Eastern Front

The gunner of the first Panther traversed his gun slightly onto the second T-34 and scored a second hit, this time on the turret causing a flash of light around the turret ring. The hatches to the tank suddenly flew open as thick grey smoke poured out of the hatches. The crew scrambled out and went to ground before they could be hit by the Panthers MG gun. The T-34 started to burn fiercely and the crew had made a lucky escape. A third T-34 appeared before veering off towards the tree line and relative safety of the forest. The two Panthers got another couple of shots off. One shot missed and the other hit the T-34 in the centre line. This caused a large explosion as ammunition inside the tank exploded causing the main turret to roll off. Before the hull of the tank was engulfed in flames. Three T-34s were now disabled for no losses or hits on the Panthers.

The first Panther was hit by a 76-mm round from another T-34, this round hit the Panther in the frontal area causing an enormous bang and the crew could feel the Panther shake. This T-34 had emerged from the treeline and just to the right of the T-34 was a SU-85 a self-propelled gun based on a T-34 chassis with a D5-T 85mm gun. Originally, the gun was an 85-mm air defence gun M1939 (52-K). It was developed by the D-5 85mm gun. Though much too large for the T-34 turret, it could be mounted in the chassis of the SU-122 self-propelled gun to create a tank destroyer. For it to be fitted to a T-34 a new turret would be required. This was later undertaken to create the T-34-85. The D-5 could penetrate the side armour of the Tiger I from 800 meters and the turret side from 600 meters.

A lucky shot from a Panther hit the T-34s glacis plate and was not deflected. It blew off large chunks of armour plate. A flash of flame emanated from the rear of the turret before thick black smoke started to pour out any openings. The crew threw their hatches open grabbing their PPSh-41s and make a run for it deeper into the forest. Every few metres turning around and firing off a few rounds from their PPSh-41s. One of the crew was on fire as his fiery torso disappeared into the forest.

The SU-85 opened up and the Panther crews fired more rounds from their extremely hot barrels. A round from the SU-85 hit the first Panthers gun mantle knocking the gunner out and damaging the elevation mechanism. The Panther was now unable to fire back and decided to reverse back out of firing range and undertake repairs. With one Panther left and an SU-85. It was going to be a dual to the death of one tank or another.

The Panther got the first round off hitting the fontal armour sending chunks of armour flying off. The SU-85 stopped and fired an AP round straight at the Panthers turret, jamming the Panthers turret from traversing. The Panther instead turned on its tracks for a less than precise aim at the front of the SU-85 and let off another round, it hit not much further away from the first frontal impact and this time penetrated the armour and stopped when it hit the engine block, knocking the engine out. The driver was still injured from the first impact and only the commander along with the driver had survived. The commander pulled the driver out of his seat and out of the escape hatch before landing in a heap on the floor. The Panther was out of MG ammo so was unable to finish them off. Instead deciding to reverse and make a hasty retreat before any more Soviet armour appeared. The SU-85 crew had made a lucky escape. The SU-85 was smoking heavily but had not caught fire. Other than a couple of bruises and a few cuts, the gunner and driver had managed to get away pretty much unscathed. They would more than likely within 24 hours be back on the frontline with a different tank crew to fill in caps left by losses. It was not unusual to lose a German tank commander due to sniper fire. Standing up in their cupola, they made an easy sniper target.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN – King Tiger

August 1944

The Tiger II combined the heavy armour of the Tiger I with the slopped armour of the Panther. It was a completely different tank to the Tiger I and weighed 70 tons compared to the 56 tons of the Tiger I. The King Tiger was first used in action in Normandy in July 1944 before being used on the Eastern Front the following month. The Tiger II also called the king Tiger was the most powerful tank to be deployed anywhere during World War 2. Together with the Panther formed a German spearhead for the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. The offensive though petered out due to a lack of fuel and many Tigers ended up being abandoned.