Tiger Heat: German Panzers on the Eastern Front

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 became 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 11^th 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 well as lateral vision.

Each tank struggled to turn over in the intense cold and even when started the tracks had to unstick themselves from the frozen ground, before moving forward and shedding all the icicles that had formed on the wheels and tracks overnight. These icicles shattering into thousands of glittering pieces of what looked like shattered glass.

The bright sunlight revealed every crease on Max’s battle weary face as he stood up in his cupola listening intently to his headphones. As the engines burst into life one by one, the smell of the exhaust seeped into the tanks and mixed with the smell of gun oil along and men whom had not washed for days. Standing up Max had a commanding view of the battlefield and could pass down orders to the rest of the crew. German commanders liked to stand up and out of the tank for a better view. Russian commanders did the reverse limiting their view through small sights.

Klaus, manoeuvred his heavy Tiger around some rocks using all his skill on the slippery surface before climbing up a gentle slope and onto the rough cart track. The engine roared as it took the strain of pushing 57 tons of tank up a slope. The tracks were the widest track of any tank use in anger in WWII. Wide tracks helped reduce the ground pressure inflicted by the Tigers heavy weight. The tracks bit into the snow with a loud crunching noise slowly propelling the Tiger slowly up the 40-degree slope. Looking out from the thin slot the tank Klaus could see right up into the grey sky, heavy with snow.