The Western Allies first encountered the legendary Tiger tank in Tunisia in December 1942. Rommel’s desert war had been going from bad to worse for the hard pressed men of the Afrika Korps, and they urgently needed a morale booster. They got it in the form of the new Panzer VI – the Tiger. Its appearance came as an unpleasant surprise and was a shock to the Allies. The Tiger boasted a squat purposeful shape, and its deadly high velocity gun attained such notoriety that soon the mere appearance of the Tiger on the battlefield was enough to cause panic in the allied forces. The psychological power of the Tiger legend was so powerful that the sighting of any German tank force was enough to set the rumour running that Tigers were on the way.
With the very limited numbers which actually reached Tunisia, the Tiger menace was in some respects as much psychological as physical; nonetheless, that was no consolation for the allied tank crews who actually met the Tiger. Tank crews of the Allied Forces were disadvantaged by the superior range, killing power and armour of the Tigers. Allied tank men watched in horror as their own shells simply bounced off its thick armour plate.
In response to the Allied landings under Operation Torch in November 1942, the German high command had at last sent reinforcements to the hard pressed German forces in Tunisia. At an earlier meeting, Hitler had personally promised Rommel that he would have the new Tiger tank as soon as it was available and, sure enough, it was among the reinforcements to arrive in Tunisia, but as with all of Hitler’s pledges, there were certain omissions.
The actual Tiger strength which appeared was just two companies of Schwere Panzer Abteilung 501, with 18 tigers each, and one company of the Schwere Panzer Abteilung 504 with eight machines. These units later merged to form one Abteilung.
The miracle machines were in such short supply that it led to a certain amount of unseemly squabbling among the German commanders. Field Marshall Rommel recorded that, before the start of his thrust towards Tebessa, he had asked General Von Arnim to send him the 19 Tiger tanks that were with the Fifth Panzer Army. Von Arnim demurred on the grounds that all Tigers were undergoing repair. Rommel later pointed out with some pique that this statement was patently untrue.
Against all expectations a British Army unit, 48 Royal Tank Regiment, actually captured one of the precious Tigers at Medjez El Bab on 21st April 1943. The Tigers, in company with supporting Panzer III and IV tanks, had already taken out the leading machines in a formation of Churchill tanks, when a shot from one of the remaining Churchill’s six-pounder guns hit the bottom of the Tigers’ gun mantlet The shell was deflected into the turret ring, which jammed the gun turret. Another shell then hit a turret lifting bracket and wounded the Tiger’s commander. The German crew then abandoned the Tiger, allowing the British to capture an intact tank.
A constant flow of Ju-52 transport aircraft was required to ferry in fuel, are seen being collected together in the foreground.
Shipped back to Britain, the tank was stripped down and provided much intelligence on German tank technology. That same Tiger tank, number 131 of 504 Schwere Panzer Abteilung, now rests at Bovington Tank museum. England.
Having been forced out of Libya and with German forces now in and around Mareth, Rommel intended to concentrate the mass of his motorised force and attack the British/American Forces in Western Tunisia with the aim of forcing withdrawal. This operation, code named ‘Spring Wind’, saw the capture of the Paid and Kasserine Passes through the hills as crucial. Rommel stated that he feared no effective attack from Montgomery during this phase, until the British had mustered powerful air and artillery forces.
The 21st Panzer Division, up to strength again and now under the command of 5th Panzer Army Afrika, was to attack Paid pass. The pass was required as a start point for the thrust to Sidi Banzed and Sbeitla. The attack was a success, resulting in the capture of over one thousand six hundred American prisoners and 150 tanks, including 86 US medium tanks. All of these machines were part of the US First Division.
With the movement of the Germans in the area the Allies put all forces they could muster into northern Tunisia. Fighting came down to control of the passes. The weather made the going bad for vehicles but at the same time kept the Allied Air Force at home. Air attacks would have been disastrous within the confines of the narrow passes.
Rommel thought the Allies weaker at Kasserine than at Sbiba, therefore he placed the weight of his attack there on 20th February 1943. Panzer Grenadier Regiment ‘Menton’ attacked, but was halted by well-placed American artillery and mortar fire from the surrounding hills. The 10th Panzer Division’s Motor Cycle Battalion was thrown in to the fray. ‘Nebelwerfers’ were also deployed for the first time in Africa and proved very effective. By 5pm the Germans controlled the Kasserine Pass.
A US Armoured Group situated in a side pass was to have aided the Kasserine defenders. Rommel pushed the 8th Panzer Regiment across the Hatab River and caught this US Force by surprise.
Opening fire at point-blank range the Germans devastated the Americans. The 8th Panzer Division also captured 20 US tanks and 30 armoured troop carriers, most of which were towing 75mm anti-tank guns.
Rommel kept the 10th Panzer Division and the Afrika Korps column around the Kasserine area in case of a counter attack. However, during the night they moved northwards along the Kasserine-Thalu road and westwards to Tebessa. But the enemy had gone.
Driving through the debris of the aftermath of the battles Rommel was impressed with the Americans who the Germans had described as ‘fantastically well equipped’. He went on to say: ‘We (the Germans) had a lot to learn organisationally. One particularly striking feature was the standardisation of their vehicles and spare parts’. British experience had been put to good use in American equipment.
Although the Tigers had played a major part in the battle it would be true to say that, had the allied planes put in an appearance, things would have been very different. Also, of course, for the American troops it was their first meeting with the Panzers.
A Panzer IV rolls past the wreckage of a knocked-out British light tank in the Western desert campaign in 1943.