- Chapter 15 -
An interesting study of two Tigers passing on a narrow forest track in northern Russia during the summer of 1943.
As we have see the Tiger was first used in action on 28th September 1942 in marshy terrain near Leningrad. The action was a direct result of Hitler’s desperation to see the Tiger in action. This resulted in the tank, which was still very much a prototype, being forced into action prematurely.
Unfortunately, on 22nd September 1942, as they entered the combat arena for the first time the Tigers were deployed single file over marshy terrain with the inevitable result that the machines began to bog down. It was to prove an ominous portent when, in their first day of combat, all four were knocked out. It is interesting to note however that the armour of the vehicles was not penetrated. Three of the Tigers which had been abandoned by their crews were later recovered.
In spite of this atrocious start the Tiger I was to become a fixture of a number of heavy units serving on the eastern front. Better tactics involving close co-operation with supporting infantry units were soon developed and other Panzer crews were quickly trained at Paderborn so that they too could be equipped with the Tiger I as the machines rolled off the production lines. The deployment of The Tiger I happened at a fairly rapid pace and by the end of 1942 the first Tiger formations had been deployed in Russia, Tunisia, and Italy. A further training centre was soon established in France. Tigers would eventually be in service with ten Heer heavy tank battalions and one training battalion as well as and the Grossdeutschland Panzer Grenadier Division.
In addition to the regular army units three Waffen-SS heavy tank battalions were also equipped with the Tiger I. A number of additional Heer formations received a smattering of Tigers though the numbers were generally very limited. The 14 Tiger equipped units were the backbone of the fighting force and were issued with the bulk of the available machines.
In the North African theatre, the Tiger first saw action near Robaa Tunisia. In the ensuing battle, a battery belonging to the 72nd Anti-tank Regiment of the British Army equipped with six-pounder managed to knock out three enemy Tigers and rout the remaining forces. The action soon found its way into the British and US intelligence reports reprinted elsewhere in this book. The next theatre in which the allies encountered the Tiger was to be Italy where Tigers were encountered both in Sicily and on the mainland. Following the D-Day landings the Tiger I was encountered during the Normandy battles where it was fielded by the Leibstandarte division.
A Grenadier standing in front of a trio of captured Russian anti-tank guns scans the skies as a Tiger I in summer camouflage paint scheme rolls on towards the enemy.