Posted on 06/01/2011 5:56:47 PM PDT by dynachrome
The German Tiger I was the most feared battle tank of the Second World War. Its invincibility lay in its main gun and heavy defensive armour. Using the successful Haynes Manual format, the Tiger Tank Manual gives an insight into acquiring, owning and operating one of these awesome fighting vehicles. The Tank Museum's Tiger '131' forms the centrepiece of this manual, which includes full photographic coverage of the strip-down of '131' and its engine. Vivid personal recollections describe what it was like to command a Tiger in war.
(Excerpt) Read more at haynes.co.uk ...
(and other cool manuals)
Just in case I need a retirement project
I saw the Tiger I at the Patton Museum. That is an imposing piece of iron.
Ver-ry IN-te-resting!
I’d rather they did an A-Team manual that teaches us how to up-armor anything into a tank (for the upcoming civil war).
Must. Have. One. Of. These.
In case you are interested, a very good novel starring the Tiger VI and the T34 is:
Last Citadel: A Novel of the Battle of Kursk by David Robbins
“From Publishers Weekly
Tigers and T-34s lock horns in this dramatization of the 1943 battle for Kursk, in southwestern Russia, the greatest tank battle in the history of armored warfare. In his fifth novel, Robbins (War of the Rats; The End of War) explores the maelstrom from the perspective of a rich ensemble cast. The Berkos are a family divided by politics: Dimitri Berko, the patriarch, is an old-school Cossack driving a T-34 under the command of his estranged son, Valentin, a fervent Communist; daughter Katya is a Night Witch bomber pilot. The Berkos square off against Luis de Vega, a Spanish captain fresh from Franco’s Blue Division, now in an SS tank brigade commanding the dreaded new Mark VI Tiger, a behemoth so heavily armored it is considered impervious to Russian guns. Caught in the middle of this is Abram Breit, a Nazi intelligence officer secretly funneling information to the Soviets. Separate plane crashes land Katya and Breit in the hands of the same Russian partisan band; meanwhile, Dimitri and Valentin are locked in suicidal combat with de Vega’s SS tanks and troops. Robbins’s writing might be tighter, but he livens his tale with striking incongruities: the final battle for Kursk takes place in a field of sunflowers. Serious WWII buffs may quibble with some of Robbins’s portrayals of battles, hardware and key figures. But the real story here is the duel between de Vega and Berko, both of whom are torn from their natural environments (de Vega from his bullfighting, Berko from his horses) by the war and made to serve ideologies that will destroy the ways of life they left behind”
Maybe Moriarity can sell you the one he and Oddball got from the SS guy.
Submarines anyone?
Interesting data, but the T-34 was a better tank.
Probably safe to say the Germans would have been much better off not producing the tiger and using the resources for panther tank production instead.
The Soviet JS-2 model 1944 was a much better tank. Sloped armor 122mm cannon, and reliable. Of course we didn’t face these til Korea.
“Get off my lawn”
...
I saw an interview with a WWII German Tiger commander. He was in charge of three Tigers at Kursk.
He said his 3 Tigers destroyed 78 Russian tanks but still were in retreat. He also said the Russians were not good shots. They thought it was the fault of the guns but later learned the crew were just not well trained at marksmanship.
Sounds cool. Bump for later.
“It’s a piece of junk. the fuel system leaks all over the place! It’s a piece of junk!”
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