 Tiger 131 on display at Tankfest 2012 | |
| Location | The Tank Museum |
|---|---|
| Designer | Henschel & Son |
| Type | Tiger tank |
| Length | 6.316 m (20 ft 8.7 in) 8.45 m (27 ft 9 in) (gun forward) |
| Width | 3.70 m (12 ft 2 in) |
| Height | 3.0 m (9 ft 10 in) |
Tiger 131 is a German Tiger I heavy tank captured by the British 48th Royal Tank Regiment in Tunisia during World War II. Preserved at The Tank Museum in Bovington in Dorset, England, it is currently the only operational Tiger I in the world.
Known to the Allies as the Tiger I, the German model designation was Panzerkampfwagen VI, Tiger I (H1), Sd.Kfz. 181. It was built in Kassel, southern Germany; the hull was constructed by Henschel, while the turret was made by Wegmann AG. The tank was completed in February 1943. It was shipped to Tunisia between 12 March and 16 April 1943. The tank was assigned to the Schwere Panzer-Abteilung 504 (German: Heavy Tank Battalion 504) during the Tunisian campaign of the wider war in North Africa. It was placed in No. 1 Company, No. 3 Platoon, as the 1st (platoon commander) tank, giving it tactical number 131 painted on the turret, by which it has come to be known. [1] [2]
Until 2019, the Tank Museum believed that Tiger Tank 131 was captured at Djebel Djaffa in Tunisia on 21 April, 1943. The largely-intact vehicle had been immobilised after the Afrika Korps launched a spoiling attack on the night of 20/21 April 1943 while the Allies were preparing a major push toward Tunis. [3] The Germans attacked four points simultaneously, including a pass on the north side of a hill called Djebel Djaffa. [4] Two Tigers and several other tanks advanced through this pass before dawn, and were gradually driven back during the day. One Tiger was hit by three shots from the 6-pounder guns (57mm) of the Churchill tanks of A Squadron, 4 Troop of the 48th Royal Tank Regiment (48 RTR). A solid shot hit a Tiger's gun barrel and ricocheted into its turret ring, jamming its traverse ability, wounding the driver and front gunner and destroying the radio. A second shot hit the turret lifting lug, disabling the gun's elevation device. A third shot hit the loader's hatch, deflecting fragments into the turret. The German crew bailed out, taking their wounded with them and leaving the knocked-out but still driveable and largely intact tank behind. [5] The tank was secured by the British as they captured Djebel Djaffa hill. [6]
The official story changed in April 2019 when Dale Oscroft visited the Tank Museum. He was struck by the similarity between Tiger 131 and a story his father, John Oscroft, told him when he was part of 2nd Battalion Sherwood Foresters who captured a position called "Point 174" (Gueriat el Atach) without promised tank support. After its capture the Germans immediately counter-attacked with tanks including Tigers. John Oscroft was told to hit one Tiger with his PIAT anti-tank weapon. After crawling forward to get as close as possible, he fired but the projectile bounced off the Tiger so he did not fire again. By this time, supporting Churchill tanks had arrived and a shot by a Churchill from either the 142nd Regiment RAC or 48 RTR jammed the turret, forcing the Tiger crew to abandon their tank. Photographic and documentary evidence corroborated Oscroft's story, proving that Tiger 131 was the tank disabled at Point 174 on 24 April 1943 and not the Tiger taken at Djebel Djaffa on 21 April. [7] [8]
A 2012 article in the Daily Mail newspaper, followed by a book by Noel Botham and Bruce Montague entitled Catch that Tiger, claimed that Major Douglas Lidderdale, the REME engineering officer who oversaw the return of Tiger 131 to England, was responsible for the capture of Tiger 131 as the leader of a secret mission appointed by Winston Churchill to obtain a Tiger for Allied intelligence. [9] This account has been rejected by The Tank Museum as inaccurate because it contradicts Lidderdale's own personal letters and papers which stated he was not personally present when the Tiger was captured. [10]
Tiger 131 was repaired with parts from other destroyed Tigers and evaluated to judge its performance. It was displayed in Tunis and formally inspected there by King George VI and Winston Churchill. The tank was sent to England in October 1943 where it was displayed as a trophy at various locations to raise wartime morale before it was subjected to extensive testing and evaluation by the School of Tank Technology at Chobham, which produced detailed reports on its construction. [11] The tank was transferred to what is today known as The Tank Museum by the British Ministry of Supply on 25 September 1951 where it was given the accession number 2351 (later E1951.23).
In 1990 the tank was removed from display for a joint restoration effort by the staff and the Army Base Repair Organisation, which involved its almost complete disassembly. The Maybach HL230 engine from the museum's Tiger II was installed as the Tiger's original Maybach HL210 had been removed and cut into cross sections for display. A modern fire-suppressant system was added to the engine compartment, the only other significant alteration. [12] The wear and performance of the refitted Tiger engine was studied by metallurgists to explore the alloys and performance of WWII German manufacturing. [13]
In December 2003, Tiger 131 returned to the museum with a working engine, making it the only operable Tiger tank in the world and the most popular exhibit at the museum. [14] Further work and repainting in period colours completed the restoration in 2012, for a total cost quoted at £80,000. [15]
This tank was used in the 2014 film Fury, [16] the first time a real Tiger has appeared in a feature film since They Were Not Divided (1950). [16]
The Tiger II was a German heavy tank of the Second World War. The final official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B, often shortened to Tiger B. The ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 182.. It was also known informally as the Königstiger. Contemporaneous Allied soldiers usually called it the King Tiger or Royal Tiger.
Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus was a German World War II super-heavy tank completed in late 1944. It is the heaviest fully enclosed armored fighting vehicle ever built. Five were ordered, but only two hulls and one turret were completed, the turret being attached before the testing grounds were captured by advancing Soviet military forces.
The Panther tank, officially Panzerkampfwagen V Panther with ordnance inventory designation: Sd.Kfz. 171, is a German medium tank of World War II. It was used on the Eastern and Western Fronts from mid-1943 to the end of the war in May 1945.
Elefant was a heavy tank destroyer used by German Panzerjäger during World War II. Ninety-one units were built in 1943 under the name Ferdinand using VK 45.01 (P) tank hulls which had been produced for the Tiger I tank before the competing Henschel design had been selected.
The Tank, Infantry, Mk IV (A22) Churchill was a British infantry tank used in the Second World War, best known for its heavy armour, large longitudinal chassis with all-around tracks with multiple bogies, its ability to climb steep slopes, and its use as the basis of many specialist vehicles. It was one of the heaviest Allied tanks of the war.
The Jagdpanther, Sd.Kfz. 173, was a tank destroyer built by Germany during World War II. The Jagdpanther combined the 8.8 cm Pak 43 anti-tank gun, similar to the main gun of the Tiger II, with the armor and suspension of the Panther chassis.
Hobart's Funnies is the nickname given to a number of specialist armoured fighting vehicles derived from tanks operated during the Second World War by units of the 79th Armoured Division of the British Army or by specialists from the Royal Engineers.
The Tortoise heavy assault tank (A39) was a British heavy assault gun design developed during the Second World War, but never put into mass production. It was developed for the task of clearing heavily fortified areas such as the Siegfried Line and as a result favoured armour protection over mobility.
The Tank Museum is a collection of armoured fighting vehicles at Bovington Camp in Dorset, South West England. It is about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the village of Wool and 12 miles (19 km) west of the major port of Poole. The collection traces the history of the tank. With almost 300 vehicles on exhibition from 26 countries it is the largest collection of tanks and the third largest collection of armoured vehicles in the world. It includes Tiger 131, the only working example of a German Tiger I tank, and a British First World War Mark I, the world's oldest surviving combat tank. It is the museum of the Royal Tank Regiment and the Royal Armoured Corps and is a registered charity.
The Maybach HL230 was a water-cooled 60° 23 litre V12 petrol engine designed by Maybach. It was used during World War II in heavy German tanks, namely the Panther, Jagdpanther, Tiger II, Jagdtiger, and later versions of the Tiger I and Sturmtiger.
The 48th Royal Tank Regiment was an armoured regiment of the British Army during the Second World War. It was part of the Royal Tank Regiment, itself part of the Royal Armoured Corps.
The Panzerkampfwagen E-100 (TG-01) was a German super-heavy tank design developed towards the end of World War II. It was the largest of the Entwicklung series of tank designs which was intended to improve German armored vehicle production through standardization on cheaper, simpler to build vehicles. By the end of the war, the chassis of the prototype E-100 had been partially completed; it was shipped to the United Kingdom for trials, but was later scrapped.
Empire Candida was a 2,908 GRT cargo ship which was built in 1942 for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). She was sold in 1947 and renamed Burdale and resold in 1948 and renamed Peldale. In 1954, she was sold to Norway and renamed Statius Jansen. A further sale to Hong Kong in 1959 saw her renamed Sunny. In 1961, she was sold to Indonesia, serving until she was scrapped in 1969.
The Tiger I was a German heavy tank of World War II that began operational duty in 1942 in Africa and in the Soviet Union, usually in independent heavy tank battalions. It gave the German Army its first armoured fighting vehicle that mounted the 8.8 cm KwK 36 gun. 1,347 were built between August 1942 and August 1944. After August 1944, production of the Tiger I was phased out in favour of the Tiger II.
A tunnel crankcase, tunnel crankshaft or disc-webbed crankshaft is a design feature of a piston engine where the main bearings that support the crankshaft within the crankcase form the largest diameter of any part of the crankshaft and are larger than the crank webs. This requires a crankcase with a large tunnel instead of cross web supports for narrower main bearings, hence the name.
The 2nd Battle of Longstop Hill or the Capture of Longstop Hill took place in Tunisia during the Tunisia Campaign of World War II from 21 to 23 April 1943. The battle was fought for control over the heights of Djebel el Ahmera and Djebel Rhar, together known as Longstop Hill and vicinity, between the British forces of the First Army and German units of the 5th Panzer Army. The infantry of the 78th Battleaxe Division and Churchill tanks of the North Irish Horse captured Longstop Hill after bitter fighting, in which the tanks created a measure of tactical surprise by driving up the hill, a manoeuvre that only Churchill tanks could achieve. The attackers broke through the German defences, which were the last great natural barrier on the road to Tunis.
The Australian Armour and Artillery Museum is a privately owned museum dedicated to tanks, armoured vehicles and artillery from the Second World War and post war periods. It was officially opened in 2014, in Cairns, Queensland, Australia.
Unternehmen Ochsenkopf also known as the Battle of Sidi Nsir and the Battle of Hunts Gap was an Axis offensive operation in Tunisia from 26 February to 4 March 1943, during the Tunisia Campaign of the Second World War. The offensive and a subsidiary operation Unternehmen Ausladung was intended to gain control of Medjez el Bab, Béja, El Aroussa, Djebel Abiod and a position known as Hunt's Gap, between the British First Army and the Axis Army Group Africa. The offensive gained some ground, but none of the more ambitious objectives were achieved before the operation was called off due to increasing losses of infantry and tanks, particularly the heavy Tigers. Unternehmen Ochsenkopf was the last big Axis offensive by the 5th Panzer Army before the surrender of the Afrika Korps in May 1943.
The Panther II is a German tank design of the Second World War based on the design of the original Panther tank. It had slightly thicker armour than the Panther and adopted some standardised components from the Tiger II tank design. The Panther II did not progress beyond prototypes and did not enter production.
