This is my representation of Tiger 314, the mount of SS-Unterscharfuhrer Georg Diers. Very few photographs exist of s.SS-Pz.Abt 503 Tiger IIs during the last weeks of the war, so a degree of artistic license has been applied. What we do know is that the 'ambush' paint scheme is correct for this vehicle. The model is as Tiger 314 may have been as it sat in the tree line observing the T-34s near Straussberg.
Straussberg, East of Berlin, 19th April 1945.
Tiger II 314 of Unterscharfurher Georg Diers supported by Oberscharfurher Bootsman of s.SS-Pz.Abt 503, knocked out 13 Soviet T-34s in 19 minutes.
Berlin, 30th April 1945.
Unterscharfuhrer Georg Diers with his Tiger 314 was ordered to take up a defensive position at the Reichstag buildings. The crew of Tiger 314 comprised commander Georg Diers, gunner Wolf-Dieter Kothe, loader Alex Sommer and radio operator Bodo Harms. This was one of only two remaining Tiger IIs belonging to s.SS-Pz.Abt 503 in Berlin. By that evening they had knocked out about 30 T-34s, and the following day led a successful counterattack against the Kroll Opera House directly opposite the Reichstag. Their efforts though, merely postponed the inevitable and by the end of the day the order was given to abandon the position and prepare to break out of Berlin to the west. In Georg Diers' own written account, at the end of April the unit's strength was 6 Tiger IIs. These were attached to the 'Nordland' Division and by April 30th only 2 of the Tigers remained, these being Georg Diers' Tiger and that of Karl Korner, whose kill total was over 100 Soviet tanks and 29 field pieces. Georg Diers states that on May 1st they successfully counter attacked and temporarily re-captured the Kroll Opera House but withdrew at 7pm. Diers is credited with a total of 39 Soviet tanks destroyed, plus many others during the last days in the defence of Berlin. During the Soviet attacks, Diers was faced with a large number of Soviet tanks and infantry had entered and were fighting within the Reichstag itself. Diers' crew destroyed their Tiger with mines near the Schonhaussee Allee. Georg Diers certainly would have been decorated for his actions but at such a late stage his heroism went unrewarded.
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