TIGER II, piece of hull armour

[lennard]

Many years ago I was taken to the location just north of the River Seine, where Tiger II tactical number "301" of sPz Abt 503 had been abandoned in 1944.

Apparently it remained intact for several years but was then filled with ammunition, explosives etc., all collected from the surrounding area and blown up, the turret landing in the next field where it remained for a few years until scrapped.

The hull was blown into many small pieces with the sides and top going in all directions, where as the lower hull plate was blown into the ground below, but massively fragmented.

A small piece of that fragmented lower hull plate is shown below, its 40mm thick, is chamfered and has shiny "nickel" weld still on it, red oxide painted on the inside and rusty brown on the underside.

Photo of 301 as a playground for local kids .

cheers Lennard

[The Devil's Bank]

What a waste of a King Tiger...

I wonder if any pictures remain/taken of the blown up turret?

I bet those kids had a fine old time playing in that mighty Panzer.

Just wish it was me

[Martin Bull]

I haven't been able to find any pics of the destroyed Tiger....these photos can be difficult to identify.
The recently-published ' Tiger de la s.Pz.Abt.503 - Serie Normandie 44' by Stein/Cazenave (Maranes Editions 2021) includes the photo shown above, but captioned as Tiger 331 of Leutnant Ekkehard Rambow. The same book includes three photos of Tiger 301 (Ufz. Klaus Neeb )showing numerous frontal impacts.

More 'Tiger' headaches !

[lennard]

Hi,
It looks like I put up the wrong photo, here are some more of 301 operational and ko'ed, and yes here are several hits on the upper front armour and some on the lower front armour, not visible in these photos but in others I have to find.

My reference was (I thought) that 301 was the only Henschel turret Tiger of s503 to not have any spare track hangers on its turret, whereas your 331 photo also appears not to have turret track hangers. Is that correct.

cheers Lennard

[Martin Bull]

More 'Tiger' headaches !

Wolfgang Schneider's 'Tigers In Normandy' has four photos of an abandoned, Porsche-turret Tiger at St Pol-en-Ternoise near Amiens. He identifies this one as Lt Rambow's mount, but no number is given.

The same book has two close-ups of the Henschel-turreted Tiger shown in the first post, but minus children. It has no turret hangers and clearly shows the towing C-hook. This is identified as Tiger 301 and states that it was knocked out after receiving two hits at Sailly, the assembly area used by s.Pz.Abt.503 after the attack on the Mantes bridgehead over the Seine.

So - on balance I reckon your relic is very likely from 301. But it goes to show that even the experts who spend years reserching books can disagree, especially where Tigers are concerned......

[lennard]

Hi Martin,

I was taken to the 301 location by a local historian, so it was not just guesswork on by behalf, he also took me to the local farm that had several Tiger II track links, pieces of armour, a hatch, some wheels etc., etc., this was in the mid 1990's, and Sailly or the area sounds familiar. Also showed me where Tiger II "123" had been lost nearby.

Of course this location was nowhere near the Porsche turret Tiger II near Amiens, this was just a few miles north of the R Seine.

I do have the Schneider book, but as you say there is still a lot of confusion about these vehicles, their actions and their fates.

cheers Lennard

[lebus12]

In my memory the tank is under one road and they want to take of from this place, but it means paper and paper...
On WRF you can find pictures os this tank, the farmer....

[lebus12]

Kingtiger under the road

[lennard]

Hi,

The turret of Tiger II tactical number 124 of 1/sSS Pz Abt 101, was recovered from alongside a road maybe 10 to 15 years ago, the hull is still there but is more under the road, and thats the problem, digging up a road for fun is not allowed.

If anyone has a photo of this turret ? please show it here.

cheers lennard

[lebus12]

From my link