What skills to pump a tiger 2. Pz.Kpfw VI Ausf

One of the first "royal tigers" received the 503rd battalion. On April 22, 1944, he was recalled from the front for reorganization. His 1st company was armed with 12 new tanks with a "Porsche-type" turret. The other two companies were left with the old Ausf.E. This mixed armament was not accidental, given that from January to April 1944, Henschel was able to produce only 20 Tiger tanks Ausf.B. During the same time, 378 Ausf.E. Tigers left the workshop. At the end of June, the battalion was sent from Ohrdurf to France - the battle in Normandy was in full swing. However, this unit did not reach Normandy in full force. Several "tigers" were destroyed by Allied aircraft during the march to the front line, while several vehicles had to be left in a warehouse in Pontoise near Paris due to technical malfunctions.

After arriving at the front, the 503rd battalion became operationally subordinate to the 22nd tank regiment of the 21st tank division of the Wehrmacht, which fought heavy battles with the British troops in the vicinity of Caen. His first combat operation was the elimination of the enemy's breakthrough near Colombel. In this battle, with the participation of the "Royal Tigers", 12 "Shermans" of the 148th Royal Tank Regiment were hit. The answer was not long in coming.

Drawing for comparison of tanks "Royal Tiger" T-VI and T-34/85

On July 18, 1944, the positions of the 503rd battalion were attacked by 2,100 Allied aircraft! In any case, this is the number indicated in foreign sources. However, the number of aircraft is clearly overestimated, apparently, someone in a combat report attributed an extra zero to the real figure. Nevertheless, aviation really became the most important for the Allies. effective tool fighting German tanks. Fortunately, they had absolute air supremacy. These days, if a bitter joke is to be believed German soldiers, they began to develop the so-called "German look", that is, a look directed at the sky in anticipation of the next attack by the English or American Jabo (Jagdbombenflugzeug - fighter-bomber) - "tempests", "typhoons" and "thunderbolts".
As for ground weapons, the first adequately armed American combat vehicle was the 90-mm M36 self-propelled gun, which appeared on the Western Front in September 1944. Somehow, armed with 17-pounder guns, they could fight the "tigers" English tanks"Sherman Firefly" and "Challenger", self-propelled guns "Achilles" and "Archer".
Here is what Charles Geysell, who fought as a lieutenant in the 628th American tank destroyer battalion, recalls about this: “Our unit was one of the few equipped with the new M36 tank destroyer with a 90-mm gun. Most of the other battalions were equipped with M10 tank destroyers armed with three-inch guns. When we received new vehicles, we were told that our 90 mm gun was superior to the German 88 mm. But in the very first battle of B Company of our battalion with the only King Tiger, we found that our armor-piercing shells could not to break through the turret armor of a German tank. upper part towers, managed to disable it. In this short engagement, B Company suffered casualties.
Until the end of the war, our battalion with great difficulty managed to knock out only one more "King Tiger".

German heavy tank "King Tiger" destroyed in the Sandomierz bridgehead.

The Allies also used other methods to deal with heavy German tanks. One of them was told by a participant in the Second World War, Lieutenant General of the US Army James Hollingsworth: “On November 16-19, 1944, there were battles on the Worm and Pep rivers. The 2nd Battalion of the 67th Tank Regiment found itself face to face with 22 "King Tigers". We used the technique of simultaneously firing all available weapons at one target. Firing with 105-, 155-, 203- and 240-mm guns, we forced the enemy to turn back. Three "royal tigers" were left burning on the battlefield. Our tank 75- and 76-mm guns could not penetrate the armor of German tanks. The 90-mm guns of tank destroyers from the 201st battalion were also powerless. Thank God, artillery rescued us. And what about the 503rd battalion? On August 12, his 3rd company received the "Royal Tigers", and in this form the battalion fought near the Orne River. When breaking out of the Falaise pocket, the Germans had to abandon almost all of their tanks. Some of them failed due to numerous breakdowns, mainly in the undercarriage, others, especially the "King Tigers", could not cross the river. The bridges were blown up, and there were no ferries of sufficient carrying capacity. Soon personnel recalled from the front to Paderborn, where on September 22, 1944, sPzAbt 503 received 45 brand new Tiger IIs, and on October 12 the battalion departed for Budapest. But, as they say, a holy place is never empty. In the 20th of September, another battalion set off for Holland near Arnhem, rearmed by that time with Tiger tanks Ausf.B - sPzAbt 506.

Tank "Royal Tiger" Tiger II, in one of the tank museums.

Combat debut new tanks for Eastern Front took place in August 1944, and this should be told in more detail. The fact is that during the postwar years in the domestic press this episode was described repeatedly and gradually acquired numerous and far from always reliable details. Perhaps only the very fact of the battle that took place is indisputable, but otherwise there are discrepancies even in the main dates, not to mention the number of "royal tigers" that participated and were shot down.
The most common version looked like this: on the Sandomierz bridgehead, the Germans threw into battle a tank battalion of "royal tigers", up to 40 vehicles in total, and were defeated, losing half of their tanks; several vehicles were captured by our troops in good condition. At the same time, it was claimed that his designer, Ferdinand Porsche (in some publications, the designer's son), who arrogantly believed in the indestructibility of his car, died in the lead tank. The easiest way to deal with the "death of the Porsche." The German designer died in 1951, his son - in 1998. In addition, tanks with a “Henschel type” turret operated on the Sandomierz bridgehead, to which Porsche had nothing to do.
As for the rest, we will try to present the chronicle and course of events, based on the facts presented in various sources. So, it all started on July 14, 1944, when Ordurf arrived to reorganize the 501st heavy tank battalion. Having received new tanks, the battalion was sent to the front and on August 9, 1944, unloaded at a railway station near the Polish city of Kielce. During the march to the front line, many tanks failed for technical reasons, so that on the morning of August 11, only 18 combat-ready "royal tigers" remained in the battalion. Repair work was carried out all day and part of the faulty machines was put into operation.

Allied-captured German heavy tank "King Tiger" "Tiger II"

The situation on this sector of the Soviet-German front at that time was as follows: by August 4, 1944, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front had captured a bridgehead up to 45 km along the front and 25 km in depth on the left bank of the Vistula. The enemy made desperate attempts to push back our troops that had reached the Sandomierz region. First of all, the Germans launched a series of counterattacks on the flanks of the Soviet troops located on the right bank of the Vistula. With counter attacks from the north and south in the general direction of Baranow, the German troops sought to reach the crossing area, cut off our formations located beyond the Vistula from the rest of the forces and restore the defense along the left bank. After the failure of the counterattack, the enemy made attempts to liquidate directly our bridgehead on the left bank. The enemy delivered the first counterattack with the forces of two tank and motorized divisions on August 11 in the direction of Staszow and advanced 8 km in two days.
The bridgehead by this time was an uneven semicircle, resting at the ends against the Vistula. Approximately in the middle of this semicircle, covering the direction to Staszow, 53 Guards Tank Brigade from the 6 Guards Tank Corps defended. By the end of the day on August 12, the 53rd Guards Brigade left first the Szydlów railway station, and then the village of Oglendow. Here it makes sense to refer to the memoirs of the commander of the 53rd Guards GBR, Colonel V. Sarkhipov, who, not without inaccuracies and contradictions (the memoirs were written 30 years after the events described), reproduces the events of those days:

“On the night of August 13, no one slept in the brigade. In the dark, especially in summer, you can hear far and well. And the sounds that reached us said that in the morning there would be a heavy battle. Behind the front line of the enemy, in the direction of Oglendow, tank engines hummed continuously and in unison, ever approaching and growing. The terrain here was not just sandy, but with weak and quicksand sand. Suffice it to say that the attempts of the tankers to open a shelter for the vehicles were in vain - the walls of the trench sagged right there. In previous attacks, we have repeatedly observed how the German "panthers" skid in these sands, how their drivers are forced to expose the sides of the vehicles to us. In the battles for Shidlua and Oglendow, these truly snail-like Panther maneuvers, which were significantly inferior to the Thirty-Four in mobility, helped us inflict very sensitive losses on the enemy (only on August 11, the 53rd Guards Tank Brigade destroyed 8 enemy tanks - Approx. Aut.). It must be assumed that he would prefer a roundabout movement to a frontal attack on sandy, open fields. In front of our left flank (Korobov's battalion), the whole area is in full view. But on the right flank (Mazurin's battalion) there is a deep and wide hollow, along which a field road stretches from Oglendow to Staszow, crossing the front line. Behind the dell, where the rifle unit occupied the defense, the tanks would not pass - there was a swamp. So, it is necessary to tightly cover the exit from the hollow with fire.
We decided to put a few tanks in an ambush. There is an unofficial term: "flirting tank". His task is to force the enemy tanks to turn around so that they expose their sides to the fire attack of the main defense forces. We entrusted this role to a group of tanks from Mazurin's battalion. The group was headed by the deputy battalion commander, senior lieutenant P.T. Ivushkin.

Heavy tank "Royal Tiger" "Tiger II" captured by the Red Army on the Sandomierz platform

Further, from the memoirs of V.S. Arkhipov, it follows that three tanks (two medium and one light) were ambushed, overlaying them with shocks of compressed rye and thus disguising them as haystacks. Closer to the hollow was the T-34-85 tank of junior lieutenant A.P. Oskin. The remaining tanks of the brigade were located to the right and left of the road behind a ridge of low sand dunes. However, after several weeks of continuous tank battles, there were very few left in the 53rd Guards Tank Brigade - apparently, no more than 15 vehicles. But since the brigade was in the direction of the main attack of the enemy, on the night of August 13, the commander of the 6th Guards Tank Corps, Major General V.V. Novikov, placed a lot of artillery at its disposal. The corps 185th howitzer and 1645th light artillery regiments and the 1893rd self-propelled artillery regiment SU-85 arrived. Then came the 385th army regiment ISU-152. Although all these units did not have regular strength, they nevertheless represented a formidable force. In addition, 71 Guards Tank Troops (11 IS-2 tanks and 1 IS-85) were deployed in the rear of the 53rd Guards Tank Brigade. Thus, the exit from the hollow was under the gunpoint of several dozen gun barrels of 76-152 mm caliber.
It also played into the hands of our tankers that the German air reconnaissance took the second line of defense of the 53rd Guards Tank Brigade (a battalion of submachine gunners and part of the artillery) for the first. As a result, the attack by enemy artillery and aircraft that preceded the attack did not hit the tank battalions. At 07:00 on August 13, the enemy, under cover of fog, went on the offensive with the forces of the 16th Panzer Division, with the participation of 11 (according to other sources 14) Tiger tanks Ausf.B of the 501st heavy tank battalion.

“The fog gradually dissipated,” recalls V.S. Arkhipov, “it was already stretching in shreds. Ivushkin reported: “The tanks have gone. But I see, I hear. They're going down the drain." Yes, I myself heard this low rumble, muffled by the slopes of the hollow. He approached very slowly, my nerves tensed, I felt drops of sweat rolling down my face. What is it like for them there, ahead?! But the mop were motionless.
Eyes were riveted to the exit from the hollow. A tank of monstrous size was climbing out of it. He crawled uphill in jerks, skidding in the sand.
Major Korobov also radioed from the left flank: “They are coming. The same, unidentified." (On the night of August 13, the reconnaissance of the brigade reported the appearance of tanks of an unknown type in Szydłow. - Approx. Aut.) I answer: “Do not rush. As agreed: to hit from four hundred meters. Meanwhile, a second similar hulk crawled out of the hollow, then a third appeared. They appeared at considerable intervals, Either this was their statutory distance, or the weak ground held them back, but by the time a third emerged from the hollow, the first had already passed Ivushkin's ambush. "Beat?" - he asked. "Beat!" I see how the side of the shock moved slightly, where the tank of junior lieutenant Oskin stands. A sheaf rolled down, a cannon barrel became visible. He twitched, then another and another. Oskin fired. Black holes appeared in the right sides of the enemy tanks, clearly visible through binoculars. So the smoke appeared, and the flame flared up. The third tank turned around to face Oskin, but, having rolled on a shattered caterpillar, stood up and was finished off.

Captured by the allies tank "King Tiger" "Tiger II"

"Flirting tanks" played their role. German combat vehicles, leaving the hollow, turned towards the ambush, substituting their left sides for the guns of tankers and self-propelled guns. Direct fire hit three dozen barrels, howitzer divisions covered the hollow with mounted fire, and it disappeared all the way to Oglendow in clouds of smoke and sandy dust. To top it off, the German battle formations"ironed" our attack aircraft. The enemy's attack stalled. In the afternoon, the German 16th Panzer Division resumed attacks, but, apparently, the “King Tigers” no longer participated in them. In any case, among the 24 German tanks knocked out that day, which remained in front of the positions of the brigade, there were only three of them. Moreover, all three burned down, and, according to V.S. Arkhipov, they burned the crew of junior lieutenant A.P. Oskin, which, in addition to himself, included the driver A. Stetsenko, gun commander A. Merkhaydarov (shot something , strictly speaking, it was he), radio operator A. Grushin and loader A. Khalychev.
However, V.S. Arkhipov himself comments on this episode in the following way: “Who knocked out and how much is a difficult question, because the tankers of two battalions - Mazurin and Korobov, and two artillery and two self-propelled artillery regiments attached to us. Worked great and attack aircraft, and not only in our field of vision, but also beyond it.”
It is unlikely that Oskin's "thirty-four", even if from an extremely short distance, when each shot is on target, in a matter of minutes, if not seconds, managed to knock out three German heavy tanks. After all, there were two more tanks in the ambush, which also fired. Finally, a flurry of fire from the main forces of the 53rd Guards Tank Brigade and reinforcement units fell on the lead German vehicles. Judging by the photographs of the “tigers” literally riddled with shells, shot down in this battle, the fire was fired from different directions and by no means by one tank. Apparently, it can be absolutely definitely asserted that the crew of A.P. Oskin knocked out the lead "King Tiger", which is also quite a lot.

Tank "Royal Tiger" "Tiger II" destroyed by the Red Army in the battles for Berlin, May 1945

For this battle, tank commander Alexander Petrovich Oskin was awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union, and the gun commander Abubakir Merkhaydarov - the Order of Lenin. Having come across a powerful anti-tank defense (and by noon on August 13 and the order of the 53rd Guards Tank Brigade, in addition to the already attached parts of the reinforcement, several batteries of the 1666th Iptap and a division of the 272nd Guards Mortar Regiment BM-13 were transferred), the Germans withdrew to their original positions . By evening, the 53rd Guards Tank Brigade took up defensive positions along the southern slope of height 247.9, 300 meters from the village of Oglenduv. Having replenished the 1st and 2nd battalions with tanks at the expense of the 3rd and 10 vehicles that arrived from repair, around midnight our brigade attacked Oglendow without artillery preparation. By dawn the village was cleared of the enemy. Among the trophies taken were German tanks of an unknown type. It was then that it turned out that the battle on the eve had to be fought with heavy tanks "Tiger-B" (by the way, in last years and in a number of publications there were allegations that allegedly Oskin himself subsequently denied this fact altogether, jachilya. that knocked out only Pz.IV).
Under this name, the German car appears in our documents of those years). We learned about this from the operating instructions found in abandoned tanks. In the morning, in the heat of battle, there was no time to sort things out. Therefore, in the first report, having counted the burning tanks, they reported "upstairs" about the destruction of three "panthers". Given their resemblance to the "royal tigers", this was not surprising. The captured combat vehicles had turret numbers 102, 234 and 502. Tanks No. 102 and No. 502 turned out to be command tanks - they had additional radio stations. Tank No. 502, found in the courtyard of a house on the outskirts of the village, was technically sound and abandoned by the crew for a very prosaic reason: so as not to interfere with running. The tank was full of ammunition and a sufficient supply of fuel. Apparently, in the morning battle on August 13, this machine did not take part. When trying to start the engine, it wound up with a half turn.

Captured Soviet troops Tank "Royal Tiger" "Tiger II"

At 0900, the 2nd Tank Battalion of the 53rd Guards Tank Brigade, in cooperation with the 2nd Company of the 71st Guards Heavy Tank Regiment and the 289th Rifle Regiment, resumed the offensive. The "royal tigers" who were located west of Oglenduv met them with fire. Then a platoon of IS-2 tanks of the Guards Senior Lieutenant Klimenkov moved forward and opened fire on the enemy. As a result of a short battle, one "King Tiger" was hit and the other was burned.
As the brigade of the 6th Guards Corps moves forward organized resistance the enemy has not been met. The battle broke up into separate skirmishes and sporadic counterattacks. On the outskirts of Shidlov, 7 Tiger-B tanks took part in one of these counterattacks. The IS-2 tank of the guard, senior lieutenant V.A. After several shots, one tank was set on fire, and the second was knocked out. Then Udalov led his car to another position along the forest road and opened fire again. Leaving another burning tank on the battlefield, the enemy turned back. Soon the attack of the "royal tigers" was repeated. This time they were heading for Lieutenant Belyakov's Guard Lieutenant Belyakov's IS-2, which was in ambush. From a distance of 1000 m, he managed to set fire to an enemy car with a third projectile. In one day on August 14, tankers of the 71st Guards Tank Troops knocked out and burned six "Royal Tigers".

Tank "Royal Tiger" "Tiger II" destroyed by the Red Army in the battles on the outskirts of Berlin

In total, between Staszow and Szydłow, there were 12 lined, burned and serviceable, but abandoned by the crews of the “royal tigers”. Such a deplorable result for the Germans, no doubt, was the result of a competent organization of the battle on our part. For this battle, the commander of the 53rd Guards Tank Brigade, Colonel V.S. Arkhipov, was awarded the second Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

The captured tanks were delivered to Kubinka at the NIBTPoligon. Based on the test results, it was concluded that “the Tiger-B tank is a further modernization of the main heavy German tank T-V"Panther" with more powerful armor and weapons.
To assess the armor resistance, it was decided to bombard the hull and turret of tank No. 102. Units and assemblies from the captured vehicle were dismantled for further research, and the weapons were transferred to the GANIOP. Shelling tests were carried out in Kubinka in the autumn of 1944. Based on their results, the following conclusions were drawn:

German heavy tank "King Tiger" "Tiger II" in Budapest

1. The quality of the armor of the "Tiger-II" tank, in comparison with the quality of the armor of the "Tiger-I", "Panther" and SU "Ferdinand" tanks, has deteriorated sharply. Cracks and spalls form in the armor of the Tiger-II tank from the first single hits. From a group of shell hits (3 - 4 shells), large spalls and breaches are formed in the armor.
2. For all units of the hull and turret of the tank, the weakness of the welds is characteristic. Despite careful execution, the seams during shelling behave much worse than they did in similar designs of the Tiger-B, Panther and Ferdinand SU tanks.
3. In the armor of the frontal plates of the tank with a thickness of 100 to 190 mm, when 3-4 armor-piercing or high-explosive fragmentation shells of 152, 122 and 100 mm caliber hit them from a distance of 500 - 1000 m, cracks, spalls and destruction of welds are formed, resulting in a violation of the transmission and the failure of the tank.
4. Armor-piercing shells of the BS-3 (100 mm) and A-19 (122 mm) cannons penetrate through the edges or joints of the front plates of the Tiger-B tank hull from a distance of 500 - 600 m.
5. Armor-piercing shells of the BS-3 (100 mm) and A-19 (122 mm) cannons penetrate through the front plate of the Tiger-B tank turret from a distance of 1000-1500 mm.
6. Armor-piercing 85-mm shells of the D-5 and S-53 cannons do not penetrate the front plates of the tank hull and do not produce any structural damage from a distance of 300 m.
7. The side armor plates of the tank are characterized by a sharp uneven strength compared to the frontal plates and are the most vulnerable part armored corps and tank turrets.
8. The side plates of the hull and turret of the tank are penetrated by armor-piercing shells of 95-mm domestic and 76-mm American guns from a distance of 800 - 2000 m
9. The side plates of the hull and turret of the tank are not penetrated by armor-piercing shells of the 76-mm domestic cannon (ZIS-3 and F-34).
10. American 76-mm armor-piercing shells pierce the side plates of the Tiger-B tank from a distance 1.5-2 times greater than domestic 85-mm armor-piercing shells.

Tank "Royal Tiger" "Tiger II" at the exhibition of captured equipment in Moscow

However, this heavy German tank remained a tough nut to crack. Here is what, in particular, Sergeant Clyde Brunson, a tank commander from the 2nd American Panzer Division, reported in his report about his booking: “King Tiger” disabled my tank from a distance of 150 m. The remaining five tanks opened fire on the German vehicle from a distance of 180 - 550 m. Although our tankers managed to get five or six hits, all the shells ricocheted off the tank's armor, and the "King Tiger" went back. If we had a tank like the King Tiger, we would have been home long ago.”

Video review of German tanks, including "Tiger 1" and "Tiger 2" (King Tiger)

The American armor-piercing 75-mm projectile did not penetrate the frontal and far from always penetrated the side armor of the Royal Tiger. Sufficiently effective against side armor, the 76-mm projectile penetrated the frontal armor only from a distance of 50 m. However, as mentioned above, Soviet 85-mm armor-piercing shells coped with this even worse. Perhaps the only worthy opponent of the "Royal Tiger" was the Soviet heavy tank IS-2. Good results when firing at German heavy tanks were also achieved by Soviet self-propelled guns with large-caliber guns: SU-100, ISU-122 and ISU-152.

By the end of 1944, according to German data, the Wehrmacht had lost 74 "Royal Tigers", while only 17 were repaired and returned to service. The last major battles in which the "royal tigers" participated were the offensives of German troops in the Ardennes and in the area of ​​​​Lake Balaton. The German plan for the offensive in the Ardennes was designed to break through the weakly defended sector of the enemy front with a lightning strike, rush to Namur, capture Liege - the main center of communications of the 12th Allied Army Group - and then continue the attack on Antwerp and occupy it. If the Germans had succeeded, the front of the allied armies would have been cut into two parts. The Germans expected to destroy four armies: the 1st Canadian, 2nd British, 1st and 9th American.

To implement this bold, original, but adventurous plan, Field Marshal von Rundstedt was given the 5th and 6th SS Panzer Armies and the 7th Field Army - a total of about 250 thousand people and 1 thousand tanks. Preparations for the operation were carried out in an atmosphere of absolute secrecy, and it came as a complete surprise to the Allies.
On December 16, 1944, the Germans struck with large forces between Monschau and Echternach. The very first attack brought down the allied front, and the German tanks rushed to the Meuse. However, despite the dense fog that prevented the Allies from using aircraft, on December 17 the battle entered a critical phase, since the extremely important road junction - the city of Bastogne - was firmly held by the American 101st Airborne Division. It was commanded by General McAuliffe.

View of the frontal part of the tank "Royal Tiger" T-VI

Once surrounded and received an offer to surrender, he answered with only one word: "Eccentrics!". German motorized columns were forced to bypass Bastogne on narrow, icy mountain roads. The pace of advance slowed down. Nevertheless, by December 20, the 5th SS Panzer Army was already reaching the crossings over the Meuse. The commander of the British troops in Europe, Field Marshal Montgomery was so frightened that he decided to withdraw his divisions to Dunkirk. But on December 24, the weather cleared up - and this decided the fate German offensive. About 5 thousand aircraft of the Anglo-American Air Force brought down an avalanche of bombs and shells on battle formations, transport columns and supply bases of German troops. By January 1, the retreat of Rundstedt's armies was already massive. The Ardennes offensive failed.

Among many German tank units, the 506th heavy tank battalion took part in these battles. The "Royal Tigers" fought fire duels with the "Shermans" in the vicinity of Bastogne. "Tigers" of the 101st SS heavy tank battalion also fought there. It was difficult for 68-ton tanks to maneuver on narrow mountain roads, where, moreover, not a single bridge could withstand them. With the help of bazookas, the American paratroopers defending Bastogne knocked out quite a few German heavy tanks.

The terrain in the vicinity of Lake Balaton in Hungary, where the Germans made their last offensive attempt during the Second World War, was much better suited for the actions of large tank formations. His goal was to release the group surrounded in Budapest.

The German troops struck the first blow on the night of January 2, 1945. The lV SS Panzer Corps went on the offensive with the support of units of the 6th Field Army - 7 tank and 2 motorized divisions. This grouping quickly broke through the front of the 4th Guards Army and advanced 30 km deep into our defenses. Created real threat breakthrough of German troops to Budapest. The Soviet command deployed 1305 guns and mortars and 210 tanks to this sector. All roads were blocked by batteries of heavy and anti-aircraft artillery, capable of penetrating the frontal armor of German tanks, and 57- and 76-mm cannons were dug in on the flanks of positions with the removal towards the enemy, designed to conduct sudden fire on the sides of tanks from short distances.

German heavy tank "Tiger 2" (Royal Tiger)

Thanks to a well-organized defense, the German offensive was stopped by the evening of January 5. In the protocols compiled after the battles by the captured team of the 4th Guards Army, 5 Tiger-B tanks (all from 503.sPzAbt), 2 Tiger tanks, 7 Panther tanks, 19 Pz.IV tanks , 6 Pz.lll tanks, 5 self-propelled guns and 19 armored personnel carriers and armored vehicles. In addition, some vehicles were so mangled that they were piles of scrap metal and it was impossible to determine the type of tank or self-propelled guns from them.
On the morning of January 18, the German group resumed the offensive, now in the direction of Szekesfehervar. On January 22, the city was abandoned by our troops. In order to force the Soviet command to remove part of their forces from the direction of the main attack, on January 25, the Germans launched a tank attack from the area of ​​\u200b\u200bZamol to Miklos. At 0920, two groups of 12 Panther and 10 Tigr-B tanks from the 507th heavy tank battalion launched an attack on the positions of the 1172nd anti-tank regiment. The regimental commander decided to lure the German tanks into a fire bag, and he succeeded. Having lost 16 guns in 6 hours of continuous combat, the regiment destroyed 10 "panthers" and "royal tigers", as well as 3 medium tanks and 6 self-propelled guns.

The history of the creation and combat use of the tanks "Tiger 1" and "Tiger 2" (Royal Tiger)

The most effective in the fight against German heavy tanks were guns, including self-propelled guns, of large caliber. So, on March 10, during the reflection of the second stage of the German offensive, self-propelled guns of 209 Sabr. For example, the SU-100 battery under the command of Captain Vasiliev destroyed three Tiger-B tanks in one battle.
In total, 19 tanks of this type were destroyed in the battles near Lake Balaton in January - March 1945. On March 1, 226 Royal Tiger tanks remained in the ranks of the Wehrmacht and the SS troops.
A significant part of the combat vehicles of this type was concentrated in East Prussia. The heavy tank battalion "Groftdcutschland" from the division of the same name, the 511th (former 502nd) and 505th heavy tank battalions. The tanks were used in small groups and mainly for firing from a spot. As a fixed emplacement, the King Tiger proved to be the most effective. So, for example, on April 21, 1945, 12 Soviet tanks.
According to German data, during the week of fighting since April 13, 511 sPzAbt recorded 102 Soviet combat vehicles on its combat account! True, it is traditionally not reported how many of them burned down, that is, they were irretrievably lost.

German heavy tank "Tiger 2" (Royal Tiger) with Porsche turret

The remnants of 505.sPzAbt, given to the remnants of the 5th Panzer Division, ended their combat path in Pillau (now the city of Baltiysk, Kaliningrad Region of the Russian Federation). The 502nd (former 102nd) and 503rd (former 103rd) SS heavy tank battalions participated in the defense of Berlin. The last "King Tiger" was shot down in Berlin on May 2, 1945 in the area of ​​the Spandau bridge.
Unfortunately, in German statistics last month war, combined data were given for both types of "tigers", so it is not possible to indicate the exact number of "royal tigers" in a particular theater of operations. As of April 28, 1945, there were 149 "tigers" of both types on the Eastern Front (of which 118 were combat-ready), in Italy - 33 (22), in the West - 18 (10).

Tank "Royal Tiger" (Tiger II) on the go. A revived legend at one of the tank festivals.

Currently, the “Royal Tigers” are on display at the Saumur Musee des Blindes in France, RAC Tank Museum Bovington (the only surviving copy with a Porsche tower) and the Royal Military College of Science Shrivenham in the UK, Munster Lager Kampftruppen Schule in Germany (transferred by the Americans in 1961 year), Ordnance Museum Aberdeen Proving Ground in the USA, Switzerlands Panzer Museum Thun in Switzerland and Military History Museum armored weapons and equipment in Kubinka near Moscow.