HISTOREICH: The terrific Tiger Ausf E in Munster

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It's 9.50am when I find myself in front of a museum gate, and I have to wait another ten minutes before it opens. There are already a few people of all ages stamping their feet impatiently, the wait loosens tongues and people talk to each other, even if they don't know each other, a shared passion no doubt. In Germany, I'm standing in front of the Panzermuseum in Munster, which doesn't look like much from the outside. It's a first for me, and to keep up the suspense I haven't looked on the internet to find out about the collection, because I want it to be a complete surprise, and it will be.

The Tiger Ausf E complex

The Munster museum has an understandable complex. Although it has a very fine example of the Tiger Ausf B, it has no Tiger Ausf E.

Tiger Ausf E, a beautiful 1:1 scale model

To remedy this problem, the museum hosted a Tiger from private collector Christian Oebig from April 2013 to December 2016. It was a reconstruction nicknamed ‘Frankentiger’, but after a while the tank returned to its home. To compensate, a rather well-made 1:1 scale fibreglass model was created, which is still in place. This ‘Tiger’ will be the subject of an article.

And let's not forget that the Musée de Saumur loaned its own ‘221’ in 2002-2003, a period when it had also changed camouflage...

Several projects for a new battle tank were submitted in 1941, among which stood out Henschel's VK 3001 (H), Porsche's 30-tonne VK 30001 (P) and Henschel's 36-tonne VK 3601. None made it beyond the prototype stage and a new VK 4501 project was ordered. The armoured vehicle was to weigh 45 tonnes and be equipped with an 88 mm cannon.

Porsche's VK 4501 (P), a rejected prototype that gave birth to the Elefant

Two prototypes were presented to Adolf Hitler on his birthday, 20 April 1942. A Porsche and a Henschel, both with a Krupp turret and the main armament being an 88mm KwL L/56 gun.

Judged too complicated, the Porsche project was rejected but its study was retained for the creation of the heavy ‘Ferdinand’ Jagdpanzer, named after its creator, Ferdinand Porsche. The armoured vehicle was eventually called the Elefant.

Henschel won the contract in August 1942. The official name of the heavy armoured vehicle was Pz.Kpfw. VI Tiger Ausf H1 then Pz.Kpfw Tiger I /Ausf E, production started in August 1942 and ended in August 1944. A total of 1,354 were produced.

The Tiger was powered by a Maybach HL 210 P45, then from May 1943 by a Maybach HL 230 P45. The 12-cylinder engine produced 650 bhp at 3,000 rpm (700 bhp for the HL 230), and the gearbox was a Maybach Olvar 40-12-16 with 8 forward and four reverse gears.

Weighing in at 57 tonnes when fully loaded, it has a top speed of 45 km/h on the road and 20 km/h off-road, for a range of around 195 kilometres. It still consumes between 500 and 900 litres of petrol per 100 km, depending on the terrain.

The Tiger made a rapid appearance in the theatre of operations during the siege of Leningrad at the end of August 1942, and got off to a rocky start. It has to be said that marshy terrain was not the Tiger's playground, and it also suffered from serious technical problems.

Tiger I Ausf E on the Leningrad front in 1943. Note the tank commander's highly acrobatic technique for climbing into his turret, all while rolling...

For the Soviets, the Tiger's arrival in Russia went completely unnoticed until November 1942, when the British asked the GABTU KA for information about a mysterious ‘Pz.Kpfw VI’ that appeared on a list leaked from Germany.

The first example captured intact by the Soviets was on 18 January 1943, during a failed offensive around workers' village no. 5 on the Leningrad front south of Lake Ladoga. Caught by enemy artillery, the tank ran off the road and got stuck in a peat hole. Tiger Nr 100 of s.Pz.Abt 502, nicknamed ‘Elephant’ by the Russians after the emblem painted on its turret, was abandoned without being scuttled by its crew, who came under Soviet machine-gun fire and eventually joined the German lines.

On 20 January, Le Tiger made its own way to the nearest railway station, where it was shipped to Kubinka (near Moscow) for study and testing. Ballistic tests on Soviet equipment began in April 1944.

Tiger Nr 100 of 1./s.Pz.Abt 502 on the Eastern Front before its capture. The Rommelkiste is located on the left side of the turret.

The 1.Kompanie of s.Pz.Abt 502 comprised nine Tiger Ausf H1, Werknummer 250 002 to 250 010, Nr 100 was 250 009. On 18 January, another Tiger Ausf H1 was captured, Nr 121 (250 004), which had a broken engine and its radiator was out of order; to his credit, it was being repaired when it fell into the hands of the Reds. It too joined Kubinka's NIBT, and in April 1943 it was used as a target for ballistic studies, only to be totally destroyed.

A Famo tows the Tiger during the Militracks in Overloon

Things are set to change in 2024, with the return of the legendary tank to the Panzermuseum. After a brief stay at the Militracks in Overloon in the Netherlands, the Tiger will arrive at the museum in June 2024. The bad news is that it's still on loan for two years, 2024-2026.

I was lucky, because I hadn't done any research on the internet, I didn't even know that a Tiger was on temporary display, I just expected to see the model. So yes, my timing was perfect and I quickly realised how impatient some Germans were in front of the museum gates.

The truck brings a nice gift, a genuine Tiger Ausf E

The military past of the Tiger Ausf E at Saumur is well known, but so is that of Munster, since this tank, in its current form, has never seen combat.

This is Christian Oebig's second Tiger, so it is not the same one that was loaned out in 2013. Thanks to C.Oebig, there are now 11 Tiger on our good old planet, out of the 1347 produced. Once again, this is a reconstruction in which ‘only’ 2/3 of the tank is period, i.e. built during the Second World War. It's an assembly of several wrecks that actually fought. Some of the parts come from France, and more specifically from the Battle of Normandy, the British museum at Bovington, etc., while the rest are rebuilt. The steel may not have the same composition, but the shapes, dimensions and weights have been respected.

Some will say that this reconstruction does not have the same value as an original Tiger, but how many tanks have been repaired at the front with a turret borrowed from another, a gun or even the tracks, engine and transmission?

And rebuilding has been going on for a long time in the automotive and aeronautical industries, without causing any problems. So if the purists are pouting, the others are happy with it, and rightly so, because we can turn the subject on its head, original or not, it's in much better condition than the one at Vimoutiers... Besides, when you know the sad history of the Norman Tiger, you wonder why it wasn't loaned to the Germans, which would at least have protected it from rotting.

The Tiger is still being rebuilt, and its interior is still empty, although half the parts have been found. It is not yet motorised, although this is planned, but it will take time and money.

Now let's take a look at the Tiger

The Tiger has no Zimmerit paste, nor any tactical insignia from a German army regiment or armored division.

The workshop in charge of the rebuild was not stingy with its tracks, and the Tiger is fairly well protected.

Battle tracks add an undeniable plus to the Tiger's already devastating looks

If it weren't for the (fake) patina, the Tiger would look a little “factory” with its sandy color and lack of zimmerit.

For the moment, the turret has no number. The turret, which could be operated manually or hydraulically by means of a foot pedal, could rotate 360° in 60 seconds. Modern armored vehicles have made enormous progress since then!

The lug is a fixing point used to lift the turret when it is to be removed from the Tiger.

A Tiger tank uncovered, we see the handling system on one of the lugs.

The Rommelkiste, the trunk fixed behind the turret, is present and contributes to the overall line of the tank. The access hatch is called an Einsteigluke in German. It was introduced in the summer of 1943, and comes in handy for loading shells.

The mask of the 88 Kwk 36 cannon, the nightmare of American and Russian tanks. In 2023, if it's the same one, it was covered in Zimmerit

The muzzle brake of the famous 88, which was in every battle from North Africa to the plains of the Soviet Union, including Kursk, not forgetting the Normandy bocage. How many victims did it claim?

The combat tracks are 725 mm wide, and connoisseurs will notice the Christie type. Removing a roller could be particularly painful.

The front of the left track has no “Continentale” rubber rollers.

The Tiger kept Overloon's soil in its tracks

The rear of the right-hand track with its tension roller

Exhausts feature authentic-looking covers

Note the welded cross-member supporting the track links, which is absent on the Saumur and Vimoutiers Tiger models. The one on the Bovington Tiger is a different model. This support could be installed by Abteilung mechanics.