BATTLE BLOG # 1 - THE LAST TIGER / BERLIN '45

[Brokeneagle]

:hmmm
I have decided to do a series of tanks here that I will link as Battle Blogs, and this will be No1.
I will go deeply into the subject and cross reference the detail with a build.
Very similar to a build blog but this will be linked in a series and hopefully be a little more in depth in information and polished in presentation.
So kick back and hopefully be entertained.............

The last Tiger in Berlin, Konigsplatz at the Brandenburg Gate - the 28th April - 1st May-

THE OVERALL SITUATION - BACKGOUND

The Battle for Berlin is coming to a close after only 2weeks (including the Battle for the Oder Bridge head 30 km away. A rush for the city and the 'Citadel falls after 10 days. Just shows how beaten -up the Germans were by this point. Stalingrad took 5 months and didn't fall.

The Russian infantry [79th Rifle Corps]cross the open ground in front of the Reichstag, coming under withering defensive fire from the building itself as well as the surrounding structures, such as the Ministry of the Interior and the Diplomatic Quarter, after crossing the Spree River at the Moltke bridge at midnight, on the 29th April 1945.

The Konigsplatz was defended from behind a massive water obstacle by antitank ditches, trenches, gun emplacements, 88mmm guns still on their wheeled carriages and a Tiger 1, to the right hand side of the Reichstag, in the trees.

The Germans launch a counterattack during the early morning of the 29th which temporarily halts the advance. The Ministry of the Interior and the Kroll Opera at the far end from the Reichstag are attacked by the 150th Rifle division and the 207th Rifle division respectively.

The Soviets attempt to attack the Reichstag again only to be halted by intense german fire from in front of the Reichstag and by concentrated antitank fire from the Zoo Flak Tower about a km away up the Charlottenburger Chausse.
The attack is resumed and the Russian Army flag is raised above the Reichstag at 10.50 pm on the 30 April. :tomato

THE TANK UNIT - BACKGOUND

PANZERABTEILUNG KUMMERSDORF/MUNCHEBERG
Formed in early February 1945 from the Panzerlehr and Versuchsgruppe Kummersdorf for initial assignment to Kampfgruppe Panzerdivision Juterbog.
25/Feb - Inventory = 4 Tiger 2's, 1 Tiger 1, and 1 Jagdtiger - 5 Tiger 1's scheduled for delivery from the Maintenance organisation.

14TH March - Kummersdorf integrated into Panzerabteilung Muncheberg.
Inventory = 11 pzkw 4's, 1o Panthers, 11 Tigers.
8 Tigers operational.
DEFENDING THE ODER FRONT
27th March - 2 Tigers operational.
5TH April - 9 operational out of 13 Tigers.
14-17 April Defence in Seelow, withdrawl to Berlin.

1 May - The last 5 tanks are spotted in the vicinity of the Zoo Bunker.....Destruction of the remaining vehicles near the Tiergarten. Tank crews fighting as infantry.
The last TIGER 1 is abandoned some 1 Hundred meteres from the Brandenburg gate, just north of the end of the Charlottenburger Chausee.


To Be continued......the tank in detail plus a look at the other Muncheberg vehicles :coolio

 

[moon puppy]

 

[Iron Mike]

Looking forward to it.

 

[MrT]

Terry B)

 

[Phil]

Killer idea! Time to get the and :drinks ready!

 

[willem]

Great subject Ian !

Will surely follow this.

Willem

 

[lupanzer]

...like this project...I will follow for sure

Best!

Luiz

 

[lupanzer]

By the way,Ian,...this Tiger that fought in the last days,has the early commamder cuppola style?

I am so curious...

Luiz

 

[moon puppy]

I've gotten this thing for maps and google map. I attempted to overlay an 1895 map with the current one but that didn't work out well, old map was out of scale. Anyway..I think I pin pointed the location of where the Last Tiger would have been on googlemaps.

http://goo.gl/maps/BvwNL


[map]52.517174,13.374993[/map]

See if that works.

 

[ij001]

I hadn't read Ian's thread before I posted my Reichstag photo earlier today... Coincidence much ??

:hmmm

(the other) Ian

 

[Brokeneagle]

BATTLEBLOG # 1-THE LAST TIGER 1/BERLIN '45 Update1

Thank you everyone for the great response- i will hopefully keep you interested

Thanks MP for the Google Earth Map - good idea

luiz- i will look into the tank details next and Analyse what other anomalies this one has.

Ian - spooky synchronicity hmy:

:geek

The Tank - Part 2

After searching through my references and the net, I managed to dig up a number of pictures of this tank from various angles, so that we have a reasonable idea of what we have.
Some deduction and a few good assumptions will get us through to the paint question.

The other side

The other side of the turret

The Front

The rear

Let's just take in the detail for a second, while I go away and scan in some 'nerdy' technical details to 'excite and thrill' the other Geeks here that love this stuff as much as I do.

I will be back shortly- currently making notes with images to post.

Brokeneagle

 

[jknaus]

Very very cool. You got my attention
James

 

[bob letterman]

I agree with James. This is really interesting!

Bob

 

[Brokeneagle]

Thanks James and Bob.
Nearly there with new detail -currently up the coast and making notes on my laptop, but cannot access the net on it-only via my tablet which is to hard to use for uploading photos.
Thanks for the interst guys and happy Easter.

Ian

 

[phantom II]

Thanks James and Bob.
Nearly there with new detail -currently up the coast and making notes on my laptop, but cannot access the net on it-only via my tablet which is to hard to use for uploading photos.
Thanks for the interst guys and happy Easter.

Ian

:woohoo: Yes, please give us more

 

[Tony lee]

I'm lovin this Ian

Tony lee

 

[Brokeneagle]

Thanks Tony and Phantom 2

TANK DETAILS
I will start with the Turret first and then do the chassis.

This particular Tiger 1 seems to be one of the vehicles delivered to Muncheburg from the maintenance unit before Berlin. I say this due to the mix of details on the tank and the early version. There were a number of units at the end of the war that ran 'mixed–up' Tigers created by maintenance units. The early nature of this tank, in particular the turret with a drum cupola is proof alone that this would most probably be a result of a ‘Frankenstein’ repair job on an available chassis by such a unit.

So having said, that lets take a look at the tank and its details.

I started by just looking at the model itself and what I had - the Ferhmann Tiger is close to what I wanted and the model is full of alternative pieces such as front plates, gun mantlets, rear plates, drive sprockets etc., which is exactly why I picked it.

I then went to the references and started putting the changes in order and matching as best as I could to the pictures. Then I went to the model and looked for the details amongst the many options.

The Turret in detail

[refs: MMIR Modellers guide to the Tiger tank, Actung Panzer N06, missing-lynx.com-Panzer Facts].

Going by my references, the turret seems to be a version of a Tiger turret produced in in March or April 1943 due to 323 showing the weld mark on the turret side for the S-Mine discharger mounting. In July 1943 a new turret was introduced [3rd version]that encompassed a number of changes, the new commanders cupola being the most obvious.
So in order to catch the correct variant I needed to look for solid reference points from factory production details that cannot be easily removed. The first being a drum cupola and the second being the S-mine launcher mount weld, left on the turret side after removal, so the latest it can be is a June 43 version
It shows the following characteristics:
- Original style drum cupola retained until July ’43.

- The Gun mantlet is the reinforced type with binocular apertures – standard after the deletion of the Tiger P mantlet in Jan ’43.
[See fig 2 mantlet below - J without zimmerit].
Close study of the only mantlet picture, matches this with the late type, but Zimmerit free. It also matches the late version supplied in the kit.

- Standard larger muzzle brake.

- Loaders Periscope added March ’43.
I can’t see it but it should be there as per the other details. The photos are not at the right angle or someone is standing in the way.
Initially it seems there was a smaller version, that was enlarged with the mid production vehicle post July, and was a mod that is seen with the removal of the larger pistol port from the left rear.

- Spare track link brackets added to the turret sides.

At first they used 3, then 2 on the right [April ‘43].

- Smoke grenades and mounts eliminated [June ‘43].
this tank still has the weld mount left on the turret side after the removal in the field.

- Pistol port still on the left rear of the turret- redesigned [July ’43].
Escape hatch on the right rear was modified after July ’43 (to delete the bevelled edges making it flatter with sharper edges) along with the plug replacing the pistol port, so this should mean it’s a pre – July ‘43 turret because it still has the original style port on the left rear.

Fig 1

Fig 2

Chassis in detail next

 

[moon puppy]

Man Ian, you got your work cut out for you even before you cut sprue. :zen

 

[Iron Mike]

That MMIR Tiger book is an invaluable resource! So many field modifications were made, I'm sure they were hard to keep up with. I know this will be a knockout. :drinks

 

[lupanzer]

...really you got my attention with this project...

Best!

luiz.