Info wanted about the WWII German Tiger Tank.

I was wathcing "Tanksgiving" on AHC today, so I got to watch a lot of tanks. But, there has always been something I have been curious to know about the Tiger. I figured someone here must know, so I will ask.

When you look at the picture below, note the area within the red box. What is that? Is that a spare piece of tread? Is it some sort of special armor? I know it is not for towing, because there are two towing rings just outside of that area. Does anyone know what this is?

 

I'm no expert but that could be a berm buster.

 

Spare tread.

 

Thanks. I thought it was, but had no way to confirm.

 

Mine clearing apparatus?

 

That is indeed spare tread. Crews of any army like to carry spare with them, and probably mounted it where they thought it might do some good when not used. The Tiger's suspension could not be short tracked like a lot of other tanks, and the Germans took battlefield recovery to extremes, especially in elite tank units like this. So they would want extra. Still done today.

 

Ditto. If you look on the R side by the turret (from our POV) you can just make out what I think is the head of the gigantic tread wrench.



My mistake, it's the heads of some kind of cable. But I've seen others with tools mounted on the surface.

 

Sorry, was thinking of this one...different tank. About 3/4 through...

 

My curiosity piqued, I checked my reference books. The tank is from the 505th Heavy Tank Battalion by the charging knight insignia. I am also attempting to put in another photo showing just why you can't short track these. The roadwheel system has too many overlapping areas to make it practical for the crews. Here is a tank from the same unit:

Sorry for the photo quality.

Also, it looks like that front slope of the hull was the most popular place for these tanks. Some appear to have storage bars fitted standard for this purpose.

 

Thanks, folks. I knew someone here would know.

 

Don't you mean, 'Tanks, folks'!
I've about a dozen or so books on WWII tanks. The more you find out about the Tiger tank, despite it's design & mechanical deficiencies, you didn't want to be opposing it in open terrain.

 

I had a neighbor growing up who drove a tank during WWII. He always refered to the Infantry as "crunchies".

 

We have been called worse.

 

Definately not in what we were using at the time.....we were way under gunned. Under armored too. That's the cost of drastically reducing R&D and military spending in interwar periods.....just sayin'

 

We had numbers on our side. The Sherman tank was inadequate when it came to guns and armor, but we would send five our Sherman against one Tiger tank if I remember correctly. We might lose one or two, but could crank out more Shermans when those got destroyed.

 

..which was no doubt a big relief to those poor crews who were entombed inside those under-armored, under-gunned tanks.

 

Unfortunately, the math was always on our side in that regard. Geez, consider the Soviet doctrine, just smother 'em with numbers. Talk about cannon fodder!

 

"We will overrun the Germans like flies on a pile of ..." Stalin 1942

 

Being a tanker I've got to agree. While strategically it briefs well in Congress it wouldn't sound like such a good deal sitting in one of those five turrets.

 

I agree. Being in a Sherman tank during WWII was probably one of the worst places to be. Or a submarine, but I wouldn't ever want to be in one.

We got through that war with numbers, luck, and a lot of toughness.